Monster Awakened: Blood Moon Academy Book 2 Read online

  Monster Awakened

  Blood Moon Academy

  Demi Dumond

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2020 by Demi Dumond

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Book cover by Melody Simmons

  Created with Vellum

  1

  Keira

  As Ian helped me inside, I felt a flood of different emotions. I was so angry at the students and the teachers and the headmaster. After all, they had locked me out of the school last night and tried to literally sacrifice me to a dragon. But I was so happy to see Ian. At least we were both alive.

  And there was something else about seeing him that made me excited. It felt like we were connected somehow. I could feel him, like I could feel my own heartbeat. And when he was with me, I felt whole.

  I had barely stopped thinking about him since our time together in the dungeon. Since I saved his life. Ever since he drank my blood. I wondered if that was it.

  We got to my dorm room and went inside. There was no sign of Ivy or Rafe. It was just the two of us, and that brought a sigh of relief to my lips.

  I was so happy to see my dorm room and bed and shower that I could have cried.

  I didn’t want Ian to leave, but I desperately wanted to clean up. He smirked at me like he was reading my mind. He probably was.

  “Go, clean up, love. I’ll amuse myself here for a while. I want to make sure you’re all right.” As usual, he plopped himself onto the couch and put his giant shoes on the coffee table, stretching out.

  He was probably tired too, from being out all night in the forest looking for me. I didn’t even want to think about what I would do if something had happened to him. There was more than one monster lurking in that forest.

  Breathing a huge sigh of relief, I left him on the sitting room couch and went to the shower. After everything I had been through, I just didn’t want to be alone. Having him there in the other room made me feel better.

  It made me feel safe having the powerful, sexy vampire standing guard for me against the horde of students who might break in any moment with Malachai to drag me outside.

  And then there was the whole doom and gloom, we’re all dead proclamation he had made. Was he right? He sounded like a crazy guy, ranting that all of us were dead and something about us being caught in a time bubble or something. Crazy stuff. Unfortunately, it was just something else that I was going to have to add to my ever-growing to-do list: find out if Malachai has gone crazy. Either way, all of that would have to wait.

  This whole incident was going to take some time for me to get over. If ever. What the hell was wrong with those students? And what was up with that dragon? I could still feel a pull, still see those hypnotic feral glowing eyes staring back at me. It’s like they were burned into my memory. And even more, it was like they called to me still.

  I tried to shake the whole ordeal, at least temporarily, as I turned on the hot water and breathed in the steam. The fact that I was back at my dorm in one piece, and the simple act of starting the shower helped me to relax.

  I shed my clothes quickly and grabbed a towel. Then I stepped in, wet my hair, and leaned heavily against the wall, letting the warm water soothe me.

  Grabbing the soap, I did a very gentle once-over of all of the cuts, scrapes and bruises I got last night. The images of trying to fight off the mob of murderous students and then getting dragged through the woods by the dragon played themselves out in my mind.

  I was quickly going to a bad place again. All the relaxation and distraction of the shower was getting overshadowed in my mind by the memories of fear and violence.

  There was also my throbbing head. I think Bree was probably right about the head injury. What I wouldn’t give for some pain meds right now.

  As if on cue, Ian appeared, opening the door of the shower. He had his face turned the other way, apparently choosing now to be a gentleman, but even from the side I could clearly see that sinful smirk on his face.

  Now different scenarios were running wild in my head. And I preferred thinking about Ian joining me naked in the shower to my memories of last night.

  He handed me the pills. “See?” he said, the smirk lingering on his full lips. “I’m being a perfect gentleman.”

  For a moment, I wished that he wasn’t. Again, with the reading my thoughts, he turned to face me. His tongue caressed one of his fangs, an erotic action that shot all the way to my core and nearly made me moan.

  His eyes hungrily devoured my naked body. “Hey,” I said playfully. “I thought you were being a gentleman.”

  “I was,” he answered, “but where’s the fun in that?”

  That was the smirk and the cocky confidence that I loved. My thoughts briefly circled back to my dark and lonely night in the dragon’s cave and I shivered despite the hot water.

  The whole ordeal felt like it lasted so much longer than it actually did.

  Ian hummed a catchy tune and then he did a strip tease for me, moving his hips back and forth. First, he lifted his shirt a little, showing me abs before taking it off, revealing the porcelain skin and otherworldly six pack that drove me wild.

