Psycho Beasts (Cruel Shifterverse, #3)

by Jasmine Mas

“You’re whining like a baby,” Jinx said sharply before Jax could say anything. Cobra glared down at her. “How old are you?” Jinx’s dark eyes flashed with annoyance as she sneered at Cobra, “I’ll have you know, I’m already twelve years old.” Her ire was highly amusing because she was not only Jax’s youngest sister, but she was also barely five feet tall. Cobra was a giant compared to her. With her small stature, pale skin, dark eyes, and midnight-black hair, Jinx looked like a little girl from a horror movie—right at home among rainy streets and towering steel buildings. Cobra laughed. “I’m over a hundred. You’re actually a child, so you grow up.” “The fact that you’re telling me to grow up is embarrassing for you.”

Jax shifted to block Jinx, but she moved her small body to the side to stare down the don. She rolled her eyes. “I’m not scared of you.”

Ascher blocked my path. “Princess, you should stay back.” I rolled my eyes and pushed past him. Who didn’t want to get initiated into a bloodthirsty gang against their will? Me. But I wasn’t about to pussy out because Ascher told me not to. I might be stupid, but I wasn’t dumb.

“Could this suck any more?” I groaned and kicked my legs back and forth through the air, desperate to relieve the ache in my arms. “Also, I hate to say it, but your dad kinda sucks.”

His fists descended in a haze of violence as he asked me questions. Even as he beat me. I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t stop smiling. And I said nothing.

Everything was too bright. “Sadie?” Ascher moaned loudly as he struggled to move. He violently shook from his rope. I groaned back, “Present.”

Cobra shrieked and hid behind Ascher. Ascher moved to the side and glared down at him with exasperation. “Dude, you’re embarrassing yourself.”

Xerxes rasped softly, “I want to show you my nest.” My heart skipped a beat. I whispered softly, “Do you lay eggs?” Had I missed the signs all along? Was Xerxes part bird, part kitten?

In that moment, I learned something very important about myself: I had a praise kink.

“Everything okay?” she asked with narrowed eyes. Okay. There was that fucking word again. It will be okay was the most frequent lie ever told. I leaned against the wall and sighed. “No.” Aran itched aggressively at her back. “It never is. We just gotta stop being surprised.”

The crux of the problem was another man had pinned me against the wall and told me he owned me. Sure, a large part of me thought it was hot. But as Aran had eloquently said, “You know what is hotter? Respect.” T-shirt slogan material.

You think I’m a prize that you get to claim?” “It’s not like that,” Xerxes said, but the heat in his eyes told me it was exactly like that. There was only one thing left to do. “Suck my dick.” I slammed my knee into his crotch and marched down the hall. For good measure, I yelled, “The next person to say they own me is getting eaten by my tiger!”

Lucinda patted my back softly. Jinx grimaced and stroked her ferret. “You all need professional mental health help.” I rolled my eyes. “Obviously.”

“Fuck men. I hope I die a virgin. That will show them.” I threw myself out of bed, unable to lie still and wallow for a second longer. “Virginity rocks. Kill them all,” Aran chanted sleepily,

I’m ice; he’s fire. You need to complete it.

Jinx’s dark eyes were cruel. “So you admit you’re probably going to die in this realm because you have no idea what you’re doing, abilities you can’t control, no idea how to maintain a relationship with men, and confusing circumstances surrounding your existence that probably indicate you won’t live to see your next birthday?”

“Stop provoking the vicious, but entertaining, small child.”

“Sadie, sweetie pie, you want my truth? You want to know how I ripped out my mother’s heart and ate it?” “Um.” Suddenly, I was hyper aware that I’d been acting immature and there were four impressionable young girls, and one beautiful ferret staring at me. “Maybe another time?” I tried to move my head to indicate to Aran that we had an audience. Just because we needed therapy didn’t mean we needed to completely traumatize the next generation.

