Page 80 of Her Rabid Beasts

“But the alternative is to go to her father for supposed breeding. Why is this not the better option?”

There’s a pause and then,“I’ll see you at the meeting, Lyle.”

Scythe’s presence fades away, hanging up the telepathic phone line. I have to admit that, despite my initial shock, these telepathic chats are convenient. Despite this, I’ve made it clear I am not a part of the Boneweaver pack, which currently has its members standing at the grand total of two. And yet Aurelia is not alone in her battle. The issue she faces is about more than just her. It’s about doing what’s right.

Celeste, too, was coming out of the protection of secrecy, putting herself at risk by presenting to the Council of Beasts as the Headmistress of Animus Academy for the first time. If she was nervous, she gave no sign of it. When he’d brought it up with her, she’d only smiled and said, “It’s time, Lyle. Long past time.” She could protect herself, of course. But...she’d never found her mate. She put it down to the dwindling population of phoenixes. There were only ten left in this state alone and only one mating pair had children.

If they were not careful, their species would end up like the Boneweavers. With a single survivor carrying the torch in frightened, trembling hands.

My animus rattles his chains, growling low and deep in the way of rabid beasts. Old fear comes rising to the surface, the flash of blood on my hands, flesh under my nails. A bleeding sky, a dry heat.

Never again. I’d made a promise to myself long ago in the bowels of Blackwater Penitentiary. Never again will I let myrabid animus out. And to ensure that, I needed to keep away from Aurelia.

Chapter 33

Aurelia

Celeste and Lyle bid me goodbye and I leave level five in a hurry, Eugene in tow.

It makes my blood roar in my head to think of where they are going. To, essentially, convince the Council of Beasts not to send me to my father for a fake execution.

To instead be forced to breed with the highest bidder to maintain old family lines.

An actual execution would be a mercy.

And yet, what they ask of me to fix this, is impossible. They think it’ll stop the execution order, but all I know is that it will make everything one hundred times worse. And in a school full of budding criminals, many from crime families and gangs, I’m a rabbit in a wolves’ den.

I need to find Minnie. I need to see what other options I have. Revealing myself is a stupid idea and there justhasto be another way. We just need to sniff it out.

I’m so engrossed in my frantic thoughts and clutching Henry so tightly that we both miss it.

The silence in the air. The tiny inkling that a predator stalks behind us. The fact that Eugene has not been following me for the last ten seconds.

The black hood snaps over my head like an adder’s strike, faster than I can compute. My hands and ankles are snatched up and bound. My power blinks out, snuffed like a candle. With horror, I realise that means they’ve put tourmaline shackles on me. Henry is suddenly not in my hands. Eugene is nowhere to be seen.

This is it. He’s come for me.

Panic consumes my mind, and I descend. Becoming nothing but that rabid animal, bucking and thrashing my entire body. If I had power, it would be shifting or lashing out left and right, but all I have now is my human muscle and flesh.

Somebody swears, but the hands are firm, strong enough to tell me that multiple animuses have me in steel grips. I scream out for Henry, but it just makes the cloth suck into my mouth.

Something pricks me in the shoulder and I recognise the sting of a snake’s fangs, just as a nasty female voice, vaguely familiar, slithers into my ear.

“The King Cobra says hello, bird shit.”

Venom burns my bloodstream. Panic turns into terror, but it only makes my heart beat faster. Three seconds later, the venom shoots up my neck, reaches my brain, and everything turns dark.

Cold water splashes on my face and I return to consciousness with a gasp, blinking away tears and the blurry vision.

“He said it wouldn’t affect her,” that husky female voice chides. “See? She’s fine.”

“I’ve never seen someone do that with my venom.” A quiet male voice sounds disturbed and I recognise him as well.

Suddenly my mind clocks in, working rapidly to assess my situation in the way my father trained me from toddlerhood.

I’m tied to a chair, arms bound behind me, ankles bound to each leg of the chair. The rope is so tight that I can’t even wriggle an inch. I reach for my power again, but there’s still nothing. My phone is tucked securely in my bra, but I have no way to get to it.

We’re in an underground cave—the air is humid and it’s dark, the only light coming from a soft orange lamp in the corner. A quick glance at the dirt floor confirms my suspicion that this is a shedding cave as old, dead snake skins are littered in the corners. It was nice of Lyle to give the serpent students a place to shed during the year. I’ll have to congratulate him when I see him next.

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