Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"A date, huh?" Marcus' voice through the line dripped with irritation. Which was comical considering he'd been playing so many games with the poor girl, he was hardly in a position to complain if I made any sort of move. This was what he wanted after all. He wanted to see me get tangled up with someone, presumably so he could take it all away from me. But I wasn't going to give him any such satisfaction. This was by no stretch a romantic situation.

"Why are you calling me exactly?" I contemplated hanging up, but I was feeling nice enough to hear him out. I pinned the phone to my ear using my shoulder, while I looked through my dress shirts for the perfect design. I should have asked what color she was wearing tonight, but maybe that would have made her believe this was legitimately a date, when it was simply a meeting with a nice meal.

"I'm just surprised my professional, good natured, perfect brother would openly pursue his student, so I wanted to make sure you hadn't been hit in the head or eaten a bad mushroom or something."

I snorted. Marcus never changed. "I appreciate your concern."

"It's the least I can do." His words were a verbal eye roll. "Literally the least."

"I wouldn't want a drop more." I settled on a sea foam green button up that nearly matched my eyes and nicely suited a Pisces. I tapped speakerphone and tossed my phone onto the bed, so I could get dressed. "But yes, I'm fine. Anything else?" I wasn't interested in being baited. Nor was I that immature .

"Where are you taking her?" Marcus sounded like a hurt puppy dog. So odd for someone who didn't care about Lila at all.

"On the night of the full moon? I'll let you guess." The last thing I'd be telling him was my whereabouts. That wasn't drama I would be entertaining.

"The school cafeteria?"

"Very funny." I walked right into that one. "If you think I picked this night for any reason other than to keep her safe from you, you haven't been paying attention." I smirked despite myself. "I'm hanging up now. Thank you for reaching out. I won't be in touch." I tapped to end the call before he could offer any further opinions, then ignored the buzz of a text message as I resumed getting ready.

This absolutely wasn't a date, but it was a means to an end. In a way, I was being as manipulative as he was, leveraging the fact that she was drawn to me to keep her out of his sphere on this night, but what kind of a mentor would I be if I didn't look out for her when she was in danger. My Pisces trigger wasn't difficult to avoid, and if I stumbled, for any reason, at least I could confidently say I wasn't at any risk of murdering her like my Vampire sibling. The only thing an Incubus might break was her heart.

She was safer with me, even if I wasn't safe with her.

The sun was low in the sky when I arrived at the dorms of Graves Academy. I waited outside on the steps, having specifically asked her not to tell me her room number. I hadn't asked for her phone number, either. I was actively making an effort to keep this as impersonal as possible, while also treating her in a way she deserved. We'd both been rough with her, and considering she had been a virgin at twenty-two, it seemed unlikely she'd ever had a man show her a proper date. I was sure Marcus hadn't. He probably put her on his motorcycle, ruined her hair, and scared her half to death.

Though she was only twelve years younger than me, that felt like an eternity at this point in my life. People in their early twenties were my students. They weren't romantic partners or friends.

I was thinking too much on this, like I had any doubt as to the nature of our relationship, our meeting, and my opinions of her. She was the unfortunate young woman who I needed to lead in a better direction.

It was still fifteen minutes until we were supposed to meet when the large double doors to Graves Academy creaked open. Tentative steps carried Lila to the top of the stairs. She wore flat black boots that were dressy, but easy to walk—or run —in. It was a smart and tactical choice over heels. Thick black panty hose would keep her warm as the temperatures dropped with the daylight, and the velvet dress draped perfectly over every curve of her body, emphasizing the sharp taper of her hips with a well-placed jeweled belt.

I was staring, and I had to force myself to look away. The girl was gorgeous, and she deserved far better than being a play thing for half-shifters. She tugged at the bottom of her mid-thigh length skirt, and it was those little nervous gestures that my incubus instincts latched onto.

I wanted no part of an inexperienced woman. I'd always found the obsession with innocence, as though sex changed a person's value, to be archaic and disgusting. Perhaps it was the lust demon side of my brain, but especially among immortals, it was hypocritical at best when so many of our kind used magic, manipulation, and superior strength to take advantage of as many people as they could in a single lifetime. There was nothing natural about preferring easy prey. It simply spoke to laziness and ineptitude that couldn't handle an equal. In a world dictated by survival of the fittest, it was a sign of inferior ability.

But…

While I fought for that belief on a personal and human level, that desire was painfully written into my bloodline. An incubus whose fluids mixed with the blood of a broken hymen was magically bound by body and soul. In the old days, that meant marriage and slavery. These days, the drive and expectation was the same, but we simply left out the ceremony.

