Page 90 of Her Psycho Beasts

A snarl sounds from beneath me and my heart leaps as Ragnar shifts with the intention of pursuit.

So instead of flying into the night and inciting a bloody chase, I drop down to the ground and shift back into my human form, landing roughly and scuttling on my fingers and toes under a security Jeep. I’m not beneath hiding when it comes to this particular dragon. I’m sure I could best him in a fight, but I have somewhere else to be tonight.

Ragnar appears a moment later, a massive, maroon-scaled dragon with a black head, roaring into the night and trying to seek me out.

But he can’t do a fucking thing and he knows it. He quickly lands with an earth-shattering rumble, shifting back into his human form and sprinting back into the fiery building.

Dragons are really good at setting fires, but we were never made for putting them out. The damage above ground is done, and the mayhem of trying to extract the underground stock will occupy Ragnar, Mace Naga and his worms all night.

Chapter 44

Aurelia

Marduk drops us off at the place he and Scythe agreed upon, two blocks from Naga House. Entering the familiar serpent territory for the first time in over six months makes my skin crawl and my heart sink. We pile out of the SUV and Marduk drives quietly away, leaving us and Eugene in the silence and cold.

No crickets chirp tonight, no birds make their call. Perhaps they sense predators are afoot. Perhaps their hearts pound a rickety beat like mine does.

Since I know this area best, I take the lead with Savage at my elbow. Eugene is right by his bare feet, Scythe is at my back, and Lyle is behind him. I surround the five of us with seven of my shields. The only shield I leave out is the mating mark shield I used to wear religiously for so many years. I won’t have to wear that one for my safety ever again. But pulling all the other shields around so many people is new to me. It will take a toll on my energy, but if it’s only for a few hours, I can manage.

“It doesn’t stop sound,”I mentally remind my three mates,“nor stop the serpents from detecting heat and vibration.”

“There’s no one outside their house,”Savage tells us.

“Make sure we check the trees,”Lyle says.

We move quickly down the sidewalk, watching for every movement in the houses we pass. Two cars whirl past us and we all hear them well ahead of the headlights showing, time enough to slip behind trees and bushes.

Savage stops me with a hand on my lower stomach as we come up to the perimeter of Naga House, telepathically checking in with Raquel and the Dabu pack.

My childhood home looms before me, a monolith against the dark, cloudy night sky. There’s no moon out tonight, making the entire place seem all the more eerie and I am reminded of the cold, strange quiet of a graveyard. My skin recognises this place, and in some ways, I had yearned to see it again. To feel its grand presence towering over me, strong and sure. But whatever comfort I’d found in this place, where all of my memories of my childhood are housed, had been corrupted.

This place is now haunted, its spirit keening to be let free.

And I will grant her wish tonight.

“All clear outside,”Savage says, placing a hand on my shoulder like a bodyguard.“Scythe?”

Our shark’s energy breezes past me in an icy wave, and in the dark distance, a squelch and a choke sounds.

The hidden entrance guards.

“Inside is clear. Move out,”Scythe says.

Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t have resisted the overt command in his voice—even though the vow between us had been completed with Sabrina’s return, his quiet, near arrogant confidence calmed the frightened bird fluttering under my skin. All three of them did that for me. Savage’s feral prowl and Lyle’s quasi-rabid sort of swagger. I’d never thought I’d come to a point where I’d rely on their instincts so much. We’ll need all our wits tonight.

The four of us and Eugene pad up the sidewalk until we see the gate. Naga House is bordered by a tall, black rendered brickfence all the way around, breached only by the gothic, cast iron gate at the front. Two rearing cobras are depicted, declaring their dominance over all who enter.

As we come right up to the gate, the whisper of dark power brushes past my skin. It has the feel of an exploration, an assessment, but not finding purchase on its target, it fades into the dark.

“Are you alright, angel?”Lyle asks.

“I felt it, but it didn’t hurt me,”I reassure him. The Dabu pack’s spell had worked.

As I lay my hand on the front gate, a pang of sadness slithers through my heart. Taking a deep breath, I push it open, and without any guards to see or stop us, we all slip silently through.

Scythe comes to my side, and I know he’s assessing the electrical activity of any pounding hearts nearby. Any serpents who saw us would need to be rendered unconscious, if not dead, and I prayed no one was looking out the many windows tonight.

We stride up the circular drive, a pristine white concrete that practically glows in the dark. It stands in great contrast to Naga mansion, which had been made during the same time as Animus Academy. It had been the reason why I’d felt emotional when I’d first arrived there, freshly caught and partly feral. It had the same Victorian architecture, many black steepled roofs, curling cast-iron balconies kissing each window on the second and third storeys. The only newer addition were black Grecian columns making for a grand front entrance, which had been my father’s contribution to the home after he’d taken the serpent throne. Halfeather’s mansion had the same columns, just in white, and I think it’s a part of whole crime lords one-upping each other with displays of their wealth. Recognising that now, a flutter of nervousness travels through my chest as we come up the five steps to the tall wooden front doors.

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