Page 20 of Zodiac Beasts

I leaned forward, resting my forearms on the gas tank of my motorcycle. I rolled my head to the side and stared at the elegantly painted letters on the shop front.

Ceto was another catastrophe for another time. Preferably after I knew where my claim stood with Lila.

I could appreciate the twisted irony that this was the place where I witnessed how this whole rejection process actually worked first hand. The Omega Gemini and I became authorities on the subject together, for better… but mostly for worse. I furrowed my brow, trying not to think back on that day.

Or that other day. How many times did he reject me again? I lost count.

It hadn’t even been a whole year, and those wounds never fully closed.

I’d barely finished another sigh, when the jingle of an opening shop door pulled my attention to the beautiful, raven haired vixen of my nightmares. Lila walked over, helmet in hand, and that leather jacket snuggly hugging all of her curves in all my favorite ways. Her skirt flared out beneath the harsh lines of the leather, adding a feminine and provocative touch.

By the devil, why did she have to look so damn hot in motorcycle gear? I was supposed to be protecting my peace, and instead I was picturing bending her over my leather seat and railing her in the middle of uptown Graves.

I suppose that would kill two birds with one stone. We could see if she wanted to keep my mate mark, and I’d get her immediately out of my system.

I would definitely be blaming her pheromones for that fantasy. The fact that I’d thought about it more than once when she was nowhere near me was irrelevant.

“How was work?” I asked as she approached, because ‘can I tear that jacket off of you and take you against the window’ probably wasn’t appropriate.

“It was fun.” She said brightly, mounting the seat behind me with grace and fearlessness that she’d earned over the months that I’d known her. She used to be so awkward and clumsy as she tried to climb onto the high passenger seat of my sport bike, but now she was adept and natural at it. She didn’t falter as she placed her hands on my waist, nor did she shy away from pressing her ample, soft, perfect chest into my back, as she scooted as far forward as she could on the tiny triangular tail of my bike. She had great tits, and it was a problem. Everything I liked about her was a problem, really, especially considering the only thing I didn’t like about her was her vague, possible preference for Adrian over me.

I hit my kickstand with the back of my boot and took off.

If riding a motorcycle was peak adrenaline, having a gorgeous woman on the back was a blessing of the heavens. I squeezed her thigh affectionately at every stop light, and she wrapped her arms more snuggly around me. Warmth spread through my whole chest, and I did my best to ignore it as I rode towards home.

She’d gotten good at riding with me. She moved well, leaning with me in corners, and bracing against my thighs instead of my back whenever I stopped hard on the brakes. We no longer hit our helmets together every time I changed speeds unexpectedly, nor did she disrupt my rhythm by leaning away from the turn or fidgeting too much while I was in the thick of a canyon road. We were so well in sync, I didn’t know that I could handle it if I learned this bridge between us was a poorly constructed lie.

I invited her over under the guise of teaching her, but the choice she’d be making for the demonstration might just be permanent. If she didn’t want me tonight, the mark would simply disappear, but we wouldn’t become rejected mates, since we’d never completed the pact. I could mark her again and continue to try and win her over if I still wanted to.

But if she didn’t reject me, I was about to seal our fate together in a way that couldn’t be easily broken. She would be my mate, bound by blood, with all the implications that came with it.

The worst part was that I didn’t know what outcome I was hoping for more. Did I want to wash my hands of this little charade? Or did I truly, honestly, want her to pick me?

I suppose it didn’t matter. This wasn’t going to be a debate that I could sway with some well-placed sweet nothings. I was about to look behind the curtain and see where her desires truly lied.

Chapter 10

Marcus parked his motorcycle in his garage, and he held still as I leveraged his shoulders and the passenger pegs to dismount from the high mounted pillion seat. I took my time removing my helmet and my jacket, so I could gather my nerves. At least when I’d come over for our first feeding session, I had some idea of what that might entail. This was completely alien territory. I still barely knew what a mate mark meant, and I knew even less what rejecting one would do. Would it hurt? What would I lose, and what would I gain?

I envied all of the people who grew up in this town and had some understanding of their body and their rituals.

I placed my helmet on a table and my jacket on his gear rack, then I waited patiently for him to remove his own gear so we could talk. I stole only one quick glance as he shook out his permanently messy, golden hair before I returned my gaze to the floor.

There was no reason there should be tension between us, but we both knew this wasn’t some casual teaching session. Rejection has been my entire life, and that was the last thing I wanted with him. But it also wasn’t as if I could reasonably be with both of them at the same time, either. Setting aside the fact that dating two men at once was already a big ask, Marcus and Adrian were half-brothers. Half-brothers who didn’t like each other at that. No matter how open minded Marcus might be, I couldn’t imagine he’d be okay sharing me with him.

I knew Adrian wouldn’t be. Adrian still wasn’t even okay with admitting he liked me at all.

Marcus was rejecting me to protect his own heart, and not because he was done with me. That’s what I told myself, because I wasn’t prepared to face any other reality.

With a deep breath, I gathered my courage and turned to face Marcus. “So about this—”

His lips on mine, his tongue in my mouth, and a fist in my hair cut me off before I could even start. He wrapped an arm around my waist and forced our bodies together, squeezing me like I might disappear if he let go. He pulled my hair and devoured me in the same breath, and I didn’t have any desire to ask for a cease fire.

Marcus’ tongue skated over mine, and I melted into that kiss. He was gripping me so desperately, I barely noticed that he’d turned us both around until I felt the tank of his motorcycle pressing into the small of my back.

His hands explored my body, sliding down my sides, and bracing my hips against his. I held onto his back, not wanting to create any additional space between us as his grip moved down to my ass.

My mouth still occupied, he lifted me up and set me on the gas tank of his sport bike. He broke our connection for only a second as he remounted the seat, and turned me to face him. The bike remained steady between his powerful thighs as I repositioned to straddle his tank, giving him an up skirt peek between my spread legs.