Page 141 of Her Tortured Beasts

It may have very well felt that way because even the days she wasn’t a constant presence by my side felt long to me. I see it for what it was now.

Her pink tongue snakes into his mouth and I explode into my own hand, trying to keep silent as the thought of her mouth tears me open. I don’t know if they hear me, hell, I don’t even care at this point, but she ends up draping herself on top of Scythe, and shortly after, they both fall asleep.

I lie there for a few moments, just to make sure, before I get up to head to the bathroom.

The next morning, after everyone is dressed for the day, Savage gets an evil glint in his eye and has a telepathic conversation with Aurelia. Her jewel-eyes are uncertain for a moment before she nods.

“You have to listen to Savage’s commands,” she says to me.

Fuck.

Savage takes the gold chain from Aurelia’s hand and bares his teeth. “Hands and knees, lizard,” he snarls with hate.

I drop to my knees and barely get my hands down before the mad wolf lunges for the stairs. I have half a second of mental preparation before I face plant, sliding along the carpet and thudding down the stairs in rapid succession. My shirt wrenches up and I feel each blasted wooden stair like a punch to my ribs.

Savage rounds the staircase and flies down the corridor at a near mythical pace, shouting, “Wolf on the loose!” as he goes. I’m left to slide along the linoleum, my skin burning, making a god-awful squeaking sound.

Beasts jump out of the way, some snarling as they see me, some whooping with excitement. I don’t even bother to try to get my hands and legs under me; we’re going too fast, and it’ll only satisfy us both if I bleed.

Savage rounds the corner, and instead of leaping over the rail to get down the three flights of stairs, he takes them the hardest way for me. My head bangs against the corner of the first rail and I end up flipping under my own weight and am rapidly dragged down the stairs on my back. My skin finally tears halfway down, the burn sweet and cruel as the next steps hit it in the exact same spot.

Savage’s shouting and singing draws an audience, and by the time we get down to the ground level, the entire animus dorm is vying to get a view. Someone holds open the glass front doors and I manage to flip over again.

The concrete path awaits me.

Suppressing a grimace, Savage hits the path running, and I go, shirt tearing, skin shredding, leaving a trail of blood behind me. He skids to a stop before the dining hall, barely breaking a sweat, hardly panting as he looms over where I lie on my back, squinting up into the sky.

“It’ll do,” he says in a quiet, lethal voice he usually reserves for our most hated enemies. “For now. Up!”

I only let out a little grunt as I haul myself to my feet. My magic is already healing my skin where the concrete grazes turned into lacerations.

“Hm,” Sabrina hums, sauntering up with her two quiet leopard bodyguards, Blade and Blair. “Sort of looks like someone took a massive cheese grater to it.”

We all look down at my bare abs. She’s right, there’s more blood than skin.

“That was my doing,” Savage says proudly.

“Well,” Minnie’s voice comes from behind them, Marduk and Yeti scowling at the sight of me. She brandishes a new purple binder thick with typed papers. “We’ve got the list.”

They’re plotting my demise.

A sharp intake of breath tells me Aurelia has finally waded through the crowd with Lyle and Scythe. Savage proudly hands her the golden chain, and she takes it, her face carefully blank.

Avian power brushes against me before snapping back as if she’s remembered herself.

Her natural instinct is to heal me.

I clench my jaw as I follow her into the dining hall, to stop the stabbing pain that’s suddenly assailing my chest, worse than the pain of my burning skin. Her hand is clenched tight around the gold, her knuckles white. She trembles.

I want to say I’m sorry, again and again ad infinitum. But words are of no use here.

Only my blood is. Only my pain is. That’s the equivalent of what I dealt.

“Surely he’s not allowed food,” Sabrina says, her mouth twisting as she lines up behind us at the buffet.

“They used to give me dog food,” Aurelia says quietly. “Kibble.”

A cold, shocked silence seeps like a festering wound through the buffet line. Blood drips from my shredded skin, splashing onto the floor. Suddenly, I can’t breathe.

---