Page 61 of Her Feral Beasts

Theresa makes a non-committal gesture that tells us to worry about ourselves for the moment. But Minnie and I know that this is only the beginning.

Chapter27

Savage

When I wake up, I feel like shit and I know I’ve been darted. When I saw where they were taking me, I tried to take out the guard-wolves, but within seconds came three sharp pricks in my hind leg, followed by three more in my side.

There are black shackles on my wrists and my body feels like it’s been thrashed around. There’s a lump on my head the size of Australia and there is only one wolf in this place who could’ve managed to knock me out. I smell sea salt and blood and earth in the air, and as I pull myself up, I see that I’m in a cage, set against the wall of a vast cavern. The air is musty, but an industrial fan whirrs nearby, sending cool air through the humid dark.

Thick steel bars encase me on all five sides, and on my left, there are two more identical cages where Xander and Scythe sit silently on plastic chairs. The air is electrified and I know from the low hum that our bars have electrical currents running through them.

“What the fuck!” I say loudly from the stone floor.

“You’ve finally decided to join us,” calls a baritone I know only too well.

I groan to my feet to see the massive lion sitting on a steel chair in front of our cages. Behind him is a deep pool of water, which explains the briny smell.

“Where is Lia? What is this place?” I say, plonking myself into my own plastic chair. There are track pants folded at the corner of the cage, but I ignore them. Shit is about to go down, and I’d prefer to face it in my naked skin. I need to get the fuck out of here and see Aurelia.

“This is one of the underground caverns where I train the rabid beasts,” Lyle explains evenly. But he’s cracking his knuckles and staring at me like he’s ready for murder. Maybe we’ll finally get to see this man become the Beast Breaker.

“Do you know what you did, Savage?” His voice is dangerously quiet. “What you and your brothers did?”

I look down at my hands. I can still smell Lia’s perfect vanilla cake scent on my skin. Still feel her naked, writhing body beneath mine. I even got to taste her soft lips in the alleyway. All my dreams came true in that moment. The heavens opened, and I felt… holy shit. Well, I felt like I had come home. Like every bad thing that has happened in my life faded away just by being close to her. My regina. My animus gives a pining whine.

“Don’t answer him,” Xander calls to me, aggressively clanking his black chains. I look over at my dragon, but his eyes are closed over his empty sockets. When they take his magic away, they take his magical sight away too.

“You’ll be quiet, Xander,” Lyle says. “I turned away when students started to go missing. I let it go when my video feeds started turning up blank. But I will not tolerate you kidnapping animas.”

“Animas?” I snarl. “Animas?”

“Let it go, brother,” Scythe rasps.

“Where were you taking her?” Lyle rests a leg on his knee as if he’s settling in for a long interrogation. “Some type of revenge for what happened at Halfeather’s?”

The three of us stay silent. Because yeah, while it wasn’t revenge, we needed Aurelia gone. But also, she just turned into a fucking wolf, and for me, that changed… some things. I glance at Xander again, but he’s just sitting in his chair, stony.

Lyle sighs. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

Is he kidding? That’s usually my line.

“I want to see Lia,” I growl, knowing it’s a stupid thing to ask for, but my animus is making me pine for her. “I want to see if she is okay.”

“You care about her?” Lyle uncrosses his legs and sits forward with interest. “Or is it just you being possessive?”

Yes. No. Fuck. My animus wants her. By all the stars in the universe, my animus fucking wants her, but the man in me can’t let it happen.

“How many times has she rejected you now, Savage?” Lyle says mildly, but it’s a sharp knife at my throat. “Say it out loud.”

My animus takes over and lunges at the steel bars with a feral growl. Pain explodes as the electricity sparks and throws me backwards onto the concrete. The smell of burnt skin and blood fills the air, acrid and sharp. I know it’s my own damage, but I savour the pain like a three-course meal.

“Come on, Savage.” Lyle’s voice is closer, like he’s standing by my cage, and deathly urgent. “Let the man take over.Think.Don’t let your animus control your cock.”

But all I can see is Aurelia as a wolf. Dark and beautiful, with a pelt like the night sky. Sheglittered. My animus replies, deep and guttural, “I fucking need her.”

“All wolves know this, Savage,” Lyle sighs. “If your alpha says no, it means no.”

I know what he’s saying. I get it, I really do, but I can’tletit be true. “She’s been accepting my gifts and keeping them,” I rasp. “She’s not been throwing them away.”

---