Page 80 of Her Psycho Beasts

I scream against the fire searing my raw, bleeding flesh, against the burning of my feathers. A shadow crosses over me, and I can’t even look up because I can only concentrate on closing my eyes and flying upwards again. Something hot blows against my tender skin, and I let out an avian sob, until a giant claw engulfs my body whole, caging me in.

I thrash madly.

“Crazy woman,”the dragon snarls, before throwing me down towards the ground.

Telekinesis catches me just before human arms do and I land with a sick thump. I try to shout out in protest, but it comes out as a pathetic croak.

I want my body to move, but it cannot. My body is broken and useless. Pain stuns my mind, turning it into mush so that all I can do is exist.

Lyle says from above me, “If I’d known she’d react like that?—”

“It was a perfectly reasonable reaction,” Savage sniffs, his voice thick. “She’s right to be upset.”

Lyle tries to adjust me in his lap, but my skin sticks to his, tearing it. “Fuck!” he cries.

I scream through what’s left of my throat.

“Xander,”Scythe’s voice is sharper than normal. “Don’tshift, Aurelia.”

“I’m here, I’m here,” the dragon says as if this is a big nuisance.

Warmth wraps my body in a cloak, taking all my pain away and transforming it into bliss. It’s powerful and glowing like soft embers. It’s the first time I’m feeling dragon magic, and it oddly feels like home.

I still haven’t opened my eyes, but I feelthemall around me. Their mingling powers. Their roiling emotions. My head turns of its own accord, tracing the scent of the one I need. The one like the void of deep ocean waters, perilous dark and everlasting cold. The one who intimately knows this awful, sick feeling that I’ll never be able to shake off as long as I live.

When my beak finds him, that primal thing within me whines and I reach out for him with both wings, the backs of my eyes burning.

“What is she doing?” Lyle asks, a bit put out. But it is not his golden warmth that I need right now.

“She wants…” Savage trails off.

“She wants me.” That rasp is quiet. Perhaps disbelieving.

I whine again until cool hands slip around my aching body and carefully accept my weight. I bury my beak where that powerful scent is thickest. His broad hands bring me in close.

“Scythe,”I sigh into the ether.

My eagle body moves with his slow inhale. Like he’s wanting to scent me too. After a few minutes of his scent, my head clears. I’m not scared about what Scythe has to say now. I’m terrified. It’s as if my entire reality hangs in the balance within the next few seconds.

I speak the words to all my mates.“We have to get her out of there.”

Scythe never misses a beat.“Yes, Aurelia, we do.”

Chapter 38

Lyle

“She’s insane.” Xander knocks back a shot of whiskey. “Charged straight into the barrier like a battering ram.”

“She’sourregina,” Savage says as if Xander is an idiot. “Of course she’s a bit…” He waves his hand around.

“Not insane,” I say with disapproval. “She just feels things deeply. Keep your voice down.” Scythe is resting with Aurelia on the pack-bed, no doubt listening to every word. I snarl, “We just told her that her father has been attempting, despite constant failure, to make her mother a breeding mule, subjecting her to Goddess knows what type of human and avian medical torture for the last fifteen years. Give me that.” Snatching the crystal glass from him, I pour myself two measures and down them, letting the burn cascade down my throat. Aurelia had never self-harmed, to my knowledge. I voice that thought out loud.

“Yeah?” Xander asks. “And what would you call keeping those non-healing wounds from us just a few months ago?”

“I tried to stop her,” I say. “I tried to stop her and my power didn’t work. Can you imagine her power? The strength of her resolve?” I stare first at Savage, who’s nodding as if he already knows, then I glance towards our bedroom. What had our madshark seen when he was inside of her for the first time? Did he see as I do?

Savage confirms my suspicion. “I think he likes her now. I think he’s fascinated by her.”

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