Page 28 of Her Rabid Beasts

“Hello, sir! Pleased to help, sir!” she says excitedly.

I do not answer her because there is fire in my blood and chains rattling in my head.

Inside, the animas are all a-chatter, wondering who made that mighty roar, but the look of warning on my face as I bypass the first two floors has them all scattering back to their rooms and shutting their doors.

I make it to Aurelia’s cavern with my heart pounding like a war drum.

Only Minnie, Raquel and their three nimpins are with her. Aurelia, in human form, kneels before Minnie as the tigress tugs on a new blouse. Aurelia hugs Minnie around the waist, her face buried in her friend’s stomach, her naked body smeared with dirt and grime from the cavern floor. She hasn’t washed in four weeks and smells like it, but still Minnie tightly returns the hug, holding Aurelia around her bare shoulders. Henry squeaks with alarm, hovering over Aurelia like a mother hen.

The scent of blood is faint in the air, but a quick scan reveals that no one is actually injured.

Relief. Pure and cool and light floods my veins at the sight of her human form, apparently sane, apparently well. I find my breath again.

“Miss Aquinas,” I say, hooking a finger into my collar to loosen it a little.

She rotates her face towards me, never leaving Minnie’s embrace, and I am not prepared for that look of pure loathing that simmers in her eyes.

Her olive skin is ashen and there are deep bags under those furious bluebell irises. Pale lips, thin from dehydration, twist in annoyance.

Even looking so unwell, I am struck by her wild, rabid beauty. A creature of legend returned from the dead. How much does she remember of our time down here? When she came to me for comfort? But I have a feeling those quiet moments of us sitting together will never happen again.

“L-Leave,” she rasps. Her voice is scratchy from lack of use, or perhaps a little sore from that vicious roar she just made. The one that still echoes in my ears and will linger in the dark parts of me for years to come. That rabid power. It called something forth in me, something very much unwanted. My eyes find her neck, but that celestial mark still isn’t there. A whisper of disappointment seeps into my mind like venom.“Leave,” she repeats. Gods, the pure hate in that voice.

Good. This is good.

I inhale and exhale twice; evenly and slowly in a measured way that is second nature for me, from a long life learning absolute control. I keep my mind carefully blank. I am her deputy headmaster. This is my student. Whatever it was between her anima and me down here in the dark and quiet is now ended.

And I am thankful for it.

“Miss Aquinas,” I say crisply. “Welcome back. I expect you in the dining hall for breakfast tomorrow morning.” Turning on my heel, I leave.

Chapter 15

Aurelia

“W-What an asshole,” I mutter, even as the sight of Lyle, one of my mates, walking away from me, makes a hole tear open in my chest. But that is just my anima pining like the wanton hellcat she is. The human in me knows he has no right to be here. None, when he was instrumental in my court case and handed me over for execution.Handedme over to my father, just like that!

My anima protests the thought. She stalks beside me now, ready to take over again if I need her to. But she also knows we can’t sit here anymore, and as long as I don’t put her in a cage again, she promises to behave. We’ve got to work together now.

Henry squeaks indignantly and Raquel snorts, but it’s a relieved sound. “S-so you r-remember how t-to speak then?”

I swivel to look at my wolf-anim, taking them in with my human eyes. The silver lip, brow and septum piercings glint in the dim light and their dark brown hair has grown out and cut into a new pixie style that I love. I try to remember how to move my human face. I twitch my lips and, albeit a bit stiffly, they shape a smile.

It’s so funny that baring your teeth as a beast is a clear threat, but as a human, it’s a sign of pleasantry.

“There she is,” Minnie says in approval. “Can you stand?”

With a long-suffering groan, I clamber to my feet, using Minnie as a brace. “As if I’d forget to speak with you lot chattering at me all day,” I say softly, touching my throat and frowning. “Hurts though.” And my teeth are disgustingly furry.

“We’ll get you some honey,” Minnie says. “Honestly, you had us worried for a while there.”

It was the sight of her. Of Minnie, bleeding under the assault of an enemy she could not see that did it. My anima had shoved me to the side and kept me deep within my own body. Much in the same way I keptherunder wraps for so long. Those scraping fangs burning across my own body I could handle, butMinnie? Or any of them? Never. It had been enough for my anima to relent, stepping aside for me to surge upward andragewith my power carried in a roar around the school until those scraping fangs were shut out altogether. Healing Minnie had come naturally, of course. Those fang marksviolatingher body, was something I could not bear to look at. Or bear to haveherlook at.

The nimpins finally settle down. The poor things sensed the psychic attack but didn’t know how to help. Henry comes to nestle against my neck, making cutesy, soothing squeaks and then I notice Eugene by my foot, clucking in concern. My mind is a little boggy, like I’m wading through thick mud. But the adrenaline caused by the horror and then in seeing Lyle is helping me out of it. My stomach twists in a horrible sort of way, telling me that I’vereally not been eating all that well these last few weeks.

“Food,” I murmur. “And a lot of it.”

“And c-clothes.” Raquel hands me a spare jacket and track pants, but their nose wrinkles just a little as they approach.

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