Page 124 of Psycho Beasts

Did men think women were stupid?

Time ticked by slowly as I stared at Jax and didn’t move my head.

Memories of a chair in the fae realm made my skin prickle and my heart rate speed up.

They’d already toyed with me once before, and I wasn’t about to give them a repeat performance.

Why the fuck was I always restrained around them?

The violence in the room ratcheted up.

I slumped against the headboard and closed my eyes. How were we supposed to move forward as a group?

If I was fire, then they were kerosine.

Ever since we’d entered the beast realm, an inferno of violence burned between us.

The exhaustion from sleep deprivation, studying (truly, the worst thing a person could go through), physical exertion, voices in my head, the aftermath of controlling people with my blood, and the emotional upheaval of a pack with an omega in heat were just too much for one person to handle.

My eyes burned—definitely Xerxes and the damn heat hormones—as tears dripped down my cheek.

I just wanted to cuddle with Aran, smoke an unknown enchanted substance, and sleep until I had to fight one hundred terrifying alphas basically to the death.

Was a little peace really too much to ask for?

Ascher’s face fell as he raked his hand through his golden curls. “Fuck, Princess, don’t cry.”

Cobra hissed, “Don’t fall for her fucking games. Grow the fuck up, Kitten.”

His words were biting, but there was an edge of panic in his voice, like he didn’t know what to do.

The shadow snake sent me calming images of love and support.

Jax sighed heavily, and he leaned forward, gently pushing the white hair that was tangled in front of my face.

He asked softly, “How did everything get so messed up?”

Xerxes tilted his head back like he was praying to the sun god. “She rejected us. That’s how.”

My tears dried up.

I made a disgruntled noise from behind my gag and glared at him.

Technically, I’d just agreed with the don’s overt threats.

Xerxes was the one who’d immediately replaced me.

Xerxes’s eyes were hard amethysts as he glared back at me, and his too-pretty features hardened into granite.

If I hadn’t known any better, I’d say he didn’t have any emotions. Didn’t feel anything.

The Black Wolves are hunting him.

Goose bumps pricked my skin, and I squirmed against my uncomfortable bindings.

Ascher held out his palms like he was begging. “Something must have happened to make her…enslave us like that. We need to hear her out.”

“Oh, now you’re all about peace and rationality. Coming from the spy who betrayed us,” Cobra scoffed and dismissed him.

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