“When I stared down at my seizing mother, an endless burning rage overwhelmed me, and I thought about all the ways she’d hurt me. Ice daggers erupted from my nails, and I shoved them through her back until her sternum cracked. I ripped her beating heart out through muscle and bone. Then guess what happened?” “No?” This felt like a trap. “What happened?” Lucinda asked quietly. The four girls stared at Aran, enraptured. “After I consumed my mother’s raw, beating heart, it sounded like a male stood behind me and praised me. When he spoke, it was pure bliss.” Aran paused, breath ragged, as her chest heaved. “It was euphoric.” My heart rate spiked. Suddenly, Aran blinked and shook her head. “When I turned around, there was no one there. I don’t know what the voice in your head said, Sadie, but I can guarantee you that I’m not fire. It was ice that burst from me, and I knew in my bones that I could produce a shit ton more of it with the right motivation.”

Aran’s voice was uncharacteristically small. “What could possibly be good in our lives?” “We’re both hearing voices. So we’re equally unwell.” A light laugh burst from her throat, and she wrapped her longer arms around me tightly.

Jess interrupted my melancholy thoughts. “I know Jax is my brother, but don’t worry, girl. I will cut him.” “I appreciate that and hope it won’t come to that,” I said honestly and smiled at her.

“So, what’s the plan for today?” Aran asked. “Well, the don said we begin the second trial, so that should be fun.” I pretended to smoke an imaginary cigar and made a finger gun. “Gang life, am I right?” Everyone looked at me with concern.

I pursed my lips and debated giving some type of inspirational speech about how we all had each other and we would be all right. Even though the men were mad at me and it low-key felt like the world was ending. Aran farted. Loudly. The girls screamed. I left the room. We were all fucked. Dead.

Sweat, Suffer, Survive—A fun little remake of “Live, Laugh, Love.” Gotta respect the angsty creativity. Whoever had written it was definitely in their feels. Ten out of ten, inspired.

“Should I do it?” Aran asked innocently. I rolled my eyes at her and took a long drag from the end. The enchanted smoke burned a trail down my esophagus, and it felt like a fire was lit in my lungs as I blew out the bright-blue smoke. Aran modulated her tone, so it resembled my scratchy, broken voice. “Drugs are bad and kill people.” I settled into bed beside her and took another long draw.

Aran shook her head. “I remember talking to him about it when I was younger. He said it was bloodlust, a compulsion to kill. He never said it was a voice.” I took a long hit of the drugs. “Well, fuck.”

The poking sensation in my mouth was Aran sitting beside me in bed, shoving the end of the pipe between my lips. “Really?” I sputtered and slapped it away. Aran shrugged. “I thought maybe it would help.” “You thought drugs would help?” Aran didn’t respond, just threw herself onto the bed and squeezed me against her shaking body.

“Ties are formed in the dark light, The endless war it has been read, But fate demands we all must fight, There is no choice the gods are dead.”

“Miss, did you need anything?” “A bullet through the brain.” I groaned.

“I ranked fortieth out of a class of fifty people. Although, technically, the last ten didn’t live till graduation.” Aran laughed, then covered her mouth when she realized I hadn’t joined her. “Oh my sun god, you aren’t joking.”

Jala cried harder. “Thank the sun god she’s gone. I woke up to her choking out Jess, and she threatened to scalp me if I interfered.” “There, there.” I dried her tears and squeezed her gently with my still-very-broken arm. “She does it to all of us. It’s how she says, ‘I love you.’” “Really?” Jess narrowed her watery eyes, clearly unconvinced. “I have no idea, but that’s what I tell myself.” We all cried harder.

I pursed my lips. “Should we talk about this?” Xerxes reached down and ripped off his sweatpants. They fell shredded at his feet. “So no talkin—”

WHY ARE MEN LIKE THIS? Moon goddess, save me from dumbass men.

Xerxes choked, and I narrowed my eyes as I thought about it. “Well, maybe ‘beautiful’ isn’t the right word. It was profound. Exciting. Exhilarating. As the kids say these days, ‘It was lit.’”

“You’ve never made a woman orgasm dozens of times with a vibrating dick.” Ascher’s horns expanded larger than I’d ever seen, and amber eyes exploded with fire.

Also, why would I ever want an overrated alpha when I have an omega with a vibrating cock, you closed-minded fuck!”

I roared as I shifted into a saber-toothed tiger and stalked across the room. Cobra hissed back a laugh, jewels transforming into shadow snakes as I cornered him against the wall with my massive furry body. Before I knew it, I wrapped my mouth around his neck, arm-long fangs grazing his flesh as I shook him back and forth like a doll.

