Page 176 of Her Rabid Beasts

If I was like the other degenerates here, I would have spat on the ground at the thought of it.

“Follow our regina’s orders,”my dragon huffs,“or I’m taking power back.”

“Fuck you,”I snarl in return.

Eugene, with Henry riding on his back because he’s terrified of me, follows in my wake; my angry, rooster-nimpin hybrid shadow.

The flash of a telepathic image explodes in my mind. I can tell it’s from Savage because it’s got that unhinged, feral signature.

Mace Naga and his entire fucking contingent stand there with rifles drawn, flanking the council in their cars. The school guards don’t even know what to do when they see the silver ‘V’ emblazoned on the guns.

Our worst suspicions have been confirmed.

The serpents have successfully developed venom-infused bullets. According to my research, they fragment on impact, spraying Eastern Taipan venom through the person’s body. More brutal than any actual snakebite, it’s a certain way of killing a beast with even the graze of a bullet.

Dirty reptile trash.

Outside the animus dorm, guards are racing around, shooting and causing a general commotion. I survey them with disdain. If these were our people, they wouldn’t be reacting like this. Common idiots, the lot of them.

“Fuck it,” I say, kicking off my favourite boots. I turn behind me to make sure there’s no one in maiming proximity.

But there is.

“What are you doing here?” I snarl.

Chapter 75

Aurelia

Lyle roars, and it hits my eardrums with the force of a thunderclap. The guards cringe under it.

“Dart them!” one of the guards cry, raising his gun to shoot.

But my dad shakes his head, and it’s directed at Ruben.

Ruben shouts, his booming voice cutting all the way down the drive. “Hold fire!”

My heart sinks in my chest. Somehow, Ruben has succumbed to the Serpent Court. Perhaps he’s made a deal of some sort. That’s usually how my father gets them. That or outright blackmail.

When the Serpent King speaks, his voice is unfathomable, coldness laced with venom.

“We all came to speak to the most honourable deputy headmaster of this so-called academy,” Mace calls for everyone to hear, to what seems like the entirety of the school guards amassed in the driveway. “Instead, I’m met with this rabid creature.”

The Clawson tigers and his generals laugh behind their masks, their shoulders shaking with the dark, malevolentsounds of their humour. The council members get out of their cars, seemingly to get a better look.

To my surprise, Georgia gets out of the car after the impressive feline king. Her beautiful face is controlled, but her eyes betray her, shock and dismay leeching through as she stares at Lyle.

That bitch must’ve given evidence against him.

Also stepping out of a council car is the King of Dragon Court, impossibly tall and imposing, with broad shoulders, long black hair and a tailored black suit and many gold rings that glint in the remaining light. The corners of his handsome mouth are kicked up in a hint of a smile.

As if he finds this display amusing.

Lyle, Savage, and Scythe regard them all with cold, cursory glances.

“I wonder what it was that set you off?” My father’s voice is mildly pensive, but his smile tells me that he knows exactly what it was. “Such a shame.” He glances at the council members. “I think we can all agree he is not fit to serve in his position.”

Holy shit, this is really happening.

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