Page 121 of Her Rabid Beasts

Chapter 49

Aurelia

“So, what did you find?” Stacey asks eagerly.

I towel dry my hair and glance at Minnie sitting on her bed, nervously chewing her thumb nail. As soon as Savage dropped me back here, I jumped in the shower to get as much of Lyle’s scent off me as possible. My scent shields are good, but I have a tendency to slip up these days with how much I’m using my powers all the time. I can’t chance Lyle getting in trouble because of me and Georgia almost catching us only hammers that home. I know that’s why he stepped away from me back in the elevator, but it hurt to see his face realise it and then purposefully move away from me. It felt like the worst type of rejection.

“I got caught,” I say dryly. “Just as I had the file in hand, Lyle walked in with my bitch of an aunt.”

Raquel swears where they stand, peering out of the glass of our balcony doors. Eugene parades around the room with the little keychain Stacey made for him to wear around his neck. She’s drawn a picture of him with the words, “Eugene Appreciation Club” curved around it in fancy letters. Now all the nimpins are sitting in front of the lioness, watching her make more for the rest of us to wear on our lanyards.

“How much of a bitch are we talking?” Sabrina sneers with her arms crossed.

“She kept Lia in a leaky hut at the back of their big house and starved her to death, so the biggest sort of bitch,” Minnie says darkly before looking at me with wide eyes. “I knew we shouldn’t have risked you like that, Lia. You’re already on everyone’s watch list.”

“I mean,” I shrug, “it could’ve gone worse. Luckily, Savage came in time to prevent anything awful from happening.” I can’t look at them while I’m lying so I settle for staring outside as well. Sabrina is watching me closely, but says nothing more. With a sigh, Minnie heads into our bathroom for a shower, taking Gertie with her for support.

I watch them go with a sick feeling in my stomach.

The truth is that I’m a bit shaken by finding out that Titus is a Clawson. It’s dredging up old memories I thought were long buried. In a place that hurts too much to go digging.

“So… plan B,” Sabrina sighs.

Raquel groans. “N-Not this, p-please.”

“You up for it, Lia?” Sabrina rises from Minnie’s bed. “’Cuz I am.”

“Are y-you sure, Sabrina?” Raquel asks darkly.

“I know you didn’t want to add to your record,” I say.

For the first time since I’ve known the leopard, I see a glimmer of uncertainty in Sabrina’s fierce brown eyes. Almost to assure herself, she reaches into her shorts pocket, fingering what I’m sure is the set of lock picks she always keeps on her person. If she doesn’t have pockets, she keeps them in her bra. It has the cadence of a security blanket. Given her history of being locked up in a cupboard when she was a child, and with my own fear of a similar thing, I understand why she keeps them like a talisman.

Lyle’s eyes when he realised he might have hurt me by cuffing me to his bed will always be seared into my memory. There wasreal horror there. And the fact he had the ability to realise it… I shivered. He cared about me and seemed to regret everything that happened the day I found out he was my mate. Perhaps that was the scariest thing of all.

But Sabrina is now nodding in determination. “After stealing an entire diamond chain from aJaguar Jewellersright in the middle of the CBD, Titus’ laptop should be a piece of cake. I won’t get caught. Besides, it’s time you guys understood the extent of my brilliance.”

Stacey snaps her fingers. “Then let’s hack this bitch.”

“On Saturday afternoon,” Sabrina says firmly, “when he’ll least expect it.”

That night, alone in my dorm, because Titus summoned Minnie and shewantedto go, or so she told me, Savage slips into my room and climbs into my bed. I move to the side to make room, but instead, he pulls me on top of his chest.

“You smell like the most perfect piece of cake in the universe,” he whispers, running a gentle palm down the length of my back.

I snort as I settle down to sleep. “You smell like an old, dirty forest.”

He chuckles. “You promised you’d be in my bed on weekends,” Savage says. “I can’t wait for tomorrow night.”

Am I nervous about spending weekend nights in Savage, Xander and Scythe’s room? Hell yes, I am. There’s just so much happening right now that I need to focus on and being distracted by being there is the worst sort of torture. How do they sleep? Is Scythe a side-sleeper? Does Xander use an eye mask? I want the answers to so many questions.

“What was your mum like?” Savage suddenly asks. “My mum was nice sometimes.”

I startle at the question because we’ve never spoken about this. Hell, I avoid thinking too much about my past. I’ve seen his mum in his memories. A pale, skinny sort of woman who never treated Savage well and seemed to favour Scythe.

“When I’m upset, I imagine she’s with me.” The backs of my eyes start to burn, and suddenly I don’t want to continue. But Savage rubs the length of my back in long, slow strokes and it helps me feel better.

“I’m sorry, you don’t have to talk about it,” Savage whispers. “It’s just, Ruben told me that when you love someone, you should try and get to know all about them.”

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