Page 105 of Her Rabid Beasts

It appears on the right side of his neck, glowing with ancient celestial light. A skull with five curling beams of light.

My fifth mate. The final piece of my soul group. The same unknown beast I healed in Halfeather’s dungeon all those months ago.

A quick glance tells me that Minnie is still fast asleep in her bed. Swallowing, I allow my eyes to shift into their eagle form. Through my improved vision, I can now see… not much more. He’s covered in moving shadows, like he is a man made of nothing else. My mating prophesy from seven years ago comes to mind, spoken in Lady Celeste’s deep, dusky cadence:

“Five black devils are approaching

Five black hearts are wanting

It is five who cry a dark and lonely song, calling for their queen.

Lion, shark, dragon, wolf and… shadow.”

“Show yourself,” I whisper. I hadn’t been privy to a visual of his human form in Halfeather’s dungeon either.

He shakes his head slowly like he’s disappointed in me. Those red glowing dots seem to see through my skin. My anima commands me to move forward. To see him better. To brush my fingers through those obsidian shadows and find out what manner of monster lies beneath.

But deep-seated instinct tells me this monster is dangerous beyond imagination. Perhaps it’s the way he sits, impossibly still yet with a casual, almost nonchalant grace, with one foot crossed over one knee. Though he bears the form of a man, I know he is anything but.

“What are you?” I whisper.

There is movement and his hand lifts. In it is something that lights up.

A phone. The glow from the screen should illuminate the thick shadows that make up his face, but nothing is revealed by it. It only demonstrates that the roiling darkness is a black so deep it sucks in all the surrounding light.

A shadow no light can penetrate? I shiver, suddenly chilled to the bone.

The red laser beams disappear for a moment as he looks down, then they reappear, making me shiver all over again.

The phone under my bed vibrates. Alarmed, I reach down and grab it. I don’t really want to take my eyes off this monster, but I need to see what he’s saying.

I raise my phone to my face.

I am damned

My breath catches and I look back up at him. And then my phone pings again.

You are more beautiful than reality when you sleep. Even more beautiful now, with your mark visible to me

It makes my toes curl. But then I remember myself. I glare at him, wondering if he can see it through the dark. But if he is a creature of the dark, his night vision is probably perfect.

Are your eyes as big as a possum’s? Is that why you don’t show your face?

Shadowy fingers move and the reply comes within seconds.

Careful, pretty snakelet. People tend to die when I show my face.

“Why are you here?” I whisper irritably. And what I don’t ask out loud is: why are all five of my mates A-grade assholes? “What happened to you to land you in Halfeather’s dungeon?”

Perhaps I wanted to see my regina. Perhaps I want to hear you moan again.

That shadow around his spine I freed him from looked much the same as these shadows. Had he… He couldn’t have done it to himself, could he?

I flush at the memory of the five astral forms of my mates looking down at me while I first pleasured myself and then Savage took over.

“I learn from my mistakes, apparently,” I hiss back at him. I’m worried we’ll wake Minnie, but she seems to be in a deep enough sleep. “You’re not here to kidnap me or anything, are you?” I whisper-shout. “Because I will fuck you up if so.”

He raises his phone again, and seconds later:

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