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PENN

I watched Cam for the next few days. My eyes immediately drifted to him every time he came into the newspaper room. He looked better than he had the day we spoke. His skin was clear, and his eyes were bright. The bags underneath his eyes had been unpacked, and his hair fell in his eyes in a way that looked professionally styled. Except every single time he did anything, it fell right back into place.

I wondered if it was an incubus thing.

It was much more interesting than the story about parking I’d been writing. When I turned it in, Ever read over it and put it in a stack with other assignments that had been handed in. I noticed that he actually took the time to read articles that other people handed him. Mainly the articles that other monsters gave him. It was frustrating. What was the point in an integrated newspaper staff if our articles were just put in a stack while all the attention was given to the stories the monsters wrote. Maybe it was because they were given the more interesting stories.

Because really, who the hell cared about parking? I’d written the article, and I couldn’t care less about it.

Once everyone’s new assignments had been handed out, Ever opened up the floor for pitches. I watched as he wrote article ideas down on the whiteboard in his old fashioned, looping handwriting. I kept trying to think of something good to pitch, but I had nothing. No ideas that might have actual weight. Not that it would have mattered. I noticed the way Ever’s eyes skimmed over the raised hands of every human in the room while most of the ideas the monsters handed out were greeted with praise. Even the ones that were almost as boring as my parking story.

It was irritating, and it didn’t exactly inspire me to come up with earth-shattering ideas. Except I didn’t want to be stuck with boring puff pieces all semester, so I was going to have to come up with something that wowed him. When we were dismissed, I decided that I was going to return with something. I had just under twenty-four hours to come up with an amazing idea that would get Ever’s interest. One that would get me a byline about something other than parking or whatever other hollow ideas Ever came up with for the human staff writers.

My determination fueled me as I made my way across campus. I asked my roommates for ideas, but none of them had anything. They were more concerned with their actual assignments and scolding me about the fact that I should be doing the same instead of obsessing over getting a good byline in the newspaper. They didn’t understand.

I’d always dreamed of being a reporter. I’d been the editor of my high school paper, and I’d had good stories at my university last year. I wondered if I’d have made the choice to transfer if I’d have known the way that Ever ran the newspaper.

Okay, I wondered for half a second. I knew the answer immediately. Of course I would have.

I fell asleep with no more ideas than I’d had at the end of newspaper.

“I just can’t figure out any stories to pitch,” I complained to my friend, Mallory, over lunch. We were in Intro to Monsterkind together, and she was pretty cool. We’d gotten along from the first moment when we’d taken empty seats next to each other. She might not have been my closest friend on campus, but it felt like she was well on her way to getting there.

She was also an incredibly patient listener. She’d spent the better part of the last hour listening to me rant about my newspaper problems while she picked at her plate of crinkle cut french frights. “What kind of stories do you want to read in a school paper?” she asked after a few moments.

“Obviously things about the school, but this is different. I mean, the school is different. There are a lot of different angles that stories can take here, angles that aren’t available at all-human schools. Hell, even angles that wouldn’t be available at an all-monster school.” I took a deep breath. “Meaning that our school paper has a unique chance to talk about human and monster interactions. We can write hard hitting pieces about how difficult it can be for a human or a monster to share space. We can talk about, I don’t know, inter-species relationships.”

“Those sound like they’d be good stories,” a smooth voice behind me commented.

I knew the voice before I even looked. It was the voice that starred in my dreams for the past few nights. I’d imagined that voice whispering things into my ears as his hands moved over my body and made me cry out. I’d woken up rock hard after each of these dreams and when I jacked off, it took every ounce of self-control to not shout out his name as I came.

And then I had the horrified realization that he probably could sense that. He could probably sense a spike in my sexual energy as I lusted after him, and he could probably put two and two together and realize that spike occurred when he sat down.

How humiliating.

“Cam!” Mallory exclaimed. She moved her tray over a little and motioned to one of the empty seats at the table. “Sit down. Elaborate. Help Penn figure out story ideas. He’s been obsessing since Intro to Monsterkind and I’ve been no help. And I mean obsessing . He met me after my math class just so he could complain again about how he didn’t have any ideas.”

I was going to kill Mallory. This was almost as humiliating as the idea of Cam being able to figure out what I was thinking about when he came and sat down with us.

Cam turned his piercing blue eyes in my direction, and my stomach did a little swoop. “What you were talking about when I came up,” he started as he unwrapped his burger. “Those were really good ideas. It’s a lot more interesting than the freshman dorm politics beat Ever has me on, even if there’s some of the same meat there. And you can offer a unique perspective, a voice of comparison since you went to an all-human school last year.”

“Every human on staff went to an all-human school last year,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, but not every human on the newspaper staff is obsessing over story ideas or coming up with good ideas about how to turn those experiences into stories. Outlining your experiences with inter-species friendships and interactions would be great. Especially from a human point of view.”

“Why would it be more interesting from a human point of view?” I asked. Mallory looked just as confused by that statement as I felt.

“Because it’s not a perspective I’ve seen used when talking about human and monster interactions. Every textbook about it on campus is written by monsters for monsters. It’s different.”

“I’m sure there are plenty of people who write about it from a human perspective. I could probably look it up online and find a thousand blogs.”

“Just think about it,” Cam reiterated. “Mallory, what do you think?”

