Page 29 of Her Rabid Beasts

By the Wild Goddess, if Raquel, having grown up in a wild commune, is wrinkling their nose at me, I know I must smell likehell itself. I swear under my breath as they both help me pull on the clothes and walk me to the waiting, rickety boat.

Clothes feel strange against my furless skin. I want to tear them off as I lope awkwardly to the water. Smothering in the brush of air against my skin feels like I’m losing one of my senses. My two human legs are less stable than having four and I feel like a newborn foal on ice, about to topple over at any second. It makes me hunch a little and I realise this turns my stride into aprowl.

Savage comes to mind, and the way he swaggers around the academy like a beast on two legs. I thought men put that walk on as a dominance thing, but the walk is entirely involuntary. Minnie and Raquel eye me like they’re worried I’ll collapse any second, and in truth, I am lightheaded… and overwhelmed.

Able to see this place with my human eyes and height for the first time feels like I’m waking up from a dream.

When I asked Xander’s dragon if he could open a hiding space for me—much like the dragon-trick level my mates have in the animus dorm, his mouth curved into a smirk and he said, “Of course, my regina.” Once he triggered the door, it was time for me to leave for the trial, so I’d not been able to come down here to check it out.

It’s little more than a gloomy, dusty, dank cavern, but my brilliant animas have transformed it into a girly wonderland.

By some feat of determination, they’ve managed to bring a mattress and tonnes of pillows down here, making a sort of pillow fort in a semi-circle around the nest I built on instinct. Someone, probably Connor, brought down a mini fridge and there is a basket overflowing with chips, chocolates and cupcakes. There’s even a couple of purple armchairs, a little round table, and I’m sure it was Minnie who’d strung up multicoloured fairy lights all around the back and sides of the cavern.

Warmth fills my chest, golden and fresh. I turn to look at Minnie and lean my head against hers, whispering her name.

It’s then that I scent something that makes my head snap up.

Minnie is crying. She sweeps her sleeve over her cheeks, trying to hide it, but she’s doing a poor job of it due to her loud sniffing.

“I was really worried, Lia,” she whispers.

“Oh, Min,” I say in my hoarse voice. “I’m so sorry. It all turned to shit.”

“I-It didn’t th-though,” Raquel says firmly. “You’re f-fuckingalive, Lia.”

“Thwarted a breeding ring,” Minnie adds.

I grin at them gratefully.

“That’s right,” Minnie continues, holding the boat steady as Raquel helps me in. “The plan worked, our nimpins did great, and now… we’ll sort it all out.”

We all pile into the boat, with Eugene and his new goggles, hopping in after us. I’m softly lulled by the gentle rocking as it travels through the canal. I’m so tired, I feel the edges of a faint coming on. But I can’t afford to pass out. I can never afford that. Not with the distant psychic attacks coming at us from all angles. Henry prods me gently with his beak as if he knows I’m blurring at the edges. I take him from my neck to look at him.

His liquid black eyes blink slowly at me, as if he’s saying,It’s okay.

My vision blurs, but this time from tears.

I hope my eyes convey what he means to me.You saved my life, Hen. You and the other nimpins disabled some of the strongest beasts in the country and got me out of there.

Henry just nuzzles my palm affectionately, and all I can do is hold him to my chest and silently thank him. The other nimpins were with me down here too, all this time, with my friends.I don’t know what I did to deserve friends like these, but I’m grateful for it. And I don’t know how to repay them for it either.

Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.

Those fangs wait at the edges of all things. At the edges ofme. I knew my father would not be swayed by my little escape. The king cobra might not be able to get his physical hands on me, but snakes are especially good at psychic warfare. He’s going to try to wear me down, gradually, relentlessly, until I have nothing left and he has full access to me.

The fact that he managed to assault Minnie proves just how much he is willing to use any method to get to me. Somehow, he figured out that Min was my best friend and therefore the next best way to get to me.

It was a threat written in blood.

And I’m not going to let this happen. I need to be strong and just as relentless as him while I figure out what to do.

Hibernation in my beast form kept us safe for all of four weeks. But it wasn’t sustainable and my anima knew it. My energy is now at a critical level.

Lyle and Savage had visited with me frequently. Strong, powerful males at the height of their power. And the one perk of being in a mating group is… power sharing.

Beasts refuel their power using two things: food and sex. But to ask them for that was insane. They tried to kill me, after all.

When we walk through the painting in the corridor outside our dorm, Theresa, our first-year anima counsellor walks out of our room. She takes one look at me and her hand flies to her mouth, her grey eyes wide. She’s a short woman with close croppedblonde hair, a full sleeve of colourful tattoos down her right arm and a silver eyebrow piercing.

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