Page 109 of Her Rabid Beasts

Raquel gives me a wry grin and shrugs like it’s no bother.

Connor rolls his eyes. “And you’re forgetting the psycho mates sitting in the animus dorm will protect you, Lia! Savage is literally declaring his love for you to anyone who’ll listen! And there’s Mr. Pardalia.” There’s a mischievous glint in Connor’s perfectly lined eyes that makes me bite my lip.

My friends are smarter than I gave them credit for.

“Geez, I didn’t know my friends were such badasses,” I say. I didn’t expect this at all. I thought they’d bow out given the chance.

“You didn’t?” Sabrina asks me, feigning great offence. “We followed you down into a mysterious dark cavern after you escaped from something worse than death and found out that you’re from a mythical order not seen in decades! We’reinthis, woman. We’re going to make history with you!”

My heart swells. But shit, I really don’t want them to get hurt. If they put obsidian shackles on me again, my power would be cut off, and then it would be free game for my father. I need to be really careful. There are still plenty of serpents around here, and all of them are loyal to my father.

“And look how brave Eugene is!” Stacey says, stroking our rooster with the back of one finger. “He deserves to be our club mascot for saving you.”

We all coo over Eugene for a moment, needlessly adjusting his goggles and petting his feathers.

“Alright, now that’s out of the way,” Sabrina says, sitting straighter in her seat. “My news is that I’ve broken up with Ashton and I’m currently fucking a tiger in second year. That’s it.” She sits back in her seat to signal she’s done. “Now Minnie’s business.”

“Right,” Minnie says, her voice thick. Tears well up in her eyes.

“What happened?” I whisper, reaching for her hand and dreading what’s coming.

In answer, she buries her face in my shoulder. All I can do is hold her.

“No, I’m okay,” she whispers, separating herself from me and dabbing at her eyes. “I don’t want to make it worse by getting all emotional.”

“Good girl,” Connor says. “Show him he can’t hurt you.”

“Titus?” I hiss at her. “I saw him yesterday when I went looking for you and I saw him…” I try to tell her with my eyes. “I know you’re in love with him, Min. I’m sorry.”

“I can’t bear to hear it, Lia,” she says. “But I can guess what you saw.”

“He’s pretty obvious about his sex life, that Titus,” Connor says wryly.

“A-Asshole,” Raquel mutters. “We a-all called it.”

“Well, that’s the thing,” says Minnie darkly. “I suppose I was a bit blinded. Yesterday, he was supposed to meet me for a little date.” She looks down at her hands. “He never showed.”

Connor slaps the table in disgust.

“I’d been telling him how I thought we should do more than just sit in his room and he was like ‘yeah, sure, fine.’ But when he didn’t come, I went to find him and tell him how I felt, but—” She shudders. “I can’t even say it.”

“He was fucking that serpent with the tattoo around her tits,” Connor says. “She was bragging about it all night.”

“And then?” Sabrina presses.

“And then he asked me to fuck one of his followers so he could watch. Shelby was super keen but?—”

“Shelby?” Connor shrieks at the top of his lungs. “He didnot!”

“Who’s Shelby?” I demand, pounding on the table.

“An oily little hyena who likes to pick his nose,” Stacey says snidely. “He tried to get me to hack into the school’s kitchen ordering system to buy him raw pigeon meat.”

We all shudder. Eugene squawks in disgust.

We all let this sink in.

“And what did you say, Minnie?”

---