Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The week following the field trip, I was back in the library, hoping to find some more hints as to what I could expect from this whole debacle. Marcus was hopefully going to be a good resource, but at this point, I didn't even know how much I didn't know, so my chances of asking good questions were slim.

Though even with the new information I'd learned, there were literally zero books about Zodiac Shifters, even when I searched the library's catalog. None of the books in the Lore section were listed in the catalog at all for that matter, so I couldn't say for sure that they hadn't been checked out or misplaced, but that didn't change the fact that my relevant options were limited.

I was going to have to be complacent with the werewolf, vampire, and incubus books that were available, despite the fact that every single one ignored the concept of a hybrid species entirely. They were about as useful as reading encyclopedias about technology from the fifties. You would think the idea of an incubus fathering a child with any random thing it could stick its dick in would be well documented, but apparently it was shocking and unheard of.

The only even vaguely interesting bit of incubus history I could find was that, typically, incubus actively avoided feeding on virgins, as they were expected to marry the—their-words-not-mine—‘ victim.' Obviously that was an outdated ritual, considering my professor hadn't come by my dorm room and gotten on one knee yet. The unhelpful, two-sentence paragraph that followed that passage, explaining how an incubus would experience vague "consequences" should they be the first to "implant" their "scent" and "mix seed with blood" in an "untouched cavern," made my whole face cringe.

Not that it mattered. Those rules didn't apply to humans who were—again, their-words-not-mine —‘weak, unbreedable, and unworthy of betrothal.' An incubus would be condemned if they tied themselves to a species who was ‘ little more than food for superior beasts ,' it emphasized.

I rolled my eyes at the ridiculous mental image. Nothing says true love like being forced to marry the first demon who sneaks into your room while you're sleeping and touches you. Maybe Adrian's Zodiac Shifter half negated that kind of old, creepy magic.

It was hard to say, because there wasn't one single instance in any of these stories that even implied two opposing species could breed, let alone how it changed their gifts and curses. There was more information about the mechanics and legends of ancient wars than there even was about diet and nutritional needs. I was starting to gather that magic species were racist as fuck. Also pretty violent. The sheer quantity of different blood rituals in these books was alarming.

I went back to the werewolf book, since that had oddly been the most helpful. Werewolves were the best documented of all the species, and I hoped that some of their traits were somewhat universal among human looking things that turned into not human things.

Flipping through the pages, I came upon a section on Alphas, Betas, and Omegas. I recalled the professor saying something about that, and it seemed like as good a place as any to start a deeper dive.

I didn't know for sure what designation Professor Karras fell into, but he seemed pretty Alpha-ish in general. He'd heavily implied he was an Alpha at the very least. Marcus could probably be described as a Beta though. He was always kind and docile, regularly made a point to take care of me even when he had to read my mind to do it, and was all around not a very aggressive person. The night of the full moon didn't count, since he'd already told me his personality changed on those nights. Even the old, mature professor couldn't handle himself on the full moon.

Yeah, definitely a Beta. At least compared to Adrian who puffed up his chest every chance he got. I'd heard the phrases Alpha and Beta thrown around enough in macho, douchey bro-groups to know the difference between those two at least.

I had no fucking clue what an Omega was though. It sounded powerful, but I'd never heard even the biggest narcissist call themselves an "Omega," so I didn't have a good human equivalent to associate with the word.

"Human Lila, how was your field trip?" Ceto's familiar voice pulled me out of my studying, and I immediately looked up from my book.

How does one answer that question?

"It was great," is apparently what I thought when put on the spot. To be fair, it wasn't like it was actually awful. I made friends, learned some things, and got mine. What the fuck did I have to complain about? The whole almost drowning thing? Marcus wasn't going to let me drown, probably. Getting bitten by a vampire? That was par for the course now. Nothing surprised me anymore.

"No issues with the moon?" He took a seat across from me. "I know you were a bit worried about the potential effects on your club mates."

