Page 13 of Psycho Beasts

His gorgeous features were a stony mask of indifference.

He meant it.

Immediately, Cobra’s diamonds transformed into shadow snakes and streamed off his body.

They piled atop one another until they formed a massive snake as black as his father’s was white.

The don said nothing, just took another long drag of his cigarette as his white snake slithered off his shoulders.

It approached Cobra’s black snake until they were face-to-face.

Slowly, it opened its massive jaw, flashed opal fangs, and gave a harsh warning hiss.

Cobra’s snake replied in kind.

I gulped and tried desperately to remember if snakes bonded with their young.

From the current energy in the room, my best guess was that no, they did not. The don’s snake, which apparently was the don, was giving off extremely aggressive vibes.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of the two snakes hissing at each other, the don nodded.

The white snake slithered back over his wide shoulders, and the don lounged back into a green velvet chair.

He flicked his long black hair over his shoulder casually, but everything about him screamed violence.

Since we were all standing and he was sitting, we should have been in the position of power.

We weren’t.

He looked down at all of us, even while seated.

Sweat dripped down my side even though I was still drenched in chilly rain.

The don slowly blew out a cloud of cigarette smoke. “So you’re my son.”

It wasn’t a question.

Cobra’s enormous snake broke apart into thousands of shadow snakes, and they streamed back onto his flesh. With a gleam, they flashed back into diamonds and crystals across his skin. “Appears so.”

The don ran his eyes slowly over Cobra. “Interesting that your snakes are so…fractured. Even stranger that you wear them on your skin as jewels.”

Cobra said nothing.

The don said nothing.

A dozen machine guns still pointed at us, and the men in sunglasses, holding the weapons, didn’t move a muscle.

Hazy smoke rolled around us.

Somehow, even though no one spoke, the tension in the room escalated tenfold. A live wire of cackling energy.

More sweat streaked uncomfortably down my side.

A smile split the don’s handsome face.

It wasn’t a nice expression.

He casually twirled his cigarette in his fingers and nodded like he’d decided something.

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