Page 63 of Zodiac Demons

I tried to pick up on her answer—or any thoughts at all—but she was already too far for the limits of my telepathy. At best, we could share sensations through the mate bond, but fear and arousal signals weren’t useful right now.

He must have completely snapped. There was no reason he needed to be out on a night like this, but with how far drained he’d been last I’d seen him, and with this revelation that Lila was his only possible food source, there was no good way this could go for either of them. I honestly had no idea what the Leo trigger was, being I didn’t need one, and I’d never asked him, but he had the strength of the king of beasts, the wings of a devil, and the mania of a frenzy right now, and that was a dangerous combination.

Fuck. Please don’t do something you’ll regret forever, Adrian.

It had been a mistake the day I’d bound him to her. But it was only now that I was realizing how severe.

Chapter 32

Ascending and ascending, we were now level with the highest peaks of the mountains surrounding the city of Graves, and I didn’t know if Marcus would even be able to reach us way up here. Adrian’s powerful wings lifted us to a rocky ledge, then he slammed down with force, landing on the powerful legs of a lion, while keeping me wrapped in his unyielding arms. Dust plumed around us in a cloud of violence, then I was on the rocks, face down, with a claw on the back of my neck, pinning me to the rough granite.

“A-Adrian, what are you doing?” my voice shook with a real fear that was nothing like I’d felt, running through the woods. Nothing like I’d even felt that night in the cafeteria. The way he wouldn’t respond to me, not even with the cruel, demonic ‘darlings’ and sweet nothings he usually used when he was shifted, was setting off every alarm.

Was this because he hadn’t been feeding? Did he let it get too far? Was I meeting that monster that he’d always warned me about?

I’d admittedly been having fun with this fucked up world of monsters, weird orgasms, and magic as I’d come to discover its quirks and pitfalls, but this didn’t feel the same at all. The way he was digging his claws into my skin was threatening and lethal, without the usual edge of desire and care that came with it.

His whole body covered mine, blocking out the moonbeams and engulfing me in shadows. He sniffed along my body with an animalistic hunger as he trapped me under his weight, and I had no recourse to get free.

“Adrian,” I repeated his name, hoping I’d get a reaction of some kind, needing there to be some semblance of the man I knew still in there, but his eyes were vacant and looking right through me. He snarled, bearing a mouth full of fangs, on a face that was both catlike and distinctly his, with his rough and masculine jawline, and his sharp features framing slitted eyes.

His claws grazed my back, dragging slowly down my sundress, splitting the fabric in a slow, controlled cut that penetrated only the surface layer of my skin. He let my dress fall to the stone beneath me, then he rolled me onto my back, exposing me to him completely. I had no time to react before he was pinning both my hands over my head using just one of his large mitts.

But still, he didn’t say a word. This monster was going to eat me alive, possessed by hunger, lust, and the moon, and I had no way to push back on it. I didn’t know if there was any hint of Adrian in there anymore, but there wasn’t any hint of his sensual full moon demon either. This was a beast who had just captured its prey, and now he was playing with its life, drinking in its fear, and reveling in his power and prowess before committing to the kill.

Maybe that was all he was now. Raw instincts and impulse and a drive to feed.

“Adrian, stop.” I tried next, recalling the way he’d said, so long ago, that he couldn’t have taken me without my consent back then. The Capricorn had asked me for permission before he’d penetrated me, and he implied it was some sort of requirement when moon fueled. I just had to get through to him and find the rules of his base magical makeup. “You’re not in your right mind. You don’t want to do this.”

“Don’t I?” The incubus on top of me finally spoke, growling out the words like the feral beast he appeared to be. “I’m starving, Lila. I need you.” He kept me pinned by my wrists with one hand, while he skated his other down my body beneath him. He threatened me with the first hints of pain as he cut along my cheek, then danced the smooth surface of those nails down my neck, over my collarbone, and in between my exposed breasts. The monster on top of me dug the sharp tips into me to scratch four smooth lines down my abdomen, then danced over my hip, lower, until he was sliding those blades down my inner thigh.

I swallowed thickly, just watching his expression all the while, with little else I could do to reclaim control.

I wished right now I was something stronger than a Virgo. Stronger than a Beta. Stronger than the nerdy girl who thought she was human and didn’t understand her own bloodline.

“Your scent is intoxicating.” He purred, before he shoved my legs apart then lifted my hips. He dragged me closer to him, my back protected by the shredded material of my sundress on the rocks beneath me. I told myself to just relax, and that everything would be okay. But the reality was I wasn’t confident he wouldn’t hurt me right now. I didn’t know this monster. “I told you this would be your life one day, didn’t I? I warned you so many times.” It was Adrian’s voice I was hearing, but it wasn’t his mind that was speaking. “You can handle anything I can give you, you said. You can’t take that back now. You already gave me the consent I needed when you let me feed on you that night. It’s not optional anymore. The two sides of this coin are that as much as I now belong to you, you also irrevocably belong to me” Something about that stunned me, stopping my heart in my chest, and sending me into a very real panic. Any other time, I would have been fine with Adrian being a bit rough, bending me over, taking me in the woods, but this wasn’t him.

“Take a deep breath and think about what you’re doing. It’s okay. You’re okay. You just let yourself go too long.” I couldn’t say if I was pleading with him or talking myself down from the fear now rocking me to my core. This was fine. This had to be fine. It was just Adrian. It wasn’t any different from the first time. He didn’t have control like Marcus did. He needed my body to feed, and he couldn’t stop himself. Professor Adrian Karras would never be this person. This was purely the monster who owned his soul. I knew that. I had to know that. I had to believe that. I needed that to be true.

It’ll be okay. I told Adrian I would let him feed off of me. I promised. I was okay with it. I even wanted it. He wasn’t going to hurt me. He just needed my body.

I just didn’t expect it to happen quite like this. But if his feeding required orgasm, then he had to take care of me right now. He couldn’t just fuck me, use me, and leave me here, battered and forgotten.

He needed me to feel it. Give in to it. Want it.

I was talking myself down best I could, and the best rationale I could come up with was simply that I knew and cared for this man, and I wanted him to want me.

This wasn’t how I imagined this night would go, but it’s what I should have expected. If he hadn’t been so damn stubborn, it all would have been easy. But he was so obsessed with the self-imposed ethics of the situation, this was how it was bound to end up eventually. From day one, we both knew it was a possibility that he would give in to violent urges on a moonlit night. It was the reality he feared, and the one I’d thought I could handle, which was what had the rational minded Adrian keeping me at arm’s length for so long.

So tonight, I’d make good on my own bold claim. I’d let his monster have me. I’d show him he was wrong to think that I, the daughter of a fucking demon goddess, couldn’t handle an incubus.

And then I’d be the one who could make demands. Because this wasn’t Adrian.

Adrian wouldn’t forgive himself for this.

Adrian would wallow in the guilt.

Adrian was about to owe me his time, his consideration, and his groveling, because when I said I wasn’t afraid of him, I meant it. And the more I understood about myself, the more I knew I didn’t have to be.