Page 71 of Psycho Beasts

“No one is going to sell you out to the don. Don’t worry.” She waved a piece of chicken around to emphasize her point.

Walter stood behind her and pointedly looked at the ground like he wasn’t listening.

My shoulders slumped forward, and I banged my head against the table.

The men were now in a pack without me? Check.

I couldn’t join said pack without putting a target on all of us? Check.

Half-breed females were on Serpentine City’s most-wanted list? Check.

Aran chuckled, and it distracted me from my depressed thoughts. She grumbled, “But if you snore, I might just turn you over.”

“Excuse me?” I gasped at my best friend.

She rolled her eyes as she itched at her back. “Oh my sun god, Sadie, lighten up. It’s like a funeral around here. I’m joking.”

I shoved a bread roll in my mouth and said in a muffled voice, “So do you want to talk about why your eyes keep glowing creepily black? Doesn’t seem very fae of you.”

My mouth stilled as I swallowed thickly and thought about it. “Wait, how did you actually remove your mother’s heart? I never asked.”

Aran flung her chair back. “We are not talking about it.”

She stomped away from the table with her head held high and shoulders back like a prissy princess.

Which I guessed she was.

I slumped forward and slammed my forehead against the table again for good measure.

Maybe I could kill myself through blunt force trauma?

Lucinda patted my back softly.

Jinx grimaced and stroked her ferret. “You all need professional mental health help.”

I rolled my eyes. “Obviously.”

Chapter 14

Cobra

LOVERS OR ENEMIES

“What the fuck are we going to do?” I growled at Jax, who was leaning against the wall with his head in his hands.

His chains tinkled in his hair as his head fell forward dejectedly. “I don’t know.”

“She’s on my father’s fucking wanted list. We have to protect her.”

“No fucking shit,” Ascher snarled.

Jax nodded. “I don’t like this. We can’t bond with her, and she’s in danger. It feels like everything is slipping through our fingers.”

“I don’t want this bond.” Xerxes punctuated his statement by twirling his daggers. Their unfathomably sharp edges glinted in the dim light of the fireplace.

It was night in the mansion, and all the girls were in Sadie’s room having a sleepover. I only knew this because Jess had come by to tell Jax that he’d “acted like a fool toward Sadie earlier.” She knew nothing.

The four of us had been holed up in mine and Jax’s room for hours trying to make sense of our situation.

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