Page 24 of Her Rabid Beasts

As the car fills with smoke from Xander’s rage, I merely wind down the window and smirk. “I need to see Marduk again, then we head back to Animus.”

Xander only grunts in reply, but I feel it in him too. That reluctant relief. That primal, ever-fucking-present need to get back to our regina.

Chapter 11

Aurelia’s Anima

My lion returns to see me often. Unlike the others, he is always in his human skin while his animus is leashed in chains of obsidian and steel. Chains so tight, I wonder how he does not choke on them.

But I cannot be excited to see him. I cannot afford the energy.

He sits with me when my wolf and my sister-pack are away. He talks and talks and talks. Softly, quietly some days, other days more loudly. His voice is pleasant. Deep and rhythmic, and often, as it rumbles through the air, it lulls me into a restful slumber. I find myself looking for that voice on some days. It has the steady reassurance of the earth. The weight of heavy rock. I can lay my mind against it and it will not falter while I rest for a time. It gives me some energy. And when he is not here… I miss his melody.

I do not understand what he says, nor can I spend precious energy deciphering the words. Because those fangs that once wentscrape, scrape, scrape,against my skin nowburn, burn, burn.

Through my psyche, the pain is mirrored across my stomach. I growl, burrowing deeper into my protections.

Keep us safe. Keep us safe. Keep us safe.It is a counter-song of my own.

It barely lessens the venomous assault on my body. This threat from the enemies outside.

I need more power, yet I am weakening.

One day, when my lion has stopped talking, I lift my eyes to look upon him.

To consider.

As he considers me back.

He is a male of sheer power. Any anima can see that. To share power with a beast like this would grant me access to a greater power, and in turn, a greater defence. And he is mine. Mine in the most essential way.

He says something, and his song is a gentle stroke down my fur.

The human inside me pounds on her cage and I wonder if she knows something I do not. But I cannot afford to let her out. She must be protected inside me. Away from the burning and the venom and the darkness of the enemy. She has lain quietly for some time, understanding what is at stake. But now she pounds and pounds and it hurts my head.

We will endure this. We must.

And so, I lay my head back down and sing my lonely song.

Keep us safe. Keep us safe. Keep us safe.

Chapter 12

Savage

Two weeks or so after my regina’s anima took her over, Scythe and Xander return. I beg them—threaten them, even—but they both refuse to visit her. Xander sleeps a lot, smokes even more, and Scythe warns me not to terrorise him too much.

“The last thing we need is a rogue dragon lighting people up,” Scythe says to me one day as Yeti, Beak, and I join him in the dining hall for breakfast. “Give him your gold and let him be.”

“It’s not healthy,” I say reasonably, digging into my steak and casting an eye over the first-year anima table. “He’s going to explode at some stage.”

Yeti, our favourite Siberian tiger, arches a white eyebrow at me. His mother was a white tiger and his father a Siberian tiger so he luckily got the best of both worlds. The massive size of the Siberian and the unusual white hair and blue eyes of the White. I return his look and feign innocence. He, too, is eyeing the anima table with great interest.

Everyone knows about the phoenix injunction, and we’ve told our beasts only that Aurelia is keeping a low profile and not to ask questions. It made for a good amount of gossip in the first week, but it’s old news now. Only the birds of prey are botheredthat one of “their” animas is missing in action, but I put an end to any clucking about it quick-smart. Fists talk better than any mouth can. That’s always been my motto.

Scythe glances down at our regina’s teeth marks on my forearm. I salted them to keep them there and wear them like a badge of honour. These beautiful indentations will be something I treasure forever. Same as the missing index finger on my right hand.

I think about her every moment of the day. How she sits beneath the anima dorm like a vicious, bloodthirsty, hibernating monster. How her blue eyes stare at me through the dark. How she hisses and bares her teeth when I insult one of her friends. My cock twitches at the thought. Scythe doesn’t understand yet, and neither does Xander. They don’t let their animus guide them like I do and so they don’tseeher properly.

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