Page 88 of Her Rabid Beasts

Protect her.

It is a command deep and primitive, coming from the dark depths of my being. Beneath any pride, any ego, beneath everything I thought made me who I am. A distant roar shatters one layer of chains.

Fuck.

Panic makes every muscle in my body go rigid.

Alright,I quickly say to my animus.Alright.

I know what he wants.

Giving in to that mating instinct, I let that aspect control me.

Gathering Aurelia into my arms, my animus lies back down behind his door. The scent of the hospital blanket invades my head and momentarily stops me from licking her blood clean off her skin.

A low rumble tears from my throat, as Hope walks in.

“Mr Pardalia?—”

“I will take her.” The words are out of my mouth in a guttural timbre I barely recognise.

The eagle anima takes an instinctive step back, her eyes wide and assessing. I know what she sees: a barely controlled animus far more powerful than her, making a claim over a female.

Her eyes flick to where the guards are stationed at the entrance to the emergency bay. She’s wondering if she should call them. But intelligence overtakes her primitive instinct, and she decides against doing anything. She inclines her head and moves her body to the side to show me she is not in my way. “Of course, sir.”

She is perfectly trained. I would know because I trained her. And that is the only thing saving her now.

With Aurelia bundled safely in my arms, I stride out of the emergency bay. Ruben is talking with three of his team in the corridor outside. His eyes dart between me and Aurelia and a frown flashes across his face before it smooths out to neutrality. He is one of the rare males that I have to physically lookupto when talking.

When I don’t stop walking, Ruben falls into stride with me. My feet are working on autopilot; I need to get Aurelia out of here and into a safe place.

I start rattling orders. “Scout the serpent’s shedding cave and the surrounding areas. Send me footage.”

Ruben nods and I’m pleased to see he leaves a metre’s distance between us. “Has she been questioned?”

“She’s asleep,” I snap. I didn’t mean to, and something tightens in me at the awareness of it.

Whether Ruben registers this as unlike me, he doesn’t say, only strokes his beard. I hired him for his discretion as well as his power over other beasts. He understands that’s the end of the conversation and veers off at an intersecting corridor.

I power through the corridors, right into the executive building and into the lift. Opening the hidden panel, I pressnumber four with my power, tapping my foot as I wait for the lift to take us up at its snail’s pace.

The first time I saw Aurelia, it was in the dark of her bedroom and I was nothing more than a spectre, called forth by a power greater than me. I fought it, at first, before realising that fighting was bringing my animus out and turning me half mad. So I let her regina’s song carry me to her bungalow, deep in serpent territory. She lay on her bed, in this tiny, barely there nightie, and it hit me like a lightning bolt. The centre of my gravity shifted, and I was unable to look away as she writhed and moaned, lost to her own pleasure.

It felt depraved and lecherous. And, against my better judgement, I’d craved it ever since.

Men like me are allowed to crave, to want. But tohave? To have Aurelia like a regular animus would have his regina in body and soul?

Impossible.

I shiver at the thought as I arrive in my apartment and kick open the door to my bedroom. Aurelia snuggles into me, nuzzling my chest affectionately, and I suddenly have the intense urge to wrap her up in my bedcovers and keep her here forever.

I gently lay her down in the middle of the bed and she doesn’t stir.

And I don’t pull away. I can’t.

Her scent is too strong, that blood is too vibrant on her skin and the primitive sense that tells me she is vulnerable refuses to let my arms release her.

Clenching my teeth, I lie down next to her, curving my body around her smaller one as if I can protect her with the sheer bulk of my muscle. Somewhere between the meeting in Celeste’s office and the emergency bay, she’s lost her denim jacket, leaving her only in this thin dress. Her dark hair is wild andstrewn messily about, and I can’t resist the urge to set it into order. I gently sweep it off her face, my fingers brushing the skin of her forehead and cheeks.

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