Crush (Crave, #2)

by Tracy Wolff

“Not exactly,” my uncle tells me. “I mean, the sword connected, so yes. But it didn’t hurt you because you had already turned to stone.”

“Stone. You turned to stone, Grace, right the fuck in front of me,” Jaxon says. “And you’ve been stone every single one of the last one hundred and twenty-one days.”

“A gargoyle, Grace.” Jaxon is the one who finally tells me the truth, just like always. “You’re a gargoyle.”

I swear, if I were reading this story, I’d say the plot twists were getting ridiculous. But I’m not reading it. I’m living it, and that is so much worse.

Also, I am completely admiring the hell out of what his very nice ass does for those boring black uniform pants.

“It’s a Chinese proverb my mother used to tell me all the time when I was growing up and struggling to figure out my powers and my place in the witchcraft world. ‘If heaven made someone, earth can find some use for them.’”

“You spent one hundred and twenty-one days frozen in stone to keep all of us safe. If you think I can’t wait as long as it takes for you to feel comfortable being back with me again, then you really don’t have a clue how much I love you.”

My breath catches in my throat, along with my heart and, quite possibly, my soul. “Jaxon.” I can barely get his name past the huge lump right above my vocal cords. But he just shakes his head. “I’ve waited an eternity for you, Grace. I can wait a little longer.”

“But if you want, I can spell it out for you in the middle of the foyer here. You shouldn’t let Jaxon take you up to his tower to have his—” “Okay, I got it!”

Not my usual style, but then neither is dating a vampire and turning into a gargoyle, so…I’m just going to go with it.

“Of course I saw you. You’ve been in a back room of the library for months, and before that you were in my dad’s office.”

“What do you mean? You looked like a gar—” She stops, her eyes narrowing in indignation. “Wait a minute. Are you telling me neither Jaxon nor my dad showed you what you look like as a gargoyle?”

“Of course they did!” She shoots me an exasperated look. “I feel like you’re not fully comprehending the whole only-one-in-existence thing. The experts would have flown to the moon, if that’s where they had to go to see you. Not to mention, Jaxon and my dad would have flown them to the moon themselves if they thought it would help you.”

“Because Cole was attacked last night. It looks like he’ll be okay after a day or two in the infirmary, but…” She takes a deep breath. “Someone drained him of a whole lot of blood, Grace.”

A gargoyle werewolf? Or a werewolf gargoyle? Weregoyle? Garwolf? I do not want to be a garwolf.

“No.” Jaxon watches me with an intensity that shakes me to my very bones. “I’ve always been a monster, Grace. You’re the one who’s made me human.”

“Try to fix it?” I answer with a laugh that even I can tell borders on the hysterical. “I have a monster living inside me.”

“The reason we haven’t been able to figure out where at Katmere Academy Hudson is hiding is because all along, he’s been hiding inside you.”

“It’s called picking your battles. You should try it sometime. You might end up in the infirmary less. Just saying.”

But at the same time, it’s sort of a compulsion. The kind that I know is going to hurt later—like when I chipped my tooth in seventh grade and couldn’t resist touching it with my tongue, even though I knew it was so sharp, it would cut me. That’s what it feels like listening to Hudson tell me to open my eyes. “Wow, so I’m a toothache now?” He sounds insulted. “Thaaaaanks.” “If you were a toothache, I’d go to the dentist and let her drill you out of my head,” I tell him, my voice filled with the frustration I can’t get away from. “Without novocaine.”

“What do you mean?” Macy’s eyes go huge. “He’s still in you?” “Ugh. Please don’t ever say it like that again.”

“By Hudson. He’s sitting in the seat next to you, all right?” “He’s sitting where?” Flint jumps out of his desk, much to my chagrin…and the amusement of most of the other students. “I don’t see him.”

“Trust me. He’s been neutered. Nothing more than a Chihuahua in my head, all bark, no bite.” “Wow, thanks. I am not a neutered pet,” Hudson says with an offended sniff. Keep it up and I’ll figure out how to actually neuter you.

“Awww, how cute. Little Jaxy-Waxy wants a study date.” Hudson sneers.

I sincerely hope I’m not dating someone who was in diapers and sucked his thumb for a hundred years. Hudson snort-laughs, so I know he heard that last thought, but he doesn’t turn around. I can’t help a smile spreading across my face at the image of a twenty-year-old Hudson in said diapers.

“No matter what we have to do, we can never let my brother loose on the world with his power. My father killed the entire gargoyle race. Who knows what Hudson will do?”

Sometimes life hands you more than a new hand of cards to play—it hands you a whole new deck, maybe even a whole new game.

“No.” She shoots me a “you’re being a dork” look, then flips the book she’s reading so I can see. “It didn’t work because it says right here that you’re immune to magic!”

“Okay, look! That’s it! If you keep this up, I’m going back—” I break off on a scream as Flint finally manages to get his head between my knees. “Now there’s something you don’t see every day,” Hudson comments wryly. “Don’t start!” I snap, because the only thing worse than dealing with the fact that a guy who isn’t my boyfriend very unexpectedly has his head between my legs (even if he is in dragon form) is dealing with it while Hudson looks on.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as he grins down at me. And, on a side note, can I just say how goddamn unfair it is that I’m short, even as a gargoyle? I mean, I just turned to stone for God’s sake. Can’t I at least grow a few inches along with the transformation?

“Because,” he tells me, indigo eyes burning hotly with a myriad of emotions I can’t begin to decipher, “if you do, I’m going to do something that you’ll regret.”

“I mean, seriously. Surely my brother can come up with a better line than that. Or is he just planning on stamping his name on your ass and calling it a day?”

And second, it’s humiliating to admit that to me, but not to Hudson? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“So what am I, chopped liver?”

“No, the whole time. It was all you. That was my last idea. To let you go and see what happened if I wasn’t holding you back.”

“Which means what? That you’re pulling his life force out of him…like Darth Vader?”

“Evil? You think I’m fucking evil?”

“I’ll never make you choose, Grace. How could I when I know that you’d never choose me?”

I’ve managed to avoid him since he arrived, so this will be the first time I’ll get the up-close-and-personal introduction. Super excited…not. #ratherhavearootcanal

Wow. Not a death blow after all, because Cole is now…a fluffy white chicken.

“The bad news is, Grand-mère says only someone with a death wish would go there. Almost no one makes it out alive.”

“We could break the mating bond.”

“Holy shit. Exactly how much does my brother hate me?” Hudson whispers.

“The Circle has voted and agreed. King Cyrus and I will be taking Grace home with us to the Vampire Court.”

“Yes, because that’s what I’ve been doing. Plotting for months on how to destroy the world.” He shakes his head. “Who do they think I am? Dr. Evil?”