Page 21 of Zodiac Hybrids

I was taken aback by that. Pathetic. He fucks her and can’t even face her like an adult? I suppose expecting him to face anything like an adult was a tall order. He may have eight years on me, but Adrian had always been petty and unreasonable, in my opinion.

Me: That’s awful. How about I buy you dinner and you can tell me all about it.

I should have asked what happened, but it would be more enjoyable to watch her squirm around the subject in person.

Baby Doll: Like… as a date?

Me: Only if you’re comfortable with that. I don’t want to overstep any boundaries.

A snort escaped my throat. I mean, I’d only fucked her a little bit, so we were still acquaintances. We could discuss that later as well. If Adrian was already going that cold on her, then she was definitely someone I needed to keep tabs on, and it was already obvious that I’d made the right choice on marking her.

Baby Doll: Do you really want to go on a date with me?

That’s a weird fucking question.

Me: I asked, didn’t I?

Baby Doll: You did, but why?

My nose scrunched as I stared at the message. I was so confused. She smelled like heaven, tasted like power and chocolate, and was cute as a box of kittens wearing hats. What part of that did she think would turn me off? Whether my motives were questionable or not, she would be on my radar either way.

Me: Because you interest me?

It felt like she was fishing for something, and I was at a total loss as to what her hang up was. I knew for sure she couldn’t find me unattractive. That was literally impossible. So why was she so bothered that I would ask her out?

Wait.

Unless she was also hung up on Adrian for more reasons than his full moon draw and the virginity thing. I liked that she was driving him crazy, but she wasn’t supposed to be interested in him earnestly. That would be… annoying. Was Incubus dick really so great that you’d ignore a perfectly good, perfectly hot, and perfectly capable vampire right in front of your face? That was no good.

Before she could attempt to reject me, I sent a quick follow up.

Me: You’re new to Graves, while I grew up here. If you’d rather not call it a date, let’s call it a tour. Let me help you fall in love with my hometown. I want to turn around your whole experience.

That sounded better. Who could say no to that kind of offer? I nodded to myself, feeling rather satisfied with my improvisation skills. Women were not typically a challenge for me, but then, I also hadn’t shared any women with him before.

Baby Doll: Okay. What time?

Nailed it. The amount of relief in my exhale was almost embarrassing. I hoped she hadn’t rejected my mark yet. As an Alpha, not many beasts could reject my mate scar. But then, since she hadn’t technically consented to it, she would have the power to do so, whether she was an Alpha, Beta, or Omega. Well, if she was an Alpha, my mark shouldn’t have taken at all, so that would put her in one of the other two camps.

Which one, though? A fertile little Omega might be fun. But a submissive Beta would be even better.

The smile on my face was purely involuntary as I shot her one more quick text.

Me: I’ll pick you up at 3:00.

I shoved my phone in my pocket and rolled my neck. That gave me plenty of time to stop by to see my dearest Adrian. I hadn’t had a chance to talk with him since that lovely little moonlit night, and I was sure he wasn’t in any reasonable headspace. This would be the perfect time to torment him.

Adrian’s house was in the suburbs, where several other professors at Graves made their home. Mostly shifters, from my experience. A lot of the professors were shifters, some from the Zodiac orders, both Western and Eastern, and many from various mythological breeds like griffins or golems. Full bred vampires rarely liked to be awake during the day, so only the most passionate became professors, and they had to stay within the protective glass until night fell. Only a handful of were-animals were on staff, considering they were diseased mutts, and most didn’t learn about the magical world until adulthood. Warlocks and witches dominated most administrative positions, while fae gravitated towards the infirmary and care positions.

As half breeds, Adrian and I were outliers on that campus. I was reasonably sure there were others, but most hybrids picked one half of their bloodline or the other to represent, rarely admitting to their impure halves for fear of ostracization.

I, personally, had no qualms with either half of my existence, so I saw no reason to be ashamed of mixed gifts. My Sagittarius Shifter mother, who gave birth to me in the month of the Leo, gave me my lion’s heart and the ability to day walk and eat human food, and my vampire father gave me speed, fangs, and blood lust. What more could a man ask for?

The hypnotizing dick of an incubus, maybe.

I knocked on his door and waited impatiently for an answer. Once it had been long enough that I figured he was waiting for me to go away, I knocked a second time, louder and intentionally much more annoyingly.

“What do you want, Marcus.” Adrian demanded through a slight crack of the door. It wasn’t a question, because it was never a question with him.