Page 47 of Psycho Beasts

That wasn’t an option.

Somewhere in our time together in the shifter and fae realms, my obsession had become something more. I woke up thinking about her, and I went to bed worrying about her.

My life had always felt rudderless. I was highly skilled, a perfect soldier of control and violence, but there had always been something missing.

An ennui of sorts.

It was all too easy to play the soldier; it didn’t take any effort to kill someone or beat them into submission. Another day, another tattoo carved into my flesh.

But holy fuck, I wasn’t bored anymore.

The emptiness in my chest was now an inferno of obsession.

Sadie, my fucking princess, gave the violence a reason.

Now I knew I was a killing machine of strength and sinew because I had to be the one to protect her.

If I gave a shit about any of the sun god’s lore, I would call it destiny. Moon fate or whatever the mystical bullshit was when people whispered about destined mates.

As I battled my internal control issues, Aran arched one of her eyebrows at me like she could sense my tormented thoughts.

She shouldn’t be able to tell shit.

We walked down the hall as a group, and my face was a stony mask of indifference.

I stared back at her.

Aran’s unnaturally blue eyes were bright as arctic water, and I wondered for the millionth time how I’d thought she was a boy.

Even enchanted with short hair and a boy’s build, her features were too feminine, and her eyes didn’t fit her masculine face.

It was hard to put into words because it wasn’t anything about the physical features themselves.

There was a hauntedness in them, a melancholic gleam of sadness that screamed of soul-deep secrets and endless pain. The type of pain that could only be caused by having the mad fae queen as your mother.

Aran’s eyes were her giveaway.

They were what had made me turn her over to her mother on that fucked-up day.

My stomach cramped as Aran kept staring at me.

The teenage girls walked around us, chattering to one another. Jax smiled at his family. Cobra bantered with them, and my princess walked ahead with her sister.

A burst of light twisted through my chest as she smiled. Finally, Sadie was safe and content after too many hours of fucking pain.

Even beaten half to death, the group exuded palpable happiness.

Aran and I were the odd ones out.

My stomach pinched again as I looked over at Sadie’s best friend.

I claimed to be better than my father, but it was also my fault that Aran’s cover had been blown and that she’d done the unthinkable.

I tried to relax my features and give her a small smile.

Instead, my face hardened into a grimace, and the sourness in my throat burned. I’d never learned how to express emotions.

You fucked women and didn’t get attached, patted men on the back, and focused on being the best soldier you could be.

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