Page 56 of Zodiac Beasts

“Are you alright?” I asked, tentatively. I took a step closer. His eyes remained closed. I watched his chest rise and fall.

“Am I alright.” He repeated the words, as though he was rolling them on his tongue, deciding if he liked the taste. He lifted his chin then opened his eyes leisurely, as though he was rousing from a nap. “I’m much better now.” An uncharacteristically wicked smile painted his lips, and that was when I finally noticed the glint of white and silver scales trailing down the sides of his neck, disappearing under the collar of his shirt. He was definitely shifted. “So much better with you here, Lila.”

I froze when I met his eyes, though I couldn’t tell if it was magical or by my own fear. I shouldn’t have been afraid of him, and yet, even when I was in my own shifted form, I felt helpless in front of him. The platinum irises were near glowing under the lunar light, while his pupils had narrowed into those snakelike slits.

He took a step toward me, while keeping me captive in his Basilisk gaze.

“I’d tell you to stay right there, but you don’t have much choice now, do you?” He chuckled, his eye contact never faltering. I couldn’t even make myself breathe. “The Eye of the Basilisk isn’t something that a creature like you can fight against. The reason the Arya family holds such status as a Legacy family of Graves, is because nothing can stand up to this sort of ancient magic. It’s a wonderful defense as an Omega who is prone to being used and subjugated in our vicious world. Not that you would understand that.”

Though I wanted to respond, my lip couldn’t even quiver. There was no reason he needed to use this power on me. I wasn’t any threat to him. I was a Beta Virgo. What was I going to do?

He stepped in close, entering my space, and placing a hand on my cheek. He drew a line beneath my right eye with his thumb, and he looked at me with pity, like I was something precious that stumbled into a spider web. “Breathe, Lila.” He whispered, releasing me with a blink that lasted only long enough for a single desperate inhale. I barely had time to realize what had happened before he had me ensnared again. He held my face firmly as he whispered, “One more time.” Another blink.

I slammed my eyes closed just in time to take back my senses, before he could grab me in his hold again. I jerked away, and stepped back suddenly, though I knew I couldn’t open my eyes again, and I wasn’t familiar enough with the layout of the room to navigate in total blindness.

“Okay, I get it.” I shook my head, and took another step back, hoping I wouldn’t trip over anything. “That’s enough. Let’s get back to work.” If he was out of his mind like Marcus and Adrian always were, that pleading would fall on deaf ears, but if he was more like me, maybe I could appeal to reason.

“Enough?” His tone was mocking. He barely sounded like Ceto anymore. “But we’ve only just begun.”

I felt his body heat as he moved in close, and I retreated another step. My foot caught on the carpet, and I stumbled.

But Ceto caught me, swiftly hooking an arm around my waist, and pulling me against him.

“You’re scaring me.” I said, my eyes still squeezed shut.

“I should be.” Ceto laughed. “I’m honestly amazed it took you this long to realize the danger you were in.” He lifted my chin with his thumb and forefinger, and I felt the warmth of his breath as he sniffed along my neck. “Closing your eyes isn’t going to be enough to keep you safe, puppet.” A brush of his lips was followed by the pierce of fangs. I gasped sharply, as he sank his teeth into my neck, and my eyes shot open the second before I felt my whole body lose all strength. My arms dropped to my sides, my legs gave out, and my chin dipped under the weight of my own head. It was only that arm around my waist that was holding me upright. I could breathe, but I couldn’t seem to speak.

“Since you’re so, so curious, let me continue this little lesson. A basilisk’s eyes will turn you to stone. A hybrid basilisk’s venom, however, will make you my little doll.” Ceto hoisted me into his arms, princess style. Then he walked me over to his bed, and he set me gingerly on the comforter. “People think Omegas are so powerless, only because they’ve never mixed their blood with something truly evil.” That smirk gave me goose bumps. He leaned over me, a hand on each side of my head, and his body casting me in shadow. “You’re so lucky you were raised as human. This all must sound so foreign to you. It’s about time someone explained.”

The snow white of his irises were as bright as the moon, as he gazed upon me with cruel pity. I’d once seen his shifted slit-like pupils as snake eyes, but that gaze was purely demonic now. “These mighty Alphas of yours thought that a little mark meant they’d claimed you. A mark that you could reject, should they ever step over the line and break consent.” He leaned in close, and he traced Marcus’ mark on my neck, before drifting to Adrian’s mark on my lip. He kissed me softly. His forked tongue brushed the Capricorn symbol as he slid out of my mouth. “But the claim I can make on your body…” He tipped my head back and sniffed along the front of my neck, while his hand idly slid down the strap of my dress. “… Is so much more permanent.”

