Page 148 of Her Rabid Beasts

“No space, cub. Let’s see how you do in gen pop. Everyone’s got obsidian on, don’t worry.”

“But—”

“You’ll be right, cub,” sniggers the guard who hauls me to my feet.

A cage is what I’m used to, I remind myself. A cage is where me and my animus belong.

“Dangerous beast walking!” they call again as I’m escorted out into the prison. “New, pretty meat!”

There’s a large recreational area where inmates in orange prowl, lift weights, play soccer, or lean against the wall and smoke. When I come into view, everyone stops to stare.

My animus stares back.

My human heart sinks.

“Who’s the handsome young man?” coos an inmate with tattoos all over his face. “Look at all dem big, purdy muscles.” He elbows the inmate next to him. “Look at dem golden hairs.”

“He’s too pretty to be a monster,” replies his friend with oily black hair. “What’re the guards all talkin’ about?”

They unlock the thick metal door and I’m thrust inside, my obsidian shackles clanking too loudly.

Males advance on me from all sides, staring, growling, hissing, and cornering me in a cage of man-flesh.

One of them—a huge, blond lion—grunts, beckoning to me with two fingers. His violent lust makes the air between us reek.

My animus growls and I shake my head in fear. “No, no, no!”

They laugh. They think I’m scared ofthem.

The guards dangle their arms through the bars, smoking and watching me with broad smiles.

“Rough him up a bit,” one of the guards says through the speaking holes in the glass they all watch behind.

“Don’t push him,” another warns. “They told us he’d?—”

“Fuck what they told us,” snarls the first guard. “Come on, pretty boy, show us if it’s true.”

Once again, I can’t stop my animus when he comes calling. When he growls and snaps and wants blood.

When it turns dark, I can’t decipher whether the screaming is me or them. Whether the blood is theirs or mine. Whether the flesh in my teeth is lion, wolf, avian, or reptile.

Minutes, hours, an eternity later, putrid gas streams through the air and there’s a choking sound as beasts around me fall. It makes my eyes burn, as my animus allows me to return to my human body, but I remain standing, staring at my crimson soaked hands.

“Didn’t you have obsidian on him?” The warden’s voice is terrible and loud as he storms up to the glass.

“The fucking obsidian didn’t work!” The guards shout.

“I told you,” I whisper.

Chapter 59

Aurelia

The next morning, when Lyle and Savage get ready to go down to the academy, so do I. Minnie helped Savage pack clothes for me a few days ago, and I head into Lyle’s closet where he hung them all up.

Next to his.

It makes my heart quiver a little to see them neatly lined up next to his perfectly ordered shirts. I don’t have the heart to collect them all and take them back down to my dorm. If he can keep my knickers in his bedside table, surely he won’t mind if I leave these here for him too?

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