Page 210 of Psycho Beasts

“When I was in my twenties, the fae male I fought offered to pay for my services after the match. The queen saw my potential, and I slowly transitioned from full-time fighter and part-time prostitute to vice versa.”

Cobra shrugged casually. “So that’s why I have these.” He held up his arms, and the jewels twinkled in the light. “A fucking curse.”

Suddenly, he sat up straight and turned to Jax. “My snake never became tangible, no matter how hard I tried, until that day in the shifter realm. That’s why it was so hard to transition it back to jewels. I was so scared I’d never see it again.”

Cobra turned to me, a sheepish look on his face. “Also, I never severed the connection to your snake, just made it feel like it was dying, because I wanted to hurt you back.”

His pale cheeks became tinged pink as he mumbled, “I’d never actually leave you.”

My heart pounded harder in my chest as I thought about how much comfort the shadow snake had still given me.

Even when Cobra had been furious.

“I think a part of me knew you didn’t. It was always way too happy around you.”

I smiled at him and shook my head, the shadow snake twining around my fingers, offering images of support.

Cobra smiled back, and the expression made his gorgeous features unimaginably perfect.

I forgot how to breathe.

Jax wrapped his arm around Cobra and pulled him close, and Xerxes was staring at the man in awe.

“Fucking hell, that was bleak. How did you escape?” Ascher asked.

Cobra shrugged. “The soldier returned one day and told me to tell the queen I didn’t have a shifted form, but I always had control over my snakes. That I should threaten to tell the whole realm unless she released me. I thought he was crazy, but weirdly it worked. She must have known it would get back to the don and was scared.”

Cobra rubbed his eyes tiredly. “Now that I think about it, it’s weird that the soldier escorted me to the shifter realm and not the beast realm. He had me immediately tested at the sacred lake.”

My vision blurred.

I tipped forward out of my chair.

The coffee mug slammed into the hardwood floor and shattered into a million pieces.

Voices shouted from far away.

“What the fuck, Sadie?” Ascher slapped my face lightly as Cobra shook my shoulders, and Jax and Xerxes crowded beside them.

All four men stared down at me in concern.

Aran had escaped the fae realm with the help of a strange man.

A similar man had randomly shown up and brought me to get tested at the sacred lake.

My voice cracked as I asked, “Did the soldier have bright-blue eyes and wear a long black cloak?”

Cobra took a step back. “Yes.”

“Fuck us.” I groaned.

The truth crashed over me, and my limbs went weak.

At that moment, the massive clock on the wall chimed, signaling midnight.

We had one night to pass this test—one night to survive.

Time kept mercilessly moving forward, and we were running out of it.

---