Page 26 of Her Feral Beasts

“No!” I cry as my anima screams with pleasure at Savage’s face pressed against my neck.His skin. Goddess, his warm skin on mine. His hard body writhes against me. “Stop!” It’s sort of weak, but the guards hear it and sweep him off me straight away. Theresa rushes forwards to help me jump to my feet as Savage lets out a reflexive snarl at whoever’s got him hanging in mid-air.

“I’m not his mate!” I pant, panicking as my head spins. I desperately grab onto Theresa’s shirt. “He’s lying!”

Theresa snags my wrists and frowns at me, grey eyes searching. “Are you sure, Lia? Did you get a good look?” She turns me around to face him.

I calm down a fraction at the firmness of her hands around my wrists and at the fact that I might be able to salvage this. “Yes,” I pant. “Yes. He’s crazy. He’s lying.”

Everyone is staring between us in a sort of shock because it’s a very unusual thing for our kind to lie about, especially feral beasts, which Savage no doubt is.

Shooting a glance at Scythe and Xander, I find them both stiff-backed and glaring daggers at me. I have to look away, becausefuck, their anger is a lot this close. Then, to my utter surprise, Xander sighs dramatically, as if this is all stupid and ridiculous. “She’s right. He’s lying.”

Stopping short of gaping at him, I meet Theresa’s concerned look. Everyone knows that dragons can tell when someone is telling the truth or not.

“Are you sure?” Theresa asks him suspiciously.

Xander gives a sharp nod and Savage rolls his eyes as he’s placed roughly back on the ground. He straightens his shirt with a huff.

A massive wolf security guard, no less than seven feet tall, towers over us all when he snarls, “What are you trying to prove, Savage?”

The wolf just shrugs and turns his back on me.

My racing heart only beats faster.

“One moment, Lia.” Theresa gets out a phone and dials someone, walking away so we can’t hear her conversation. Her phone case is an anti-hearing one, so us animalia with advanced hearing can’t eavesdrop.

She turns around, and after a moment, she nods. She comes back to us. “Alright, let’s move on.”

Savage and Xander ignore me and move down the line, and before we know it, the animus’ are being led away, and the entire ordeal is finally over. I could almost collapse with relief, though I’ll admit that it’s surprising none of my three tried to force the matter of being my mate. I suppose they want to keep this private, which is fine by me.

Minnie is disappointed she didn’t find one of her mates but says darkly, “At least no one pretended to be my mate, I suppose. He’s really crazy, that wolf, isn’t he?”

Grimacing, I say, “Tell me about it.”

As the first-year males are taken away for some type of debriefing, we follow Theresa to the dining hall and an older anima passes us. “Good luck,” she says darkly. “Now you’re fair game.”

Chapter12

Aurelia

Sabrina beams at the anima while Stacey and Minnie smile with a sort of shy hope. I suppose that even without mates, with the number of unmated animus’ here, they’ll try and claim us on instinct or just for fun. I’ll just need to avoidthatcomplication at all costs, too.

To my dismay, Theresa waves us through the big sliding glass doors into the dining hall (labelled ‘Non-shifting area’ in bold red letters) and leaves us there. Alone.

You might have thought the mating lines would have calmed the lot of them down. Instead, in the closed space, the tension just heightens further. Even through my many shields, I can feel the very air buzzing with lust and the will to maintain power.

The dining area is as beautiful and striking as the rest of the academy. It’s a large, wood-panelled hall with fancy carvings and cornices. There are small recesses along three walls that hold cast iron dragon gargoyles cemented in place. High above there’s even three old chandeliers, though plenty of light comes in through the big stained-glass windows on my right. I’m sure that back in the day, the place was used as a ballroom. But currently the space is filled with dozens of heavy wooden tables with eight wooden chairs around each. A long line of silver bain maries and serving platters are set out at the front for a buffet and there is a second set of doors on the other side, leading to the internal part of the academy. Two exits, that’s always good.

But it’s full of animus males and one or two females, already seated down and eating, chairs angled so they can see us.

All I can do is avoid eye contact at all costs while we queue for food, because I’ve had the sudden, heart-sinking realisation that for however long I have to stay here, it’s going to be very difficult.

I’m about to cast my eye out to check where my psychopathic mates are—so I can hide behind Raquel’s taller frame if need be—I’m not above that—when a waft of buttery fear perfumes the air ahead of me. A soft growl sounds to my left and at the table seated near us are two muscled guys with their gazes fixed on Minnie like she looks particularly tasty.

“Minnie,” I say in a low voice. “Clamp down on your nerves. It’s activating their prey drive.”

She swears under her breath and straightens her spine a little, muttering something about bringing her affirmation cards, while I too try and keep my back tall and my chin raised.

Trying to ignore the keen stares, I distract myself with the buffet breakfast. And by all the Wild Gods, if this is what I get to eat every morning, this place might not be as bad as I thought.

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