6. Scythe

Chapter 6

Scythe

T hree tigers tremble on their knees before me as Lyle stalks into the rec room, smelling of Xander's soap, Aurelia's pussy, and wearing only a pair of Savage's black track pants. Aurelia is tightly tucked into his side as if Lyle is using his body as a shield against the eyes of the entire population of the academy's unmated males currently gawking at them.

A dramatic entrance. The possessive beast must be in the mood for a public declaration.

The rec room is full to bursting tonight, as this is where the animuses eat during lockdown. Roast meat of all kinds, curry, pasta, rice, and an entire vat of ice cream is served at a 24/7 buffet while we're all locked in for the usual three days out of every month the animas go into heat.

If there's anything I've learned in my time commanding bloodthirsty males, it's that to maintain the peace, you must keep their stomachs satisfied. Lyle knows that as well as I do.

He also knows that Aurelia is not in heat. Has never been, as far as we know, or else he'd never have brought her in here.

The crowd of animuses almost fall over themselves to part for the pair, but Lyle barely notices as his eyes are fixed and predatory on the three kneeling tigers. His hair is unbound, the chest-length strands shimmering in different shades of gold under the warm lights of the room. The beasts around us stare at the muscles of his bare torso, tense as if ready to strike at any moment, and it delights me to no end to see my bond-brother's true essence at the forefront of his being.

Lyle had not been tempered into passiveness by his regina—the assumption that had the feline king, Ablo Obon, staying the call for his incarceration. No, Lyle had been unleashed by Aurelia. But the Council of Beasts hadn't pursued an arrest out of simple compassion. They'd let him go because obsidian chains had simply not worked on him.Something we've not seen in modern times, according to Marduk.

Wild and unleashed. Lyle is the perfect, lethal lion.

A lion worthy of the Boneweaver pack.

The room had been tense before, but as Lyle comes to a stop behind the tigers, that simmering buzz skyrockets.

Aurelia wears small black exercise shorts that show the long length of her olive-skinned legs, and a pink tank top with no bra, once again. Her cheeks are rosy with adrenaline, and her blue eyes are bright and alert, clearly enjoying Lyle's close hold. Henry hides on her shoulder, tangling himself amongst her mane of dark, damp hair so I can only see his yellow beak peeking through.

"What do they have to say for themselves?" The deep baritone of his lion is at the forefront of Lyle's voice, but his beast is not leading. If he were, these young men would all be dead. Everyone in this room is saved by the agreement Lyle's rabid animus has with him. Now that he's mated to his regina, he and his beast walk side by side.

By the gaping, ashen faces in the room, everyone sees this change as clear as day.

One of the tigers, the smallest of the three, a boy with ruddy brown hair and pleading, black eyes turns around, his flushed face scrunched up in distress.

"Please, sir," he whimpers. "Please, we had no choice but to obey Titus. You have no idea how powerful the Clawsons?—"

Lyle's head cocks ever so slightly to the left, and that's the millisecond of warning everyone gets before he lunges for the tiger.

The boy screams as Lyle's teeth enclose around his jugular, hard enough to allow a tiny trickle of crimson to trail down his neck. My mouth waters at the sight. Lyle growls loud and deep. An alpha giving warning. The boy wisely goes limp, allowing his arms to slump by his sides, completely submitting.

"You should have come to us," I say, sitting in my armchair as I calmly regard them. "Aiding and abetting or withholding information about the kidnap of an anima is inexcusable." They should have all known that by what happened to the entire serpentine student body when a group of them had held Aurelia captive.

The smell of urine hits my nose just as a wet patch appears on the crotch of the trembling male next to Lyle and his prey.

At the head of the crowd, Beak and a couple of our wolves laugh cruelly.

It's lucky Xander made his way out. He would have torched the male out of offense.

"This one wasn't active in the kidnap," I say mildly into Lyle's head. "None of them were. The three who assisted left with Sabrina."

"I didn't get my kill today," Lyle growls back into my mind.

Nor had I. "No, but your regina did."

It's only this that enables Lyle to unclamp his powerful jaw and shove the student down to the carpet where he lies frozen and terrified. The other two go still as deer as the lion turns his attention to them.

"And these two?" he asks me out loud.

The tigers glance at me, uncertain.

"Go on," I nod to them.

With slow, respectful movement, they both turn and slowly raise their hands to brush their long hair away from their necks, baring their skin in submission.

"You may speak," Lyle growls.

