Page 33 of Her Psycho Beasts

The Collector darts me a sharp look. I jerk my chin at the tiger closest to the water bottle.

“She’s allowed half a litre a day,” I shrug. “She’s fine.”

Sabrina casts me a dark look before snatching the water bottle from the tiger and gulping down most of her day’s quota before clutching the bottle to her chest like a child’s doll.

“Now, Miss Panthera.” The Collector stares hard at Sabrina. “I want you to listen to me.”

The Collector outlines what she wants, her eagle servant showing her a few pictures on his phone.

All the blood drains from the little leopard’s face. “That—That’s impossible!” Sabrina splutters in disbelief. “I’m good at manipulating tiny things, a genius even, butthatsmall? You’re all mad.” She shakes her head. “Barking mad.”

The Clawson tiger shoves his cattle prod through the bars again.

Sabrina violently flinches and grimaces, the pain forcing her back to arch before she slumps down on a pathetic sob. The Clawson prods have a sharper bite than the academy equipment.

“Iwon’tdo it!” Sabrina sobs into the stone floor. “Iwon’t!”

The Collector turns around and raises a perfectly sculpted black brow.

I sigh dramatically, taking a set of keys from my pocket and unlocking the cell. “You leave me no choice, spotty cat.”

She sticks her chin out stubbornly. I grab her by the arm, but she slumps and folds her legs under her, refusing to walk.

The Clawson tiger grabs her other arm, and together, we carry her like a naughty toddler through a series of corridors, her shins dragging on the floor behind us.

It gets colder down here and quieter. Where it’s quieter still, I open a steel door, leading to a wide, bleached white room. One wall is a metal unit containing three rows of large square metal drawers.

“I did my research,” I state mildly. “You don’t like small spaces.”

Sabrina recognises the room immediately. Probably from some crime TV show she watches in her spare time. She thrashes madly in my grip, like prey thinking its last moments are near.

“Do what we ask,” I say, pulling open one of the human-sized drawers with my free hand. Normally, these are refrigerated, but I keep this one running at a balmy twelve degrees Celsius. These dragons really do think of everything.

Sabrina screams.

We wrestle her into a lying down position at the bottom of the drawer and I latch metal chains to her four limb shackles to keep her horizontal.

“Do what we ask, “I repeat as I secure her wrist, “and all this stops.”

Turning around, I get out my phone and set my timer for three hours. The Collector watches all of this from the doorway, her mouth twisted into a small smile.

“You’re insane!” Sabrina sobs, pulling against her restraints. “All of you,insane!”

She has no idea. I shove the cadaver drawer closed with a resounding bang.

Huffing a laugh, I brush my palms together for a job well done.

Chapter 16

Aurelia

“M-Maybe y-you s-should give u- up your ph-phones,” Connor says through chattering teeth. “I d-don’t know i-if this i-is worth it.”

“Not a chance,” Beak says firmly from behind Raquel.

“Well, I’m tempted,” I say. Both Raquel and I have to tilt our heads back to be able to speak. The animuses tower over us, not having to struggle as much with their superior height, but they’re all shivering. All of them except one.

My only light in the dark is Xander’s mating mark, whose glow illuminates his scowling mouth and broad shoulder, but not much more.

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