Page 24 of Zodiac Beasts

What was I going to say to her? If that reaction had something to do with our mate bond, that could mean something was wrong. Though I’d always heard that a mate bond meant you’d know when the other was in danger. I was able to feel all too well when the other was in orgasm, but that feeling had already dissipated. If she was with Marcus right now, which was the obvious conclusion, then she wasn’t in physical danger. Say what you will about his morals, but he wouldn’t physically harm her, and he was more than strong enough to protect her.

An odd truth to recognize, but it was certainly a truth. I could resent him without discounting him.

It wasn’t wise to keep interacting with her outside of the classroom anyway. It had been nice speaking with her during the picnic preparations, and if she’d been my student under any other circumstances, where we could have had any other relationship, she probably would have been someone I would have enjoyed teaching. But at this point, I couldn’t say if I was being cordial because I felt guilty or because I was always subtly nervous about drawing attention to our less than professional relationship.

The fact that I didn’t dislike her, that I could recognize she was beautiful, and that her mind and heart were entirely too good for me, was irrelevant. She’d been correct to accuse me of putting myself in positions to be around her when I shouldn’t have, though I’d been blaming the appetite of my incubus blood for that. It was the only logical reason I’d felt so compelled to risk triggering myself around her. Yet another truth I wished I could deny.

With a heavy sigh, I switched over to Marcus’ number. The fact that I was now in the habit of discussing things with him was the third truth I wish I could stomp under my heel.

It was with absolute dread that I hit call and waited for him to, once again, hang up on me and be difficult like the fucking child he was.

One ring,

“I was waiting for you to call.” That smug tone filled me with immediate regret. This was a terrible idea.

“Why was that exactly?” Here we go.

“Because I thought you’d want to congratulate me and Lila on our successful mate pact.” What? Marcus continued speaking, while my whole body went rigid. That must have been why I’d been hit with such a strange surge. Mate troubles, indeed. “I was trying to teach her how to reject a mark, but I guess she didn’t have it in her heart to reject mine.”

“You sealed your pact.” The pounding of my pulse was so loud in my ears that I barely heard myself speaking.

What did that mean for this bizarre double marking we’d done to her? Did I still have a claim on her at all anymore?

“I figured it was the safest way to approach the month of the Taurus. I know how worried you were about triggering your transformation, but now she’ll be safe with me no matter what happens. My little Beta won’t be able to disobey me, after all.” He took entirely too much pleasure in that idea.

“You don’t know that. You don’t know enough about her bloodline to know if your Alpha bark will work at all on her.” Though I said that, I’d already tested the theory on her. Even with our one-sided pact, she’d followed my commands like a puppet on the night of the Pisces. I couldn’t imagine what added influence a completed pact allowed.

“She’s still at least part shifter. She has to follow some shifter rules.”

“I hope you find out she’s also part vampire hunter.”

“You would just love that, wouldn’t you?” Marcus laughed, practically humming through the line. “It’s fine. The picnic is tomorrow morning, so I’m sure I can find plenty of ways to test it there.” My blood boiled with every damn word. “Oh, but don’t worry. She still bears your mark, so you should be able to feel every little thing I command her to do.”

My hand tightened around my phone. “Son of a bitch—”

“That bitch is both of our mother, Adrian.” He paused thoughtfully. “If I’d realized sharing yet another woman in your life with me was going to make you this upset, I’d have fucked your female friends years ago.”

“Lila is hardly a friend. She’s my fucking problem that you created and nothing else.” I’d lost any ability to speak rationally now. “But I’m glad you found someone as deviant and manipulative as you are.”

“Ha! That’s rich coming from you. If you think I’ve forgotten about the time you talked my first girlfriend into breaking up with me because I was a ‘blood parasite,’ just know I kept a very angsty diary of all your transgressions to be paid for in vengeance.”

“You are a blood parasite.” I should have reminded him that his first girlfriend was a Chupacabra shifter whose blood was exclusively from draining goats and livestock, but he wasn’t likely to accept that I was saving him from himself. I’d buried the body of his first kill with him, and yet never got any credit for that brotherly kindness either. There were obscure but vaguely justifiable moments of good in all our animosity.

“And you’re a pussy parasite. I’ve only used that fact to ruin your life once, while you’ve jabbed a knife into my back, what, four hundred times?” Marcus was so absurd it was almost disarming.

“You’re exaggerating.” I rolled my eyes. Getting caught in his rhythm was calming me down when I should be fuming, and I hated that I was getting this comfortable with him.

“Hardly. Even if it was only three-hundred-ninety-nine times, I still I think that’s fair play. I have to say though, of all the species we’ve both been with, letting you play with someone as satisfying as Lila should be considered an olive branch more than a punishment. If you’d attacked me by making me sleep with gorgeous nerds, we probably wouldn’t have such tension between us.”

“You’re fucking hilarious.” I growled into the line. “Being a gorgeous nerd isn’t the problem. It’s everything else attached to her that’s the problem. Quit being obtuse.”

“And by everything else, I assume you mean the now clear and magically supported fact that she’s in love with… let me check my notes… oh! Look at that. With your more powerful and much more fun younger brother.” He nudged, and I was about to hang up out of pure nausea.

“You said yourself that she still bears my mark. Don’t act so smug.” I scoffed.

“And you’re so glad that she does, aren’t you.” He absolutely was not asking a question. “What a predicament this must be for you.”

By the damned devil, I was falling into every verbal trap lately. “You’re wrong” was the best I could come up with in my own frustrated stupor.