Page 39 of Zodiac Demons

Marcus just snorted at that. “There’s no ‘how to’ for festival dancing. This isn’t a ballroom competition. Just move however the music makes you want to move, and that’s all you need to know how to do.” He shrugged. “Not to mention that half of these people are drunk or taking hallucinogens. You will not be the most uncoordinated person here, even if you try.” He chuckled as he placed a hand on the small of my back and nudged me toward the open area at the base of the stage. “Besides,” he added, bending down to whisper in my ear, “I’ve seen the way your body moves when you let yourself give in, and it is breathtaking every single time.”

My cheeks heated to a new shade of red, and I don’t know that he’d ever stop having that effect on me. In all of my confusion around Ceto and Adrian, he was the only one who always felt easy, and the only struggles in our relationship were my own insecurities and indecisiveness.

Well, and the multiple mate marks.

The music started as the sky was washed in orange and pinks, and I let myself just move and sway my hips and pump my arms however the beat dictated, and as people all did the same around us, I stopped worrying so much about what I looked like. I was having fun. Honest, stress free, simple fun that I hadn’t had the chance to really enjoy in the mess that had been my first semester at Graves. This was what college was supposed to be. Free and new and learning about myself and letting myself just be me.

It was only complicated, because I was still figuring out what I even was, mentally, emotionally, and well… literally.

Marcus took my hand and spun me, and I let him lead, while enjoying the closeness of being ridiculous in a crowd together. The sun dipped lower, and I didn’t want to lose this. I knew the Cancer trigger tonight. I didn’t know that I wanted to press it. But I did know I wanted to spend this night with my mate.

Mates?

I wished Ceto was here. It would be hard to imagine him dancing like this though. He was more reserved, not really the type to let loose in a crowd.

I liked that about him though. I liked that he was so different from Marcus and Adrian. I liked that he added something to my life and fed a different part of my personality. Maybe it was unfair to all of them to feel like I needed bits and pieces of each of these people to feel content, but this moment with Marcus was perfect. The days in the library or at the shop with Ceto were perfect. Even my moments in class or after hours with Adrian were perfect.

Was it really going to be okay? Imagining all of these men getting along for someone like me was hard to fathom. And yet, I knew at least Marcus was willing to try.

The moon hadn’t set yet, but the music slowed and Marcus pulled me close in an intimate dance. I looked up into his eyes, and all I could think was that I wanted to kiss him. I’d always let everyone else take the lead, but Marcus was my mate and my boyfriend and why was I hesitating? I was allowed to kiss him whenever I wanted, right? Somehow, in all of our moments until now, I’d always been kissed, but I’d never been the one to make the first move. I questioned every moment and was terrified of being rejected if I read the moment wrong, and that was just my trauma messing with me. He never saw me with the same critical lens I saw myself through, and I wanted that.

With new determination, I stood on my toes, and I touched our lips together. Soft and gentle and testing the waters. Marcus just grinned into that kiss, in a way that made my whole heart skip a beat, then he gripped my hair and deepened that connection until we were both so intertwined, I forgot where we were or that there was anyone else here at all.

“You are always allowed to kiss me, Baby Doll. Always and forever.” He spoke directly into my mind. If he’d listened to my entire internal battle, he didn’t clarify, but those words meant just as much in any case.

A warmth prickled down my back, and I realized, as I was lost in him, I’d also lost track of the time. The moonbeams melted into my skin, and I wouldn’t have fought that transformation even if I knew how to. In this crowd, I still looked subtly human enough. My long dark hair hid my ears, and my dress hid any hint of my scales. He was kissing me in my true form, in front of a thousand people, and that was so fucking liberating.

This was the reward after a long and trying semester, and I was so damn happy to be here.

Chapter 15

Bathing in moonlight was a high like no other. To have the heat, the power, the fucking invigorating rush of magic—this never got old. Too many times, I’d become a slave to that demonic surge, but not tonight. Never again. Even if I shifted, I would still be in my right mind, and that was empowering on a level I’d never imagined. Lila was, truly, the best thing that ever happened to me.

I had to admit, I was a little disappointed that Ceto hadn’t come out to play for the night though. Maybe I’d never get to meet his shifted side. We should have been in close enough proximity that he wouldn’t be overly sick right now as it was, so he could avoid us if he really wanted to. A shame, but he was nothing if not stubborn.

At least he still came though. To be honest, I wouldn’t wish bond separation sickness on anyone, having now experienced it. Once the combination of adrenaline and fear for Lila’s safety had worn off on the last full moon, I took a solid two days to recover from the dehydration and misery of it all.

It was capital punishment for a crime I didn’t even want to commit, as being by Lila on nights like this was all I wanted anyway.

The music pulsed and Lila was grinding against me with a free and easy confidence. I loved it when she opened up like this. Where Ceto and Adrian both ran from their inner demons, I had embraced mine, and seeing her do the same healed something in me. I casually embraced the idea that I was a monster, because I’d long accepted that was all I could be to most people, but the way Lila had come to seek out that part of herself with so much eagerness and curiosity instead of fear and rejection shone a different light on a world that was once so dark and cruel. She wasn’t taught as a child that she was a ruthless killer to be feared. She was taught she was nothing, and finding that ruthlessness let her feel something.

I ran my hands down her body, feeling every soft curve beneath the thin fabric of her sundress, and I pulled her tightly against me, wanting to feel every movement of her muscles as she flowed with the music, more naturally now that she was shifted.

My dirty little Virgo made no qualms about running her palms up the sides of my jeans, before she slipped her hands under my shirt, and felt her way up the muscles of my back.

Fuck, she was everything.

“Lila, Baby, I’m going to be blunt right now.” I spoke just loudly enough for her to hear me over the music. “If you keep grinding against me like that, I’m going to take you onto the beach and fuck you behind that rock until you forget your own name.”

She flashed me a devilish smile in return. “I’m not sure what you mean.” She gripped me tighter, before she spun around and pressed her back fully into my chest, and her ass firmly against my cock. The woman was a menace, as she reached one arm up and behind her head to grip the back of my neck, then she snaked her way down my body, with seductive, well-pointed pressure.

I let her slide her way back up to her full height, before I pressed one hand against her stomach to hold her in place against me, then the other I slipped beneath her flowing skirt and tugged her panties down beneath the hemline. I could have used my vampire speed to do this discreetly, but she clearly wanted a little punishment.

“Keep dancing, Baby Doll. Don’t make a scene.” I purred into her ear, as her panties fell to the ground in the middle of the dance floor. I kept her body flush against mine, as I undid my belt with subtly and speed, and I could feel the pure fire pulsing through her as I hiked up her skirt just enough to penetrate her fully from behind.

She gasped as I filled her, but she did her best to keep moving to the music, blending in with the gyration of the rest of the crowd, as I slowly slid in and out of her very wet pussy. The excess material of her skirt mostly hid what we were doing from prying eyes, but she was so intensely soaked from being fucked in the middle of a mosh pit, that I couldn’t help but wonder if she would have been even more turned on if it didn’t.

“Go on,” I said, keeping my lips against her ear, assuring only she could hear me. “Get yourself off for your audience.” I slid my hand up her abdomen, and I gripped her breast through the fabric. “I want to see how quietly you can fuck yourself for me.”