Page 44 of Her Tortured Beasts

“If there’s trouble, you leave straight away,” Marduk says. “We don’t want them?—”

“Right.” Scythe takes out a joint and his silver lighter. “Be observant. Be careful. It’ll be bad if you’re detected.”

Raquel inhales slowly and gets out of their seat to sit on the floor as if it’s more comfortable. They look nervous. I suppose this is sort of dangerous.

“But it’ll be protected by intense dragon magic, right?” Connor says from his spot on the dining table.

“That’s why we are here,” Hyacinth Dabu says. “We’ve got a little workaround to trick any protective spells.” She begins to set up her cauldron, Bunsen burner, and ingredients on the dining room table. Connor and Stacey watch on with greatinterest as she lights it up and takes out a bit of hair from Xander’s hairbrush.

“Can you put clothes on now that they’ve agreed to do it, Sav?” Minnie says rudely.

“What, are you offended?” I exclaim.

“Yeah, actually. You have blood on your dick, did you know?”

Marduk gasps and slaps a hand over Minnie’s eyes. “Stop looking at his dick, regina!”

I cackle like a madman as Minnie tries to claw Marduk’s hands off her face.

Connor throws his jacket at me. “You can keep that.”

Sighing, I take the long sleeves of the jacket and tie it around my waist like an apron, leaving my ass out. “Happy?” I retort as Marduk frees Minnie and I come to sit down cross-legged opposite Raquel.

“Yes, actually,” Minnie says.

“W-What should I tell her?” Raquel asks.

My chest puffs out as all the damned, bloody things I want to say fly through my brain. “Tell her I want to spank her silly, and then I’ll?—”

“Tell her we love her,” Lyle interjects quickly. “Tell her we need her to come back.”

I cross my arms and grumble. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s good too.”

Raquel closes their eyes and so do I.

“What’s he doing?” Stacey whispers.

“He can go with Raquel,” Scythe explains. “As far as he is able. Since Raquel has never been to Drakos Estate before, he can guide them there.”

“Ready?” Hyacinth says, dipping a strip of cloth into the cauldron before pulling it back out all glisteny and steamy.

“Yes,” Raquel says, holding out their arm.

“It’s hot.” Hyacinth wraps the piece around Raquel’s wrist. “But it has Xander’s hair inside of it, which will trick theprotections into thinking you’re him. You only have until it cools down to get in and out.”

I nod faintly as I link my mind with the wolf anim before me. Raquel accepts my hook and together we send our telepathic power across the land, north and west, towards Drakos Estate.

“Eyes on the prize, Raquel,”I say.“Let’s be quick.”

“Yes, boss.”

We soar over the land and I tug Raquel along with me. Nothing of great interest lies between the academy and Drakos Estate, just empty land, so it’s pretty easy to spot it from ages away. It’s a big black cube of power, sort of oily and dirty feeling. It’s nothing like the physical version of the place, and you wouldn’t guess what lies protecting it until you’ve gone looking for it.

You’d have to be a loon to try to get in.

“You’re on your own, now,”I say softly.“See if you can sense her. But I’ll keep watch from here.”

Raquel swears under their breath, but I unhook my mind from theirs, telepathically stepping back and watching from afar. I feel the wolf anim approach the barrier of the estate and they breeze right through. I hold my breath, all my senses alert, ready for any sign to get the wolf anim back out.

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