Page 34 of Zodiac Demons

Then there was the pact itself. At some point, I would have to meet her third mate, Marcus’ brother, who sounded somehow even worse than Marcus, himself. A true feat. I could only hope that Marcus was the problem in that relationship—as he often was—and his half sibling turned out to be an actually reasonable person. It was exceedingly unlikely, but so was everything else that had happened until now, so I wasn’t betting anything on the stars tonight.

And then there was Lila and I, who both had no ability to control our shifts under moonlight. Both of her other mates were Alphas who had the privilege of triggers—though I had no idea what any of those triggers were—but we did not, and I was sure she’d want to go to this party and see it for herself. By her own admission, she enjoyed shifting as all her transformation did was give her confidence.

Confidence to make horrendous decisions, clearly, but confidence none the less.

I couldn’t see any way to win. Either we stayed together forever, I became a rejected mate, or one or two of us was going to have to die, and I liked none of those options.

I sighed as the ferry began to unload, and I returned to Lila and Marcus, who were gathering up their bags.

“I’ve got it,” Marcus said, easily lifting her duffle of clothing over his shoulder, along with his own. I went to grab my bag, but before I had the chance, he hoisted that over his shoulder, too. “I’ve also got you,” he said with a smile that was deceptively friendly, while the phrasing was only innocuous to an outsider, and the implication turned my dark complexion near white. “Let me handle the heavy lifting from here.”

“Thanks, Marcus,” Lila said with a smile, and the way her genuine appreciation flooded my senses through the bond would have been precious in any other circumstance.

But sadly, today’s circumstance was a party in hell.

Chapter 12

We checked in to the hotel, and much to my surprise, I was upgraded to the ‘honeymoon suite’ without any explanation or added fee.

Maybe Mom really was ‘Graves Royalty,’ as Marcus had put it. It was weird enough finally knowing what I was, while having no clue what kind of power or responsibility or implications that that came with, but to also learn that this was a huge deal to everyone around me, and to be treated like I was special and important in a town I only just moved to, despite having been treated like less than dirt for the entirety of my life in the town I grew up in, was confusing. It was like I’d spent my whole life as the ugly duckling, and suddenly I was drowning in pretty privilege with no clue how to react to it.

Marcus was going to stay in my room with me, which I didn’t mind, but Ceto had his own room, provided by the school for winning the festival. I got my key, and Marcus headed up to the room with me to drop off our luggage. We were going to wait for Ceto, but he was busy being surrounded by the girls in the sewing club, all gushing about their win and looking forward to the party.

I’d noticed at the festival that the entire sewing club was comprised entirely of women, other than Ceto, himself, but I’d never seen him interact with them. He was cordial and easygoing, in a way that felt more like his customer service persona than the Ceto I’d met behind closed doors, but I wasn’t sure if that was just wishful thinking. If he was stressed or anxious or bothered by the attention, it wasn’t coming through in our bond.

I hoped that ping of jealousy that lit up my chest wasn’t traveling through it either.

“It’s literally so loud,” Marcus said with a laugh once we were out of earshot of the reception desk. “Like your jealousy is physically pounding into me. It’s cute how completely unnecessary it is though, so feel free to continue,” he added internally, and his ability to read my mind with my inability to block him out was constantly inconvenient.

“He’s just more popular than I realized.” I muttered quietly. “I mean, it’s not like he’s not allowed to be or anything. I mean he should be, because he’s sweet and good looking and smart. And I’m fine with that. Because you’re my mate, and this other pact was an accident.” I tried to sound rational, and not like a possessive psychopath, but not even mate bonds were instantly erasing twenty-two years of heavily nurtured and well-fed insecurity. “I don’t know what I’m going on about. I’m being ridiculous.”

“You are, but that’s okay.” If ever a man was perfect, he was unfairly so. “I know you don’t understand this, but for him, of all people, to not only initiate but seal a bond? That was extremely not an accident. The level of mutual desire and affection was more than just one step above the fake smile he puts on for his club mates, I promise.”

My cheeks heated so intensely, I couldn’t even look at Marcus anymore. “Y-yeah, about that…” We still hadn’t talked about that night, but at no point had he seemed bothered by it either, and I didn’t know what to make of that. “You’ve been taking this all in stride, when I still feel really guilty about it all.”

Marcus snorted. “Don’t. I knew that might happen, and I told you as much, remember?” That being true didn’t make it any less mortifying to hear it restated out loud. “I’m not remotely mad about it.”

“I guess you kind of did. I thought you were just teasing though.” I played with my fingers, almost wishing he’d get mad so I at least could process my mistake.

“No offense, Lila, but no man is inviting a woman like you to spend the night with them just to play board games.” A strange and confusing statement that has never reflected my real life, but okay. “But if there is any man in this world who wouldn’t invite a random girl of unknown magical make up into his home for no reason, it is that one.”

“Is he a friend of yours? I’ve never seen you interact before this, so I didn’t even realize you knew each other.” In hindsight, they were both hybrids, not super far off in age, both grew up in Graves, were half Zodiac shifter, and they were both on their second year at the Academy, so it made sense that they would have met somehow. They didn’t share a major or any classes that I knew of, but with the way all these people scented each other, I imagine they’d pick up on their similarities just by walking past each other in the hall.

Plus, in hindsight, it was Marcus who told me to go to the library to do some research a few months back. If he’d ever been to the library before at all, he had to have encountered him.

I wished these men were ever straightforward about anything.

“We go back a bit,” he said with a shrug, completely unhelpfully.

“Bad blood?” I asked, hoping for some context. Any at all would be great.

“Couldn’t have phrased that any better.” Again, he chuckled at what was an inside joke in a room I wasn’t invited to. “We met last year. He was the first person I ever marked… and the first person to ever reject my mark.” Finally he offered something more than surface level nonsense, and it was not at all what I was expecting.

“Wait, so you… dated?” I blinked rapidly. This explained so many of the little comments he’d made last month about Omegas and what I was getting into. I thought he’d just been reading my mind, but he’d picked me up and dropped me off at work enough times, that he didn’t need to in order to know who I was dealing with. “And you were serious?” What kind of drama had I just started?

“I don’t know if he’d call it that.” His half smile dripped with a hint of irritation. “But there are a lot of politics around the founding family heirs. Well, other than you, I guess.” He exhaled, and I was starting to gather this wasn’t a mutual breakup.

We arrived at the room, and I unlocked the door so he could bring our things inside. The honeymoon suite was gorgeous, with a massive Alaskan King bed, mirrors in so many places that showed so many things from so many angles, and gold accents on everything that could be accented gold.