Page 154 of Her Psycho Beasts

Ghoul chuckles, and it’s a dark, hollow sound. “Of course she insisted. I just bet she loves the taste of me better than you.”

Savage can’t help but take the bait, snarling in his throat. Ghoul opens his mouth with a hiss, his fangs elongating past his bottom lip. When the shadows pull completely away from his face, we all see that he’s still grinning. All of his teeth are now needle-pointed, lethal instruments.

Xander snorts, “Say ‘she sells seashells by the seashore’ five times fast.”

“How about I say it with my fangs six inches deep in your eye sockets?”

“Just. Fucking. Try,” comes the acrid reply.

“Ghoul.” Scythe’s voice cuts through the bickering, stopping Ghoul short of a reply. Those lasers consider our shark with an infinitesimal wariness more than my other brothers.

Scythe jerks his chin towards the contract still in Ghoul’s hand. “Sign and be done with it.”

I shoot a pen towards the basilisk. Ghoul catches it an inch before it buries itself in his eye. He turns his grin towards me.

Aurelia had just typed ‘Lord Jerk Basilisk’ in Ghoul’s signee spot. I don’t think even Marduk knows his real name.

Ghoul considers the contract before brushing a soft finger over the paper—what I assume is the spot Aurelia signed in her flowing cursive.

He then signs the paper with a harsh flourish.

Chapter 79

Aurelia

Damien has been on annual leave for the past few days, and Lyle has takenfulladvantage. With the full moon approaching, the mated wolves requested a night hunt for the millionth time and Lyle finally obliges them.

It’s basically a time where reginas and rexes of each pack run under the full moon and their mates get to hunt them. Sometimes it was just for fun, but itusuallyled to a whole heap of sex. With so many packs hunting in the dark, it could also get dangerous. You had to be willing to put up with the possessiveness of other packs. And with reginas running wild, accidents were bound to happen.

That was why Lyle had never approved it. In the outside world, packs hired out closed parks for this sort of thing. But Lyle has been in areallygood mood, and he’s approved it for all packs, not just the wolves. Everyone had their allocated slot, for safety, across the next few days, to minimise lethal fights on the grounds.

There would only be avian guards keeping watch from the sky in case of an emergency, but that was it by way of safety.

“It’ll be good bonding for the packs,” Lyle says over breakfast in a very serious voice. “Everyone’s been restless lately.”

“Right,” I say, grinning into my plate. “Great bonding.”

Savage nudges me with his nose, almost exactly like a domestic dog. So I nudge him with mine right back, making him choke back laughter.

I know my friends and my mates are all trying to distract me from recent events. Keep my mind occupied and away from the sadness and grief. My surges of power come and go. Sometimes in class, the windows rattle and sometimes even in my sleep when a nightmare about fire and burning wood strikes, the entire dorm building shudders. Lyle wakes me up on those nights, bringing me a cold face cloth to mop me of the sweat that drenches me afterward. I see visions of my mother that night we rescued her, get impressions of snake-shaped shadows chasing us and a turbulent, violent sea that tries to drown me. Yet another heat lockdown passes, and to my dismay, both Scythe and Xander leave the academy for those days. There is so much anxiety in my mind lately, so much rough, irritable energy that we are all glad when Lyle puts his plan in motion.

When we emerge from the lockdown, Lyle puts up the call sheet for the three nights of the full moon hunt in the dining room for all to see. Everyone gets an hour’s slot through the night, with the wolves getting the slots in the deepest part of the night as per their request, and the lions and avian flocks getting the sunrise slots.

I’m happy to see ‘The Boneweaver Pack’ written in the first slot of the first night: 8–9 p.m.

Minnie and I begin planning immediately with the help of our animas. We both want to surprise our packs, and perhaps I want to poke Scythe just a little bit too. He signed my contract the same as the others, but has not approached me just yet. The fact that heiscoming with us on the hunt is very promising.

My insidesitchfor him. My anima pines for our shark, and a little whine threatens to come out of my throat anytime hepasses me a little too closely, and when I catch him staring, more heat than cold radiating from those eyes.

Sometimes, when I’m just about to fall asleep, or if I’m dozing on the couch after class, I feel the brush of his fingers along my calf or arm. Always featherlight, always in innocent spots. They were moments I treasured when they happened, my skin feeling his touch for hours afterwards.

But Friday night ismynight, and when the day finally arrives, there’s an excited buzz around the entire school. Damien is still on leave, so the academy is in good spirits with Lyle taking up temporary deputy headmaster duties.

The only thing he can’t seem to overrule is releasing the nimpins. Damien has them hidden, and zookeeper Rick is far too terrified of the phoenix to tell Lyle anything.

The old cockatoo is probably shedding feathers in a dark room or something, plotting his next evil move on the students.

As the sun slips past the horizon, my mates head out of the room to wait at their starting point. Xander and Eugene leave for the rec room. That leaves me alone in my room to get ready.

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