Page 36 of Zodiac Demons

“I tried that at first, but you were kind of thrashing and sweating and flailing a lot. I’m just glad it worked out.” The additional words “I really thought I was going to lose you” came through in my mind, and I might have thought it was an accidental admission of affection if not for the fact that he didn’t move his lips.

My eyes widened further. I could hear his thoughts?

Because I marked him. Because he was now tied to me as mine. Telepathic communication had never gone both ways for me, unless I was physically and actively draining someone. But with that mark, I could hear his thoughts as clearly as my own.

“I marked you.” I near stumbled over the words, still coming to terms with them myself. I hadn’t actually intended to. I knew there was a risk, but I was using my vampire fangs, not my lion’s teeth. There should have been a difference. I’d never accidentally marked someone I’d fucked.

There had been a difference.

Ceto was the difference.

Or rather, how I felt about Ceto was the difference.

Fuck, I should have clocked that, but I couldn’t help myself. He was going to hate me. He told me not to mark him so many times, but something about playing with that kind of fire also seemed to get him off, and… it maybe, possibly got me off, too.

It’s fine. As long as we don’t fully seal the pact, it’s still fine. I would know if we’d sealed it, and I also didn’t know that we even could fully swap blood in that way without me dying.

Ceto nodded, but didn’t address the statement. He ignored the issue like it wasn’t even worth a discussion. “Apparently Basilisk blood is highly toxic to just about everyone and everything. I’m told it kills almost anything that ingests it outside the classes of serpentine gods and demons. Even vampires aren’t immune. That’s what you get for ignoring my safe word.” He ran a hand through his hair, making light of the situation despite avoiding eye contact. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I never would have let you bite me if I had any idea that would happen. I should have made an actual effort to stop you, I just didn’t… I didn’t realize…” how much I didn’t want you to stop.

The little confessions he didn’t know I could hear were everything I needed right now.

“How am I still alive then?” I followed his lead, not wanting to continue to panic about something that was seemingly more alarming to me than it was to him. Though to his credit, he’d had more time to process that mark than I did right now, so maybe he had already panicked enough at the moment. “Is it because we’re both part of the same shifter order?”

He shook his head. “There’s an antidote.” He whispered, an unexplained sense of melancholy in the word. “It cost quite a lot though.”

“I can pay you back.”

“I don’t mean money.” He lifted his chin, closed his eyes, and drew a heavy breath through his nose. His mind was blank, not giving me access to that information. If he thought about it, he’d also thought to make an active effort to assure his mind wasn’t available to me first. I didn’t know if he was aware that I could read his mind, but he’d thrown up a hard barrier between us.

Before I could ask what he meant, he shook his head and added, “It’s not important. The fact that you’re alive is what’s important.” He rubbed the mark on his neck like a nervous tick, and my whole heart skipped a beat at the small jolt of warmth that sent through me. I’d been told so much about shifter bonds, but to actually experience that kind of connection was more intense than I expected. If this was a once sided pact, I could only imagine what a completed one might feel like. I considered attempting to address the issue again, but he was quick to stay in control of the conversation. “You’ve been fighting this for nearly a week, so your magic reserves must be exhausted. Get some more rest, and I’ll get you some blood you can actually palate.”

He stood and unlocked his bedroom door, not saying anything else before he left. It was likely every single door in this place had a lock—maybe even needing a different key on each—so I didn’t bother to attempt to leave. He was right anyway. I was completely broken down to barely an inch of my life right now, and I could use the rest.

I could use the time to think too.

Present day

Me: Room number?

Little Serpent: No.

Me: Are you sure? I have all of your clothing and your toiletries and, hmm… I wonder what else you might have in here. Oh, look, I found a bead. I bet you were missing that.

Little Serpent: I’ve already commissioned a new necklace. And I have my back up. There’s no reason we need to interact beyond being in close-enough proximity to Lila tonight. So spare me. I’ll just buy new clothing from the store.

Cold. Ice fucking cold.

His words were, anyway. I knew his face was likely burning up just thinking about being in ‘close-enough proximity to Lila.’ We’d learn to play nice yet. Besides that, I’d never seen him shift, and I was now intensely curious about it.

Me: You know I scented you a long time ago, right? Do you know how easy it is for an Alpha to find their prey when we’re hours from a full moon?

I let him sit with that little threat for about ten seconds, before adding:

Me: Actually, you know what, let’s do it that way. I know how much you like being hunted.

Little Serpent: 214. Drop my bag at the door.

So prickly, and yet so, so easy.