Page 2 of Zodiac Monsters

“Considering.” I repeated flatly, before scraping that Capricorn symbol along my teeth again.

“And as for lying to you,” Marcus’ voice shook just slightly, and I wasn’t used to hearing him sounding uncertain. “I’d never lie to you without a good reason. At Graves Academy, there are strict rules about revealing ourselves to humans, and I didn’t want to scare you away. We weren’t really close enough to talk about any of this yet.”

“Well, we sure as fuck are now.” I loved how he was somehow blaming the “rules” for his deceit. Granted, I’d never flat out asked him, so I guess technically he withheld rather than lied. But that was splitting hairs.

“Agreed.” His empathetic smile was so genuine, my whole body relaxed. Somewhere in my brain, the phrase ‘you’re being too hard on him’ had the audacity to exist. Everything about him had me very quickly getting sucked into his rhythm again. I was going to do my best to be more stubborn than that, but it was tough when the subject of my ire was cute and fun and nice to me. “So that’s why I’m now telling you about it. Though, if I’m being honest, I don’t regret any part of last night. The big reveal wouldn’t have been any fun if there hadn’t been a surprise aspect.” Oh my god, stop saying all the right words. “I wanted our first time together to be exciting. Maybe even a little dangerous. Show you what life in my bed is all about.” I raised my brows, and he ruffled my hair. “Did you really want sex by candlelight in a hotel bed? Because you didn’t seem too interested last night when I offered to take you to your room.”

“W-well…” My cheeks were scalding despite the morning frost. How was I supposed to respond to that?

“You could have had me in my human form, and I might have been sane enough to end the night on a chaste kiss. Maybe, at most, offer ‘polite missionary for beginners.’ But no, the sweet, little, innocent Virgo wanted to get bent over the edge of a public pool by a monster who’d just ripped his fangs out of her throat.”

This all seemed rather damning when laid out like that.

I opened my mouth to speak, but with absolutely no good retort, I just awkwardly stared at him in extended silence. After it had become adequately uncomfortable, I finally muttered, “So you still think you would have… uhh… did stuff with me in human form too?”

“Ha!” Marcus’ laugh came out like an accident, and he rubbed my shoulder way too cordially. “You thought I was inviting myself to your room to play scrabble?” He was entirely too amused by this. “Now I have to know what you imagined in that pretty little head of yours.”

“I-I mean, maybe you just wanted to talk and get to know me better,” I lowered my volume to something I could barely even hear. “And maybe make out a little bit.” And maybe it would have escalated from there, but only maybe…

Fuck, no wonder I’d been a virgin for so long. I was as smooth as a cheese grater.

But then, shouldn’t it have been awkward for him to sleep with me knowing his brother had been with me already? There had to be a literal bro code against that, right?

Marcus snorted, and I didn’t know what was so funny. “Oh sweet little Lila, welcome to my family.”

“I just threw up in my mouth.”

“No you didn’t.”

“I hate you.”

“Also not true.”

Why was he always right?

“Because I can still read your mind, Baby Doll.”

I jumped at the intrusion directly into my headspace, having nearly forgotten about that little ability of his. This motherfucker right here.

“That language is unbecoming of a lady.” He said aloud.

I accidentally snort laughed, before I forced a serious expression back on my face. “Whatever.” I sighed heavily, knowing I’d basically already forgiven him, while also resenting myself for being so easy. He should be groveling right now, begging for my grace and mercy, but the worst thing he did was get me off until I wanted to cry.

Well, he also almost drowned me. And he drained my blood without asking.

Dammit, no, he did a lot wrong. Just because I liked it, and he’s hot, and I like hanging out with him, and he’s good at… things—none of that excuses the rest.

Or does it?

In all fairness, he’d been holding in a lot of heavy truths, and it wasn’t reasonable to ask all those things as a new acquaintance in an unofficial ‘maybe, kind of hanging out’ situationship that had only gone on a couple weeks. Was I being naïve or being ridiculous to think he owed me so much?

Rein in the crazy.I lambasted myself.

“So then, this is your mark, huh?” I tilted my head to the side, letting my hair drop over my opposite shoulder to better reveal the Leo symbol on my neck.

Marcus nodded but didn’t elaborate.

“When did you put it on me?” I was sure he sensed my nerves as I asked, because he seemed hesitant to answer. Maybe because he obviously knew even better than I did what kind of ritual it entailed. “It requires a blood exchange to mark someone, right?”