Page 8 of Zodiac Beasts

Sharp claws, golden fur, and fangs that exceeded my vampiric pedigree colored my new body. During the full moon, the stars might choose my shape. But under my own power, on any other day of the year, I was a fucking king of beasts, and it was about time the world remembered that. Capricorns and Virgos were laughable by comparison.

I drowned out Adrian’s voice through the speaker with a roar, then I devoured any trace of this blight on humanity. Unapologetically, I let my dearest brother listen to the sound of my feast, from crunching bones to tearing flesh to the unnerving squish of organ meat.

When I was done, I shifted back, wiped the blood from my mouth with the back of my hand, then I dusted off and grabbed my phone from the leaf pile.

To my delight, my needy and annoying big brother was still waiting on the line. He should thank me for the patience I’d taught him by getting under his skin every other day. I was probably half the reason he was successful, really.

“What the fuck are you doing, Marcus.” Adrian said in a tone that was scolding rather than inquiring. It was as though he wanted me to come to the conclusion that I was off the rails all on my own. How teacherly of him.

“Giving in to my instincts. I thought you would know all about that nowadays.” I shot back with an unexpected tinge of vehemence in my voice. I wasn’t mad at him. He’d done nothing wrong. And yet, I still couldn’t help the aggression that poured so naturally from my lips. Perhaps I was a bit bitter over Lila’s preference for him, but I wasn’t so unaware that I didn’t see my own fault in this predicament. I fully understood I was rebelling against the consequences of my own actions.

“Do I need to worry about calling in another favor when you get arrested?”

The laugh that escaped my throat was involuntary. How unexpectedly non-hostile. Having High Warlock Wong fix the dragon statue was helpful for both of us, but it was cute that he’d offer to do something like that without benefit to himself.

“You’d do that for me? I would have thought you’d prefer it if I ended up locked up and out of your hair for a few years.” I hocked and spit, clearing traces of that vile human from my throat. “But no. I got him from the Graves Penitentiary Execution Program. He was a legal hunt. Boring, I know. But I’ll keep that offer in mind next time I’m in a mood.”

His sigh was loud and pronounced. “I don’t know why I bother.”

“Because you love me.” I half scoffed and half laughed. He did too. Mother instilled that sarcastic habit in both of us, apparently. We were entirely too related sometimes, which currently felt disturbing for entirely too many reasons. “That was a joke, by the way. I know how hard humor is for you, so I figured it was better if I clarify. We both know where your affections actually lie.”

The line went silent. I suppose I struck a nerve.

But instead of admitting what we both knew was true, he cleared his throat and changed the subject. “Speaking of which, we need to talk.”

“Are we not currently talking?” It was easier to be obnoxious than to be real. I didn’t want to talk to him at all right now, honestly. I liked to self-destruct quietly, violently, and in solitude. I should have been thrilled that I’d gotten Adrian to start reaching out and wanting a connection with me, but I’d spent my entire life dealing with my troubles without his support, so I wasn’t in the mind for brotherly therapy sessions when I was actually going through something. These conversations weren’t fun when I wasn’t the one on the offensive. “I don’t see what you need to discuss anyway. Lila has made it clear that she wants you, and considering you just hit your jealousy trigger over her, your reciprocal feelings are written on a dick-sized billboard. So unless you want to listen to me gloat and rub in the fact that I made you feel something, I don’t think there’s anything we need to talk about.”

“That tone sounds more hurt than gloating.”

Oh, look at Adrian suddenly being so fucking observant. “And the way you just avoided the subject sounds like more of an admission than denial.”

Again, the line went silent.

So I opted to fill the space between us. “Let’s be clear here. I won by forcing you to confront your bloodline, and you won by getting the girl. Go celebrate and enjoy your lunar year. I plan to step aside and enjoy watching you commit career suicide in peace.”

“You talk such a tough game, Marcus.” Adrian’s condescension had a way of making me irrationally enraged. “Yet this woman who you’ve been using like she’s more a weapon than a person still has your mate mark on her neck, so something tells me you’re not planning to step down at all. Which is fine, really. It’s best for everyone involved if you actually start taking her seriously. It’s ridiculous that you can admit that you got her involved with me to cause me problems, but you can’t admit that you’re in too deep yourself.”

“Whatever.” I had no rebuttal, and I wasn’t going to try to come up with one. Maybe I was in too deep. Maybe I genuinely did like Lila. Maybe I had to accept that I was currently losing my mind because I was aware and accepting that fact.

But despite all of that being true, I was still in a bad mood and would be working that out without his help.

“Whatever nothing.” Mature, logical Adrian had come out to play. “If we’re going to creep into the month of the Taurus while still sharing a mark on the same monster, then we really do need to have a discussion and set some ground rules. If you won’t do it for me, do it for her safety.”

“I don’t even know what the Taurus trigger is. You’re being needlessly paranoid.” Ignoring the rest of his point was intentional.

“You’ve never turned in May?” Adrian sounded genuinely surprised.

Interesting. “No, I haven’t. Have you?”

“No.” He admitted. “But I’ve been having a lot of ‘never happened before’ experiences lately, and the month of a violent, stubborn bull seems like an especially dangerous time to not know either of our triggers…”

“Is it though?” My eyes narrowed, and I couldn’t quite explain the irritation that caused it. “Because she’s actually not that hard to avoid if you want to. But I take it, you don’t actually want to. Otherwise, it wouldn’t matter what your trigger might be if you could resist the need to, oh, I don’t know—ask her to a private dinner or join her for a swim in the school fountain.”

“You know it’s not that simple.” Adrian scoffed, but that was hardly a rebuttal.

“How so?” Say it. It’s not that simple because... ”Go on, I’m listening. Tell me more about how it’s so complicated, because the moon compelled you to ask for consent to fuck her so you could trigger your Pisces. I would be tickled to hear about the irresistible magic that put your phone number in her contacts and made you text her the other night.” I hated how angry I sounded. I should be laughing.

Right. Laughing.