Well, that was a bit harder to answer honestly. "I'm still alive, aren't I?" I dismissed the question then changed the subject, not wanting to go into specifics. "Anyway, do you know much about Alphas, Betas, and Omegas?"

Ceto immediately started choking on nothing, and I tilted my head to the side in confusion.

"What about them?" He asked, his crystal-colored eyes darting to the side. Weird .

"What does it mean? To be an Alpha or a Beta or an Omega?"

"That's a question with a lot more nuance than I can begin to explain." He shook his head. "The designations are ingrained at birth, and there's nothing you can do to change them. They have different manifestations for different species, combinations of species, and personalities, but similar to astrology, there are base characteristics that are like among each classification."

"That sounds complicated." I rested my cheek on my hand. "Which one are you?" Considering how many times he'd shown me his slitted eyes, I reasoned that the question wasn't making a particularly bold assumption .

"I'll answer that as soon as you can tell me which one you are, Human Lila." His smile didn't reach his eyes. Sensitive subject, I guess. Probably also a Beta. No dude wants to be a Beta.

I shrugged then tried a different approach, since I got the impression he was willing to talk to me. I just needed to ask the right questions.

"Well, then what does it mean when someone tells you you're giving off a scent that's messing with their brain? Is that a shifter thing? To smell people?" I thought back to when the professor rejected hanging out with me because I was driving him mad. Considering he sniffed me on first meeting, that seemed like a reasonable point to latch onto.

" Hard to say without smelling it. Some shifters give off predatory scents, which are typically something earthy or savory. Alphas are born hunters, so they're usually more the oak and sandalwood types. Comparatively, Betas and Omegas tend to smell like something delicious, as they're expected to be prey, and it's built into their blood to attract a worthy hunter." He paused for several moments, like he was parsing his words carefully. "But, again, different species can manifest scents in vastly different ways. A hawk shifter's scent won't attract a Zodiac Shifter, for example, even while in heat…" He paused for a moment to stroke his chin. "Were you in heat, perchance?"

What. Is that how guys ask if a girl is on her period without using the big, bad menstruation word? I rolled my eyes at the question. "Uh… that's not how humans work."

I stopped myself from being too condescending, considering I didn't know how these people worked either. If they'd never been human and never been a woman, I suppose it was within reason that they didn't get a proper education on the Homosapien menstrual cycle. Hell, regular men didn't have half an education on a woman's body for that matter, so how was I going to expect magic men to know the first thing about female hormones. For all I knew, shifter women might lay eggs or something.

I followed up quickly, adding in "No. We just went star gazing, and one of the guys told me my scent was getting to him."

He glanced up at the ceiling like he was pondering the question. " Were you in shifted form? Your scent would be particularly strong on a full moon night if you were shifted, especially if you were around a like-species. You said you were dealing with Greek Zodiac Shifters, correct? Not Chinese Zodiac shifters? So you must be a Zodiac—"

Oh my fucking god.

" NO." I said more firmly and loudly than I should have in a library. "I'm human ." Apparently I needed to regularly clarify this to him. "Humans don't shift, full moon or not."

" Right, right. Of course. I almost forgot, Human Lila. My firsthand knowledge of humans is obviously quite limited." That insincere smile covered his face again.

"What about human… uh… scents. What do humans smell like to shifters?" Things were devolving quickly, and I needed to lead the conversation somewhere helpful before I lost my audience.

"Meat." He said bluntly and matter-of-factly. "Humans smell like a sweaty butcher shop all the time, no matter how much they try to mask it with perfumes. It's terrible. "

"Oh." I frowned. Well, that wasn't really the description I wanted to hear. I hoped he didn't hate sitting with me. "Is that what I smell like?"

"No." Ceto took a deep breath through his nose. "You smell like tobacco mixed with rosemary and sage. Which is fascinating, since I don't get the impression that you smoke, and I'm guessing you don't typically wear men's cologne that would contain either herbal note." He supported his cheek in his palm as he gazed at me like he was waiting for me to figure something out. I recognized all of those scents from Adrian and Marcus, however, so the reason he was smelling those instead of a ‘sweaty butcher shop' seemed fairly straightforward.

