Page 146 of Her Tortured Beasts

“You can’t have them! I claimed them and I will need them for when Aurelia is returned to us.”

The thought of that heats the blood in my arteries. “Very confident of that, are you?”

“I am,” he says firmly. “And I’ll be contacting your father now. He isveryinterested in talking with you, as are the rest of the council members.”

“I was worried you’d say that,” I reply darkly. “Now, how many guards do you have?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Let’s see.” I tap my finger on my chin. “There’s six down here, and you’ve got another five, six,tenup in the wings I can hear.”

Sixteen venom guns. Scythe knew about this, no doubt about it. Bastard.

A smile curves my lips and I wave forward at the first group. “Come along, gentlemen. Let’s get this over with.”

Chapter 87

Aurelia

When we arrive at the recreation room, it’s already packed with most of the school. Beak and some other birds are directing the traffic, making everyone squeeze together. There’s a live band with a full set of drums and electric guitars.

Beak throws a smirk our way, his eyes scanning the four of us and Eugene.

“Alright there, ladies?”

“Yes,” we chime.

“I’ve put seats for you at the front.” He catches my eye, a certain knowing in them. I’d been wondering how much Scythe had told him. How much he knew about my shark’s plans to replace himself with Beak. Now I’m sure he knew at least some of it. I wonder what he thinks of all of it now.

“I need to talk to you after this,” he says.

The backs of my eyes prickle, moisture filling them. Embarrassed, I glance away and nod. Beak has always been kind to me, right from the moment I’d first met him that day in Halfeather’s mansion. Now I know the truth about his past, about how his regina had been murdered for refusing to help Halfeather and he’d sworn himself to Scythe for revenge. Itmakes me look at him in an even more positive light. I want to help him, but I have enough problems to keep me busy for a lifetime.

As Minnie and Sabrina lead us forward, Stacey takes my hand as if she knows I’m having a moment. “What do you think he wants?” she asks me. Our little lioness wears her ombre hair in a braid tonight, a black shift dress and sandals, but my eagle eyes tell me she’s been crying, no doubt over Raquel and Connor. It may be why Eugene chose her to be his carrier for the night.

“Nothing good,” I say darkly. “It’s never really ever been good when someone asks to talk to me. Just once, I’d like a fortune cookie joke or something, you know?”

She huffs a laugh as we reach our seats, right at the front of the hall, in the first row before the stage. Beak has left four seats on either side of the middle walkway, and we take the row on the left.

“I’ll prepare some jokes for you,” Stacey says, “and then schedule a formal meeting so we can discuss them.”

I remain clutching her hand, because I need to for this ordeal that’s about to happen. The clock above the stage ticks over to eight, and Beak calls for everyone to settle down as Savage, Lyle and Scythe walk in. I don’t even have to look behind me to know they’re here, the regina in me raising her head and keening in appreciation as they stalk towards us.

Savage bounds up first, quickly falling to my feet to sit on the floor.

I scratch him behind the ear and he grins at me, before protectively putting his arms around my calves to cuddle my legs. Lyle comes over and kisses me on the head and Scythe kisses me on the cheek before the two of them take their seats next to Marduk and Yeti on the other side. Scythe catches my eye and there is a glimmer of something there that I can’t quite place. It’s similar to satisfaction, perhaps, but darker.

My stomach flops upon itself.

“Where is Xander?”I ask the group chat. Everyone around us is casting their eyes toward the door.

The clock strikes eight, and almost immediately, the floor vibrates at the impact of something terribly large landing on the building. He’s here.

“Did he leave the academy?”

Savage sniffs the air, growling under his breath. He clutches me tighter. The very air around us becomes taut with tension. Expectation. The instincts of every beast in the room are firing off and they all go still in anticipation.

One minute passes, then another, before finally there’s a thump on the ground floor and the sound of something heavy being dragged over the threshold to the rec room.

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