Page 17 of Zodiac Monsters

Chapter 6

I’d arrived with a full half hour to spare, but I knocked no more than ten minutes early, in an effort to appear punctual without being needy.

Lila, however, took unexpectedly long to respond. Those ten early minutes ticked by, and there was still no clicking of a releasing lock or turning of a door knob. All of this was deeply concerning.

She couldn’t possibly not want to see me. I came out as a vampire, not a fucking giant squid. Women love vampires. They always had before anyway. That half of my bloodline, paired with my knowledge of astrology and a few well-placed sweet nothings about compatibility, were my easy ins.

Granted, I hadn’t actively been with many people since returning to Graves last year. Hell, she’d been my first woman in something like a year and a half, so maybe I’d forgotten what women liked. My charm was second to none on the backpacking circuit around Europe and Asia, and I’d had more than my share of random pussy, from human to harpy to dragon, but maybe what worked for those ladies didn’t work for the awkward, introverted ones. Or perhaps what worked for a one night stand simply didn’t work to form any sort of lasting relationship.

Hmmm, how philosophical.

Having never been in a long term anything was a flaw Adrian and I shared. Were we both traumatized? At the rate Lila was answering the door, I had plenty of time to ponder on that.

This was absolutely aggravating, but it was also a clear sign that I’d been approaching her all wrong. Would she respond better if I showed up at her door with a movie and a pizza, rather than a motorcycle and a devilish smile?

What in the actual fuck am I on about?

Was innocent little Lila Denton seriously making me question my sex appeal? Maybe her existence wasn’t drawing me in as much as it was making me fucking insane. She had me questioning obvious reality, to the point her very existence was gaslighting my confidence. Which was wild, considering my entire persona with that woman had been shamelessly fabricated to win her over.

Maybe that was the problem. Maybe Lila would prefer the real me. She liked my grumpy, asshole brother after all…

I slowly ran my tongue over my teeth as I contemplated that thought, then I shook my head. We’d uh… work up to that. I’d terrified the last Zodiac Shifter I’d slept with during last year’s Veloce field trip, and he still wasn’t talking to me. I didn’t want that with Lila.

I knocked again, showing great restraint, hopefully hiding the fact that each tap was characterized more by panic than impatience. It was another five excruciating minutes before she answered.

“Oh hey, Marcus.” She spoke with neither interest nor urgency, and she was still dressed in sweats and a messy bun. While she looked good in anything or nothing, her complete disinterest in impressing me was a blazing red flag for such a new relationship. Comparatively, I’d spent half an hour trying to get my hair to be messy in just the right way before I’d come here, only to have to repeat it after my helmet ruined my best efforts.

Fuck, maybe she did like Adrian’s stupid wings and horns better. Did he use his tail in some weird erotic way that I didn’t know about? Was his species legitimately as much of a sex god as the legends implied, even though my brother was a closed off, frigid prude?

Either Lila was becoming a master manipulator, or she was just that unimpressed.

This was unacceptable. I mean, I wasn’t about to say that the way those sweats hugged her deliciously thick hips wasn’t visually appealing, nor would I ever imply that I didn’t like her hair disheveled, but I wanted her to be cozy because she was content and comfortable around me, not because I’d become an unwanted afterthought.

By the mother fucking devil.I would claw my own eyes out if it would stop all of this uncharacteristic overthinking. Magic was the only explanation for why I would ever question myself around anyone. I could literally read her fucking mind, and I knew she at least sort of liked me at one point, so why was I spiraling?

“Am I too early?” I asked, somehow feigning cool and collected. I’d waited to knock again until I was two minutes late, which meant she’d definitely already passed whatever allotted time she’d given herself for changing and freshening up.

“Yeah, sorry, I lost track of time.” Lila shrugged, but she didn’t invite me in. “Can you wait out there for, like, ten minutes while I change?”

“Of course. Anything for a lady.” Every muscle was tense, but I held still as she shut the door on me. The thought let’s get this over with flashed through her mind, and I wondered where this sudden guardedness was coming from. She seemed fine the morning after. Fine enough anyway. Fine-ish?

I’d definitely read her completely wrong.

She kept me waiting for about thirty more minutes, letting me reel into insanity. Did she have any intention of coming back out, or was she standing me up at her dorm room door? What a thrilling adventure in self-doubt today was turning out to be.

When she finally opened up again, my whole body relaxed. She surfaced with her silky dark hair cascading down past her shoulders, wearing jeans that hugged her legs like a loving embrace, and a sweater that rested comfortably atop her hips, tapered to follow the soft shapes of her body. The heavy material accented her ample curves beautifully, and I may have stared at her longer and more silently than I’d intended.

Why was I so taken with her, and why was I becoming okay with that fact? This wasn’t the plan. I didn’t want it to be the plan. But… maybe…

I cleared my throat.

“Worth every minute,” I said with a soft smile. Her cheeks flushed, the pink contrasting beautifully with her dark hair and pale skin, and my, she was truly a vampire’s wet dream.

“Thank you.” She looked away quickly, reverting to the bashful and humble girl I found so charming. I liked awkward and nerdy. This playing hard to get thing wasn’t my type at all. I’d spent enough time trying to convince people of my value, and I made it a point to torture those who had. I would hate for her to fall into that category.

I was being unreasonable. It was difficult to get a read on her with so much chaos in my mind, but if her nonchalance was an act, she wasn’t able to keep it up for long. She threaded her arm through mine, and we took the bike into town. Though I considered taking her to a nice brunch restaurant for this date, I thought better of having a sensitive conversation in too public of a place. There were a handful of magic-only bars and restaurants, but I didn’t think she was quite ready for that yet, and I didn’t want to attract attention from anyone else who might take interest in her uniqueness.

Not knowing what she was, paired with her ability to take on multiple mate scars, meant I didn’t know what kind of creatures she might draw in if I exposed her to the wrong crowd.