Page 242 of Psycho Beasts

Enchanted machine guns in each of the man’s hands pointed directly at us.

This was no private club; it was a trap.

But it was the same men sketched in the don’s letter—the Ortega brothers.

They smirked, cigarettes bobbing as they straightened their forearms and waved the machine guns back and forth.

Red dots traveled across each of us.

“Gotcha,” one of the men drawled, eyes half-closed as three women pleasured him.

They thought they had us.

But I’d already infected them with my blood.

I flung it across the room as soon as we’d entered.

Sweat dripped down my temple as five droplets slowly traveled through layers of muscle and tissue, seeking their sources of power.

But we had a plan.

Instead of slamming my blood through their bones, attacking them with my power, and commanding them to obey, I focused on control.

If the plan was to work, they couldn’t know they were infected.

We needed them acting normal to get the Black Wolves. Then I could take them over.

It was the hardest thing I’d ever done, holding myself back when bloodlust demanded I take them over, control them, make them drop to their knees, obey me.

But this wasn’t a battle.

This was espionage.

Sweat dripped down my spine as I clenched my hands into fists, my cells screaming at me as I held my blood back.

It was like trying to control a rabid bear on a leash.

My vision blurred as I concentrated.

We said nothing.

The brothers were silent, content to take their pleasure, confident that their guns had us pinned.

“We’d like to give this omega back to the Black Wolves.” Cobra’s face contorted with malice, and he yanked on the chain around Xerxes’s neck. “He’s fucking defective.”

Anger radiated off him, and if I hadn’t known any better, I would have believed him.

They said nothing about his request.

My gut twisted with rage for the women who were lying at their feet, black collars around their necks their only clothes, as they pleasured the men who fondled them like they were objects.

I almost lost control of my blood and screamed at them to let the women go.

Anyone could see what the fuck was happening here.

They were being used.

Sweat dripped down my brow, blurring my vision as I searched desperately for control.

---