Page 29 of Psycho Beasts

Cobra collapsed weakly onto the ground.

Finally, Jax was released, and the big man landed on his feet gracefully. He was bruised but looked to be in the best shape compared to the rest of us.

Dark-purple bruises covered every inch of his pale skin. We all waited for him to stand, but he just moaned and lay on the ground, unmoving.

I grimaced at his awful state.

Something told me they’d gone harder on him because he was the prince.

He had more to gain and thus more to prove.

Also, it looked like another one of us was joining the severe parental issues group. I’d let him know when Aran and I scheduled our next therapy session.

Sun god knew we needed it.

Jax leaned over and stroked his dark hand softly across Cobra’s bruised forehead. Then he gently lifted Cobra and cradled him against his chest like he wasn’t holding a six-foot-five man covered in muscles.

My breath caught as I stared at Jax.

His long braids softly tinkled with chains, and his earrings, nose ring, and piercing gray eyes sparkled.

He calmly carried Cobra after being tortured.

As every pain-stricken cell in my body wept with relief, I marveled at Jax’s poise.

He was more than a man.

A god.

Finally, Ascher was released, and he stumbled to his tattooed feet, his horns splattered in blood and his amber eyes swollen shut.

The moment felt monumental because we’d done it.

All of us were still alive.

I coughed up blood and cleared my throat. “Um, so can we just leave?”

Spike nodded and gestured toward the door. “A car will take you to Xerxes’s place.”

I didn’t bother to ask how he knew that was where we were going to stay. As we limped past him, I couldn’t help but check over my shoulder nervously.

After our little rope torture session, it didn’t feel right that we were just free to go.

Being threatened with guns or thrown into a pit of poisonous snakes seemed like a more fitting next step than just leaving casually.

Whatever, I didn’t argue.

Jax carried Cobra silently, and Ascher leaned an arm against Jax’s bicep for support. I held on to Ascher’s arm, and Xerxes wrapped himself around me.

Together, we limped out the door.

There was no one in the room, and we shuffled down the long hall we’d entered through.

Hell is paved with the bones of the disloyal, took on new meaning as we struggled past the words on the wall.

I’d heard the term hell before, but had never wondered what it stood for.

Now my skin rolled with the premonition that it wasn’t good.

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