Mallory looked like she was about to swoon when Cam turned that look of his on her. It was nice to know I wasn’t the only one who got caught unawares by it. It also felt a little off that she was just as affected. I mean, I knew from our conversation in the newspaper room that his primary feeder was a guy, but I didn’t know if he was only interested in guys. I also didn’t know if he ever messed around with humans that he wasn’t feeding on… Or anyone he wasn’t feeding on for that matter.

In short, I didn’t know if the look he gave to Mallory was just his face or if it meant something. I did know why it bothered me so much, but it shouldn’t have. I had no claim on the man.

“I… Fuck, Cam, I told you not to turn your incubus charm on me when you ask me questions,” she scolded, her green eyes narrowed. “It gets me all discombobulated.”

Cam laughed. “Sorry. I didn’t realize I was doing it.”

“Discombobulated?” I questioned, trying hard not to burst out in laughter. I didn’t think I’d ever actually heard someone say that in real life. It sounded like a fake word.

“Shut up, Penn!” Mallory turned her not-so-intimidating glare on me. Her look softened as she turned back to face Cam. “I think I’d be interested to hear those stories. I mean, read those stories. I know it’s only been a few weeks, but I feel like I know more about what it’s like to interact with you guys more than I ever did before. I lived in an all human town. I didn’t actually meet a monster until the summer between high school and college. I just knew the kinds of things my family used to say.”

“What did they used to say?” Cam asked before he took a bite of his burger. I should not have been focusing so hard on the way he put meat into his mouth. I definitely shouldn’t have been thinking about the dream I’d had the other night where it had been my meat in his mouth. Cam gave me a weird look and I felt my cheeks flush.

He couldn’t read my mind, according to him, but I’m sure he could pick up on the vibes I was putting off. I needed to control myself. Christ on a crutch.

Mallory didn’t seem to catch any of the strangeness going on between us. She just fidgeted with her french frights before she took a deep breath. “That there were some monsters who, by their very nature, were really manipulative. Then they watched too many werewolf movies and they seem to think that all shifters will somehow manage to turn me. When I got in here, they made me promise to stay in on the full moon.”

“Seriously?” Cam asked. “They know it’s not contagious, right? I don’t think anyone knows what caused some people to turn into monsters back when it all started, but I’ve never heard of anyone getting bitten on a full moon and turning into a monster themselves. They’re also aware that people can shift without the full moon, right?”

Mallory shrugged. A buzzing came from her pocket. “Shit! I have to jet. I have a study group.” She looked between me and Cam. “Penn, listen to Cam. Pitch those types of stories. I bet you anything that other humans on campus will like them. Cam, I’ll see you tomorrow in class.” She paused before adding, “We have Monster History together.” I nodded, knowing it was solely for my benefit. Mallory gave us one last smile before she rushed off, tossing her trash in a garbage can before she disappeared out the door.

“If I had an ounce of her energy, I don’t think I’d ever have to feed again,” Cam muttered as he watched her leave.

“Is that a thing?” I asked stupidly. “Like if you get enough energy, can you go without feeding? Like from caffeine or energy drinks or something?”

“No. Not at all. If I don’t feed…” He trailed off.

There was a look in his eyes that made me want to ask more questions, but I didn’t. It felt too personal. “It’d be bad?” I asked instead.

“Yeah, it’d be bad, but don’t worry. That’s not a thing anyone needs to worry about.”

Right, because he had a regular feeder. No matter how many times I fantasized about hooking up with him, he had something going already. And again, I didn’t know if he hooked up with humans he wasn’t feeding from. I didn’t even know if he hooked up outside of feeding. I didn’t know a lot about him at all.

I wanted to remedy that, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. He still had a full tray of food in front of him, and I didn’t have another class for thirty minutes.

“So, you and Mallory are friends?”

“We’re friendly,” he answered. “I don’t know her all that well yet. She’s really sweet. Last week when I wasn’t feeling very well, she gave me her notes. I could barely focus in class, and Monster History is one of my favorite classes.”

“Really? I struggle in there.”

“Yeah, I’m a huge history buff. Human, monster, it doesn’t really matter. I’ve always liked seeing where we came from. I like seeing the patterns.”

“The patterns?”

“Yeah,” he answered. His blue eyes were sparkling. His entire face was lit up with happiness and excitement. He was even sexier like that. When my stomach swooped this time, it wasn’t because he’d caught me by surprise with that incubus charm of his, as Mallory had succinctly called it. It was because he looked amazing when he was happy. It was because he had an infectious smile with perfectly white teeth. For a moment, they looked even, but then I noticed that one of his canine teeth was slightly askew. It made his smile even more charming.

Fuck, I was going to swoon.

“What do you mean about the patterns?” I asked, my voice coming out too quickly. I was not going to swoon in the cafeteria. I could have some semblance of self-control, even in the face of the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen.

“Well, history repeats itself. You can start to predict what’s going to happen based on what’s happened before. There are patterns of behavior. There are bits of history that seem to appear in so many different versions and different places. Mythology from one area turning into history in another. Shared cultures. Then there are stories in human history about monsters, even though the information isn’t exactly right . Like your thing the other day, where you were worried that incubi could sneak into your dreams and read your mind…”

“But you can’t, right? You can’t tell what I’m thinking. Ever?”

“No. I can’t tell what someone’s thinking. Ever. I can tell when there are certain spikes, when I’m trying to snack. But I won’t do that around you. I usually only do that when I’ve gone a bit too long without a feeding or I need a small boost of energy.”

I wanted to tell him that he could do that around me, but then I remembered when that happened. When I looked at him.

It was probably better that I never opened that door.