Page 20 of Her Feral Beasts

“Now, Raquel, you’ve told us that your beast leans a little more toward anima sometimes?”

Raquel shrugs. “Yeah.”

“So you don’t mind us calling you anima?”

Raquel nods. “D-doesn’t matter which one.”

“Good to know,” Theresa says, looking meaningfully around at us to make sure we got that. “So! As you all may know, Animus Academy was traditionally made for animus students. Now that we’ve moved on with the times and are accepting all beasts, the school still has some teething issues to sort out.” She looks meaningfully around at us. “I want to remind you that although we have many safeguards to look after your welfare, you are unmated young animas in a place with many unmated males, many of whom are more than a little feral. You need to be on your guard. You need to look after each other and watch each other’s backs. Go everywhere in pairs, don’t go wandering around on your own. Do you understand?”

Minnie nods enthusiastically, elbowing me while the rest of the animas grunt and I sit there in dismay.

Theresa gives us a wary once-over, like she’s assessing our ability to look after ourselves. She stops on me, and I see the barest recognition in her eye before she stands up and leads us out another door. One guard follows her. The remaining three wait for us to follow. I think that’s overkill, looking around at these animas, but I suppose the fact that they’re here means they have ‘issues’ just as badly as me.

I watch the way in and out of the medical wing with eagle eyes, because if I’m planning a jail-break, I need to know the best way to do it. Unfortunately for me, Theresa presses her finger to a black pad which, instead of opening the steel door, opens a small panel which reveals asecondcast iron lock. She opens it with a matching key from her lanyard.

So, Lyle Pardalia takes his security system seriously. Fuck him. I glance at Minnie next to me, who gives me googly eyes as we look at all the security…and then I give a side eye at the pink folder tucked so diligently under her bangled arm. By the way it’s bursting with papers, not only does she have maps in that folder, but everything anyone could possibly know about this place. Well, looks like the path to my freedom is pink and sparkly.

Chapter9

Aurelia

Theresa and the guards lead us through cold corridors lit up with blue-white halogen bulbs. Through my four remaining shields, it smells like fresh paint, disinfectant and anti-flea spray, and I try to listen to Theresa as she talks about the history of the place.

The laminated floors transition into fancy wooden floorboards and the clean drywall turns into high ceilings with ornate carvings on the cornices. I’m reminded a little of the gothic architecture of my father’s mansion, and I wonder if they were built around the same time. It should be creepy, but I spent my childhood playing hide and seek in a place like this. I lost my mother in a mansion like this. And I saw my mating mark for the first time in the bathroom of a place like this. Something in me eases, just a little, at the way the air of this place feels against my skin. Like old magic mixed with the buzz of anticipation. It certainly can’t bemyanticipation that I’m feeling, though, but that of the other hundred odd students in this place, waiting to meet us green newbies.

Finally, we walk through a set of glass doors and outside where I get to see the outside of Animus Academy for the first time.

The school is a magnificent gothic monstrosity that was no doubt a part of the old Victorian mansion built by the dragon family that first occupied this land. It’s eerily stunning, with a black facade, black iron lattice work all along the eaves, and gold ornate embellishments around each window and doorway. The central building towers above us and it’s bordered by wings built along the sides before the more recent parts of the school cages it all inside. They’ve painted the newer rendered facades black to match the central structure and I can’t help but feel amused by the attempt to blend it all in together. It’s impressive and intimidating from afar, but not if you look too closely. The Animus Academy crest sits on the highest point of the central mansion: an ‘A’ is on a shield guarded by a lion and wolf. Bird’s wings extend above it like a guardian and a dragon flies beneath it all.

My father’s home is much the same, without the new add-ons, and there are carved serpents and the basilisks of myth everywhere. Here, there are no snakes, but the occasional dragon adorns the roofs like gargoyles. And I’m almost sure that if I could see them from here, two dragons would flank the front gate. Classic, and the image of it makes my skin tingle.

Theresa leads us along and points out that the central offices and dining hall are in the old part of the building while newer classrooms are in the outer wings.

The other new addition to this land is the green football field complete with bleachers. On the other side of that, I can see the tall black brick wall that surrounds the entire academy. To my dismay, easy to see by the long rays of the setting sun, there is a blue heat-like shimmer in the sky above the wall.

“What is that?” I mutter to Minnie. “It looks like an electrical field.”

“It’s old dragon magic,” she whispers back. “Security from the dragons who used to own this place. It’s to prevent anyone from flying in… or out, I guess now too.”

Well, shit. It honestly looks like it would zap anyone to a crisp. I can’t just fly out.

Theresa raises her brows at us whispering and I shut up. She gestures to the field. “We host the Hunting Games every Sunday once the transition period is over. If you’re interested, you can try out for one of the many teams, but…well, you’ve seen on TV how rough it can get.”

The Hunting Games are a rough, lethal sport us animalia play, and there’s even state, national and Olympic teams. Animalia have a healthy prey drive, some orders more than others, and it’s one way for us to use our natural instincts healthily without actually killing each other.

We pass the main school and stop by a series of three warehouses. “You get access to the communal jungle gym when you prove you can handle yourself. The one in the middle is the training gym where we test your prey drive, and the last warehouse is our student-run village. You get access to that a little later also, but it is a privilege, and if you’d like to show your mettle, you can even apply to start a business later in the year.”

Minnie elbows me excitedly before a guard behind shouts, “No touching!”

We both jump and turn to glare at him, just as everyone turns to stare at us.

Theresa nods when I raise my brows at her. “We’ll go through the full set of rules tomorrow. For now, you need to shower and rest for the night. I’ve got dinner packs in your rooms so you can eat undisturbed for one night at least.”

The way she says that last part has me uneasy once again. I’ve not eaten with anyone in years, and my diet has consisted of two-minute noodles and an occasional Pop-Tart. My uncle Ben would leave food on my doorstep when no one was watching. My Aunt Charlotte was regina to him and my uncle Ron. Despite the hustle and bustle of their pretty house, they had mostly avoided contact with me except for my shifts at their little grocery shop down the road.

As the sun sets, Theresa walks us back to a five-storey black brick building that’s a part of the old structure. The long orange rays light up the windows and gild the scrollwork over each tiny balcony, making it look every part of the wealthy dragon’s den.

There’s a squat cast iron dragon’s head glaring down at us over the double entrance doors and it feels like her eyes are admonishing me for being here. The doors are guarded by two armed guards, one of whom undoes my handcuffs while Theresa shows us how to use our key card to swipe ourselves in. “These are the unmated anima dorms. Mating groups get their own lodgings.”

---