Page 31 of Zodiac Beasts

I almost felt bad that she was asking me these questions instead of him. Maybe she was starting to see Marcus for who he really was: a manipulator who tricked her.

“No, it might make your feelings for each other stronger, as the magical communication between your minds and bodies should link more significantly. But it will neither create nor erase feelings. I’ve never personally been mated, but the effects are well recorded. It’s only fated mates who are mentally altered by a mate bond, and shifters like us can’t be fated mates.”

“Like us? Meaning hybrids?”

“Hybrids, yes. But also just western zodiac shifters and animal shifters in general. There are so many shifters within our compatibility circles that the devil saw no reason to make us fated to each other. The only shifters who experience fated bonds among us are the Chinese Zodiac Shifters, who are much more limited in number and transformations.”

“So since we don’t have fated mates…” Lila frowned and inhaled slowly through her nose. “Do shifters ever take on more than one mate? Is that possible?”

I didn’t know how to answer that, since I’d never heard of having multiple mates or taking on multiple marks before her. This might be one of those unfortunately undocumented aspects of Hybrid blood that hadn’t been tested or understood yet. “I’ve never heard of such a thing, but obviously your body isn’t like anything I’ve ever heard of.” An urge to touch my mark on her surged in my chest, and I forced myself to hold back. Interacting with her one-on-one was always dangerous temptation, but it was a time bomb while I was at the academy. I moistened my lips, touching the mirrored location with my tongue.

If I were to seal our pact—with the intent to reject it permanently, of course—it would be right here. It was a brazen place to have marked her, knowing it would be so difficult to hide. My rationality and sane mind was glad she always made an effort to hide my mark on her, but I couldn’t shake the instinct that nagged at the back of my mind, resenting the way she obscured my claim. I would never allow her to hide that symbol if we were truly mated.

She fixated on my mouth in a way that shot a hint of lust through my psyche. I assigned the feeling to her. I chose not to consider it could be my own.

I cleared my throat, forcing my focus back on the question. “You bear two marks, so maybe you can have two mates.”

“Like your mom?” Lila asked a question I absolutely didn’t want to answer now.

I shook my head. “My mother has two mates, but her husbands aren’t shifters, so there wasn’t a mating pact with either one. Their union was standard to their species, but she’s not magically bound to either of them.” I wasn’t in the mood to mention that my father was magically bound to her, however. Maybe one day I’d better explain the fallacy of an Incubus and a virgin, but today, I was too mentally and emotionally drained to even begin. “A mate mark among shifters is a spellbound claim. For example, so long as you, a Beta, bear the mark of Alphas, your scent will be masked and hidden from other shifters to scare off potential mates. Once you choose to complete the pact, that too will change your scent, so other shifters can tell you’re not available.” This conversation shouldn’t have been getting to me, but the guilt that we’d both marked her without explanation was starting to weigh more heavily. Not the least of which because Marcus had apparently gone all the way without discussing it first. “The one sided claim can be nonconsensual, but the sealed pact requires the consent of both parties, and the Beta or Omega must be fully committed to the pact.” No, I wasn’t enjoying this at all. “If blood is mixed but one shifter doesn’t want it, then the mark will fade. But if it’s consensual love, then the mark will solidify on both of you.”

“So even before I said it, you could already tell…” She trailed off.

“I could tell.” I confirmed. “More vividly than I’d like, since my mark is still there.”

“Is that why you were being so harsh? Are you mad?”

“Of course not.” I forced that out immediately. “I don’t know how many times I have to explain to you that the mark I placed on you is purely for your protection.” A lie. We both knew that was a lie, but I hated it when even my own mind was openly admitting that to me now. “Has it changed your feelings? Is that why you’re asking all of this?” I really didn’t know what she was thinking, to be fair. Perhaps that sadness and longing I was picking up from her was more about having lost her desire for anyone else, myself included.

“It hasn’t.” She dipped her chin to her chest. “I don’t regret it, but I also know that if you and I swapped blood, I wouldn’t be able to reject this mark either.” She mimicked me, licking slowly over the Capricorn symbol on her lower lip. “And I feel like that complicates things all around.”

My swallow gave me away, but I managed a composed expression. “It doesn’t. The day we complete this pact, it will be with the intention of officially rejecting it. You’re free to fall in love with whoever you’d like until then, and after that happens, we’ll be free of each other.”

That didn’t seem to make her any happier. “Why haven’t you tried that already? Don’t you want to sever all connection?”

“Because right now, you need to be around me in order to graduate. If we became rejected mates while you’re still taking my classes, it would be difficult to be in the same room together, and you would either have to give up on the sciences, or I would have to give up on teaching. For both of our sakes, I’ll ride out the discomfort of our linked sensations, so long as you can ride out your misguided feelings for the wrong men until we’re both in a position that we never have to see each other again.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” Lila was damn near pouting, and I made a point to latch onto a passing student’s emotional energy so I didn’t have to feel her. I didn’t enjoy hurting her like this.

“If you don’t have any other questions, I’m going to turn in for the night. I’ll see you tomorrow for clean-up, 9:00 sharp. Go enjoy your first full moon with your mate.” Even just saying those words out loud made my stomach turn, and I assumed that was a result of our incomplete pact gnawing at me.

“Yes, professor.” She said meekly. “I’ll call you if I end up in trouble.”

I covered my mouth with my hand, attempting to hide the smile that snuck its way onto my lips. “I promise I’ll answer.”

The moon rose and the only sounds this night were the loud booms of fireworks. The majority of the student body of Graves was indoors watching the spectacle. The forest was quiet for once, while my mind was louder than ever.

I sat in the garden, twirling a purple and gold pansy between my thumb and forefinger, while admiring the way the moonlight illuminated its vibrant petals. The Capricorn’s flower was often called the thinking flower, which felt apt on a night like tonight.

I should have gone home, but it felt wrong somehow. I might argue the truth in my head, but I knew why I was sticking around. I was finding myself drawn to her beyond my magic obligations, and that scared me more than anything.

So what of tonight? She truly was Marcus’ mate now, and I would never be able to ignore it. Should I one day reject her, my relationship with him will become irreparably shattered. Should she one day reject him, the result would be the same. Dissolving the mark wasn’t an option for my Incubus either, and oddly enough, as infuriating as he was, I didn’t want to completely destroy my relationship with him at this point. Life would have been easier if I could hate him with the same energy that I wanted her.

But I could leverage her pact as a way to distance myself. I needed to push her away for my own sake, and this was the excuse to do so. I was getting too involved, and she was entirely too beautiful, too kind, too intelligent, sweet, fun, sexy, and off beat for me to stay disconnected. Letting her in was dangerous, and I was finally at a point that I could admit that to myself.

I stood from the garden and paced over to the mechanical bull. I ran a hand through the faux fur that covered the leather hide. The Taurus was a stubborn sign—all Earth signs were, really. I wouldn’t let that be what ruled my life tonight.

I closed my eyes, drew in and released a breath, then let my forehead fall against the saddle. A rustle caught in my ear in the distance, and immediately I turned around.