Page 15 of Her Tortured Beasts

Savage remains in his half-wolf form from last night, a rare and terrible state I’ve never seen in an animalia. His head is entirely wolf, black tufts extending down his neck and stopping at the bloody skin of his human chest. His upper arms are human, but more fur starts at his forearms before ending in his large, human hands. The same for his calves and feet. He’s torn off his formal evening clothes, leaving him unrestricted to blast powerful punches to the rock wall at the back of the cage. His growls and snarls fill the cavern, echoing around us in a cacophony of rage. He’s been going all night.

It’s a joy to see.

“Where is Mr Pardalia?” Minnie asks quietly.

“With the headmistress,” Marduk says quickly, passing me a look. “Meditating, perhaps.”

I’m doubtful of that. Once she’d seen the regina order written in phoenix flame, Celeste had advised Lyle, Savage and me to separate ourselves. As mates of the same pack with our regina taken, we are likely to descend into a feral hunt, urging each other on in the most animalistic way.

Savage had not taken kindly to any of it.

Minnie tentatively says his name.

My brother whirls around, baring his canines. “They have my regina!” he roars in a nightmarish primitive voice. Goosebumps erupt all over me.

Minnie flinches, but bravely steps forward and says in that gentle voice women use on pups. “I know.” Yeti and Marduk shadow her every movement. I step up next to Yeti, watching closely.

“They have my regina!” Savage roars again.

Minnie’s patience is apparently short-lived because she shouts back, “Yeah, and all of this—” She angrily waves her arms to indicate Savage’s body. “Is. Not.Helping!”

Savage’s jaws snap shut for a moment as he considers her. His hazel eyes are wild and feral.

“Pull yourself together, Savage!” Minnie continues shouting. “Because you’re not going to get her back acting the fool!”

Savage claws at his face, howling into the cavern ceiling. He falls to his knees, a whine escaping through sharp, sharp teeth. “I miss her,” he says softly, dropping to lie on his side in the fetal position. “I need her.”

“So do I,” Minnie huffs, stepping forward to crouch a safe distance from the steel bars. “But we can’t be feral and half-shifting and all that nonsense when we’ve got to use our thinking human brains, right?”

“She left me,” Savage whines. “Left us, Min. Why would she do that?”

A growl rumbles in my own chest. We have enemies to kill, torture, maim. We have allies to build. Bridges to burn.

Savage reflexively raises his wolf’s head to growl back at me. Minnie snaps her fingers to get his attention. “Less of that.”

A regina-command truly only works on a regina’s pack, but it does make the rest of us pay attention. Marduk and Yeti suddenly straighten.

“Can you shift back?” Minnie urges. “You’re going to scare people like this.”

“Good,” Savage says, dragging himself off the floor and to his feet. With what appears to be great effort, he sighs, before his wolf head shrinks and loses its fur. My brother’s handsome human face appears, hazel eyes glimmering with rage and malice. He finds my gaze and holds it. “Let them be scared.”

“Are you ready to work, brother?” I ask.

Savage snarls viciously in reply.

Chapter 9

Aurelia

Ghoul steadies me on the steel table with one hand as he plucks out a white feather from my skin with the other.

“Keep going and I won’t have any bloody left,”I say tightly into his head. I already have a bald patch under my wing as it is. Cockatoo feels like my millionth shift. They ran me through every form they could think of, starting with the snakes, then the birds, taking a feather from each form for their records.

In case anyone doubted it, plucking feathers from the root fucking hurts.

It seems to me like they want a sample ofeverythingI am able to give. To study if there is any difference to regular animalia samples, I suppose. I have to give them credit for being thorough.

“Mammals tomorrow,” Solomon announces, securing the jar holding the white feather. “Back to human form now, if you please, Miss Boneweaver.”

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