Page 37 of Her Rabid Beasts

“He’s theirorder leadernow?” I say, glancing back at the tall eagle.

“They got into a fight a week back,” Connor murmurs, guiding Stacey and me towards Sabrina and Raquel, the former waving enthusiastically at us. “He almost killed the third year who was boss. So… now he’s it.”

Well colour me impressed. There was more to Beak than I’d originally thought.

As we enter the room, the crowd splits left and right to allow for an empty space in the middle. At the head of the hall is a short stage, three steps high, with a single black leather armchair and wooden lectern.

We join Raquel and Sabrina on the right-hand side, and try as I might, I can’t spot Minnie in the crowd.

“This is the rec room,” Connor explains as the crowd shifts to accommodate everyone. “We play pool here and watch movies. We use that stage for karaoke.”

“It’s so unfair!” Sabrina bemoans like she’s said it many times before. “We don’t have one in the anima dorm.”

“Well,” comes a deep voice from behind us, “if it means you’re over here all the time, I’m not complaining.”

Sabrina grins and twirls around to put her arms over the big shoulders of a lion from second year. We leave them to it as they noisily make out. A puma grabs Stacey from behind and she yelps with glee as she too recognises her current friend with benefits. Connor pats me on the arm to tell me he won’t leave me and I smile gratefully up at him. Raquel takes my other arm and scowls at the animuses to ward them off, but they know my wolf anim well enough by now to stay away.

The sound of the wide double doors being closed makes me stand to attention. The crowd quietens as Beak, Yeti and the other guards file to the front and line the base of the stage with their arms clasped sombrely in front of them.

It’s at that exact moment that my heart all but stops in my chest.

I’m not ready. I was never going to be ready.

Xander appears from behind the stage, followed by Savage and Scythe.

It’s been weeks since I’ve seen the three of them with my clear, human eyes, and yet it feels like a lifetime. Time seems to stop as I take them in, and every cell in my body stands to attention.

They’ve always been the most intimidating animuses I’ve ever laid eyes on, even with all my years observing cage fights and inter-court violence.

Savage is a stunning, lethal creature, and any beast looking at his languid, slightly hunched stalk as he gracefully jumps off the stage and comes to stand in the centre of the line of guards knows that he’s hardly civilised and more than a little unhinged. He’s not wearing a shirt, as usual, showing the deep lines of his perfectly cut, tattooed torso. His dark waves are perfectly imperfect, almost lazy in their disarray if not for the fact that I can see the fade on the sides of his head is fresh. The wolf tattoo that spans the front of his chest bares its teeth at the crowd, just as its owner glares at the gathered audience. He’s like a dark, feral guardian of the court, just waiting for his turn at violence.

Xander comes to stand at the lectern and it’s his appearance that surprises me the most. He is the tallest beast in the room, which is saying something because the biggest animuses here are over six and a half feet. There is more than one appreciative female sigh at the sight of Xander, and it’s because it’s the first time he’s appeared in a suit. It’s black as the darkest night, tailored to perfection and hugging his lean, muscular frame like a dream. Of course he’s smoking a joint like he doesn’t care about his appearance, but the drip he sports says anything but careless. Gold and silver rings on his fingers glint under the halogens as he grips the sides of the lectern with both hands, as does the single black dagger earring on his left ear. He’s wearing his headphones of choice. The white cords leading from his ears to the device stuck in his pants pocket might say nonchalant, but all that fades away when you catch sight of his glowing all-whiteeyes. Contrasted with his chest-length, silken straight black hair, he’s a dragon who screams “stable, for now.”

Scythe comes to sit on the lone armchair, and if the other two are stunning, he is… viciously beautiful. We don’t often see sharks on land, and his presence always catches everyone off guard. There are more than a few excitable titters from the animas as they take in his shoulder-length, silvery hair, those ice-chip blue eyes and the five lines of ancient marine text on the left side of his neck. His pale skin is covered from foot to neck in tattoos, though I can only see some peeking under the cuff of his black business shirt.

I’m sent off balance by the colossal gravitational pull I feel towards the three of them. It’s undeniable, that sheerneedI have for them. I swallow through a thick throat, trying to control my own emotions. Perhaps it’s that everything in my post-rabid state is more detailed, making me more sensitive. Xander’s fingers tighten on the lectern and I know he, at least, has noted my presence.

But none of them look my way.

I clutch onto Connor’s arm more firmly, in case my anima decides to prance over there and sit on Scythe’sveryinviting-looking lap. Heat swirls in my belly, shooting right down between my legs.

I’m about to murmur to Connor to get me the fuck out of here when Xander drones in a deep, formal voice I’m not used to hearing on him. But it suits him. Oh Goddess, does it suit him.

“Step forward the accuser, Troy Leppard. And bring forward the accused.”

I almost step forward myself at the deep command in that dragon’s timbre, only stopping just in time to see a short, long-haired male confidently stepping out of the wings, striding to stand in the middle of the open space before the stage.

The tension in the room quite obviously rockets up as we all stare.

A wolf is brought forward by two others, holding him in place with steel grips around his biceps. He wears faded blue jeans and a jacket covered with old stains and snarls at everyone around him.

“Troy Leppard,” Xander drones in his deep, clipped voice. “What is your accusation of this here wolf, Brendan Moonsayer?”

Troy clears his throat. “Brendan used a contraband gun to attack me last night. I believe there was a hit put on me from an outside gang and he was trying to put me down.”

Murmurs strike up through the crowd.

“Bring forth the evidence,” Xander calls.

---