“Please, we both know that I threaten him.” With as much dignity as a woman who had just shifted into a tiger and shaken a man in her mouth like a doll could muster—which was terrifyingly little—I marched out the door.

“It’s hard work being a ho, but someone’s gotta do it.” Aran bowed her head low, just like everyone did to the don. “Thank you for your service, oh impressive skanky one.” “I prefer the term sexual deviant or twat.”

Jax raked his hands tiredly through his braids. “Jinx, we talked about this. You can’t bully your classmates.” “Don’t be so dramatic. I was simply educating him on his shortcomings,” Jinx said with the biting scorn that only a twelve-year-old girl could muster.

“You blew up the room, and one student died,” Jess said with rising frustration. “Wrong. The blast didn’t kill him. He died from third-degree burns,” Jinx said in a “duh” tone. “That was his own fault. He wouldn’t have survived the cold shifter realm anyway. I did him a favor.”

“What does BDSM stand for?” Lucinda asked. Ascher choked again and sputtered wine everywhere. I debated crawling under the table, and my face burned as I said, “Well, it’s hard to explain. But when two people are in a trusting relationship, and love each other very muc—” “Bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, and masochism,” Jinx said. “Technically, the proper acronym is BDDSSM.”

Aran sat up straighter and waved her hand. “Oh, that part’s easy. It’s pretty obvious what you need to do.” Everyone stared at her. She narrowed her eyes when she realized it wasn’t obvious to everyone else, then sighed heavily. “You’ll have to pretend to be disappointed with Xerxes. And tell the Ortega brothers you want to give him back to the Black Wolves. Then once they lead you to them, Sadie infects the brothers with her blood and holds them hostage. To take out the wolves, Xerxes will have the element of surprise and he has the best chance of slitting their throats with the sex knife before they realize it’s a trap.” There was a long pause as her plan sank in. “Fuck, that might work.” Ascher smiled down at Aran, who avoided eye contact and bit harder on her nails. “I like it.” Cobra’s jewels flashed to snakes like he was imagining the carnage.

I flipped on the numb. The world went cold. Black and white. Hold your power back. Concentrate. I obeyed. It had been like holding a rabid animal on a chain that was bucking further out of my grip, but now my arm was steel, my fingers paralyzed on the numb’s invisible leash. It didn’t give. Pay attention. This is a trap. One wrong move and you’re all dead.

Four ridiculously muscular men had darkness in their eyes and pressed the barrels to the heads of four teenage girls, who were sitting unconstrained in chairs. Jinx, Lucinda, Jala, and Jess sat wide-eyed with fear.

Jinx looked unconcerned as she slowly stroked her ferret.

Jinx smiled and said, “There’s no getting out.” Jinx’s jaw unhinged, and she screamed like she had the first day we’d met the don, “Freeze!” Everyone froze. Behind the shield, the wolf’s gun barrel hovered where Jinx had stood moments ago. “Do it now,” Jinx said with a smile to the ferret as she crouched down and placed it gently on the ground. The ferret shifted. Into a man.

The little girl knelt in front of Aran’s body and prodded it. Her head snapped up, dark eyes wide. “She’s—” she whispered so quietly I couldn’t hear the rest of what she said. I heaved up bile. Jinx stumbled backward, eyes frantic. “She’s alive.” Her words penetrated. I crawled forward through the broken glass and blood, the Ortega brothers following mindlessly. “Aran!” I screamed as I collapsed atop my best friend. Bullet holes covered her body, and every inch of pale skin was stained red. Her skin was icy, colder than snow. She was dead. It was a cruel joke.

I shook. “Look at her chest.” Jinx’s voice was far away. Aran’s chest was a mess of bullet holes. I stared at it with single-minded intensity, refusing to blink, forcing myself to stare at the carnage that was my best friend. Ever so slightly… It rose.

Warren handed over supplies, wet rags, and drugs as Xerxes shouted at him to grab things. Exhausted from using my powers, I could do nothing but lie among the carnage, praying that my friend would be okay. Hours passed. Aran’s condition didn’t change. I stared down at her face, willing her to wake up.