Page 25 of Her Feral Beasts

I stiffen as the third-year students all but leap down the steps in a long line. They follow a line of fluoro orange witches’ hats to come right at us and walk down the line of animas. There’s nothing separating us and them, and they’re allowed to get as close as they like.

I’m physically incapable of letting Minnie’s hand go and she doesn’t seem to mind as the line of males tower over us. Some of them arrive in their packs, looking for another member of their soul-group, and even if they don’t see a mating mark on us, it’s still intimidating as all hell to bechecked outup and down by so many animalia.

There’s both assessing calculation in their eyes and intense, lusty heat.

“What’s your name, pretty girl?” a female lion coos to me, caressing her long red mane with one hand and tugging one of her mates along with another.

I open my mouth, but she’s prodded along by the guards and the next one sidles up to lick his lips pointedly at me.

We have no choice but to stand there and wait thisparadeof animuses out as the second row, then third row of students pass us by.

There’s no mate-match until the fifth row when a lion animus with long brown hair cuts through the line as if in a trance, making a beeline straight for Yana. The other animus’ part to let him through as everyone just stops what they’re doing and we all watch, transfixed. The lion extends a large hand out to gently brush the left side of Yana’s neck.

Minnie sucks in a shocked breath. I clutch my stomach.

Yana makes a choked, sobbing sound and flings her arms around the male. He rumbles in his chest as he grips her tightly back and then snarls at the males around him in warning.

Other lions whoop behind him and jostle each other but keep a respectful distance. We all stare at the open display and I’ll admit I’m a little teary-eyed at the sight.

To find another of your soul group, something ordained by the Wild Goddess and the stars themselves, is perhaps the most beautiful and sacred thing we have in this mad life.

These two beasts, who were effectively strangers just moments ago, have found another fragment of their group. I wonder if Yana is a regina, like me.

I realise I’m furiously squeezing Minnie’s hand when I hear her take a shuddering breath next to me. That sound grounds me back in the moment, as everyone else also shakes themselves out of their own reveries.

Breathe, Lia. Just breathe.

I’m just lucky there’s a wall of male bodies in front of me, obscuring me from the view of my own mates still waiting on the bleachers. My anima is now violently crying out in my chest and I have no option but to blink rapidly at the verdant grass beneath my flip flops.

Then the line starts moving again as Yana and her mate go hand-in-hand to the dining hall. No doubt they will talk about things that make them who they are. About their lives, their hopes and dreams. They’ll get to learn about each other. They will, hopefully, fall in love.

Stacey sighs as she shuffles over to close the gap made by Yana’s absence. They were friends and won’t get to bunk together anymore, but she wipes a tear from her eye and smiles at her friend’s back as the two mates leave.

There are no more matches until the final row arrives.

Rather suddenly, it feels like fire ants are crawling up my spine.

All I can do is avoid looking at them as steel chains clink and the first years begin to shuffle past us.

A growl suddenly rips through the air and we all turn just in time to see an animus leap for one of the animas in an older year. She yelps as he tackles her to the grass, rapidly moving over her body and sniffing her neck, her breasts, her groin in quick succession.

“Fuck!” she screams. But it’s not a cry of fear, it’s a breathy sound of pleasure. He pounces back up to her face and their mouths hungrily devour one another in a heated tangle of lips and tongue that has me cocking my head, transfixed. A couple of animas who know her cheer and jump up and down in happiness.

I have to remind myself to close my mouth when Minnie catches my eye with a lop-sided grin. There’s hope gleaming in her eyes, as there should be.

The guards let the new mates go at it for five seconds longer before one of the lion-guards telekinetically sweeps them apart. The male roars in protest.

“Alright, you two.” Theresa nods at one of the guards. “We’ll have a talk about appropriate PDA behaviours later today.” And with that, they’re quickly taken away by an escort of guards.

I turn back around and find a broad tattooed chest far too close to me. My heart shudders in my chest as I find a wolf tattoo peeking through the open lapels of an orange jumpsuit.

Almost against my will, my head swings up to find Savage’s perfectly handsome head, cocked and looking down at me with a very inspired dazzle in his eyes.

My eyes snap into a narrow-eyed look that screams,‘Don’t you fucking dare’.

He promptly ignores it and his eyes flash at the challenge a single second before he leaps for me. I barely have time to let go of Minnie’s hand before we crash onto the turf with a thump.

“My regina!” Savage bellows in a tangle of chains and limbs. “This is my regina!”

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