Page 172 of Her Psycho Beasts

They knew I’d be here.

They waited for me.

A massive figure in all-black saunters out from the group. “Going somewhere, shark-lord?” Cain Clawson asks.

“Get out of my way,” I rasp.

He smirks. “How about, no?” His face loses all humour and turns into something lethal. “It’s time you paid for what you did to my boys.”

Chapter 93

Lyle

My animus screams for blood as my arms lock by my side, binding me with invisible force. My limbs are sealed into stone. I cannot move as enemies infiltrate my school, making my students shout in fear. Making the scent of terror saturate my nostrils.

Enemies are inmyschool. I strain against my bonds, the pressure in my head soaring?—

“No, Lyle,” my regina commands in my mind. I instantly go limp.“Do not resist me. Stay here. Do not intervene.”

“Why?”I scream back, staring at her, the one who keeps me calm. The one who makes my heart beat.“Why?”

Her reply is mournful, her beautiful eyes filling with tears.“Because I made a promise.”

Chapter 94

Aurelia

The serpents of my father’s guard stream into the hall and Minnie screams my name. As her panic squeezes my heart, I quickly place a shield of protection around the incoming assailants.

Never in my life did I think I’d be protecting my father’s men from Minnie. Not after she’d saved my life from the bullets of these very beasts. Not after everything. There is only confusion and fear on her tiny, round face, and that expression is mirrored in every face around the hall.

Xander had always been right. I’d been raised a serpent and was showing that tonight. I am a conniving, manipulative, cruel beast who’d betray her friends. Her mates.

But I had made a vow.

Marduk and Yeti haul Minnie back from trying to get to me.

“Keep her safe. Get them all out of here,”I project to the tiger.

Marduk, his brows creased as his clever mind figures this out, nods at me and angles to get her, Connor, Stacey and the others out.

Lyle and Savage viciously yank at their protections but fail to remove them. I won’t turn to look at them. Won’t see thebetrayal and hurt on their faces. The rage. Gods, they are strong, but against their regina…

Once everyone has been shoved back from the dance floor and away from me, guns angled at them, one of the serpent generals swaggers in. At seven feet tall and with this skeleton mask and shadows roiling around his frame, Ghoul is one of the most dangerous beasts this hall has ever seen.

But what I’m not prepared for is the way a sallow-skinned Damien Agnis stumbles in after him, rubbing his hands together, his eyes darting around excitedly. He wears his usual white suit and glasses, but his fiery hair is lacklustre today. Something in my healing powers tells me that the phoenix lord has been unwell.

“She is there!” Damien shouts unnecessarily, pointing at me. “That is Aurelia Boneweaver.”

“I see her,” Ghoul deadpans. “Bring her forward.”

I’m not naive. My fifth mate is not on my side. He never has been. And right now, I don’t need him to be. The end of a gun prods at my spine, and reluctantly, I step forward. All eyes press upon me, and I catch Raquel’s gun metal grey eyes, staring hard at me from the corner. I curse. Marduk must not have been able to reach her in time.

“Do nothing,”I warn my wolf-friend.

“Oh, Aurelia. Scythe’s going to be so mad,”they reply.

“I hope so.”

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