Page 57 of Her Psycho Beasts

Girls dance on a platform nearby and a group of younger males snort lines of coke in plain sight. A group of birds approach us, and by the time I catch their scent—wedge-tailed eagle—they’re before us.

Scythe offers their don, a muscular, black-bearded man called Arthos Windmaster, a seat on his other side.

“Halfeather’s widow,” he says by way of greeting to me.

Savage’s hand clenches around my calf.

“It was never my signature on that contract,” I say smoothly, sipping from my crystal tumbler. “I was not married to him, in my eyes.”

“No, it would have been Mace Naga’s signature as per the Old Law,” he says boldly. “Was the marriage consummated?”

Lyle and Savage both let outloudgrowls of dissent, forcing Arthos to incline his head. “I mean no offence.”

“Offence is taken.” It’s Lyle’s animus that replies, his voice like ancient rocks grinding together.

Arthos glances at Scythe, who stares at him hard. The eagle clenches his teeth before gesturing with two fingers, indicating to the younger male in the group. The small, russet haired male steps forward. “Master, please.” His hands tremble until he clenches them into fists.

Bile surges up my throat, and before I can do or say anything, Scythe makes a casual gesture of his hand, like a dismissive sort of wave of his fingers.

The male gasps. Chokes. The veins in his neck pop out. Blood runs down his nose, out of his ears, before he crumples to the ground and is still.

I can’t stop my gasp and Scythe has the audacity—no, themalevolence—to shoot me a disapproving look.

You may not like the men they are tonight.

“Why?”I choke into the group chat as the birds of prey silently pick up the male.

“The price of making Scythe an enemy,”Savage replies smugly. “The crime lords are not all equal, regina. If he hadn’t offered up one of his beasts now, he would have paid in other worse ways. It was the smartest thing for him to do.”

“But he didn’t offend Scythe. Just me.”

Savage’s thumb strokes up and down as he chuckles into my mind.“And you are ours.”

My stomach flutters at his possession, but now the conversation continues as if nothing had happened.

Arthos is speaking, but everyone can see the sheen of sweat on his forehead. “The matter of the Halfeather estate?—”

“Is settled,” Scythe says. “That land is now mine.”

My head snaps towards Scythe. Why had I thought my father owned that land now?

Xander laughs, and it crawls up my spine. “Five crispy chickens,” he says. “More like charcoal, now that I think on it.”

The eagles bristle but say nothing.

“The Halfeather legacy has ended,” Scythe says, “unless his young nephews grow up and decide to try their hand for it.”

And that’s the end ofthatconversation.

Just after the don of the eagles came to say hello, a lion and a wolf get into a fight so bad they spend ten minutes mopping the floor afterwards. There’s another murder that I don’t see from this side of the hall.

Just another night at The Jewel of the Jungle. The devil’s own playground.

“The Clawsons won’t come over, will they?” I say tentatively to Scythe, who’s glancing at his phone. My heart leaps. It could be Marduk, checking in. Sabrina’s rescue is so close now.

“No,” Scythe replies, pocketing his phone and rising smoothly to his feet, “and it’s about time we pay them our regards.”

Chapter 28

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