Page 58 of Zodiac Beasts

His lip trembled, and he took another step back.

“Fuck. I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t…”

Chapter 32

Sanity slammed back into me the second the sun sent away the moon, and I shook with fucking terror as I stared at Lila, in my bed, still naked, still covered and filled with come, and still paralyzed by my Basilisk’s venom. Her sundress was discarded on the floor, and her enchanted bracelet was on the nightstand.

The scent of Apples and Cinnamon flooded my nostrils, stronger even than those notes of sage that had dominated her as of late.

It suited her so well. Apples and cinnamon and homey, comforting warmth. The kind of woman you could sink into, and you’d never want to leave.

That had to be her Beta scent. Why could I smell her Beta scent?

Why the fuck could I smell her Beta scent?

I knew why. I knew exactly why. I’d been conscious the whole fucking time, while I’d let my evil twin out to play. I always was. I hated my Gemini with every fiber of my being, and yet I’d subjected Human Lila to my most vicious version of myself on the most volatile night of the year.

Human Lila? I internally scoffed at the moniker. Shifter Lila, Demon Lila.

No.

Lamia.

The demon. The boogieman. The devourer of children. The blind, half-serpentine, vampiric seductress of Greek lore.

How could she be descended from the bloodline of an infertile goddess? A shifter couldn’t have impregnated fucking Lamia. I had to be wrong.

I was wrong.

But I’d seen it. I felt it. My king of serpents knew her innately and intimately, and I never stood a chance of resisting her with that lineage swimming in her blood. Every piece of this puzzle slid together so perfectly. That was the real reason my Basilisk was so drawn to her. Of course the most savage serpentine monsters of lore couldn’t resist each other.

Then combine her bloodline with an Astrology Shifter, however the hell that worked, and I was baited beyond my control.

Who would have thought even a Beta would be able to manipulate my Omega.

At least I shouldn’t have to worry about getting her pregnant.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. I rubbed my neck, ashamed to even recall the sheer amount of effort and material I put into trying. If it was possible at all, then I’d just made my family’s heir. I’d taken off her bracelet, and I’d made her orgasm while she was completely full of my own. I’d been desperate to possess her, and I did everything I shouldn’t have.

I didn’t want that for Lila. She didn’t deserve that life.

The threat of tears stung in my eyes, and I hated everything about my existence right now. I was so much more emotional right now, I couldn’t help or control myself.

I wasn’t going to cry. I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing the blood red drops to dribble down my cheeks, then I wiped them away with the back of my hand.

This was all so fucked. How did I convince myself this would be fine? I gave into temptation with the worst possible option, and I had no way to justify it. I even talked her into it. I let that nagging desire control me like a fucking junky in a room full of heroine, when we both would have been perfectly safe if we’d stayed separated on this one single night of the year.

Another pair of warm droplets crawled down my cheeks, traced my jawline, then pooled and dripped from my chin.

Get yourself together. The monster that plagued my birth month taunted me from the deepest trenches of my soul. I crushed him down, telling myself I was back in control, and I didn’t have to listen.

Who was I kidding? That monster was me. It had always been me. I lived through the entire event, and I didn’t intervene. I wasn’t like Marcus, who lost his mind when he shifted. I let myself be the passenger in my own story, because I was reaping the benefits of feeling her body—the rush, the endorphins, the adrenaline. I’d put the roofie in my own drink, then pretended I didn’t have a choice when I downed it just to see what might happen. I gave my body to my twin mind, knowing exactly how sadistic he always was.

What am I doing? I couldn’t keep sitting here, wallowing in my failures and pitying myself right now. Lila was paralyzed in my bed. I could smell her scent. Her fucking baiting scent. For the first time, it overrode the sage, the tobacco, the rosemary…

I swallowed as I knelt beside her and moved the blanket. Her bare skin was pink, soft, and filthy with smeared sex.

And just below her navel, her abdomen was marred by the symbol of the Gemini.