Page 18 of Psycho Beasts

Not that I would shift even if I could.

I had a feeling that was not the point of Mafia initiation, or whatever the hell the don had called this little experience.

To add to the room’s lovely ambiance, there was a single neon light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

It flickered incessantly and cast creepy shadows around the room.

We were in a literal skyscraper, a marvel of engineering, and they couldn’t make the light stop flickering?

“I’m gonna have a seizure,” I muttered with annoyance as sweat streaked down my temples and added to my growing discomfort.

The temperature in the room was ungodly hot, and I gasped at the clammy air.

We weren’t the only lucky folks hanging from creepy hooks.

Two large, muscular men covered in tattoos, that weren’t as cool or extensive as Ascher’s, swung back and forth next to us.

They said nothing. Just silently dripped sweat like the rest of us.

I didn’t know how long I’d been hanging, because there were no windows or clocks to mark the passage of time.

It could have been minutes or hours.

All I knew was my shoulder blades were burning, and the pain was slowly consuming my every thought.

Just yesterday, I’d been fighting for my life against a vampyre and an evil fae queen in a gladiator arena.

Sun god help me, there was still sand crusted onto my skin. I hadn’t even showered, and now I was hanging from the ceiling.

At this point, I would murder someone for a hot bath and a smutty book.

“Could this suck any more?” I groaned and kicked my legs back and forth through the air, desperate to relieve the ache in my arms. “Also, I hate to say it, but your dad kinda sucks.”

Snake eyes glowed in the dark next to me and jeweled skin twinkled under the flickering light.

Cobra’s voice crackled with menace. “If you’d listened to me, you wouldn’t be here.” He mumbled under his breath, “Fucking disobedient kitten.”

I growled and kicked my legs aimlessly in his direction. “Stop calling me Kitten. Also, I’m so fucking sorry that I didn’t just abandon you to handle creepy gang initiation all by yourself.”

“I’m going to kill you for this.” Cobra’s words slurred with anger, and a rattling hiss shook through his chest.

“Get in line,” I mumbled and twisted toward him as ire built in my chest. “Also, grow up. It’s called being a teammate.”

I threw Jinx’s earlier words back at him.

My shadow snake sent a streak of pain across my back. Like it had zapped me. It was the first time it had sent me anything other than love and encouragement.

Cobra snarled, “We’re not a fucking team.”

His words hurt more than the physical pain that was ripping through my arms.

Cobra glared at me with intensity as his slit pupils glowed brightly in the dark. “I own you. This is not fucking safe, and I forbade you. You disobeyed me.”

I took the mature route.

Scrunching up my face, I mocked him. “You disobeyed me.”

I made eye contact with Xerxes, who hung from the ceiling on my other side. The omega was silent, but he looked at me with understanding in his purple eyes.

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