Page 161 of Her Rabid Beasts

She’s right. What I did was inexcusable. Nothing will fix it.

“I’m sorry, Min,” I whisper, bile rising in my throat. “I can’t make this better, I’m so?—”

“Please,” she whispers. If she had tears left, I think she’d be crying again. “Please, just leave.”

Biting my lip hard before I break down, I flee the room via the secret door to Lyle’s apartment, with Henry hurrying to follow while I shoot Raquel a mental message.

Fifteen minutes later, I’m on the floor of Lyle’s shower with Henry, sobbing into my arms under the onslaught of warm water, when I hear it.

Male voices arguing. Leaving the water running, I crawl out of the bathroom and wrap a towel around myself. Heading into the bedroom, I shove my ear up against the door and train my ears to hear what my mates are talking so heatedly about.

I hear everything.

“We don’t even know the beginnings of what she’s capable of,” Lyle says, clearly pacing up and down the living room. “Has anyone even stopped to consider what the hell she can do?”

“Lyle, you’re projecting your own insecurities onto her,” Scythe’s cold, emotionless voice replies.

“You were the one who told me we should be wary of her power, Scythe.”

“In the wrong hands, she’s a weapon,” Scythe says. “Mace Naga isn’t truly her father. He’s a man who saw an opportunity with his offspring and wants to capitalise on it.”

My stomach churns.

“You’re talking about her like she’s a business asset,” Savage snarls. “She’s a human, for the Mother’s sake.”

“Only part human,” Lyle murmurs. “And her anima is fighting back.”

“You’re projecting again,” Savage growls.

“And you are blinded by love!” Lyle says. Then more quietly, “As I was. I’ve been a fool not to see it.”

My breath catches and I clutch my stomach as his words hit me. I really want to vomit now.

“It’s not natural to fight your instincts like this,” Savage says. “That’s half your problem, Lyle.”

“If I let my animus out, no one would fucking survive,” Lyle sneers. “Including me.”

“Well, that sounds like a grand plan to me,” Xander says drolly.

I’ve heard enough.

Climbing to my feet, I wipe my nose on the edge of my towel and make sure my boobs are covered before I wrestle open the door and step out.

Four heads whip up as I walk out, and whatever anger I have dissipates in a whoosh of emptiness. There are bluish bags under Lyle’s eyes and he’s bracing his hands on the kitchen bench like he’s about to lose it. Or lost it already. Savage looks sort of pale under his tan as he leans against the fireplace. His face lights up as he stalks towards me. Both Scythe and Xander sit on anarmchair each, smoking that weed they like so much. Their faces are grave. Their energy is like a maelstrom in the centre of the room.

And it’s all because of me.

“It’s little Boneweaver,” Xander says nastily. “The one who’s more dangerous than we thought.”

“What are you talking about?” I grit out, trying to fight my own clashing emotions.

He shrugs his broad shoulders. “Just that what you did, is the exact reason we wanted you dead. You have powers that no one, including you, knows anything about. You’re an unknown. A danger. To us. To everyone.”

Rage thrusts its sharp claws through my veins. “I am not! I’ve never hurt anyone!”

The room is dead silent, the words hanging in the air like a corpse from a tree. I still feel Minnie’s dead weight in my arms.

Savage takes both my hands and kisses them, smiling down at me like I’m the best thing in the world and suddenly I can’t look at him.

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