Page 62 of Zodiac Demons

Marcus pressed his palm into my lower back, and he fucked my ass as he massaged my spine with the soft fur of the Leo. My vision blurred, and I lost myself to a whole new sensation, clenching and tensing and exploding in an orgasm completely unlike the countless times he’d taken me to heaven by playing my clit or pressing into that perfect spot inside me.

I was gone, my head in the stars, and my body releasing in a soul shaking crash.

I was still coming down from painful and perfect elation when he spilled himself inside me, and his viscous seed further slickened his withdrawal.

I dropped to my knees in a panting daze, and he dropped down with me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and hugging me against his reverted, more human chest. We were both still breathing heavy, while I let the satisfying, empowering dopamine of my orgasm dissipate. I nuzzled into his neck, needing this contact to ground myself back to reality.

After several moments, we both got to our feet and started dusting off the leaves of the forest.

“At least I can handle staying conscious on nights like these now. Sorry if that makes it less fun for you.” While I’d said it as a mildly dark joke, that seemed to legitimately snap something in him when a jolt of rigidity ran through his body.

“I guess you can. You have a few times now. I don’t think you’ve blacked out since the night of the Aries.” The words came out as sobering, without a hint of amusement in them.

“No, I guess not. I used to always pass out after.” I rubbed the back of my neck, not really sure what that meant. I had said it as a passing, thoughtless comment, but was there a reason for that? “Maybe being a Virgo means that the further and further I get from my virginity, the stronger I am.” Again, I tried to laugh it off, and again, that only seemed to shock him more.

His lips parted, and he stared into my eyes like he was seeing the devil in them. I couldn’t even guess what thoughts were going through his mind.

When he didn’t say anything, I broke the tension myself. “Is… everything okay?”

“I don’t know.” He muttered, then he shook his head, and took a step back. I scrunched my nose, not sure what was going through his mind, and wishing he’d share. He inhaled deeply, then closed his eyes.

I watched as he shifted one claw then the other, flexing each lion paw like he was testing his control. Slowly, he lifted his chin and adjusted his jaw, before he shifted back to the fur and teeth of his moon transformation.

“I can take on the form of a natural lion,” he said, as he rolled his neck, and his hair extended in that rough and wild mane. “But I think for tonight, I’ll hold onto more of my vampire, like the moon prefers.” That fur repopulated his arms at a controlled rate, only as he willed it to. His soft tail extended from his back side, while his bare, rippling chest was colored in gold. Every movement and partial shift of his body appeared as though he was testing the transformation for himself. He flexed and nodded like he was verifying something, then he turned his cat eyes back on me, and displayed every sharp fang in a wide grin. “You didn’t think we were done yet, did you, Baby Doll?”

“Oh I…” The way he was looking at me was positively feral, vicious, and starving.

“Run. I’ll give you a two minute head start, then when I catch you, I’m going to give you a new reason to call me a monster. Until I’m the only monster you want to call for at all.”

Wide-eyed, but not about to argue, I pushed off the tree and started into the forest. It wasn’t like I thought I’d outrun him. I wasn’t a fast runner on my best days, and there was zero chance I’d get away.

But it also wasn’t like I wanted to, either.

Though the adrenaline, the way my heart was pounding, and the danger of his smile was enough to make the threat feel real in this little cat and mouse game.

Leaves and twigs crunched under my every step, and with the already heavy tree coverage, the night had brought in a more complete and imposing darkness. I wasn’t sure which direction would take me back to the road or where I might end up, but I let the thrill carry me into the unknown without having time to think of the consequences.

Two minutes was impossibly long and no time at all. I ran as hard as I could, dipping around trees, weaving through increasingly thick vegetation, and hopping over small streams that cut through the mulch, relying on instinct and moonlight to guide me. In my own shifted form, I was strikingly more agile and athletic than my natural body, and I navigated unexpectedly adeptly. I saw a clearing on the other side of a long stretch of thick trees, and I sprinted for it.

I had barely taken my first step into the grassy relief when a violent force grabbed me from behind and ripped me off my feet.

I was in fur covered arms, thick, muscular, powerful, and unrelenting, squeezed against a hard chest, with claws that dug into me in a way that refused to let go. I screamed on impact, then I was… in the air, off my feet, and the bright full moonlight was lost to the shadows of two massive wings.

Wings?

“Adrian?” I called back but got no answer. Though that defining scent of Rosemary and Tobacco answered my question without a need for words. I might have squirmed in his hold to get a better look at him, but as he lifted me higher and higher, I wasn’t trying to fall. I looked down just in time to see Marcus burst into the clearing, running on all fours as a mix of man and lion, tracking me by my scent.

He came to a skidding stop and looked around in confusion, before his eyes shot up to our position in the sky. Adrian still hadn’t said a word as we eclipsed the moon, and I had no idea what I’d just gotten into.

Chapter 31

Shit.

Shit!

Stupid fucking incubus wings.

“Hold tight. He’s going to be out of his mind more than usual, but I’ll be able to track you by your scent, so I’ll find you before something bad happens.” I attempted to tell her directly through our mind link, hopefully before she was out of range. He was ascending quickly, and he had a different sort of speed when he was flying that was difficult to match on the ground, especially with the limitations of navigating a forest. I tried to give chase, but I had no idea where he was taking her, and it would only require him perching atop a high cliff to become borderline unreachable. I could climb in my beast form, but even with the help of vampire speed, I could only scale a mountain with steep cliff faces and no handholds so quickly.