Page 116 of Her Psycho Beasts

“I need to clean up first.”

I head to the bathroom. “And actually, ‘why are they so expensive?’is the better question.”

Savage dutifully follows me right into the toilet and I have to force him to turn around and he does so with aharrumph.

“Lyle told me they have a period tax!” Savage exclaims. “So I said I was going to rip out the neck of the man who invented that.”

“Hmm,” I say vaguely, sitting down and pulling on the new pair of underwear and sticking the pad to it. “At least he could use one of these to mop up the blood.”

“Yeah,” Savage nods sagely. “Are you done yet? Next time,I’llstick the pad to the underwear becauseyou’rethe regina. I’ll be the pad-sticker monitor.”

There’s a knock at the door. “What are you two doing in there?” Lyle asks suspiciously.

I’ve just managed to pull up my underwear when Savage opens the door to find both Lyle and Scythe waiting.

I clutch my stomach as nausea wracks up my throat.

“Give me that,” Lyle says bossily.

I pull my bloody underwear out of his reach. “Excuse you!”

He gives me an exasperated look. “Angel.”

“I’ll just throw it out,” I say, angrily pushing my way past the three of them, with one hand on my stomach and heading back to the room. “There have to be painkillers around here somewhere,” I mutter to myself.

They stalk after me, practically stepping on my heels as I arrive back into the bedroom and stare at the bloody spot in the middle of the pack bed.

“I’ll get the sheets,” Lyle says quickly.

“I have five different types of pills,” Scythe says, turning me around by the elbow and showing me an open plastic box with a variety of medications inside.

“Some of those are illegal, aren’t they?” I say mildly, examining the labels and selecting the paracetamol and ibuprofen.

He remains silent.

“She shouldn’t have that on an empty stomach,” Lyle says disapprovingly, tossing the dirty sheets aside and unfolding a new set.

“I’ll get the food!” Savage announces, shifting into his wolf form—presumably to get there faster—and bounding away with his tongue hanging out one side of his mouth.

Once the new sheets are on, Lyle reaches over to grab me.

“I’m not an invalid!” I cry, shooing him off. “It’s just my period.” A cramp assaults me and I double over with a groan. “Just gotta wait for the painkillers.”

“Would you prefer them IV?” Scythe asks seriously.

I wave him away, climbing into bed an inch at a time like I’ve aged forty years. “Being a woman is fucked up,” I groan.

“I know, angel,” Lyle says, brushing my hair as I lay my head down.

“You don’t know anything,” I grumble back.

Something warm presses against my back and I know it’s a hot water bottle. Instantly, I feel bad. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

“Is there any chocolate?”

Three minutes later, Savage returns with a bag of lunch sandwiches in his maw.

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