Page 35 of Zodiac Demons

And yet, I was more interested in the golden haired vampire who was placing our things in the closet.

Now that we were alone in a quiet room, I wanted to ask him more, but he continued without me needing to. “The fine details aren’t important, honestly. My point here is just if you’re worried that I’m mad at you for sleeping with someone else after we’d already sealed our pact, I’m really not. I won’t say I wouldn’t struggle with some people you might pick,” the implication of ‘like his brother’ didn’t need to be vocalized, “but he’s actually the best choice you could have made.” He rubbed the back of his neck, uncharacteristically nervous. “Honestly, I’m not sure if I could handle you picking up random strangers. If you were going to still pursue other people, I guess I just want them to be people who you actually care about beyond just surface level lust. And ones who have the capacity to care about you.” That confession was… unexpectedly cute and heartfelt. Marcus using words like ‘I guess’ and ‘I’m not sure’ were also surprisingly unconfident for someone like him. But this topic was one we couldn’t dance around anymore, and he seemed to be parsing his feelings in real time. “I’ve mostly just been a one-night-stand kind of guy until now. Monogamy has never meant much to me, and gender even less, but caring and wanting someone for more than just sex is a bit of uncharted territory on my end. So if you’re going to take on multiple mates, I just want them to be people we both like having around.” He’d lowered his volume as he reached the end of that sentence, and I didn’t need magic bonds to know how vulnerable those words really were for him.

But I hadn’t let myself fully understand what I was doing here either, and I was still figuring out what I wanted. I knew I cared about Marcus on a very real level. Neither of us had vocalized ‘I love you,’ but internally, I knew I felt that way about him, and I could sense that he felt that way about me. He showed me he felt that way constantly, and questioning his devotion at this point would be daft. But I hadn’t shown him that same level of devotion, and that was unfair.

Mom and Dad were just Mom and Dad, not Mom and Dad and ‘Mom’s Boyfriend,’ and Mom’s ‘It’s Complicated.’ I didn’t know how to navigate having my feelings stretched in so many directions, and I didn’t have any examples of it in my normal life to reference. I wished the mating bond had made me want no one but Marcus, but my heart still raced, and my soul still felt a connection when I was with Ceto and Adrian.

Even though he’d refused me, Adrian admitting that he could only feed on me was going to have to come up again at some point, probably soon, and despite trying to be cool and impersonal about it, I knew it wasn’t possible for that to remain platonic and without any feelings. Certainly on my end, but I didn’t trust it wasn’t just as complicated on his end either.

I also knew what might happen when I signed up for inventory. I’d been warned, and I pretended it was ridiculous. But I didn’t hesitate to open that window the moment I’d been given consent to do so, and even when I was terrified of what I initiated, I didn’t regret it.

I swallowed, then gathered my wits, knowing I needed to respond. He deserved to know how I felt too, and saying it out loud would make it easier to figure out what I wanted for myself.

“I don’t just want anyone and everyone indiscriminately either.” I exhaled. “I don’t know if I could stand it if you just went and slept around either. I like what we have.” I needed to get past this sense of guilt. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. This was so complicated and yet the only thing that felt right at the same time. “I know it’s selfish and completely unfair, but I don’t think I could stand the thought of you with another girl. Casual hookups are normal for you, but someone actually wanting me is so confusing and scary, and I keep thinking that the moment you start spending time with someone else, you’ll realize how special I’m not.” Fuck, I hated that I let myself be candid, and that was what I said. I should be confident and proud, like I was some big deal because I had all of these mates, but I was still so scared underneath. It was completely unfair and one sided to expect him to stay loyal only to me, when I wasn’t doing the same for him. This should have been coming from a place of confidence, but instead, my needs were entirely based on my weaknesses.

When I started to frown, ready to backpedal and apologize for my unreasonable admission, Marcus interrupted me with a laugh. “Lila, there is no one like you, and you need to remove the thought that that’s even a possibility. And I don’t mean because you’re the one-off spawn of an infertile goddess. I mean there is no one who is capable of getting under my skin and into my heart like you have, and I have no interest in looking for that either.” He shook his head, before he approached me and squeezed me into a firm hug. His warm scent filled my nostrils, and I relaxed into that affection, letting him be the puzzle piece that clicked perfectly into place with mine. “Unlike you, I can only take on one mark, and it’s the only one I want or need. Anyone else who cherishes you like that is a bonus.” He squeezed me tighter into his firm chest, and I loved it there. “I should have said something sooner, but Ceto is one of those people for me, so I’m glad he’s one of those people for you.”

