Page 30 of Psycho Beasts

If it was a place, I didn’t want to be there.

This time, when we were finally free of that awful building, the icy wind and rain were welcome. The droplets kissed my aching flesh in a cool relief.

It was still night.

We limped down the abandoned alleyway.

No one spoke, but we moved with the single-minded purpose of a unit.

We were on the same page.

The wind gusted strong, and Xerxes’s hand tightened painfully against my shoulder as he struggled to stand. I clenched Ascher’s arm to hold us upright, and he leaned heavily against Jax.

Cobra’s eyes fluttered open as his head lolled upside down across Jax’s arm, but he didn’t move.

Jax tensed his legs as we shuffled forward, his strength the only thing keeping all of us upright.

The puddles beneath our feet turned red as the rain washed away our blood.

Before, hundreds of shifters had bustled down the busy city streets. Now they were almost completely empty. Eerily so. A few men and women hurried through the rain, heads down to remain unnoticed.

Towering buildings glowed neon and illuminated dark, rainy shadows. Gloom overtook the world. A bone-deep melancholy invaded my body.

It was impossible to feel anything other than angst while limping through the fluorescent city.

So big and overwhelming, it completely consumed us.

None of us said anything. We didn’t need to.

All we had was each other.

We turned the corner, and our beta driver from earlier was leaning against a shiny emerald supercar.

With trembling grips, we kept limping forward. Eons later, we collapsed in a pile of limbs across the fancy leather interior.

Somehow, we all ended up in the same row of the car.

Jax lay partially across the seat with Cobra leaning against him. Ascher draped across Cobra. Xerxes lay across the floor at their feet, and I sprawled atop his body.

The reality of what we’d been through hung heavy around us.

The bruises and fatigue were mutual.

As was the pain.

Finally, between the soft hum of the engine and Xerxes kissing me softly on the cheek, I fell asleep.

Chapter 6

Jax

BUILT TO LEAD

A few minutes earlier

Devastation vibrated through me. For the first time in a hundred and twenty years, I didn’t know how to react.

I hung from the ceiling as Cobra, Sadie, Xerxes, and Ascher moaned beside me. Everyone looked awful.

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