Page 105 of Her Psycho Beasts

Those big hands squeeze mine again and I realise they are just as hot as mine. Just as laced with rage andhunger. This one understands. “It is done, Lady Boneweaver. Lay your powerto rest.” That voice sidles into my ear like lava, the heat of it a tickling on my hot skin. “It. Is. Done.”

Only then do I look up into eyes that blaze white. They stare back at me, colours flickering within. Pink and purple flames, like faint opals living within him.

The dragon man exhales and smoke streams in a steady white band from his nostrils.

Fascinated, I let it wash over me. It smells almost sweet. Almost angry.

Xander drops my hands and it’s only then that he steps back to show me what I’ve done.

The devastation I’m causing.

The entire Naga mansion is a ball of orange-yellow flames. It licks up into the night, black smoke billowing in a giant cloud above, blotting out the stars. There are people stumbling around, running for their lives.

And thesound. No one tells you how truly loud a blaze is. How much it roars like a terrible, living monster.

There’s a cracking sound just before one of the stone pillars bends and collapses. I swear it slides to the ground as if itmeltedfrom within…

My anger cools, and so does my skin. If I’d been a living flame before, now I’m warm coals, cooled by the frigid night.

Arms wrap around my waist, and I know it’s Savage that has me safe in his arms, bundling me into his chest and taking me away to safety.

My last vision of my childhood home is the way the orange blasts frame Xander in an orb, his near seven-foot silhouette as he stands before it, staring at the blaze as if transfixed.

Chapter 52

Scythe

Ten Years Ago

As we approach the sea, my mother perks up in my arms, her delicate little nose arcing into the sky and sniffing keenly. It makes me smile. She looks like a mermaid princess under the midnight crescent moon, silver hair, a match to mine shining like angel light, light blue eyes under her droopy lids.

It wasn’t difficult to get her out. Not once I’d dropped my father’s and second mum’s blood pressures so low that they’d fallen unconscious. Not once Savage had tied them up and handed me the key to my mother’s cage. I’d developed the new power and told no one—honed it until I could bend others to my will. If I could do more with it, time would tell.

No more would she spend her nights screaming. No more would I have to fight to wipe her tears. No more would she have to fight her own mind.

She sighs as if the weight of the world has been taken off her shoulders. As if this is what she’d been waiting for.

It hurt, a little, to know that she would prefer to be there than here, but it was best for her tired spirit. She deserves to be free and happy.

A thought comes to me. A whispering reminder of a story I’d heard as a child, told by a woman with sad, blue eyes.

“Those sharks who wish to see their loved ones come here on the first full moon of every year,” I say. “Come here then, and I’ll return too.”

The splash of her tail told me she loved me and that was all I needed to know that I’d done the right thing.

Chapter 53

Aurelia

Scythe drives our SUV quickly through the dark. I sit in the back with Savage, who holds Eugene, while Lyle sits in the middle, clutching my mother safe in his arms.

I hold her cool hand in mine, never taking my eye off her, trying to mark the fine lines of her face in my memory. She lets in a shaky, rattling inhale once every few minutes, and although I know she doesn’t have very long, something in my heart knows the regina in her is holding out for this one last goodbye.

I’ve covered our car in several shields, and Scythe sent Marduk away in his car with a lock of Mum’s hair to act as a decoy if anyone tries to sniff her out. Even so, I know my shields won’t work to stop my father from finding her. We just have to hope that Xander’s diversion keeps him occupied for long enough.

After some time that I can only guess at, Scythe drives into the carpark of a quiet beach, and this late into the night, our only company are a few sleepy seagulls who watch the gentle breaking waves just as intently as we do.

Xander, who’d been scouting above us for the drive, lands on the beach, his mighty black dragon form sitting on his haunches, and turning his great head to keep watch over the road. He lookslike a great tower of blue-tinted darkness, his twin orbs like moons that light up the endless dark of the sky. Lyle steadies my mother gently in his arms and gets out of the car. Scythe turns off the ignition and makes his way over the sand dunes towards the water while Savage leaves Eugene to sleep in the car and takes my hand so we can follow. With the stars twinkling above us, we join Scythe, standing where the water meets the land, his eyes intent on the horizon.

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