I almost cried, that felt so good to hear.

Okay, I did cry, but he held me until I got myself back together.

“So it’s going to be okay tonight? With the moon, I mean?” I finally asked, the stress of this ‘vacation’ having been all I could think about, to the point I nearly dreaded the chance to stay in a gorgeous honeymoon suite on a tropical island for my summer break.

“It’s going to be perfect tonight,” he reassured me. “Now relax and get settled in. I have to drop off Ceto’s bag, then we can get dinner.”

I nodded, and Marcus headed out, leaving me to my thoughts.

This was nice. I was so worried about introducing them, when it looked like I wouldn’t have to at all. I was still, admittedly, equally worried about my relationship with Adrian, both how he would fit into this evolving dynamic, and how he was going to sustain himself if he kept avoiding me, but for now, I was going to try to enjoy the moment. It would all work out.

Hopefully.

Chapter 13

Thirteen Months Ago

My head was pounding as I slowly became aware of my body again. My eyes were crusted shut, while my limbs ached as though I’d been pushed off a cliff and tumbled down five miles of rocks and shrubbery. I lifted my hand slowly, then I rubbed at my eyes until I could pry them open. I was in a bed that smelled vaguely of a chocolaty dessert, while the room was dark, and unfamiliar. Purples and yellows, far removed from my black and white apartment, colored everything from the carpeting to the paint to the furniture and bedspread.

Confused and trying to recall what the fuck had happened, I slowly forced myself into a seated position, only to see Ceto in a chair that was butted up against the edge of the bed, and completely passed out on the blanket. His glasses had fallen off his face, and his hair was a mess, as though he’d not taken care of himself in days.

Right, I’d bitten him. I couldn’t remember anything from the time I’d ripped my fangs from his throat and now. This must have been his room. He’d never invited me to his home before. He’d actually actively told me I couldn’t come here.

And yet, somehow he’d brought me here, I was still alive, and it looked like he’d been the one caring for me to keep me that way, possibly for days. I couldn’t help but smile at that. I knew he cared more than he would ever admit, but the ways he showed it through small actions was impossible to ignore.

I adjusted my sore jaw, where not a single muscle had been spared from the dull ache of rejected Basilisk venom. What insane power that was. His stone gaze and paralysis bite was one thing, but to have his literal blood laced with a killing solution? That was something completely unique that I’d never heard of in any capacity, especially as a vampire whose heart was specifically built to process and filter foreign blood for my own use.

This shouldn’t surprise me. He was descended from the King of Serpents, himself, and carried a demonic legacy that was matched by few others. There was nothing common or ordinary about Ceto Arya.

Though to be part shifter, and yet carry blood that was poison to anyone who dared ingest it was a fascinating dichotomy. I might have wondered how an Omega as prized and rare as he was had made it this long without being forcefully mated, but I’d just attributed that to his otherwise lethal gaze. If only a vampire’s sight was immune, then only a hybrid species like myself would be able to both get past his defenses and be able to make a shifter’s mate claim, which was still an exceedingly rare combination. I’d yet to meet another mix like myself.

But if his blood in and of itself could kill, then he couldn’t be marked even if he was restrained, blindfolded, and drugged, could he? Would the ritualistic mixing of blood mixing and bites work for anyone? Or was there only a very specific legacy that would be able to survive something like that?

The real question now was, how was I still alive?

I brushed a hand across his forehead, sliding sweat soaked strands of his pitch black hair out of his resting face. He started to stir, and those brilliantly crystalline eyes blinked slowly into focus.

“You’re awake” were the first words out of his mouth, spoken like an exhale of pure relief. He replaced his glasses and straightened himself out, sitting upright in his chair and rubbing his neck to soothe the aches of that awkward sleeping position beside the bed.

“You could have slept in the bed with me, you know,” I teased, as he tried to shake and smooth out his messy hair. “No reason to risk a crick in your… neck…” His hand dropped back to the bed, no longer covering the spot on his skin that was, clear as day, unmistakably branded by a mate mark. A Leo symbol—MY Leo mark, embedded in his dark skin in an uncompromising claim.