Page 108 of Her Rabid Beasts

Savage leans down and presses a series of kisses on the left side of my neck, opposite to my mating mark side. Ghoul kissed me in the same place last night and I wonder if this is the wolf’s way of replacing the scent with his. The skin burns a little.

“Cover this up,” he says, his voice husky. “It’ll set the others off. Fuck, it’s settingmeoff.”

I watch him saunter out of my room, pointing threateningly at Eugene as he does. Venomous fangs still loom over me, poised and ready to strike. I have to be on alert at all times.

I grab the small mirror I use to pluck my eyebrows and check my neck for hickeys. But when I see the skin of my neck, I gasp in annoyance. There are no bruises, but something worse. Two long lines of deep red stretch all the way down the side of my neck. Fang marks. That bastardmarkedme—given me fang hickeys! I’ll have to cover it up with concealer before everyone sees.

When Minnie gets out of the shower, I observe her carefully. Her eyes are puffy, and when she looks at me, I just run over and wrap my arms around her. “We need to talk, Min.”

She sniffs loudly. “Yup.” Then she looks up at me with a wild expression. “But you need a shower first. You smell strange, Lia. There’s a dangerous mix of scents.” She frowns. “Mr Pardalia being one of them. And are thosefangmarks? Holy Goddess almighty.”

“Oh, shit. Yeah.” I bite my lip. “Lyle’s one of my mates, Minnie. I found out that night my father came.”

“I surmised as much,” she says quietly. “Four Lia? I thought me havingthreewas intense. But I suppose it makes sense with you being an all-powerful Boneweaver. That’s one from every type of order!”

“Five.”

“Pardon?”

“I have five mates. That’s theotherscent you’re getting off me.”

She stares at me goggle-eyed. “I think you’ll need therapy, Lia.”

“Lucky Lyle’s trained for it.”

She snorts before sobering to the situation. “Go and wash them both off you. We have a whole lot of feline shit to deal with today.”

Stupid, selfish me wants his scent to linger on my skin, which would only mean that every animus would be aware I’ve beencosy with him. I ran through the animus dorm last night, but hopefully they were too enamoured by my own scent to notice?

Within half an hour, I’m freshly scrubbed and Stacey, Raquel, Sabrina, Connor, Minnie and I meet in the library for an emergency meeting before breakfast. The only one of us missing is Henry, who is still admitted for investigations at the vet. But Eugene insists on sitting in my lap, apparently taking Savage’s threats seriously.

“Where the hell were you yesterday, Lia?” Sabrina demands. “I was worried, and Connor heard you and Henry were admitted to the hospital but we didn’t know why! We weren’t allowed to visit or anything.”

“And!” Connor points a long, red-tipped nail at me. “Then I hear Savage was carrying you through the animus dorm!”

The entire table turns to look at me.

I lean back in my chair, needlessly adjusting Eugene’s little goggles. “I was jumped by five serpents.”

Connor nods like he guessed this. Raquel swears as Minnie grabs my arm. Stacey gasps loudly before Sabrina makes the sign of the cross.

I raise my brows at Sabrina, but she shrugs. “My grandma is Catholic. Don’t change the subject.”

“Look, Henry and I are fine because Eugene found help and saved me,” I say quickly, patting my little rooster on the back. “My dad was trying to get to me and he’s threatened to use serpents here to get to my friends.Youguys.” I take a deep breath as they all cast glances over their shoulders. But this early in the morning, the library is empty. “I will understand completely if you don’t want to associate with me anymore. To be friends with me is going to be dangerous from now on.”

Minnie’s hand comes to her stomach like she remembers the injury that brought me out of my hibernation. Bile rises in my throat. Not again. Never again.

“Serpents are skilled at psychic warfare,” I continue. “I’m doing my best to stop them, but?—”

“But use of those powers is illegal,” Stacey says pointedly. “Really illegal, Lia! Since the Purge!”

Raquel scoffs. “They d-don’t c-care about that.”

“Exactly,” I say, preparing myself for the worst. “So no hard feelings if you want to divorce me, alright?”

Sabrina blows a raspberry. “I live for the drama, Lia, you know that. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Me too,” Stacey pipes. “Otherwise, my skills and good looks will go to waste.”

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