Page 79 of Her Psycho Beasts

They’d taken her away after that, carried on the shoulders of six Naga males to the crematory underneath the mansion.

Where I had not been allowed to enter.

I blink as I come back to the present, realising that perhaps Scythe and Celeste may actually not be mistaken. “I-I saw her body. But I did not see her cremated.”

Celeste nods, her face filled with sympathy. “It would have been easy for a beast such as Mace to fool everyone. He has ties to the hyena witches. They likely helped make it look legitimate.”

I cover my face with my hands, trying to think. To logic this out. To understand how andwhy. “But she would have tried to contact me. She would have tried?—”

But when I drop my hands, Scythe is shaking his head. “She is not conscious, Aurelia. I wasn’t even sure what condition her mind was in. That is why I sought Lady Celeste’s help.”

Celeste sighs. “I have been astrally exploring the bonding planes for some time. Trying to see Athena’s consciousness, her connection to life and how it stands. And…I am so sorry, Aurelia, but though her body lives, her mind does not. I believe she is being kept alive on medical life-support.”

Shock whips through me like one of Xander’s fire lassos. Perhaps my fatherdidlove my mother after all—loved her so much that he couldn’t bear to see her die and kept her body alive as best he could. Loved her so much that…

“Aurelia, I believe your father is trying to—” Scythe stops himself. And it’s the first time I’ve seen him hesitate with his words. His jaw clenches once, then twice. To my great surprise and dread, he reaches out and takes my other hand.

A dark, dark feeling solidifies at my core. A shadow like no other winds itself around my throat and brutally squeezes.

But it’s Lyle who says with a voice soft as a feather, “We believe he is trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to do what he wishes to do with you.”

A beat of silence stretches out through time. Through space. Through every moment in my entire life since I last saw my mother.

Breed her.

My vision blurs as a human scream and a ferocious animal roar wracks my very foundation. I shoot to my feet, shaking off my mates, calling the elevator with my telekinesis. I stride into the lift, slamming the doors shut with my mind harder than even I thought was possible.

A fury like I’ve never known builds in my bones through that infernal scream. My anima’s roar deafens me until the elevator doors open and I begin sprinting.

A violent rage is shaking me, demanding I move. Demanding I destroy. My thighs pump, my feet pound first against the academy tiles, then against the earth. I want to hurt someone. I want to tear into someone. I want to clamp my fucking jaws around someone’s throat and destroy everything they are. Breath burns in my lungs and a fire moves through my veins. I don’t even know where I’m going, I just know that I need to get to my mother. I need to get to Naga House.

I’d seen Scythe’s memories of how his father had tried to breed his mother. I’d never seen my father harm my mother in any way?—

But this.

This is a level of evil that I can’t even fathom.

I want pain. Physical pain. I want to deal it. I want to feel it. I need a way to get this pain I feelout out out.

But there is no one for me to maim here. No one except?—

I explode into wing and feather, into hollow bones and soft flesh.

And I fly directly upward.

Up and up and up I go. Crying out, screaming my rage into the wide-open air. Up and up and further up.

“No, Aurelia. No!”

But I need this. I want this.

With explosive force, I slam directly into the magical defences of the academy. The white-hot burning barrier sizzles and cracks, showering the ground with sparks. Fire engulfs my body, my head. Searing pain. Brilliant pain.

A lion roars, a wolf howls.

It’s thrown me back, but my wings are still working, so I charge back into the shield. I need to get to my mother. I need to free her. Right now. I can’t stand that she is there, and I am here.

Someone’s power is tugging at my wings, but I won’t let it stop me. Again, I fly up into the protective dome, my wing beats more feeble now, but I manage it.

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