I nodded along, then figured I'd try one more time to press the point. "And can humans be Alphas and Betas and Omegas? Or is that just a shifter thing? I've only seen it mentioned in the werewolf books."

He started to roll his eyes, then visibly forced himself to stop. Instead, he cleared his throat and met my gaze again. "No, any human who claims that hierarchy is using the language in a very different way. Among humans, it's simple banter. Amongst shifters, it's a fixed class system."

"I see. Well that clears up a little bit." I lifted the corners of my lips through a strained expression. "Maybe the guy who told me my scent was getting to him just really didn't want to be around the smell of sweaty meat."

"Sure." That made him smile, but it didn't make him relax. He seemed oddly tense as I breached these topics. Maybe I should back off before I lost my chance at making a friend. Now that we were going to be coworkers, I didn't want my first job in college to be tense and awkward. It wasn't worth it to get fired on the basis of being too intrusive. I kind of needed the money.

"Sorry to pry so much. I feel really over my head right now, and you're the only person who I'm comfortable asking these things." I shrunk into myself, I wasn't sure how I came to see him as a safe point of contact, but I guess it was because he was the only one who hadn't scared the shit out of me. He was an impartial third party who had no reason to deceive me.

"You're fine." Ceto shrugged. "I don't mind answering your questions for the most part. I simply don't know what all you've gotten yourself into, and it can be difficult to relate nuance to someone whose knowledge is still so high level." Despite saying all that, he didn't get up, and he didn't leave. He just waited patiently for whatever my next question might be. "If I understood your circumstances better, it might be easier to give you the relevant cliff notes."

"That's fair." I dipped my gaze to my lap, feeling a bit self-conscious about the idea of explaining. I couldn't tell him Marcus or Adrian's secrets, and I absolutely didn't want to talk about the sexual stuff. That wasn't relevant anyway. Until I knew Ceto better, I was going to just have to settle for trickle truths. "I don't know enough to give you much more information than that, honestly. All I understand at this point is some people turn into monsters under the full moon."

Another student walked into the library and started searching through the shelves. I stopped speaking immediately, and Ceto's expression tightened. He watched the student from the corner of his eye, and his nostrils flared slightly, like an animal scenting a potential threat .

He returned his gaze to me. "Why don't we talk about this more after school? We'll be working together from here on, yes?"

"If you're still okay with that." I smiled awkwardly. I'd not officially started yet, and I was starting to worry grilling him for information would make me a much less attractive coworker. He was always so friendly, but that didn't mean I couldn't wear out my welcome. Kindness didn't actually mean he liked me. It was always possible he was just being polite. That's what I usually reverted to when I was uncomfortable anyway.

His whole demeanor softened. "Of course I'm okay with that. I'm looking forward to it even." Ceto stated that like it was a matter-of-fact. From anyone else, it might have sounded like flirting, but Ceto always spoke in serious, emotionless absolutes, so I had no such illusions with him.

His frankness put me at ease when I was starting to worry I'd been annoying him beyond redemption. I exhaled deeply then shared a quiet smile. "Then we'll talk on it more later."

Ceto nodded before he stood from the desk. He flashed me his demon eyes briefly, and every time he did, my entire body hitched. The crystalline voids of his irises were unlike anything I'd ever seen, and I couldn't imagine anyone mistaking him for human. Well, maybe I would have if he hadn't been so quick to assume I wasn't. He'd revealed himself almost immediately, and I still didn't know why he'd done so. I wanted to ask him about that too, but I couldn't seem to get the words out. It was probably better that I press the point in a less public place.

As he closed his eyes and turned to the door, I exhaled a long held breath. "See you later, Human Lila." He added with an uncharacteristic half smirk. "I'll look forward to our next little chat."

With that, I was back to my solitude and back to my books. I frowned at the werewolf encyclopedia that was so obviously inadequate, then I returned the leather bound tome to the Lore section.

Slowly but surely, I'd figure these people out. It wasn't like I had the choice to ignore them.