Page 15 of Zodiac Beasts

With that, club ended, but while everyone else was packing up and clearing out, Marcus and I both hesitated.

“Sounds like we might have to rain check for Saturday.” Marcus muttered to me, speaking out loud this time. A normal and fair statement that felt almost provocative knowing he’d said it loudly enough for Adrian to hear with his supernatural ears.

I drew in a slow breath to give myself time to think.

“Maybe we can get together during the week when neither of us has work or classes.” I said. If you need to feed, we can do that too. I thought to myself, casually. Though I never knew when he was in my head and when he wasn’t. “I’m not in any rush to learn.” I grazed his mark with my fingertips and smiled. I wanted to tell him I didn’t want to reject his mark, so it didn’t matter to me, but that didn’t seem fair to say when I still couldn’t stop thinking about his brother. At some point, I would have to make a choice, and I wasn’t confident I knew which one was right and which one was wrong.

Well, I was getting ahead of myself. I was assuming I had a choice. Chances were likely that Adrian, despite the mark on my lip, would never actually accept me. Even if he willingly took me on full moon nights, that didn’t mean he would accept a real relationship.

Was Marcus just a consolation prize then? Had I already chosen in my mind, and I was going along with these dates, because Marcus was the more realistic option between the two? I liked so many things about him, but something in my heart was obviously broken, as I couldn’t stay focused on just one person.

This was so unfair to him. In all my turmoil, I wasn’t putting him first, while he was always choosing me. Maybe we needed this rejection ceremony after all.

Marcus’ smile twitched, and I realized I’d been letting my mind wander to places I shouldn’t around the vampire it was about.

“You’re right, no need to rush. I’m sure we can find another time.” Marcus said as he gave me a pat on the shoulder.

I glanced at Adrian, who was packing his things while pointedly avoiding us, then back at Marcus, who had headed to the door. The two men who were tugging me apart moved in opposite directions, and I had no idea which way I was supposed to be looking.

With a dejected sigh, I headed out, hoping these weekend picnic preparation sessions could just go smoothly and non-traumatically for once.

Chapter 7

“Do we have any red paint?” Linda asked, while crouched over her signage for the kissing booth. “I really think it needs some red.”

Preparations for the picnic were now in full swing. I had to take time off from the shop on my Saturdays and Sundays in order to get everything done, but Ceto had been happy to move my shifts to nights, and he even offered to let me skip entirely when needed. He was already used to running the store alone, and I was only going to be occupied for the three weekends leading up to the picnic. It was nice to have a reasonable boss for once.

“There are a variety of colors in the store room.” Professor Karras finished setting up a folding table, then he tipped his chin towards the storage bungalows behind Graves. “Marcus, can you help her find the paint? I know you know where it is.”

“No problem.” Marcus, who was helping me plant rows of different flowers in the garden, responded without argument and stood from our little spread of dirt and shovels. Being a second year student, he’d presumably been to the storage rooms before, and this was in no way a targeted request to separate us. Because Adrian certainly wouldn’t be jealous.

“Lila, would you mind helping me with the bull?” Adrian motioned toward another storage building, notably five units down from the bungalow of painting supplies.

“Of… course.” I avoided making eye contact with Marcus, as I stood and dusted the dirt from my black leggings and my basic v-neck shirt, before I flitted over to Adrian’s side. He was dressed in jeans and a well fitted polo short, and I couldn’t help but think about how rare it was to be together with my school mates not in uniform. I saw Marcus outside of class fairly often, but every time I saw Professor Karras dressed how he wanted instead of how he had to, it did something for me. He looked less like a teacher and authority figure, and more like an approachable person with thoughts and feelings, and that was a dangerous precedence to set.

Speaking of dangerous, I thought as I followed an incubus into a dark, empty, secluded store room.

“Good luck with that, Baby Doll.” Marcus channeled into my mind before he and Linda were out of earshot.

“If I don’t make it back, avenge me.” I thought back dramatically.

“If YOU don’t make it back? I’m the one getting shoved in a box with a needy Omega.” Marcus scrunched his nose and shook his head, much to Linda’s confusion.

“Linda is harmless. Your brother, on the other hand, is a saltier than the Dead Sea.” I thought back as I walked behind Adrian.

“It’s a good thing you’re so sweet then.” He left me with one last teasing grin before he turned a corner, and I tried not to swoon as I returned to the task at hand.

Adrian remained curiously neutral as we separated from the rest of the class. This was going to be my first time being alone with Adrian since I’d called him out last week though, and I had no idea what he was planning.

That didn’t stop me from following him into this small dark room, of course, but I could acknowledge that it wasn’t my wisest moment.

The storage area went black the moment he shut the door behind us.

“How well can you see in the dark?” He asked, as we stood in a total absence of light. Whether my eyes were opened or closed, I could see absolutely nothing.

“I can barely see in the light without my glasses.” I attempted to laugh at a question that had a hint of nefariousness to it. “If you’re attempting to figure out if I’m some kind of nocturnal species, you can rule that one out.”

Adrian hit the light switch. revealing a small room filled with cardboard boxes piled to the ceiling. The towers of cardboard were tightly arranged in a way that created a narrow, mazelike passageway.