Page 267 of Psycho Beasts

A familiar sound.

Dick sighed heavily, and for the first time, he looked down at me like he didn’t hate me.

Something close to pity flashed across his face.

When Dick spoke, each word smashed across my consciousness, breaking down my psyche into smithereens.

“A champion is needed to lead the shifters and fae into battle. They are some of the strongest warriors in the realm, but they struggle to obey the gods. This champion is created using rare technology from the god realm. They are made for the singular purpose of defense, and they have to embrace their birthright and learn to lead. But first, they have to learn to survive.”

I took a step away from him.

His voice rose. “She births her champions, and every eon, they have no choice but to rise.”

I took another step.

“It was my job to hurt you.” Dick’s eyes softened, like he had feelings and wasn’t a soulless monster. “It was my job to break you and build you into something stronger.”

I backed away.

“I’m what you would know as an angel. We are her soldiers. I had no choice but to serve her and to help you. She gives a piece of herself to form her champion. To save the realms.”

My knees shook.

Dick stepped forward, walking toward me, not letting me get away, demanding I hear the truth.

“When you were young, you didn’t hear her. You weren’t showing any signs of your birthright.”

“No,” I whispered as my back bumped into the dais.

There was nowhere left to run.

Dick came closer. “I was desperate—I sacrificed so much for you, more than you can know. Only when I beat you, did your eyes glow red. Only then did you finally hear her.”

A silent scream burned my throat.

“They always make more female half-breeds,” Dick whispered. “A backup plan if the expected champion does not come into their power. They’ve failed before.”

I froze.

My lungs stopped dead as I realized what he was saying.

Suddenly, Dick looked tired and older than I remembered. “If you didn’t hear her—if you didn’t come into your blood powers—I was told to exterminate you and try the next one. If that one failed, there were three others.”

We both turned our heads at the same time.

We stared across the ballroom at the four girls: Lucinda, Jala, Jinx, and Jess, who I’d always thought of as so sheltered.

Dick’s words were so quiet I almost didn’t hear them. “I know how much Lucinda meant to you. It was you or her. Even though you didn’t know why, I knew what you would have chosen. You would have demanded I do it to you.”

I turned back to Dick.

Up close, he smelled like the ice of the shifter realm.

Coldness wafted off him in a burning wave.

And as I stared up into the eyes of my antagonist, saw the truth shining in them, my bottom lip trembled.

It wasn’t fair.

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