"W-We just kept lookout," one of them stutters. "Titus didn't trust us to actually do anything. We're not sworn to him."

"Me neither," says the other. "His sworn tigers left with him."

Naturally, Titus wouldn't leave them to deal with me.

Lyle stalks to the two who remain kneeling, getting close and leaning threateningly over them. "Not in my fucking school. Not ever again. If you have a problem, you come to me . Do you understand?"

They nod.

Lyle straightens and regards the entire room, holding their gazes in his grasp. A little thrill passes through me at the sight. My only competition in the academy.

He pulls Aurelia into his side, clutching her waist. She allows it, standing tall and trying to hide her nerves.

"I have a few announcements to make," Lyle says, assuming his deputy headmaster's tone. "There are rumours going around after tonight's events and you will hear the truth directly from me now." The students exchange nervous glances while trying not to stare at Aurelia. "I am no longer your deputy headmaster. As of tonight, I will be stepping down. And that"—he stares down the entire room as his mating mark flashes with celestial light—"is because Aurelia is my regina."

A shocked silence sweeps through the room like a fell wind. Auras shift from an uncertain yellow to a curious, probing orange and envious deep green.

"That's all you need to know for the moment," Lyle says with finality.

Beak glances at me for approval, and I nod. He and the rest of our beasts cross their arms and stare down the students to discourage any dissent or mutterings that are bound to take place. By the calculating looks, I know some of them have put two and two together, even if they hadn't heard the guards gossiping.

By tomorrow morning, the entire school will know that Aurelia is a Boneweaver.

A hyena respectfully raises his hand.

"Yes, Billy?"

The fact that Lyle knows the name of every student in this school is admirable.

Billy nervously clears his throat. "Who will be our new deputy headmaster?"

Worried mumbles spread throughout the hall. The new leader of this school holds substantial power over them all. They have every right to be worried.

"There are a few names on the cards," Lyle says evenly. "We won't know who the council has chosen for a few days. It's not an easy position to fill."

That's for sure. Before Lyle came along, no one had lasted more than a year in the role. Lyle silences the further mutterings with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Back to your dinners, gentlemen."

Beak strides forward and grabs the collar of the tiger who'd soiled himself. My wolves pull the other two to their feet before escorting them back to their rooms, where they'll remain for the remainder of the lockdown.

The students disperse, and after Lyle fills two plates for Aurelia and himself, they follow me out of the rec room and back to our suite.

Weariness tugs at my mind as the day's events catch up with me. My shark had taken over my consciousness and things had almost fallen to disaster. As usual, we'd pulled through, and yet…

Fredrick Ulman. The renowned biologist who'd been breeding Lyle's parents. The fact that Mace Naga had found and brought him here made my hackles rise.

They had collaborated. Had been collaborating for some time.

This new information adds things to a picture that I do not want to see.

Two demons circle around me, their ghostly forms prowling in a malevolent, seductive dance. But for once, their inane, dark mutterings are silent. I clear the last step into our living room and head to the liquor cabinet. Xander isn't here to fix my drink, and I already miss his sharp presence and dark commentary.

Selecting a whiskey decanter, I unstopper the crystal, filling a glass with two knuckles' length of the poison.

Turning around, I watch Lyle and Aurelia set their full plates down on the dinner table.

"Marduk is almost here," I say to Lyle. "I've directed him into the motel in town until the lockdown is complete."

Lyle goes still. My eyes hone in on a lone movement by Aurelia's waist. He has his arm around her, the hand curving around to rest lightly on her lower stomach, the fingers dipping into the top of her shorts to skim her panty line. Those fingers move slowly, lazily in a circular motion.

Something new flits through my blood. Sharp like a serrated tooth, scoring my insides.

" Mad Marduk?" Lyle asks. "The Caspian tiger? What for, Scythe? Is he sworn to you?"

"Not sworn to me. He's an independent creature. But I owe him a favour or two and I trust him more than most."

Lyle doesn't look convinced, and knowing Marduk's reputation as a beast of lethal calculation, I don't blame him. "How can you trust a tiger like that?"

Marduk isn't mad. People just think he is because he hides nothing from the world. He shows his true self and doesn't give a fuck what anyone thinks. He has no mask, and that is something I respect. That is something I trust.

But I don't reply to Lyle, because something has just hit me. I realise what this new feeling is, the one that's cutting through me while I'm studying Lyle and Aurelia.

It's jealousy.