Page 15 of Psycho Beasts

How could someone tell a person’s eyes were dry in a dim, hazy room?

What was most shocking was how the don just tilted his head at her and said nothing.

The smallest smile played at the corner of his lips.

A long moment passed as the don didn’t deny it, and everyone slowly realized Jinx was correct.

The don waved his hand. The betas lowered their machine guns so they pointed at the ground.

Ever so slowly, I pulled my floating blood sphere back into the cut on my arm.

Thank the sun god I didn’t infect anyone with my blood; talk about making things awkward and outing myself.

Jax and Ascher stopped shifting into their animals and returned to normal. Xerxes resheathed his daggers.

Cobra’s shadow snakes slithered back onto his flesh, but this time, they didn’t transform into jewels.

Slowly, the tension in the room lowered.

The don pulled out a fresh cigarette and lit it. When it was burning in his mouth, he said, “You were right, and you were wrong. I was bluffing. I wouldn’t have killed you right here on my white floors. I’d have taken you out back afterward and shot you.”

The tension ratcheted back up.

A low, rattling hiss sounded from Cobra’s chest, and Jax let out a rumbling roar. Ascher’s horns straightened on his head, and Xerxes palmed his knives.

My chest shook with a slight growl.

No one threatened our sisters.

The don kept speaking, like he hadn’t just casually admitted his plan to execute all of us. “But you just put on an impressive display of power. It would be a shame to waste such talent when our glorious city can always use a little…help.”

Jinx grumbled, “He was totally bluffing. He’s just covering now.”

Jess kicked her sister in the shin.

Abruptly, the don’s eyes shifted into snake eyes, and he stared at Jinx. His slit pupils were larger and darker than Cobra’s snake eyes, and the effect was terrifying.

Jax shifted to block Jinx, but she moved her small body to the side to stare down the don.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not scared of you.”

A visible shudder shook through the don, and the white snake across his shoulders bared its fangs and hissed at her.

“Still not.” Jinx inspected her cuticles.

This time, both Jess and Jala kicked her in the shins.

I was low-key impressed, because I was afraid and he wasn’t death glaring at me like he wanted to wear my skin as an outfit.

The don’s slit pupils widened, and something unexplainable transformed his face. “How interesting.” He stared at Jinx.

Another rumble sounded from Jax’s chest, and my chest shook with a growl. I didn’t like the way he looked at her.

From the way Ascher and Xerxes shifted closer to her, none of us did.

After a weird standoff between Jax’s twelve-year-old sister and the terrifying Mafia leader, the don shook his head.

He turned to Cobra. “As soon as you entered this realm, you took up your mantle of responsibility as my only heir. Blood and family are the most powerful inheritance, and you have a duty to our organization and this city.”

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