Page 74 of Her Rabid Beasts

“Thank you for the information on Titus Clawson,” I say, taking a seat and lighting up a joint.

“You are welcome,” Marduk replies in his slightly accented, old world baritone. “The Clawson family’s alliance with the Halfeathers and the Nagas may prove to be a problem.”

Problem indeed. Titus’ father owned the territory bordering my newly occupied one. He also turned both his sons purposefully rabid, responding only to him for his use as hitmen.

And I have no doubt Titus’ appearance at Animus Academy while I was there was not at all a coincidence. While they have a truce with Halfeather and the Serpent Court, they certainly do not have a truce withme.

“Next business.” Marduk hands me a slip of paper with printed text. “This is the address where she is located.”

After I’ve read it, I raise my brows at him.

“I know,” he says dryly. “It’ll be a dangerous operation. And with the monster that guards it? Almost impossible.”

A monster indeed. “Would you be willing?”

“Yes, of course.” He says it like it should have been obvious to me.

A rare smile twitches my lips.

“All pack members are accounted for?” he asks seriously.

“Lady Celeste has confirmed the three of them.”

“I would like to meet Aurelia,” he muses.

My response is instant—a primitive growl that tears unbidden from my throat.

The Caspian tiger shakes his head, black hair catching the multicoloured lights from the dance floor. “You know what I mean, shark-friend. She and I are both the last of our kind. Perhaps she has some wisdom to share with me.”

“She’s only twenty, Marduk,” I mutter. “And only just coming to terms with the fact that she is… what she is.”

“And what were you doing at twenty? You had already made a name for yourself amongst those of us who walk in the dark. You must teach her,” he says that last part incredulously. “Are you not?”

No, I’ve been trying to do the exact opposite. I’d been using my enemies against themselves for far too long. There was something so inherently satisfying in twisting an offensive attack right back onto them. And yet…

“You do not think of her as an ally,” he deadpans. “This is not good.”

Even now, I feel a need to return to her and have her blood close to my nose. The various flashes I got from Savage and histimewith her were torture enough—in more ways than one.

“You have not met her,” I say, getting out my lighter and setting the paper aflame. We both watch it curl upon itself.

“I, for one, cannot wait to meet my regina.” Marduk steeples his fingers and stares unblinkingly through the glass at the writhing dancers. Strobe lights dance across his aristocratic features. “She could very well be a bald, bare-breasted harpy with fangs and I would happily lie prostrate at her feet. That is our responsibility. Theonlyresponsibility. I have been collecting far too many trinkets with neither female nor harpy to gift them to.” His gaze flicks back to me. “There is nothing you can see in my blood?”

The impression I get off Marduk’s blood makes my head ache, but there is a certain glimmer there I cannot place. Like a thought just out of reach.

I tell him so, and for the first time since I’ve known him, his eyebrows raise in a faint almost-expression.

“Interesting,” he murmurs.

As Marduk leads me back out of both rooms and into the corridor, we pass a room in which I hear a male screaming. Orange and black, desperate energy emanates through the door. Marduk saunters behind me to calmly open the door.

The screaming abruptly stops.

“Shhh,” he says, pressing a finger to his lips. “People are trying to copulate, among other things.” He clicks it shut. “Sorry about that, friend. It seems our latest prisoner has no manners. But he will give me access to the blueprints before the end.”

I offer him a rare smile.

Marduk smiles mildly back.

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