Page 148 of Her Tortured Beasts

“And,”says Lyle,“no action of his will ever undo this damage. A mate bond cannot be re-made.”

My anima screams at that. Screams and shrieks for the bond to be re-made, re-joined. But we scream for a future that cannot be. What is dead cannot be brought back to live.

“Am I never to be whole, then?”I ask my mates.“Are we always going to feel this emptiness?”

“When he condemned himself, he condemned us all,”Scythe says.“There’s no coming back from what he did.”

It confirms what I’d suspected. Scythe is not the forgiving sort. He will never forgive Xander for this.

“I’ve had enough,” Savage announces to the room, getting up and holding his hand out to me. “We’re done here.”

I glance at my animas and take Savage’s hand, letting him lead us out from the rec room and away from the naked dragon on his knees. With every step, my heart sinks deeper into the catacomb that used to be my chest.

Chapter 88

Savage

Out in the foyer, Marduk and Yeti whisk Minnie away after a little hug with my regina and her friends. Blair and Blade take Sabrina away to comfort her and then Stacey stands by the door, with two nimpins on her shoulder and Eugene by her foot, but otherwise, she has no mates.

Sadness pangs through my organs.

“Go and see Raquel,” Aurelia says, opening the door for her. “They could use a visit.”

Stacey wipes her nose. “Yeah, good idea, Lia.”

At least she has her nimpin with her now. Even then, as I pull my regina into my arms and carry her bridal style, I send a message to Mutton, one of my messengers.“Send Beaky to guard Stacey in the medical ward. I don’t want her to be alone.”

“And a lion as well, boss?”

I look down at my regina’s face as I climb the stairs. She’s already watching me, and one of her hands reaches up to run across my chin.“Nah. An eagle fixed my heart. I reckon an eagle can fix Stacey’s too.”

“Aye-aye, boss.”

“I sent Beak to watch over Stace,” I proudly tell my regina.

“Is that so you don’t have to look at him?”

I grin. “Maybe.” Then I frown. “I wish I was born as an eagle so we could fly together. Then I could heal you too.”

She smiles softly. “I love your wolf. This way we can speak secretly. Birds can’t do that.”

My heart shines like a full moon and I howl into the ceiling to let her know how I feel. “I love you too, baby.” Henry gives a squeak, rolling around to look at me with his big, black eyeballs. “Yeah, alright; I love you too, Hennie.”

He squeaks with satisfaction. I still want to eat him, but you can still love something and want to eat it, right? I might ask Lyle about it later.

“I hope someone cleans the mess downstairs,” I frown. “Phoenix blood is spicy in the nose.” I wonder what it tastes like.

“Yeah,” my regina says, drawing my eyes back to her face. She looks sad. There’s more colour in her cheeks compared to a few days ago, but there’s a great tiredness under her eyes. Like she’s been hunting all night and needs to go to bed. Only I know she’s been sleeping even more than she used to. “I want to give Henry a bath. He smells.”

Henry clucks sadly.

“We can do it together!” I say excitedly. Henry turns around to give me a worried look, but I ignore him. “Do you feel better or worser after Xander’s speech, regina?” We reach the empty third-floor corridor and I head towards our hidden stairs.

“Worser,” she sighs. “Definitely worserest.”

“Is that a word?” I ask.

“It is now.”

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