Page 102 of Her Rabid Beasts

My body stills like I’m at gunpoint and I blink like a stunned idiot. Today has been… too much. Too fucking much already, and now this. Now… Scythe.

The Great White shark crooks a finger at me like I’m a naughty hatchling in primary school. “Come here, Aurelia.”

I glance at Savage, and he’s still beaming. Well, that means nothing bad is about to happen, surely?

But I can’t just do whatever Scythe says. These other two tried to hand me over to my death not all that long ago and are now acting like nothing happened today.

Scythe’s voice drops low, and he’s stopped blinking as he says, “If you want an answer, Aurelia, come here.”

Well, Idowant an answer, don’t I? Scythe has an irresistible, innate lure, and the way he’s staring at me is like there is nothing and no one else in the room but us. His silver hair sparkles under the chandelier’s light, and his skin is a tempting wonder that begs to be touched. I don’t blame the other animas for wantonly offering themselves to him.

More curious than anything, I allow his lure to draw me in and I take tentative steps forward. Savage won’t let anything bad happen to me, but is his loyalty to his brother stronger than his loyalty to me?

I’m standing right before Scythe, who’s leaning forward now, intent on my face. I can smell him from here, even through my shields. That vast current of power. Like the sea under the full moon. Salt and moonlight.

His rasp cuts through my reverie. “Kneel.”

By the Goddess, I drop to my knees without question, my eyes never leaving his, focused on that cold, cold blue.

I shiver, just before he grabs my face in one hand, squeezing my cheeks together and making my lips pucker. I’m caught so unawares that I do nothing but stare.

“You don’t get to ask me questions, Aurelia Boneweaver,” he rasps.

My shock spans multiple levels of my stupefied brain, but it also stirs something in me. Something wild and raw, borne of weeks of rabidity protecting my friends and family. Something that took flight the moment a serpent tried to cut my mating mark off.

I wrench my face out of his grip and he allows it, before I lean forward, getting right into his face, nose-to nose in a show of full authority. He doesn’t move an inch, but his eyes drop down to my mouth before darting back up. It’s all the leverage I need.

My voice emerges deep and venomous, like fangs ripping through tender flesh. “I am‘regina’to you, Scythe Kharkorous, ornothingelse.”

His gaze turns knife sharp, narrowing on me, and I barely hear Savage chuckling under his breath.

But it’s Xander who sneers. “Stand down, Boneweaver girl, or you’ll regret it.”

I tilt my head back to regard the Great White shark who sits before me, achingly beautiful and unashamedly dangerous. On the outside, he looks undisturbed, but I can sense that he’s now… tense, and his aura of danger has only increased.

As slowly as I can, to show that I’m not perturbed by any of them, I rise to my feet and say in a sweet, measured voice, “See you in class tomorrow.”

With that, I turn on my heel and leave.

As I do, a frantic clucking follows me down the stairs. Eugene is rushing behind me, his feathers all askew. Silently, I open my arms and he leaps into them, black wings flapping. The poor bird must’ve been terrified of Lyle’s animus when he took me from the hospital and came here to wait until I reappeared. Eugene’s heart beats in a rapid pace against my own, and together, we leave the animus dorm.

Chapter 43

Scythe

Ishould have thrown Aurelia to the floor and smacked her ass for speaking to me like that. An attempt at showing dominance from any other beast would have them bleeding and lifeless on the floor.

Butheroutright dominance… by the moon, she might actually end me. I sit back on the couch, swirling my whiskey as the ghost kneels on the floor, dripping wet and praying to some dark god in the ether.

“Her regina-nessis growing,” Savage quips, knocking back more water and smacking his lips loudly. “You can actually see it!”

“That’s not even a word,” Xander snaps back. “And you need a shower. You smell like a stray dog.”

“I’m not a stray dog anymore,” Savage says faintly, staring at the stairs as if he can still see her. “Not at all.”

Xander mutters expletives under his breath as he lights up a new joint. The past five minutes replay in my mind over and over again. The way she turned up here with Lyle’s cum still dripping out of her, looking for Minnie. The way she looked to Savage for reassurance when I called her to me. Some part of her trusts himnow. That surprises me. It does something unwanted to my cold, black heart.

But some part of her also wants to claim me.

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