Page 32 of Zodiac Hybrids

The library. Given the nature of this place, I would bet that they had books about different magical creatures. Considering Professor Karras only fed me breadcrumbs of information, that might’ve been my best chance of getting ahead of the curve. Maybe I’d even impress him with my knowledge if I did some independent studying.

“I’ll check it out.” I said with a thankful smile. Marcus just nodded in acceptance.

Graves Academy had an incredible library, with everything from romance novels to manga to old encyclopedias to an entire section dedicated to mythological monsters of lore. Which was exactly what I’d been hoping for, considering, apparently, most of the school was comprised of monsters.

Or so I was told. I was still trying to wrap my head around this new and undeniable world I’d stepped into. Though, with the exception of the professor, no one else had given me any reason to believe they were anything more than human. But then again, if I hadn’t encountered him on a full moon, he would be hiding in plain sight still too.

Who else though? Was Linda a… what did he call it again? A shifter? What about Marcus?

I touched the mark on my neck that I was now hiding with a little make-up. The fact that he was a Leo had to be a coincidence. When would he have had the chance to put that mark there? I’d never bled in front of him, and if mate marks required a bite or a blood exchange—as confirmed by these werewolf books I was reading—then he wouldn’t have any way of having marked me without my knowledge.

But then, what did it mean? I’d felt a connection to Marcus, but I assumed that was just his natural charisma drawing me in. What if he was something even more terrifying than the professor?

I’d had that subconscious feeling since I met him, and yet I was still struggling to believe it could be true. I liked him too much, and I didn’t want to find out he was just hanging around me because I smelled like incubus jizz.

“Werewolves, huh?”

I tore my eyes from my text book to meet the startlingly pale irises of a man with the kind of thick, silky, and soft black hair that made you want to run your fingers through it. His tanned complexion and the black-rimmed, rectangular glasses resting on his sharp nose only highlighted how bright his silver eyes really were. It was like staring into a set of crystals. Or like two diamonds still imprisoned in the brown earth.

Everyone here had unusual eyes, from the professor’s turquoise, to Marcus’ flecked gold, to this man’s platinum that was nearly white.

The sudden realization that all of these inhuman eyes likely meant inhuman people only just now dawned on me, and I felt like a complete idiot for taking this long to make that connection. Immediately I started thinking back to anyone who had slightly unusual eyes, and I told myself to pay more attention in the future.

Though, on that note… what is Marcus, and what is this guy?

“Just doing some light reading.” I whispered back with a smile. Disrupting a library was not among the sins I was willing to commit.

He sat down across from me, because apparently men liked to talk to me now. “I assume if you’re reading about werewolves, you’re not one. Or you came from a very negligent pack.” He glanced up towards the ceiling for a moment, and his thoughtful expression could only be described as cute. He made glasses look way better than I did, with his well-defined cheekbones combined with a look that could only be described as mix of soft and masculine. “Or were you recently turned?”

Wrong on all accounts. Although that was a good indicator that I’d been right in my assumption that he was one of these other types. But also, it seemed a bit curious that he would be so frank and open about the presumed existence of werewolves. It wasn’t phrased like a test. It was like he was comfortably certain I was one of his kind, and it hadn’t even occurred to him to censor himself.

I was about to disappoint him in that assumption. Although judging by the fact that I’d been bitten by, theoretically, two different … magic animal things, I suppose I couldn’t say for sure I wouldn’t turn into a were-Capricorn or whatever on the next full moon.

“I’m actually human, if you can believe it.” I responded with a nervous chuckle.

He scrunched up his nose in blatant offense, and he laughed. “You don’t have to pretend in front of me. This isn’t a test.” He stared directly at me as his pupils shifted into slits that split his diamond eyes, then back again to something that vaguely resembled human pupils. “So what’s your connection with werewolves?”

Why was everyone so convinced I wasn’t human?

I sighed, not nearly as alarmed as I should be at this point in my life, then I flipped the book around to show him the section I’d been reading. “I got bit by… uh… something, and I was wondering if I might turn into a monster too. But… he’s not technically a werewolf or anything. There just weren’t any books that were more specific.”

I stared at the desk as he skimmed over the page, feeling embarrassed to be so ignorant of an entire world that I was now involuntarily a part of.

“But he wasn’t a werewolf?” He turned the page to the next. “Do you know what he was exactly?”

I hesitated, not sure if I was allowed to say it out loud. But there was no one else in the library, and it’s not like I was going to out the professor by name. If this school really was a majority magic, then I could be talking about anyone, really. “He’s a Zodiac Shifter? Does that make sense?”

“It does. You should be fine then.” A quiet smile stretched across his lips, and I immediately found myself at ease. “Zodiac Shifters can’t turn a human, unless they have actual were-blood in them. You do know the difference between a wolf shifter and a werewolf, right?”

“Uh….” I already knew I had a near zero chance of not answering that question with something ignorant and embarrassing. “I’m going to guess that one turns into a normal wolf and the other turns into a wolf-man-thing?”

The stranger laughed, and I pursed my lips. I hated getting questions wrong. “No. They both look like regular wolves when they shift. The ‘wolf-man-thing’ werewolf is a purely human invention.” He flipped the book back around and slid it back across the table. “The difference is that a wolf shifter is born of wolf shifters. A werewolf is an infectious disease.”

“Oh.” I wanted to say that made total sense, but I still felt like I needed some clarity. “So wolf shifters just kind of… exist?”

And that earned a full snort. “Yes, they exist. But a born wolf shifter can’t pass their shifter status onto a human any more than you can pass your ‘human’ status,” he made finger quotes that I didn’t appreciate, “onto a shifter. Conversely, a werewolf is created via a transmittable curse. They can increase their numbers with a bite or a scratch, and their curse dies with them.” He watched me as he spoke with a level of interest that made me blush. “They can also transmit via breeding, however, and they’ll pass on their curse to their children, but they won’t ever have the same control that a wolf shifter has.”

I followed along with his explanation, which matched the page he’d turned to for me. “And the full moon? Is that different too?”