Page 13 of Zodiac Demons

“Yes, she’s brilliant with numbers. We also share Calculus, and we often study together.” I managed a fully respectable response, as ‘yes, she was able to handle an impressive volume of my ‘inventory’ last month’ sounded somehow less socially appropriate.

“We’re really good at studying,” Lila muttered, and she was truly and miraculously even worse at this than I was.

“Is Evangeline in?” Lane, fortunately, seemed none the wiser to our poorly hidden secrets. “I was hoping to see her while I was in town, and when Lila told me she was working at Threads of the Magi, I couldn’t resist stopping in.”

By the devil, no. And I thanked every star in the sky for that fact right now.

“She and my father often travel in the summer to find new fabrics and attend tradeshows, in between their duties to the Counsel, since I’m on break and can take over the store in the meantime. Unfortunately you’ll most likely miss her on this stay, as I don’t expect them back until September at the soonest.” I had never been so grateful for anything in my life. Imagine my shifter mother, who would immediately recognize our closed pact, conversing with her demonic goddess of a mother, realizing her son had managed the pact of all pacts, like a defiant prince had accidentally married a secret princess that joined two long separated kingdoms. I didn’t need the headache.

“That’s a shame. We’ll have to all get together for dinner one of these days. It’s been far too long.” Lane Rodanthe-Denton-Lamia was nothing if not upbeat and oblivious. She was so much like Lila it was alarming. They even looked nearly the same. What sort of ritual must they have completed for this offspring situation to have happened?

I didn’t want to ask, because I didn’t want to know. I already knew I’d hear all about it if I didn’t handle this situation before mother decided we’d be doing that ritual too.

“I actually haven’t met your parents yet either, now that I think about it.” Lila chimed in, knowing not of which she spoke.

I switched from blushing to blanching at the mere suggestion. I didn’t even want to imagine Lamia and my unexplainable hybrid mate, sitting down for a cordial meal with my father, the Basilisk himself, my mother, the backstabbing Astrology Shifter who was breathing down my neck to mate, and my half-brother, the rightful heir to the Arya line who lived to torture me. While we were at it, we may as well invite Marcus’ family, just to make this as awkward as possible. Let Hidalgo Emery and Rohan Arya sit at the same table, after Emery not only sued our family for an alleged ‘abuse of magic,’ but petitioned the Counsel to increase taxes on imported materials in response to Father making a deal with a warlock for enchanted fabrics, all because that particular warlock had, also allegedly, murdered four of Emery’s original fledglings. The irony being that neither Father nor the Counsel needed the funding, considering currency meant near nothing to immortals. It all started with father botching the tailoring of one of Hidalgo Emery’s suits out of old world spite and prejudice against Vampires, and it only escalated more and more ridiculously from there.

That paired with our collective Zodiac Shifter mothers who mostly just liked to laugh at our fathers and their petty feud—those two got along swimmingly, for better or for worse—was all a headache I never wanted to experience in my immortal lifetime.

All of this was also on top of the fact that I legitimately had no clue who her other mate mark belonged to, and at this point, I was too afraid to ask. Lila was a magnet for psychopaths, and I was only mentally prepared to deal with one of those right now.

My silence lasted a few seconds too long, likely revealing at least a fraction of my mortification at the suggestion, when I cleared my throat and said, very forced, “I’ll let her know you stopped in when she gets back. Can I help you with anything while you’re here? Being you’ve been away from Graves so long, I’m sure you must be missing our anti-deterioration threads and materials.”

“The material here doesn’t deteriorate?” Lila looked at me with surprise and confusion.

“Not only that, but some of it can even change in shape and size. Evangeline actually designed my wedding dress,” Lila’s mother answered before I could. “She made it out of a fabric that could grow and shrink in size to best fit the wearer since I’d just gotten pregnant with you a few months prior, so maybe one day, when you meet someone…”

Again, both Lila and I stared at each other in silent shared embarrassment. I wanted to focus on the interesting tidbit about the fact that she, the infertile Lamia, had in fact been fully, not-a-surrogate pregnant somehow, but I was too overwhelmed by every shot of pheromones Lila gave off whenever any reference to her love life was made.

“Don’t start with that.” Lila quickly brushed off the line of conversation, as broaching the topic of the fact that she was essentially married twice over in ways far more permanent than a ritual wedding was not how either of us wanted this afternoon to go. “We can talk about that when it’s actually something that could happen.” Her nervous laugh continued to be painfully suspicious, and I might have groaned at her lack of social subtlety if not for the fact that I wasn’t any better at it. A relationship where neither person was a functional extrovert was doomed from the start.

Everything about this situation was doomed from the start.

“So… is everything here enchanted then?” Lila asked, picking up a basic pair of workout shorts, as if she was seeing them for the first time.

I blinked, several times, having not even realized I’d never told her that. I suppose not-at-all-human Lila wouldn’t have known, anyway. “Yes, it’s all enchanted. There’s a reason the sewing club often wins the free trip at the spring picnic. We not only had the most popular booth among humans for offering free tailored clothing, but we had the most subtle integration of magic, satisfying both sides of Graves’ judging categories.”

“Oh, the Fazer Island Resort trip? I used to go every year as a chaperone. Lila, you need to see it. I’ll get you a ticket.” Lane Denton gushed, and I immediately regretted mentioning it.

“Someone will need to cover the shop if you’re going to be on a trip though.” Lila interjected for both of our sakes, as she very likely didn’t want to spend another full moon anywhere near me. “S-so, I would hate to crash the party uninvited or anything.”

“Oh boo. And here I thought it would be wonderful if you could be friends with my best friend’s son.” Her mother pouted, this whole exchange playing out as if I wasn’t even here.

“It’s only for two nights, so I’m sure it won’t be an issue,” I said, having no idea what compelled me to do so. The correct answer would have been me saying I wasn’t going to go at all, as I hadn’t planned to, but this cornered, off the cuff, terrible answer was to be my fate now.

Perfect. Another full moon locked in a box together, seeing how long either of us could resist the pull of lunar insanity and our own mate bond.

What joy it was to be a hybrid this day.

What joy.

Lila lit up—a most unexpected reaction to something so mortifying. “Then let’s go. I want to see a beach so bad.”

I was not picturing Lila in the little swimsuit she bought from me earlier this year. Absolutely I probably wasn’t.

That’s the mate bond talking.

“Done and done.” Lane pulled out a phone, and started typing something. I was about to will myself to volunteer my extra ticket, when she put her phone away with a big grin. “I pulled some strings, and we’re in. I can’t wait to hear all about your first Fazer Full Moon Party. This is an important part of your college experience.” She winked as she ruffled Lila’s hair affectionately, and again Lila’s face was as red as mine felt.