  I felt a surge of heat in my core and all previous thoughts were chased away. Now instead of feeling chilled, I was feeling flushed.

  He turned his back to me and wiggled his ass. It was quite a show even though he still had his jeans on.

  “Take it off!” I shouted.

  “As you command,” he said, shedding his pants quickly. When he turned back to me, he was completely naked. And his cock was standing at attention. I could tell from the look on his face that the strip tease was over, and that he was ready for the main course, which was me.

  Just the sight of him unleashed a throbbing need between my legs. All of a sudden, I could feel my own heart beating, and the flesh between my legs pulsed with every beat. My arousal was overwhelming. It was intoxicating.

  I felt my cheeks get hot at the thought of the other night. Just the memory of him spreading my legs and drinking my blood nearly made me whimper with desire. And that had been lying on a dirty, bloody, dark dungeon floor to save his life.

  I wanted him now, all of him. I wanted to see and feel all of the things I couldn’t in that dark dungeon cell. I never wanted or needed anything more in my entire life. Fucking Ian felt like the perfect celebration of being alive.
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  Despite my bruises and cuts, my body thrilled at the idea as much as my brain. I wanted that giant cock, and I wanted the fangs that his tongue was caressing.

  He stepped, fully naked, into the shower with me. His arms caged me in, and my back arched against the shower wall and all I could think about was feeling him inside of me.

  2

  Keira

  The moment his lips found my nipple, I gasped. Then his fingers went between my legs. I knew he could feel my dripping need. I bucked my hips against his fingers.

  His mouth released my nipple and he looked into my eyes with that smoldering stare, as if it was possible for me to get even wetter. His eyes were mad with desire.

  He kissed me deeply, urgently, wildly. I moaned through his kiss and reached out to caress his giant member.

  My mind went wild with anticipation. That night in the dungeon, when he sucked the blood out of the vein on my thigh had been a game changer, except I hadn’t experienced it the way I wanted to.

  Now was my chance to experience it all, and I wanted it. My body craved it.

  With a snarl, he picked me up by my bare ass and held me against the shower wall. I gasped in excitement as he moved his giant cock close enough for me to grind against. Now we were both moaning.

  “Yes,” I said as with one quick thrust he entered me. He was huge and he took his time at first. He filled me entirely, and then he started working himself in and out. I was panting with desire and being suspended against the wall was so hot.

  He kissed and bit my lip lightly and I moaned as he thrusted in and out. Just when I thought it wasn’t possible to feel any more pleasure, his hand slid past my stomach to my clit. He teased my clit until we came together, banging on the shower door loudly.

  “Knock it off in there you perverts,” Ivy called.

  The two of us laughed until we cried. We were alive. And we were together. Tonight, that was all that mattered.

  3

  Malachai

  I know Keira didn’t believe me, but I really did expect to be back in less than an hour. I really did want to save her. And I only came back for her. How could I make her understand?

  I could have stayed outside of the academy walls and left all of this horror behind me. But no, I came back for her. And now I was stuck with the rest of them.

  She looked hurt, both physically and emotionally. I could barely stand it. That was why I didn’t want to dump all of the information I had on her right away, but from the look of hurt and anger on her face, I had no choice.

  All I knew was that we were in trouble. All of us. Every single student I had known in my time here at the academy was marked D.I.A.: Dead Inside the Academy, a designation meaning that they came in, but they never left. Not alive anyway.

  It was creepy as hell. How did the outside world know they were dead if they never came out? It was like everything had just moved on without us. Nobody even cared that we were gone. We were on our own.

  No pressure, Malachai, all you have to do is figure out what the fuck is going on here before you and Keira join the ranks of the D.I.A.

  4

  Keira

  I roamed the halls of the academy like a zombie in the days following the incident with the dragon. Wrapping my head around everything wasn’t easy.

  Despite the fact that Malachai had come back from the outside world and told us that nobody had ever survived the academy, or maybe because of it, everybody seemed to retreat to their own corners. What the hell were we supposed to do with information like that anyway? We didn’t even know what was going on.

  Classes went on, rivalries persisted, and my dreams were growing worse by the night. The dragon in the forest called to me. Mostly at night. I could see those eyes and feel the dragon’s magic any time I closed my eyes. It was enough to drive me mad, if I wasn’t already there.

  I had the growing feeling that the dragon was once a student. How else could I explain the backpack, the attempt to communicate, or even the fact that the dragon hadn’t killed me?

