Page 6 of Her Psycho Beasts

Any of those things should have shaken me, but it’s what he does next that actually rattles my bones.

He extends his hand towards me.

I stare at it for a moment. His broad palm, one of the few places on his body that is not possessively marked with ink. The regina in me knows this is rare. Knows that Scythe does not like to be touched.Activelydoes not touch others.

With time moving like sludge around me, I take a breath, raise my own hand, and with infinite slowness, place it in his, palm up.

My body responds immediately.

Tingles shoot up from the point of contact, right up my arm and through my body. From the sharp inhale Scythe takes, he feels something too.

Uncharacteristically, he clears his throat. “Repeat after me. I, Aurelia Boneweaver, swear loyalty to Scythe Kharkorous.”

Goddess, I’m really doing this.

For Sabrina. I repeat the words carefully.

“I swear to obey his commands until Sabrina Panthera is returned safely to me. I swear it by my blood, or so death take me.”

A chill runs down my spine as I say it, and I quickly add on the end, “As long as you don’t betray me to my father.”

Scythe’s lips twitch before he presses the tip of the shark tooth to my index finger.

I suppress a hiss at the sting as a droplet of blood wells up.

Scythe seems to go still and blinks at the crimson bead. Then blinks again. Before I can compute what’s happening, he suddenly brings my finger to his mouth.

And licks my blood off it.

His tongue is hot against my finger. My head spins, my heart pounds, my senses come alive. I can only stare at him in shock as he leans back in the chair, closing his eyes as if he’s tasted the most delicious thing on the planet. Somehow, I don’t thinkthisis part of the ritual. This is not like a serpent blood contracteither, the same magic isn’t there. No, I surmise that this ritual is wholly…Scythe.

I whisper his name.

His eyes snap open. Abruptly, he drops my hand and rises from the chair, saying with finality, “Good girl.”

Wait, are we not going to talk about what just?—

“But you failed that test, Aurelia.”

My brows shoot up as he towers over me. “What? How!”

“You didn’t try to negotiate.”

“But you said?—”

“It doesn’t matter what a beast says. It’s what he does that matters.”

Fuck. I’d failed his test. A sudden wave of exhaustion threatens to drown me. But there’s still so much to think about.

“So what now? Are you going to contact my dad?—”

He shakes his head. “That man is not your father. He’s not a husband. He’s not even a mate.” Before I can ponder what he means, he quickly continues. “Let me teach you something about my world, Aurelia. Your father didn’t do this. He would never implicate himself directly. He’s used an intermediary. Who do you think he would use? To take a feline captive?”

I’m a little embarrassed that I didn’t think of this. My father knows no bounds to his cunning,of coursehe’d do everything in his power to avoid being associated with this.

But a feline captive? With telekinesis?

My heart sinks. My voice is hoarse as I whisper, “The Clawsons.” I shake my head. “But to kidnap a student from the academy is illegal. There’s a truce here, for fuck’s sake! The council?—”

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