Page 76 of Her Feral Beasts

My voice is a low hiss. “I should cut that off your finger.” I point to the blood covenant tattoo. “You let my father mark you? You swore not to—” I can’t even say it out loud.

“Fuck you,” he finishes in a low voice. “I swore not to fuck you, Lia.” He looks at the mark and my anima writhes with sorrow.

I can’t even speak.

“We killed a lot of beasts on our way to you, Lia,” he says, all too casually. “And I would kill many more.”

I stare at him in disbelief as he hops off the table and, naked, saunters over to the mini fridge in the corner where we keep our snacks for the patients. There are many things that can help a beast recover, other than outright healing them. Sex is one, food is another. Savage’s cock swings with each step and when he turns, I get a view of a perfectly taut ass. Gulping, I look away.

He takes a wrapped sandwich and brings it back to the table, casually draping the blanket back across his lap.

“Why are you so violent?” I say, shaking my head as he takes a massive bite. “How do you kill and hurt people so easily and not care?” I really expect him to scoff or ignore that completely, so I’m surprised when he answers seriously.

“I was made to be like I am. Cut and hammered, Scythe says. And our dad was the carpenter.”

“Was your dad like…”

“Me?” His jaw clenches and he looks away. “In the ways of being a wolf, yes.”

“How do you mean?”

“You have to be worse than them, to be better than them.”

“That makes no sense.”

He considers me with those piercing hazel eyes, and goosebumps erupt all over my body. I wish I could control the way he makes me feel when he looks at me. I desperately do.

As he muscles his way into my head, he shoves the rest of the sandwich into his mouth and swallows it down.

“I saw your anima, regina. And she was beautiful. I want to see what you look like when you let your tether go. Fully. Wild and free. And vicious. Wouldn’t it be nice to be free? To feel that power in the tips of your claws? At the feathery ends of your wings?”

I suck in a shocked breath. I can’t. I would never…

“I want to see it again.”His voice is whisper soft. Reverent, almost.“Let. It. Go.”

“Savage—”

His mouth drops to my lips, and he lashes out so fast that I’m completely unprepared. He yanks me between his spread legs, crushing his mouth against mine. I squeal in protest as he captures my lower lip in between his own and sucks hard.

My body heats up even as I try to shove him away. My entire body tingles in delicious awareness even as I punch him in the chest. His powerful scent is in my nose, but we can’t… I can’t—

Guards rush in with Hope and Savage finally releases my lip, pushing me away from him. I stumble backward as Savage is tasered. He doesn’t make a sound as he grimaces and crumples sideways onto the table.

I watch the scene in disbelief as Hope helps steady me. I gently press my fingers to my swollen lip, trying to push away the feeling of delicious dissatisfaction. I didn’t want more. I didn’t, damn it!

But Savage’s eyes never leave mine. As his face is roughly pressed into the steel table, he laughs. “Worth it.”

Chapter34

Savage

Twelve years ago

Mum and Dad are screaming at each other again. It’s loud and nasty, as always, but this time, Scythe doesn’t roll his eyes at me. At thirteen, he’s already broadening at the shoulder and developing muscle. My father only lets my mother trim his hair, and so it hangs in a long curtain of liquid silver to his lower back. He is already five foot ten, his jaw squaring off and his hands large and veined. When he comes with me to fights, female beasts shout things to him, and more often than not, male beasts too. He hates it, but Dad makes him come, parading him around like a prize bull.

“It’s called marketing,” Dad always says. “We need to show them the goods, Sky.”

My brother keeps telling Dad that the c in Scythe is silent but Dad just keeps telling him he doesn’t give a flying fuck.

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