Page 70 of Psycho Beasts

At the same time, my shoulders slumped forward with relief. I couldn’t put a target on their heads by bonding with them; the whole half-breed thing was still a heavy, unspoken issue.

Also, wanted list aside, I wasn’t 100 percent sure that I wanted to bond my life to overbearing men.

Forever was a long time when you were an immortal alpha.

“I only joined this pack because of her,” Xerxes snarled and threw his plate against the wall.

Ascher’s horns lengthened on his head. “Same.”

A low grumble sounded from Jax’s throat. “We are not forming a pack without Sadie. It’s not up for debate.”

The don smiled. “You already did.”

His large white snake showed off its wicked fangs.

“If you bond with Sadie, I will put a bounty on her head. Serpentine City is not a nice place. She’ll be slaughtered within the hour. Also, the needles Spike stabbed into your necks contained enchanted trackers. You physically can’t leave the city limits without my permission. If you try, you’ll explode. From the inside.”

If I’d been standing, my knees would have given out.

Upsetting.

Also, who was going to tell him that there was already a bounty on my head because I was a half-breed?

Not me.

The don continued casually, “Also, if you bond with her, the enchantment will notify me, and I will immediately put a hit out on her.”

The men deflated at once, shoulders slumping.

I turned to him. “What is your problem with me?”

The don smirked. “It’s not personal, just alpha politics. The don’s son needs to produce the city’s next heir with an omega female. You get in the way of that. But I’m still very excited to have your skills in my Mafia.”

Did he know about my blood skills? Or was he referencing my tiger form?

The don, with the mammoth snake still around his neck, got up and walked away. He casually said, “Moon Goddess, bless us all,” without a backward glance.

His absence didn’t relieve the tension in the room.

The harm was already done.

After thirty seconds of the most uncomfortable silence of my life, I pursed my lips and asked the obvious question. “So we all agree to not sell out a certain half-breed to a certain snake someone, right?”

You could never be too sure these days.

Jax growled loudly, Cobra hissed, Ascher muttered an expletive, and Xerxes just kept glaring at me.

Ascher’s amber eyes glowed like they were on fire. “How the fuck could you even ask that?” He stalked away from the table.

The other three men shoved in their chairs and followed him.

The energy rolling off them was that of death and destruction.

Aran threw a grape at me and distracted me from staring after the men’s departing figures like a pathetic hussy.

Four teenage girls sat at the table in various states of shock.

“What?” I asked Aran.

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