Page 53 of Her Psycho Beasts

“Don’t use my name,” he snaps.

“Ireallydon’t, Lord Giant Reptile.”

He snarls. Smoke and a faint burning scent fills the car in one exhale from Xander and Lyle opens his window to let it out. “Aurelia,” he chides.

“I’m just hyping him up for the evening,” I say sweetly. “We need him at his best.”

“Naughty girl,”Scythe’s voice slides into my mind and I jump in my seat.“Save the sass. You’ll need it for later.”

We pull into a driveway that leads to a carpark lit with bright white floodlights. Rounding a corner, a massive three-story black building with gold lettering on the second story, reading ‘The Jewel of the Jungle’ stands before us. It’s an impressive building that oozes power, and the anima in me recognises that many predators lurk here tonight. Goosebumps erupt all over me, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The spaces between my knuckles tingle as my body urges me to shift so we can protect ourselves better. So we can fly away to safety.

Safety is not something we cling to, but something we destroy.

Alright then, Scythe. Serpent Princess it is.

Once we’re parked in the big parking lot, Lyle and Scythe look at me at the same time, one with eyes that glitter, the other with eyes that lure. There is a heavy silence, laden with meaning, that makes my heart stutter.

In the last seven years, I’ve been made to feel like an outcast, a pariah. A creature not worth anyone’s time.

That feeling has suddenly and irrevocably been set alight and turned into ash. The backs of my eyes burn as raw emotion charges through me with the force of a stampede.

Because it’s only now that I realise this dress is a statement. The message that Scythe is putting on a billboard. That I’m the jewel. That I am something precious. Special. Rare. That being different doesn’t mean that I should be cast away. But that I should be treasured.

The men get out of the car and I take the moment of silence to steel myself. Savage is in there, waiting for me. In amongst the malevolent, bloodthirsty creatures ismybloodthirsty creature. I would kill for these males.Havekilled for them.

And they would kill for me.

It will be alright.

Lyle opens my door and I swing both feet out, taking his offered hand and grasping it for strength. His eyes hungrily take me in as I step out and we begin walking up to the big stone arch entrance.

“Drop her hand,”Scythe says into the group chat.“Straighten your spine. Plant your feet firmly with each stride.”

Scythe coaching me on confidence puts me all up in my feels, but I can’t afford to get sappy-eyed now.

Every second of said stride reveals my left leg up to my thigh, and I can’t help but feelsexy. I allow myself to fall into a little strut as we come up to the entrance guarded by a group of six beasts. They seem to bleed out of the shadows as we approach, assessing us for our power and status. I count two hyenas, two wolves and two felines. While the style of their clothing varies anywhere from suits to track pants to denim cutoffs, they are all dressed in black or grey.

Most incline their heads when they see Scythe, some even bow. They all step aside to watch us pass, and as I follow Scythe in, every eye catches on me, realising who I must be.

This is it. This is mydebut, as Marduk called it. This is where I announce who I am to the most powerful and influential crime lords, mob bosses, and underworld figures in the state.

RnB music pumps through the sound system and my heels click along the floor with each meaningful step. It smells like testosterone, cigar smoke, and women’s perfume.

“Chin up,”Lyle mentally reminds me.“Shoulders back. Good girl.”

My stomach flops on itself at the approval in his voice, and once again as we come out of the entrance tunnel and enter The Jewel of the Jungle.

It’s larger than I imagined. More like a hall, with sections where the crime lords entertain their own, and communal areas with grouped black leather couches in the centre. There’s a long varnished wooden bar stretching across the entire far side with many shelves of expensive alcohol. Males and females lounge in chairs, or…in laps, dressed in sexy clothing, dripping in jewels and gold.

The entire space quietens as we enter.

From ahead, power ripples along my skin like the crash of an ocean wave. From behind, power emanates in a halo like a lion’s mane, and behind that, a furious volcanic heat sizzles outwards. Scythe, Lyle, Xander and I fall into step as their combined powers spread through the entire room in a powerful declaration.

We are here.

So I add my own power to the mix.

I drop my shields, leaving only psychic defences in place. It unfurls like a pair of golden wings, catching the other powers like a sail and billowing powerfully.

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