Page 19 of Her Vicious Beasts: The Beginning (Her Vicious Beasts)
Aurelia
C harlotte, Trixie, and my two uncles leave the room, my heart pounding faster and faster with every step they all take away from me.
I glanced at Halfeather, who’s looking at me greedily.
My cheeks heat up and my entire body prickles with adrenaline.
How long will he wait to consummate the marriage?
Because, honestly, he looks like he wants to do it right now.
I glance at Beak in alarm, and he shifts uncomfortably when he returns my look. There’ll be no help for me here. He can’t step out of line with his boss, that’s for sure. I don’t want to get him in trouble, either.
“She’ll spend one last night at her own house,” my father says, “as we agreed, Charles.”
My heart leaps into my throat. Is it possible? I look between the two males and the remaining councilman, who nods. “As per the Old Laws.”
I had forgotten about that particular rule.
After marriage, the bride went back to spend one last night with her female family members while the males of her family stayed at her husband’s home to make sure it was up to scratch.
The next morning, the bride would then return to her new house.
It was a thing from a time long past, when the bride needed to be instructed on how to bed a man properly.
Such a thing could only be spoken about to a married woman, of course, so the separation was necessary.
The whole thing is stupid, but I’m not complaining. The fire leaves Halfeather’s eyes, but the look he gives me before I leave is a nasty promise of what’s to come.
I cringe as I stride out of the mansion to the solitary waiting car, crossing my arms over my nipples again and almost cutting myself on the giant diamond I’m supposed to now wear.
I glance behind me to see if my astral prisoners are still here, but it’s only Beak and Scuff who stand next to my father, Uncle Ron, and Uncle Ben.
I shove my fourth shield up again, completely unwilling to let my mates back into my life.
My heart keens for them to return to me, but two of them hate me and the third just wants to fuck me.
What a piece of rotten luck that I had been born the way that I had.
When I get back to my house, five snakes—female guards from my father’s court—greet me with a collective menacing hiss. They’ll be ‘guarding’ my house tonight, Charlotte tells me with a grimace, but I know she really means they’re here to stop me from running.
It’s midnight when I feel a familiar presence pounding on the outside of my shield.
“Aurelia? Aurelia!” Uncle Ben’s panicked voice sounds from outside. I lower my house shield and he lurches towards my front door.
There’s real terror in his voice. Something is deathly wrong. I rush to the front door and throw it open. “I’m here, Uncle Ben! What’s happened?”
Outside, my serpent parole officers are nowhere to be seen.
Uncle Ben rushes to me, still in his tartan summer pyjamas, his eyes wild, arms reaching out for me. He roughly shakes me by the arms. “Aurelia, you need to leave, right now .”
That sense of dread I feel is suddenly in my throat. “Why?”
“Halfeather’s mansion has just been burnt to the ground.
Everyone is dead. Halfeather, the staff, all murdered.
Just one security guard escaped. Ron and your father are fine.
I’ve sent the guards there to retrieve him as a ruse.
” My blood pools into my feet as a sinister cold sweeps over my entire form.
If anyone from my mating group had died, I would have known about it. Felt it. But I’d not felt?—
“Aurelia, the prisoners in Halfeather’s dungeon have all escaped somehow. And Beak, the security guard, said one of them kept repeating a name over and over again.”
I already know whose name would be on the lips of the prisoners.
Uncle Ben is frantic. “Aurelia, Beak said it was one of the Slaughter Brothers, the wolf, who kept saying your name. He told me to secure you. Your father is telling everyone you caused the fire to get out of the marriage.”
Shock at the injustice of this hits me like a blow to the head. But I don’t need Uncle Ben to tell me to leave a second time. While I run to my room, Uncle Ben takes my keys and runs to get my car warmed up. I grab my duffle bag, shoving my wallet and the remainder of my hidden cash in it.
Once my father knows I’ve run, he will freeze my bank account or track my debit card, so I have to rely on cash from now on. I bolt out of my house, quickly checking the night sky for any sign of the sweep of a dragon’s wings.
They know exactly where I live and having been pulled here once, they’ll come to check here first… except they also know my car! I swear internally as I pull my house door shut and bolt to the driveway. I need to shield my car as well, then.
Uncle Ben gets out of the car and yanks his wallet out.
“Take this.” He’s holding a couple of notes.
He is already taking a great risk. “Uncle Ben, I?—”
“Aurelia. Your father will have your head for running. You know that. You’ll be on your own now. You need everything you can get. This is the best I can do for you.”
The backs of my eyelids burn as I nod and accept the few notes he’s holding out.
“Go, Lia. And fast.”
Throwing my bag and then myself into my car, I hit reverse and head out to the street, slapping a shield of invisibility over my car.
This time of night, it will be fine to drive unseen, but once daytime comes and traffic increases, I’d be asking for someone to crash into me.
Hopefully, I’ll be far, far away by the time the sun clears the horizon.