Page 90 of Her Rabid Beasts

He turns to look at me, amber eyes flicking down to my neck as if he’s seeing it all over again. I realise it with a jolt to the stomach. It was unbearable for him to look at my blood. He wasn’t able to resist the urge to bring me here, to a private place, cover me up and clean me. Heat pours through my chest, as well as something a little scarier.

“Thank you.”

His face says,are you serious?

Mine says,yes, I fucking am.

I would not have had the energy to do it myself, after all. Although right now my power is still depleted, my desperate exhaustion from before has receded.

“Where is Henry?” I ask.

“He is being admitted for investigation,” Lyle says, still not looking at me. “Eugene is with him.”

Relieved that both my babies are okay, I try to comb down the bird’s nest that is now my hair.

Lyle continues, “I want to know what they used to incapacitate him. And?—”

His eyes follow the movements of my hands as I comb through the knots in my long, black locks. “And?” I prompt.

Lyle blinks like he’s coming out of a reverie and I can’t help but feel some satisfaction. His face becomes stormy, almost scary in its rage. But it’s not directed at me. I know that, in my bones, Lyle is raging at the fact that his regina was attacked.

My anima flutters in my belly. Arousal prowls through my veins, slow and intense.

“And I need to know what happened, Aurelia,” Lyle says with barely repressed anger. “Xander will not tell me much more than the obvious.”

“That bastard.” I haven’t forgotten that heleftme there. Probably the reason why he didn’t want to tell Lyle anything.

My lion frowns like he wants to tell me off for using a bad word.

Try me, my face tells him.

I’ll let you have this one,he says with his.

God, he’s hot when he’s angry. And angry on my behalf? I rub my thighs together as my clit pulses. I wonder if he can see my hard nipples through the shirt.

His shirt.

This is starting to make up for that time he sent me to my execution. ‘Starting to’ being the operative phrase.

My anima coos for him, and suddenly I can’t stand the distance between us.

I kick back the sheets and swing my legs onto the plush carpet. Carefully, I ease to my feet and, finding myself not at all dizzy, but warm and tingly, saunter away from the bed.

He never takes his eyes off me as I close the gap between us and it feels like electricity funnels between our bodies, sharp and biting, but also delicious and sweet. It only heightens as I stop mere inches from him and look up at his face. I stay the urge to reach up and touch him, gripping the bottom of the shirt hanging by my thighs instead.

“You are something else when you’re angry,” I say softly.

My body sways towards him, giving in to his powerful lure.

Hands grab my biceps, squeezing firmly to stop my advance. Perhaps to stop himself too. I love looking at him and I know the desire is clear on my face. In my scent. But wait. All my shields are up and he won’t be able to scent me at all.

So I let my scent shield down.

Lyle Pardalia’s pupils dilate and he licks his lips, his eyes dragging down to my mouth. And by the Goddess, the pleasure I feel knowing he really is turned on by me.

“Tell me what happened down there, Aurelia,” he says firmly, not looking at my eyes but my lips. “All we found were piles of ashes.”

And a chair with rope.Though he can’t even say it out loud.

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