Page 176 of Her Psycho Beasts

I stumble back a step as he fights off my hold and his body shifts, but not in the way I expect. His human body remains the same as his mouth elongates in a muzzle full of vicious teeth, and his entire face sprouts midnight black fur as his head becomes a wolf’s. His arms elongate and his hands also shift into their wolf form, growing long, sharp claws.

His shift abruptly stops there.

Dear Mother Goddess. He’s half-shifted.

An otherworldly snarl rips from his gaping maw and he continues to tear free of my protections, bit by bit.

As if inspired, Lyle seems to choose to let go of his own control and his pupils swallow his eyes. From his chest, a lion’s roar breaks free.

The frantic serpents angle their weapons on them.

“No!” I scream. “Do not hurt them! Do not?—”

“Enough,” Xander’s deep, annoyed voice chops through the din like an axe.

“Move out,” Ghoul commands.

As I’m hauled away from my mates and out of the dining hall into the night, I’m screaming my mate’s names, a new fear and uncertainty borne inside of me.

What have I done?

Chapter 97

Scythe

It only feels like minutes later when the dark landscape is broken up by the lights of Animus Academy.

“Scythe!”Savage roars into my mind, registering my presence close by.“They took her! They took our regina!”

Fear lances through me, sharper and more poisonous than anything I’ve ever experienced. I barely notice the ache in my wrists as Celeste descends.

She slows her supersonic speed, but we still approach the academy fast enough to make my heart pound.

I get a view of chaos, students running and guards trying to muster them as Celeste inclines at a sharp angle and drops me without warning onto the front lawn. I land with a jarringthunk, rolling to cushion the blow and leaping to my feet before sprinting towards the dining hall, scanning the grounds, scenting the wind.

Any enemy that was here is only recently gone.

My own guards shout my name, and when they see no sign of me slowing, they run behind me.

“Aurelia!” I roar into the night. As I enter the dining hall, I call my brothers’ names. The hall is devoid of students, with only my guards and my wolf and lion standing frozen by the wall.

Immediately, my hackles raise. Savage has half shifted—he has a wolf’s head and upper limbs on a human’s body, and he howls into the ceiling, the rest of his body stationary.

Their lack of movement has me on high alert.

Ernie and Bernie are trying to calm Savage. Meanwhile, Lyle is on his knees, his face pale, his body drenched in sweat as he appears to be held by invisible bonds.

It can’t be.

She couldn’t have.

But she has, I realise as Lyle shoots me a pained expression and Savage calls my name.

“Get away from them,” I command.

The bear brothers immediately stand aside and I grab Savage by the shoulders. “Speak, brother. What happened? Where is she?”

But Aurelia’s own magic is holding them firm. Binding them. Anger swells in me like a gathering wave, and I cut my finger through the air twice, breaking my brothers free of their telekinetic bonds.

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