Page 159 of Her Tortured Beasts

“I’ll feed you your dinner, sweetheart,” I say.

Savage presses his lips together, but I know he’s placated, if not excited now.

After lunch, Sabrina falls into step with me and pulls me aside. Her hood is drawn up, and she still has a little pallor fromher time in captivity. “Lia, I get it, he’s hot. If you were toboinkhim, I wouldn’t judge you at all.”

I snort.

She pulls me to a stop, leaning against the notice board behind her. “Are you going to forgive him?”

Nausea rolls through my stomach and the halogen lights above us are suddenly far too bright. “I don’t know if I can,” I say honestly. “I don’t even know if it’s the right thing to do.”

The males stop to wait just ahead of us, out of earshot.

“Fuck the right thing,” Sabrina whispers, grabbing my arms, her eyes suddenly bright. “Fuck everyone. Do what’s right for you.” She glances at our males down the corridor, and the leopard assassins who follow her everywhere, despite being too old to be at the academy. “Blair and Blade have made me see things a different way. You know what they do for a living.”

I nod. They’re Scythe’s assassins. Hitmen. They kill people for money.

“They didn’t use to feel guilty about their job. But since they’ve been away from it while they’ve been with me, they’re reconsidering things. Blade cuts himself sometimes, when it gets really bad. Blair smokes way too much. We have each other. We understand how it feels to feel so much pain you want to go to sleep in a permanent way. How maybe we’ll fight that feeling for the rest of our lives.”

My hands tremble, and Sabrina’s voice turns thick as she grasps them in both hands. “You’ve lost a lot. I’ve lost a lot. But Xander…” She casts a glance at the dragon, standing with his hands in his pockets, looking anywhere but us, then down at Minnie’s folder tucked under her arm. “If he truly regrets what he did. If hetrulyhates himself for it, then…” She looks at me meaningfully, then grins. “I mean, we’ll make him pay for it, but then, what after?”

My stomach churns at her words, my mind a tumult of dark emotions.

“We’ll be late,” Savage calls.

Sabrina gives me a hug and we hurry after them. “Since when are you worried about being late?”

After the next class, Scythe leans over to me and says, “Aurelia, I made an appointment for you with the academy physio.”

“Oh no,” Xander says. “I also made an appointment for tonight.”

Shark and dragon stare at each other over the table in challenge. I wait patiently, before Xander’s glow flickers and he nods. “I concede.” Scythe takes my hand. “This time.”

Minnie snorts from the table next to us. She catches my eye and gives a dramatic eye roll.

“They should have picked up the double booking,” I say reasonably. “It’s no one’s fault.”

“Maybe they thought Xander’s appointment was for him,” Savage says. “Eyeball physio or something.”

“I have no eyeballs, you fuck,” the dragon retorts.

“Eyelidphysio, then,” Savage clarifies.

My chest goes tight as the vision of Xander’s torture flashes through my mind. His father’s pure malice and the screams that followed. “Let’s go,” I say, heaving myself to my feet before the panic attack starts.

“Can I come?” Xander asks politely. Hopefully.

It’s Scythe’s shark that turns his gaze to Xander, the temperature in the room suddenly dropping. I stroke a hand down my great white’s muscled back, and he cracks his neck. The other students flee the room, rubbing their arms.

“The choice is always yours, regina,”Scythe says in my mind, but the hand that comes around my waist is fraught with tension and possession.

“Next time, Xander,” I say softly.

The dragon nods, but his eyes flash with something I don’t really want to see right now.

Scythe helps me to the medical ward, but just before we get there, he pulls me aside in the corridor. His mouth crashes onto mine, dominating and intense. He possesses my body with his own, picking me up and pressing me against the wall.

“Mine,” he growls into my mouth. “Always mine.” His tongue snakes down my mating mark.

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