Page 28 of Zodiac Demons

“No, not even close.” That admission was unexpected, but I didn’t press the point, lest he take it back. “I don’t know how I fell asleep out here. That was dangerous.” He muttered quietly under his breath.

“Stress has a way of leaving the body in a hot springs. I have a feeling that’s the only thing that’s been keeping your engine running since you ended up at Graves Academy.”

He still wasn’t pulling away, and that also surprised me.

“You’re probably right.” He turned his head and let it rest in the crux of my shoulder, like he’d forgotten to be prickly. “Has anyone ever told you how good your scent smells?”

“If they did, this is the first time I’ve ever cared.” I turned so we were nose to nose. “Are you drunk?”

“No.” He said immediately. “Maybe.” He corrected just as quickly. “I don’t know.” He concluded after a brief pause.

“I never would have pegged you for a drinker.”

He really did fit nicely against me.

“I’m not.” He nudged in more snuggly. “But I was too nervous to share that bed with you when I was in my right mind, and I trust myself even less when I’m shifted.”

“Are you that afraid of me? Do you really think I’m going to hurt you just because I’m an Alpha?”

“It’s not that.” He moistened his lips with his tongue, and I couldn’t take my eyes off the motion. “It’s more like it’s easier to have something to blame for whatever might happen and there’s no moon tonight to explain why I want something to happen.” He opened his eyes just enough to shift his snake eyes. After an extended moment, he shifted them back then nuzzled back into my shoulder. “Maybe we are perfect foils. Maybe there’s a reason for that.”

I exhaled through my nose in amusement, as I relaxed into a grin. “Western Zodiac shifters don’t have fated mates.” No point in hiding this. I never cared if anyone knew what my bloodlines were, and it was only because of his stubbornness that I’d withheld it. It was time to start giving him reasons to trust me instead of run from me.

He jerked in my hold, then met my eyes again. “Y-you’re part of the Greek Zodiac order?”

I shifted my lion’s claws and drummed them gently on his shoulder. “A Leo.” I clarified. “My mother was a Sagittarius shifter. My father was a Vampire. So I got a little bite from each.”

“Shit.” He pulled away, and this calm shattered between us. He spoke next in a way that sounded damn near accidental. “I’m a Gemini.”

What? “A Gemini… Shifter?” It felt important to make sure I was completely and totally understanding this.

“An Omega Gemini Shifter,” he stated for the record.

We stared at each other as everything clicked into place for both of us. Why we’d been so drawn to each other, why we got along so effortless. All of it. I was expecting him to recoil, to run away, and to buckle, but instead… he laughed. It was an infectious sound that had me joining him.

“What does a Gemini even shift into?” I ruffled his hair. “At least a lion is an animal. I don’t know what you’d get out of simply being ‘twins.’”

“Let me show you.” He opted to reposition himself on top of me, straddling my lap, and placing his hands on my shoulders. Nothing had changed about his physical appearance. His Basilisk was a pronounced monster, but this side of him looked exactly the same.

That laughter faded when he leaned in and kissed me, and for some reason, that had me wide eyed and surprised. He didn’t seem the type to ever make the first move. Certainly not on a moonless night.

I think he’d completely forgotten to be afraid when he slipped a hand down through the water, sliding over every ridge of my abdomen, until he had me in his hand. He deepened that kiss, and without any barrier of clothing between us, he was unexpectedly bold as he ground his hips against mine, to emphasize how deeply in the moment we both were.

I nipped at his lip, trying not to risk drawing blood and leaving a mark I shouldn’t, no matter how badly I currently wanted to. He’d partial shifted his Basilisk, too, and that forked split of his serpent tongue brought a whole new sensation to our locked kiss. He rubbed against me and devoured me with unexpected dominance, and I was happily along for the ride.

Was it a mental shift? Another mind he had within himself?

I grabbed his hips and lifted them just enough, before I teased his ass with the tip of my hard cock. I expected him to protest. I just assumed that this would be the part where he stopped me and pulled back.

While I could technically mark him already, it would be a lot fucking harder not to bite him the more intensely I got caught up in him. That was a dangerous level of trust to give to a vampire, but maybe that was what he wanted, even if he couldn’t say that out loud.

The first hint of pressure, had him gripping my shoulders with force that would kill a lesser man, and I felt his own fangs extend in pure arousal.

Fuck, I loved that animal side of him. I wished he’d let it out to play more often.

I sank in just the tip, like a small and provocative test, and I felt his fangs enter my lip, in a passionate escalation of his own needs.

And then my whole entire body shut down, instantaneously, like a rag doll discarded on the floor. My arms dropped from his hips and descended down through the water. My shoulders went limp, my head fell to the side, and I was no longer returning his eager kisses. I lost all control and all ability to move my muscles.