Page 101 of Her Psycho Beasts

“Beasts ahead,” I tell the group chat.

“We can’t use the shield,”Scythe says.“It’ll likely stop her from seeing the bond.”

But Aurelia isn’t insucha deep trance because she says, “I’ll deal with it.”

My brows shoot up in happiness and I cast a grin at Scythe, then over my shoulder at Lyle, who’s also staring at her hungrily. Our regina. The leader of our pack. The love of my life.

I feel all giddy and bubbly inside as the stone floor suddenly becomes the modern plastic stuff they have in the medical wing at the academy. The light changes from warm-yellow to cold bluish-white, and there are machines beeping and people talking in the far distance. Aurelia raises a hand, not to stop us, but to tell us the invisibility shield is going back up. Just in time for us to turn the corner and enter what looks like a hospital ward.

There’s a desk that says ‘reception’ and pictures of pregnant women and their pups. There are lots of doors leading to rooms, but they are all empty. The entire place is dead, and my nose tells me it’s been that way for a long time.

“An old maternity ward,” Lyle says with interest.“I’m guessing Mace didn’t want his court’s hatchlings out in the open.”

That makes sense. He’s paranoid as fuck. But now it’s empty, cleared for its VIP patient. She’s been all alone down here, and that makes me so sad I want to whine.

Aurelia doesn’t seem to be fazed by this because she’s dropped our shield again and is concentrating on her mark. She weaves us through the hallways until the beeping gets louder and louder.

We come to a set of double doors that are shut. Aurelia steps aside and Lyle is sweating by the time there’s a crack and they fall outwards. He gentles their fall but not before two eagle animas, dressed in blue scrubs, stop dead in their tracks, their eyes going wide as they catch sight of our unexpected presence.

Aurelia’s hand lashes out, shooting telepathy to hold them in place. Their fear perfumes the air as our pack stalks forward as a unit.

“You have my mother here,” my regina hisses at them with a terrible fury that makes me shudder.

Excitement floods my veins as she sets Eugene on the ground.

Chapter 51

Aurelia

The thing that hurts is that I recognise both these medical eagles. After high school, I enrolled in a distance course for healing, but there’d been practical components on which I’d needed to be assessed. Because I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere, Dad had sent a car to take me to out-of-hours sessions with tutors that I’d guessed he’d paid off. I’d done many assessments with blonde, middle-aged Susan and at least two exams with the small raven-haired older lady on the left, Mina.

They are experienced healers, the best sort of teachers who preached the values healing eagles needed to have: Consent. Respect. Compassion.

And here they are, working on my mother. Betraying all of those things.

It’s my instinct to squeeze them to death for it. But I notice Susan is trying to use her voice. I ease up on my telekinetic hold.

“Aurelia,” she says, her brows knitting together. “W-We were not expecting you.”

That’s what she has to say?

“So you do remember me,” I say darkly, my fists clenched so hard my nails burn into my palms.

“Of course.”

Mina is sweating, her eyes darting between my terrifying mates. Sheshouldbe fucking scared.

“You’ve been hurting my mother,” I say quietly. My knees are weak. My heart races irregularly behind my ribs. My urge to tear these women apart might overcome me.

A tear leaks from Susan’s eye as her face reddens. “Your father needed female medical personnel. He threatened our families?—”

“We don’t have time for this,” Lyle mutters.

I gesture to the doors on our left, the one the glittering thread travels through. Swallowing, I say, “Let us in.”

Her hasty obedience is the only thing that saves her. As soon as I let Susan go, she takes out her swipe card and hurries to the door, tapping the plastic against the black sensor. The doors swing open, and beyond, a single bed lies with a sole occupant. The machinery for an entire ICU unit lies inside, but I barely see them as I walk through the doors.

I barely feel my feet. I barely feel the air on my skin. A part of me leaves my body completely as I come to stand beside the bed.

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