My Zodiac blood helped that in some ways and made it so much worse in others. On one hand, I was only emotionally compelled to seek her, as though she was an intense craving keeping me in a state of constant withdrawal. It was torturous, but still better than the alternative. If I'd been a full blooded Incubus, I'd have been magically bound to possess her ‘til death, just as my father had been with mother. Which was why he couldn't leave her, even after he'd realized he couldn't handle the arrangement with Marcus' father after all. While our parents had eventually worked it out, and now they lived in a nauseatingly happy three way, it was magic that kept them together long enough to do so. Perhaps that was why I'd been so terrified to get close to anyone for so much of my life.

It was also fortunate that my hybrid status meant I was able to put a temporary, one-sided mate mark on Lila, which satisfied the need of both my lust demon side and my astrological side that demanded I make her permanently mine. If I'd been a hybrid wolf shifter instead of a Capricorn, Marcus' little prank wouldn't have been nearly so catastrophic, but as it stood, I was going to have to do what I could to placate the Devil's control of my fate. The mark was enough to quell the magic possessiveness on some level, even if I spent every single class completely incapable of ignoring her now. She only need be within a hundred feet of me, and she was the only thing I could smell, think, and daydream about.

But she wasn't going to be forced to be my bride, and once she moved on from Graves and I never saw her again, I could only hope that the distance and a rejection ceremony would be enough to keep her from my monster's influence.

What fun. It would have been nice if Marcus had taken the time to fucking learn that before he set me up in the worst possible position.

Regardless.

"That dress is striking on you." I paid her a compliment, and her cheeks turned beet red. If I could contribute nothing else of value, I could at least build her confidence. She deserved to hold her head high and find someone who would worship her.

"Thanks, I bought it just for this." She responded without making eye contact. She was so nervous around me, but I couldn't blame her. I'd not exactly created a safe space in our interactions. I wasn't sure if she even wanted one. The irony was that she seemed less comfortable now, as I led her to my car for a peaceful evening, than she'd been while I had her pinned beneath me in my truest transformation. What of that reaction was innate, and what was learned trauma response?

I disarmed the locks on my silver sports car, then walked around to the passenger side to open the door for her.

She stared at the open door, then back at me, then back at the door. "Are you sure this isn't a date?" She said with an increasingly relaxed demeanor. It seemed she loosened up whenever she felt she had something a little argumentative to say.

Cute .

I shook off the thought, but didn't budge on holding the door.

"I wasn't raised by wolves, literally or figuratively." I chuckled, nodding to insist she let me offer this courtesy. I could feel how much that relaxed her from my safe distance.

"I can open a door myself." She protested next.

"I'm well aware. But why should you have to?" I furrowed a brow, a bit lost over what the issue was. Though this absolutely wasn't a date, I was a bit saddened to learn the concept of a man opening a door for a woman he'd invited out was anything other than the bare minimum expectation. Admittedly, I wasn't entirely familiar with common custom among humans though. My parents had raised me to blend with society, but it was hard to know what idiosyncrasies were innately magic-kind when I spent every day surrounded by others like me. I would have thought something as simple as this would be universal. "This isn't to demean your ability to perform simple tasks. This is just basic kindness and respect."

"The only time I've ever seen someone open a car door for someone else in this day and age was my parents." She smiled at me, and that little bit of boldness was comforting. She sat down, and I closed the door gently, before taking my place in the driver's seat.

"Some of the people who live and prosper in Grave are thousands of years old. Chivalry hasn't died here." I added as I put on my seat belt. "Though I certainly hope that courtesy hasn't completely vanished from human spaces."

"It gives you away a bit, to be honest." Her laugh was gentle, and I could tell from the emotional bond I had with her that she was joking. Marking her had given me free access to her emotions, where unmarked I was only able to sense hints, and I would be using that to my advantage tonight.

I backed out of the parking space and pointed toward downtown. I'd gotten reservations at one of the nicest restaurants in Graves, figuring she deserved a treat for everything she'd been putting up with while keeping her silence. Just because this was a casual and platonic meeting, that didn't mean food quality and atmosphere should be compromised. There was no reason tonight wouldn't be pleasant and peaceful.

But if I was being honest with myself, the timing went far beyond protecting her from my brother for this lunar phase. The outdoor patio with its view of the sunset, paired with the complete exposure to the full moon that followed, would be the most controlled-but-subtle way I could have her in a position to observe her transformation—whether she was an Alpha who needed to be triggered, a Beta who had no choice, or an Omega who had no power, I would be figuring that out tonight.

I would have warned her if she hadn't been so stubbornly set on the idea that she was human, but this was easier. By the end of the night, I was confident there wouldn't be any question.

I frowned as I neared the restaurant. With such subtle manipulations and secret plotting, was I really any better than my brother?