Page 109 of Her Tortured Beasts

The Collector laughs for a beat too long. “Come here, Savage. I told them to only warm up the steak so it was just to your preference. Or are fries more to your liking?”

Savage turns around and frowns at his allocated plate. “No games. Answer question.”

Katerina licks her lips and tucks her short black hair behind her ear. “Well, I’ve heard much the same. Thoughleasedwould be a more accurate word.”

“You were at the first auction,” Lyle says. “You cannot deny that you’ve seen the other bidders.”

She takes another drag from her cigarette, her gaze hovering between us. She knows something and is withholding it.

A movement at the corner of my eye makes me snap my brother’s name. Savage quickly removes his hand from where it was wrist-deep inside the water. He gives me a sheepish smile as he wipes his hand on his shorts.

“Thought I saw something.”

“Really?” the Collector says. “If you want to take a bite out of something in there, you are most welcome to, my love.”

Savage frowns at her. “Do you know who has Aurelia, or are you wasting our fucking time?”

“Manners,” she chides, blowing smoke in his direction. “If you want information, you know my price.” Her eyes slide meaningfully to me.

The desire to imbed my chopsticks into her eye sockets almost gets the better of me. Lyle seems to register this because he leans forward.

“Scythe is a mated male, Katerina. He cannot.”

“Not fully mated, from what I can sense,” she narrows her eyes at me in thought. “That is my price. If you cannot meet my demands, you do not get information, full stop.”

For Aurelia, I would do anything, including whore myself, if she would ask it. But she wouldnotask this of me, and she would rage if she heard of it.

“You will not compromise for another?” Lyle says. “What about another great white?”

I look at him sharply and he shrugs at me.

“Are they all…like you?” she purrs at me.

Further revulsion almost makes me stop chewing, but I doggedly swallow my bite of salmon sashimi. “Aurelia is insistent that we keep away from her…business.” I sit back in my chair and cross a leg over the other knee. She keenly follows my every movement, her pupils dilating. “However, I cannot and will not allow her to be bred. Do you understand me, Katerina?”

She visibly swallows.

“Any beast involved in hurting her will find themselves on their back with Savage’s canines four inches into their small bowel,” I continue.

“I like the taste of acid,” Savage says, licking his chops. “It fits my mood right now.”

“Do we make ourselves clear?” I ask.

She smiles and says in a sing-song voice, “You come here, you make threats. You try to seduce me…” she chuckles. “You forget that I have my own leverage.”

“And what is that?” Lyle asks, sitting back in his chair too.

“I’m the only one on her side,” she purrs. “I wouldneverhurt that poor girl.”

Chapter 64

Aurelia

It had been completely out of my control.

I’d known for weeks that my anima was trying to claw her way back into control of my consciousness as she had once done. We needed protection from the increasingly maddening consequences of the decisions I’d made.

And she was not happy that we’d left our mates.

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