Page 30 of Zodiac Demons

“Now close your eyes, and don’t let yourself think about anything else.”

I positioned my fangs very carefully over her mound, and I sank in slow, assuring she felt that bite of pain before it could shift to the pleasure of the draw. Her lip quivered, and she bit down to keep her focus, as my fangs penetrated deeper. I sank in fully, and relaxed my jaw, then I sucked a smooth draw of blood at the same time I grazed her clit with my tongue. I maintained a consistent massaging pressure on her clit, while drinking from her at an excruciating rate, and the expression on her face was worth every ounce of restraint.

Her whole body shook from the combined intensity, and I could feel the first hint of scales forming in place of the soft skin of her thighs. The natural venom release by a Vampire’s bite was purely euphoric, to encourage my prey to accept and give in. So many of my gifts were made just so I could manipulate and use people without them understanding why they couldn’t resist me, and I would always be happy to capitalize on that.

But in this case, I wanted her to be the one reaping the benefits of my natural magic. I was willingly ensnared in her aura, and there was no reason to play games with her anymore. Adrian and Ceto, absolutely. But Lila was the one person who I was becoming comfortable with needing.

It was a strange feeling—love, I guess a human might call it—but I didn’t mind it, and I wanted to embrace this new outlook for once. I’d been thinking about all of the mistakes I’d made with Ceto entirely too much since she’d sealed her pact with him, and right now, all I wanted was to taste, to feel, and to be present with her.

I slid my tongue upward, just above her clit, and I used my vampiric speed to create a sensation of vibration, staying close to that collection of hyper sensitive nerves, while not so direct that it might become too much too soon. Her increasing arousal also increased her blood flow, and every slow pull only shared more of my euphoric venom. I shoved her skirt up higher, revealing Ceto’s mark just below her naval. The symbol of the Gemini had the near imperceptible glow of completion, and I wondered if he could feel every jolt I sent through her. I’d learned that, with a completed pact, I had some control over blocking out the most intense of our shared arousal, but had he figured that out yet? And if he did, would he block it out?

I hoped he was touching himself right now. I hoped making her come undone under my tongue was enough to have him flustered and blushing, just imagining her getting eaten out, fucked, and pleasured. She’d smelled so overwhelmingly like him when I’d taken her home that day, that he’d definitely not stopped after the first time he came in her. Which meant either his monster wasn’t negated by hers, or he wasn’t nearly as reserved with her as he pretended to be around me.

Fuck, I wanted to see that side of him so badly. I would sell my soul to the gods to see both of them together in a total loss of control. I wanted to watch her tight little cunt, her perfect breasts, and the soft rolls of her body driving him over the edge, while I pulled her strings like my hot, sweet, little puppet. I sucked more deeply on her, while the combination of her flavor, her scent, her body in my hands, and that mental image had me so hard it hurt.

She moaned quietly, her lips agape, her body giving in. Her mind was a complete wash, focusing on nothing but the rising intensity of that full body surrender. She was such a good girl for me when I wanted her to be.

I wouldn’t say my time with Lila had been easy. To be honest, the closer I got to people, the more intensely terrified I was of the inevitable rejection. No one had ever stuck around. My brother had hated me for being born, my first somewhat serious relationship had ended with Ceto literally begging me to let him dissolve my mark, and even now, as I was permanently mated, I still felt like it could all disappear in an instant, while also fighting with the idea that I might not be her first choice.

I still feared in the back of my mind that she’d accepted my mate mark only because she liked being with me physically, and that was enough to appease the ceremony.

Maybe she’d find out one day what I’d done to place that one-sided mark on her in the first place. That it had been neither consensual nor was she conscious for our first time together.

Would she forgive me for that? Would she hate me? It shouldn’t matter now. We’d built real friendship and real connection over the months, when we were little more than strangers back then. I had just been playing a game, using sex as a means to an end. I’d certainly enjoyed it, but it was ultimately just a small part of the ritual that I’d needed to perform.

Was I trying to justify it to myself? Did that make me feel guilty? I didn’t feel regret, but maybe… maybe it had been too far.

I couldn’t change it, so no point in thinking on that. The deeper she got into this world, the more she’d come to understand. Though the deeper I entangled myself with her, who was human in culture and mindset despite her body, the more I stood to lose, and on this eve of the full moon party, as I slowly and languidly drained her body while watching her shake with orgasm, the more I was starting to doubt everything I’d built until now.

I was in the perfect position to have everything I wanted for the first time in my life, and maybe that was what had me uncharacteristically nervous about how high my chances of it all crashing down might be.

Chapter 11

Thirteen Months Ago

“You can’t mark me,” I restated for the hundredth time, as he backed me into his bedroom after what had started as uh… a date, I guess, only to devolve into an argument about where this was going.

He kept wanting more, but I still didn’t know what we were doing. Friends with benefits? Having some childish rebellious phase where we fucked our parent’s enemies? He wasn’t my mate, nor was he ever going to be an acceptable mate, so it couldn’t be anything more intimate than that.

Which was probably why the ‘what are we’ question kept getting harder and harder to answer. We’d been circling each other for months with him shoving me into walls, inviting me out, sharing meals, deep conversations, truly death defying motorcycle rides, stolen kisses, turning him into my doll, subtle hand holding under the desk, and going down on me in a closet during school hours when we had a very high chance of being caught… I cleared my throat, trying to keep that image out of my head right now.

But this was different. This was the first time I’d ever been in his home, and there was something about knowing this was his bed, where he felt safe and secure enough to sleep without worry, and that he wanted me being in it. I never truly felt safe outside my heavily warded apartment, and the idea of being in an Alpha’s personal home felt like a new level of trust.

“No?” Marcus teased with a coy grin. He closed the door behind him and hit the lock, just to watch me tense at the sound. “Are you still looking for that good, perfect little wife you’re expected to mate with? Afraid I won’t let you go?”

“It’s more complicated than that.” I backed up another step. Everything about him always left me feeling defenseless, when I knew I was anything but. Maybe that was part of the draw and part of the problem. “I don’t mind if we…”

I paused, not sure I was ready to vocalize the rest of that sentence.

“You don’t mind if we have sex, but you don’t want to make it official.” He raised a brow, guessing those words entirely too well. I didn’t know if he could use his vampire gifts to read my mind, or if he could only share his own thoughts with me in a one way projection, but I was starting to assume the former with how well we were constantly in tune. “You’re scared of what your family will think? Your brother? Who is it that you let dictate your every move and relationship? Because I know it’s not yourself.”

I looked at the floor, the burden of eye contact feeling far too intense at the moment. It constantly bothered me that I could even hold his eye contact without being able to also sway the power of the situation in my favor. It was something I still hadn’t gotten used to. I spent a lifetime not looking people in the eye unless I wanted to harm or control them, and now I was supposed to simply use it to communicate?

The fact that the only way I could sway the situation was to physically put my mouth on him was something I was also not to terms with, though I certainly wouldn’t be forgetting about that weapon any time soon.

“You don’t get it.”

“No, you don’t get it.” Marcus whispered as he walked me a few more steps into the edge of his bed. I tripped as the mattress hit the backs of my knees, falling onto the comforter. I looked at the bed then at him in a panic. Normally he’d let up when I started protesting, but this time, he didn’t back down at all. “No one controls me, and you don’t have to let anyone control you either. Let yourself fucking feel something, and it’ll be fine.”