  I filed into Kiln’s class happy to concentrate on something other than my thoughts. These days, the classes were what kept me going. I thudded into my seat, making a point not to look over to where I knew Malachai was sitting.

  He had been trying to talk to me for days, but I wasn’t ready. I didn’t know if I’d ever be ready after what he did to me. And Ian. And Rafe.

  And yet, ever since that night together in the administrative records room, I felt a connection to him. And it wasn’t just physical.

  He was still hot as hell, and I couldn’t stop my body from reacting to him whenever he was near, but it was more than that. He had tried to warn me about dark magic. Which was annoying because there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

  But once we hooked up, it was after that my magic took an even darker, more powerful turn. Even without the ring. I could feel the magic within.

  It was restless, and it was growing. I was going to have to figure out what to do about it soon, and as usual, there was nobody to ask.

  Kiln? She already hated me as it was. Malachai? I wasn’t ready and he rarely gave me a straight answer anyway. As usual when it came to these things, I was probably on my own.

  Was he just raving when he got back or were we all really in mortal danger? Because despite what he said, life here didn’t seem any more dangerous that it was before.

  I knew I’d have to have that conversation with him at some point, but I wasn’t done being angry with him.

  The familiar castle-like surroundings of the inside of Professor Kiln’s classroom made me feel better. I never got tired of staring at the details.

  From the gray brick walls to the almost lifelike flicker of the torches, I was always enthralled. And that’s when I saw it. A new detail.

  For a moment I wondered if I had just missed it before, but that wasn’t possible. I stare at this room every day. And yet today, the ceiling above Professor Kiln’s desk was decked out in some kind of red and green vine woven together against a cream backdrop in a beautiful tapestry.

  I thought about Professor Kiln’s magic philosophy and how she told us earlier in the semester to focus on what magic was at its core.

  Looking around every day, I was beginning to think that maybe one of the most important aspects to the successful use of magic was setting the scene.

  Kiln may have rode my ass when I first got here, but she was a first-rate magic teacher. The best at the school.

  Right on cue, Professor Kiln rushed into the classroom just as the bell rang. More books than usual were stacked in her spindly arms, her green knit slouchy hat was on crooked, and a yellow sticky note was stuck to one of her sensible one-inch block heels that I could only see because today her black skirt didn’t brush the grey stone floor.

  Her default teaching expression was normally a neutral, overworked concentration. Today, she looked worried. I wondered what she was worried about.

  “Okay, students, settle down,” she said, plopping the books down on her desk before facing the class without bothering to sit down. “Today, we are going to talk about forbidden magic.”

  An excited gasp rippled through the classroom. I wasn’t raised on magic the way the other students were, but even I was intrigued. Why would any magic be forbidden? I knew what my next search at the library was going to be.

  Several hands shot up around me.

  “Yes,” Professor Kiln said dryly without calling on anybody, “I am very much aware that there is no chapter on this subject in the textbook, you bunch of suck-ups. Put your hands down and listen for once. Not everything can be written down. Some things have to be spoken. In confidence.”

  The room had gone totally silent and I could feel the excitement rippling through the room. Whatever this forbidden magic thing was, it had everybody on the edge of their seats.

  Professor Kiln scanned the eyes of the students. “It might not seem like it to you right now, but the subject that we’ll be discussing t
oday is a masters level concept. Trust. Information. Power. These are the tools of the magic trade. These concepts can mean the difference between success and failure in the magical community at large. Under the right circumstances, they can mean the difference between life and death.”

  She continued to look over the class with her forehead all wrinkled up with worry. I wondered if she hadn’t gotten into a stash of special mushrooms or something. I looked around nervously at the other students, but they were looking at the Professor with rapt attention.

  I should have been happy. Every other time there were whispers and drama in this class I had been at the center of it. Usually in front of the class and being humiliated. Today felt different.

  “Who can name some of the forbidden types of magic?” she asked.

  A hand shot up in the front row. Kiln pointed at the student.

  “Necromancy,” he said.

  “Very good,” Kiln answered. “We are forbidden to mess with the dead. That speaks for itself. What else?”

  “Alterations,” someone shouted.

  “True,” Professor Kiln snapped, “but what exactly are alterations?”

  “Like altering matter,” the student persisted. “It’s forbidden.”

  “Why is it forbidden?” Kiln asked. It wasn’t rhetorical, she waited for an answer. When she didn’t get one, she decided to tell us herself.