Page 46 of Her Tortured Beasts

Something stirs in the air, an echo of a thought. My eyes fly open and I sit up in bed.

“Raquel?” Spawn mutters in its sleep. “Raquel!” it cries, sitting up abruptly and hitting its head on the bars above. “Fuck!”

“Be quiet,” I snarl.

Spawn sighs loudly, lying back down. Its heat finished a few hours ago, and I’d had to levitate its sleeping body off my bed and back into the cage. I ended up torching my sheets to ash afterward.

“Your little broadcaster friend just tried to contact you,” I mutter. “They have a death wish. This place is protected to the nines. They had no chance.” And yet Raquel had gotten far enough for us to sense them, which shouldn’t have even been possible. Scowling, I shove the covers back and leap out of bed, finding my stride immediately.

“Get up,” I command, flicking up the blackout cover of its cage and throwing her dress at her.

Spawn blinks sleepily at me, rubbing its temple as it dresses and crawls out. With a snap of my wrist, it’s leashed and I’m speeding out of my room.

The castle is dead quiet just after midnight and we are but shadows charging towards the underground levels. I’d been expecting a penetration attempt long before now, and had been prepared on a number of levels. The fact Savage thought he could get anyone in here, even telepathically, makes a dark, twisted part of me smirk.

Do they even know me at all?

Whatever I felt for them before is long gone now. Especially after the chaos they’re causing out in the streets. SinceAnimalia Todayis no longer a reliable source of information, Father and I have sent out scouts to bring news directly from the ground. Mace is proving to be informative, but everyone knows he holds back information. He’s not been the King of Serpents this long for no reason.

My enemy’s enemy is my friend.

One of the first things I did in my role as heir was to bring in everyone I thought would be useful.

Including—

“My Lord Drakos,” announces the massive wolf anima standing guard in the lower dungeon. Spawn makes a sound of surprise.

“Debrah Lunaris,” I say. “We have an intruder.”

Spawn makes a choked sound upon hearing her name as Debrah steps into the light of a wall sconce. She is a wolf regina as big as her late mate, the wolf who was head of security at Animus Academy before Savage blew him to bits at Blackwater Penitentiary.

Naturally, his regina and two pack-mates were out for blood after that.

And now they work for me.

“There’s a wolf anim I don’t recognise,” Debrah says, scratching her shaved head. “Wasn’t expecting to see us and walked right into the trap. Savage was with them, but he got away.”

Spawn’s breath quickens as Debrah leads us into the dark chamber she’s guarding. Three shifted wolves prowl back and forth, in front of a wall fixed with two pairs of shackles. They snap their jaws at the shackles as if there’s something there.

“I can’t see anything,” Spawn says, fear coating its voice.

“We’ve telepathically trapped their mind,” Debrah gloats, gesturing at the shackles. “They’ll be stuck here until we release them.”

Smirking, I draw Spawn forwards. “Go on, use your power and see them.”

A frown creases Spawn’s brows as it concentrates for all it’s worth. I also take a look, sending my telepathic power into the chamber.

There are a few prisoners in our telepathic prison. Some, who have been here for decades, lie slumped where they’re fixed to the wall by obsidian shackles. It’s a unique prison made by my great-grandfather, made to protect our family from enemies who would try to get to us and our hatchlings.

Raquel whimpers on the far side of the chamber, the slightly transparent sheen of their body reminding me we’re not in the physical world. They are strapped like the rest, in an X position, tears streaming down their face. They look exactly as I remember them, a denim jacket with club and pack patches sewn on, closely buzzed hair with a face full of silver piercings. Their eyes are closed, breathing hard as if trying to control themselves.

“Release them!” Spawn cries, as it spots them. “Oh my god, Xander, youknowRaquel. Release them right now!”

I come back into the chamber, yanking Spawn back out of the doorway.

“Your mates have been on a rampage,” I sneer. “And they’ll feel the consequences of that soon.”

It stares at me, and the darkness that has been lurking in me comes out in full force as I get out my phone and show it the photos I’ve been sent. Bloody, horrible scenes of torture. Spawn gasps, covering its mouth in horror.

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