Page 139 of Her Psycho Beasts

A low warning growl.

“I’m flying back to the academy by myself. I’m pretty sure I know the way.”

“Baby, no,”he says disapprovingly.“Lyle is going to flip.I’mgoing to flip.”

“I’m not flipping.”Lyle’s voice is dark in my mind.“But I’m not happy. I’m coming to get you, angel.”

“I’ll be faster,”I mutter in annoyance.“Eagle, remember?”

“Did you two have a fight?”Savage asks.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”I find the freeway and follow it inland. The roads are easy enough to follow. There is something calming about flying in my eagle form and, in truth, I love the thought of a long flight to clear my head. It would probably take me the better part of the day to get there. I’m also cognisant of the fact that Xander is around the city somewhere and could very well track me down on eyesight alone. I’d given Scythe my power last night, so he’ll be able to track me easily too.

I hope he’s smart enough to leave me alone, because Goddess help him if he tries to stop me from flying.

Chapter 70

Scythe

Ithought I knew desire.

I thought I knew what it was to be controlled by it. I’d watched beasts fall into it my entire life and had been the very cause of it.

But watching my regina, roaring with power, boiling with fury,commandingme… I’d never known such intoxication. Such forceful need. I had wanted to throw her down and rut in her until she was screaming my name with a passion equal to her rage.

The Wild Mother had been a ruthless force when she’d made me a Great White. Because now, I was but a fish, standing amongst broken shards, watching my regina fly away from me.

How can a bird love a fish? Their love would be doomed from the beginning.

“Send me the bill,”she’d said.

Fuck.

I love seeing her like that. Like a Boneweaver queen of old. Like a regina who commands five very dangerous beasts. And very dangerous power. What I would give to spend a lifetime with her. I will cradle the golden orb of power she’d given me for the rest of my sorry life. I will keep it as a token of her love forme. Because now Iknowshe loves me. That amount of rage can’t come from something lukewarm. It comes from maddening emotion.

“Was that her?”Xander’s voice is irritated in my mind as I direct the hospital staff to sweep up the broken glass.

“Yes.”

“The bastards are power sharing with her.”

“We need to follow her.”

“I’ve already got the bikes.”

I text the general manager of The Lily Sanctuary to organise a temporary replacement for the glass doors as I head back down to the basement. We don’t often use the bikes as we usually travel with cargo, but today we need something faster than a car and less visible than a dragon.

We’re on the road minutes later, appropriately dressed and on two of Savage’s Kawasaki Ninja H2’s; one green, one orange. Xander follows me as I track the wedge-tailed eagle on feeling alone, until we see her flying powerfully above the freeway, making for good speed.

I’ve been inside of her now. There’s no way she can escape me.

Chapter 71

Aurelia

Idon’t see any sign of dragon or shark until hours later. I stop to rest near a small traveller’s petrol station off the freeway, panting, hidden behind a bush. I’m way out of the city, where there is only farmland that stretches on either side of the road. The day is overcast, and it rained for a little while, which ended up being refreshing and cathartic. It perfectly reflected my mood, and now my feathers feel fresh and clean.

I’m really thirsty and I have zero money or clothes. But that was my choice for dramatic effect, so now I have to deal with the consequences.