His touch descended to my wrist, where he unclasped my bracelet and tossed it aside. I had no idea what any of this meant, but the threat of it was enough to have my heart pounding.

“What is it about you that makes me so crazy, Lila?” He slipped the other strap down my shoulder, then he sank his teeth into me again. Though I couldn’t move, every touch and every shot of pain was intensely vivid. “I just want to dress you up and keep you in my bed. You make such a beautiful doll.” He tugged the straps down further, dropping the bust of my dress to expose my breasts, then he gazed down at me like I was a precious toy. “I should have claimed you sooner. If I’d never let you run away, you wouldn’t have come back with these ugly scars.”

He climbed down my body, dropping kisses down my skin. My neck, my collarbone, my chest. He trailed his lips up the full of my breasts, then leisurely tasted my nipple. The split of his tongue created a unique pressure, teasing the sensitive nerve endings on each side of the nub.

With methodical and nimble fingers, he undid the laces of the corset bodice, and he worked the dress down to my hips. His fangs penetrated my breast as he forced the soft material past the widest point, then he withdrew his venomous bite to finish undressing me. He tugged down my panties, careful not to tear the delicate lace of the garment, then he tossed my clothing aside, letting it crumple on the floor of his bedroom.

I was naked in his bed, under the weight of his body, and all I could do was watch. I couldn’t decide if I was terrified or exactly as turned on as my dripping pussy implied, and that was the most fucked up part of all of it. The possessiveness played to both my flight instincts and some unreasonable kink in the same breath. I’d been with enough half-shifters during the full moon now to know it wasn’t Ceto I was looking at anymore, but I also didn’t know if I believed this side of their consciousness wasn’t something that existed deep inside them that they refused to acknowledge was honest and real.

Ceto sucked in a breath through his teeth in a low hiss, as he lowered his nose down to my core. He dragged the split of his tongue in between my folds, grazing both sides of my clit on the way up. He licked his lips, like he was painting himself in my flavor, then he took another slow taste.

“I suppose it’s not too late.” He whispered against my navel as he started climbing up my body again. “I can still make you mine. Judging by the number of mate scars on your body, your pacts don’t give anyone power over you. Not like I can.”

My body still paralyzed, he stopped his ascent, and instead grabbed my hips and tugged me down beneath him. Our lips parallel, he started undoing his belt while he distracted me with another savored kiss.

“I can put a child in you.” He punctuated the sentence with his cock, entering me suddenly and completely. My mind was struggling to keep up with the threat of his words as he started to move, dragging the slickened head over all the right places. “I can tie you to my DNA forever, and use that blood to control you.” He slid in and out of me slowly, and it was only by the power of my unrestricted nerve endings that my pussy clenched around him. “Will you fight me, Lila? Won’t you tell me to stop? Call for your little Alpha mates?”

My breathing hitched, despite the poison. That seemed to be the only thing I could still do. I latched on to that singular sensation, like a beacon in a fog of pain and pleasure.

Ceto braced himself on his elbows, framed around my head, while he fucked me slowly. “No. My little doll doesn’t want me to stop, does she?” His breathing was shallow and unsteady. “She loves getting fucked, just. Like. This.”

The way he was driving into me was ecstasy. Against my better judgment, I wanted to claw at his back, to bow into him, to feel more of his body on mine. Would he really get me pregnant? I didn’t want that. I wasn’t ready for that. I didn’t think I ever would be. Fuck, but if he kept making me feel like this, I didn’t care if that was the risk we were taking. That slow build toward climax was nearing a fever pitch, and I needed him to keep going.

“You’ll let me fill you.” His kisses were becoming increasingly desperate between every command. “You’ll let me dress you up in beautiful dresses.” The way his voice shook, while his cock pounded into me, I couldn’t tell if he was more entranced by the moon or my body. “Then you’ll let me take those dresses off you, and ravage your perfect body.”

Ceto forced himself upright, grabbed my thighs, and shoved my knees to my chest. “Fuck, I need you.” He rasped, while sharp claws dug into me. “I just want to swallow you whole.” He angled our bodies so I had to watch him slide in and out of me. His eyes were closed, like he was one step closer to losing his mind on every single thrust. “Won’t you be mine forever?” His words were as erratic as his labored breaths. “My perfect little slave.” He dragged that clawed grip up my soft stomach, and he kneaded me like he was trying to massage my womb. “Never forget who truly owns you, Lila.”