by Milana Jacks
Motherfucker. I reached for the teacup and slammed it on his temple. Hot liquid burned his face, and blood trickled down the side. With everything I had, I threw myself on him. We fell to the floor, and I covered his body with mine, landing three rapid strikes to his bleeding temple. With my other hand, I swiped his knife and pressed it to his throat. “Open your mouth,” I said, “or die. What the fuck is wrong with you? The earth life got to your head. You forgot who you are and what we are. We are beasts. We do not share our mates.”
Zarik opened his mouth because he knew what he’d done.
I reached inside, took his tongue and…flung the knife into the wall. I had every right to cut it out, but I couldn’t. For better or worse, Sienna liked this motherfucker, and the last thing I needed was more friction between us. If I cut his tongue out? There would be friction.
I banged my forehead against his nose. A crack sounded. Zarik howled in pain, his scream nearly blowing out my eardrums.
Hasel barged into the room.
I sat up and wiped his blood off my face, then smeared it over my chest. “You will bring me my mate. And the next person who speaks a word to her will lose their tongue. Are we clear?”
She crouched by Zarik. “What have you done?” she asked him.
“Are we clear?” I asked.
“Y…es.”
“I’m assuming authority here. You will follow my orders, or you may leave.”
“Vice is coming for you,” she spat and cradled Zarik’s head.
“But he isn’t here yet.”
Zarik and Hasel left. My hands shook as I wiped his blood from my chest with a towel. Bloodlust rode me. I wanted to devour that male. But I’d already wasted every bit of energy on him when I needed it for healing. I couldn’t grow a leg, but I would heal faster if allowed some stress-free rest. With Sienna in the cage and away from me, I wouldn’t rest, wouldn’t heal, wouldn’t want to do anything other than be near her.
Her presence alone would heal me.
Zarik should’ve known better than to speak of my mate. I didn’t care if he was lonely or thought her the prettiest girl in the world—which was true. A beast didn’t speak of another beast’s mate. A sure way to die.
I didn’t know if mating was different with Mayhem’s tribe, but I wouldn’t allow such things. I had a duty to defend her honor and make an example of him. Nobody would fuck with my mate. Not these hunters and not the humans.
Fifteen minutes later, Hasel returned alone. Without a word, she cleaned up and mopped the blood off the floor. Once done, she leaned the mop against the wall and rested one hand on her hip. “Zarik couldn’t hold his tongue.”
“Nope.”
“Shall I cut it out?” she asked.
“Leave it.”
“Had I known you were alive, I wouldn’t have asked her to give him attention.”
“What kind of attention?”
“She braids his hair.”
“Petting. She’s petting him.” I smiled. “I will end him.”
“I raised that boy. He is like mine. They all are. Their parents, relatives, families were hunted and killed by your Alpha Nie. Believe me, we know we have the Alpha’s beast among us, we know you believe us second-class citizens.”
“Alpha Nie was your Alpha too.”
“Never. Alpha Beast is my alpha. That boy brought us here and put Mayhem in place as the Keeper of Earth, gave him almost as much power as his own brother. Alpha Beast understands we can conquer anything together. We must not fight amongst each other. Zarik will learn from this.”
I’d’ve thought Hasel would reprimand me for breaking Zarik’s nose, but I was wrong. Hasel seemed to believe he needed a lesson and approved. A savage female. Unlike my gentle mother, whose idea of savagery was cursing at the dinner table.
“I don’t like you, boy.”
“I don’t like myself either.”
She glanced at my leg. “Did you ask your mate to help you meet our Great Mother?”
“She did nothing wrong.”
Hasel’s lips tipped up. “Of course not.”
Chapter Thirteen
Sienna
The beasts kept cages in the basement. I’d cleaned them before, thinking I’d never end up in here. A good girl, I did as I was told, ghosted through the hallways, minded my own business, I didn’t think I’d end up in one of them. Yet, here I was. Caged like an animal, allowed potty breaks down here in the hole in the ground that acted as a bathroom. What would they do to me now? Why oh why had I agreed to poison him?
Torrent would cook me. Alive, maybe. I’d squeal like a lobster.
Yup. He had me locked up down here until he prepped the carrots and parsley. For flavor. Acid rose in my throat, and I gagged. Thinking of my future made me sick. I scooted into the far corner and cradled my knees. I rocked, back and forth, back and forth, wanting my dad to find me. Maybe he’d come and rescue me now.
Stupid gullible me. Shouldn’t have done it. Should’ve kept my mouth shut and continued on with my life, bided my time until Dad came for me. I shouldn’t have believed Momma Jo no matter how nice she’d been to me.
Maybe if I apologized to Torrent, asked for mercy?
Keys clinking against one another made me lift my head from my knees.
Cole walked inside. He said nothing to me, only unlocked the cage and held the door open. “Potty break.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“I’m not supposed to speak with you.”
“Nobody’ll know.”
“He’ll know.”
“Who?”
“Torrent. Took over the community. We answer to him now.”
“Oh, this is not good.”
“He’s no Zarik or Hasel. I can’t believe you tried to kill him.”
“Cole,” I whispered. “Help me leave this place.”
He shook his head. “Torrent broke Zarik’s nose just for speaking your name.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh yes. If I helped you escape, who knows what he’d break on me.”
“You’re right. Forget I asked.”
Cole bound my hands with rope, leaned in, and whispered at my ear. “I got your backpack. Buried it at mark fourteen.” He leaned back, gaze still on the floor. “In case you can get away. This place is gonna blow.” He sniffed.
I took his face between my palms. “You’re a brave…” I wanted to say boy, but I said, “man,” instead.
Cole led me to the hole in the ground where I managed to do my business in his presence and with my hands bound. He led me back and untied my wrists. Before he left, I hugged him tight and swiped a spearhead tucked into his kilt. I sat back in my corner and waited for Cole to close the door. Once alone, I rolled up my sleeves and fanned myself. I didn’t know if the basement was hot or if I ran a fever. I eyed the lock.
Hasel walked in.
Crap.
I tucked the spearhead under my bottom.
She grabbed a chair and sat down in front of the cage, arms crossed over her chest. She didn’t seem mad. Disappointed. She looked disappointed in me. For some reason, it hurt. She’d trusted me more than the other girls, let me do my thing, and I’d betrayed her trust. Hasel sniffed the air and said, “You are afraid.”
“I’m in the cage.”
“Torrent wants to talk to you.”
“There’s nothing to say. I didn’t do it.”
“He says you did.”
My heart sped up. “He took all three vials of that medicine you gave him. It made him sick and delusional.”
Hasel tapped her foot. “Child, I have cared for warriors all my life. I know what I’m giving him and how much. I predicted he’d take all at once, which is why I diluted the medicine. What did you put in his food?”
“Nothing.”
“Where did you get it?”
“I didn’t!”
Hasel smiled, though it was a show of teeth. “I have learned a great deal in my years and have met a great number of beasts
and now humans. I smell lies, and you lie.”
I shook my head. “No lie.”
“Reagan once tried to poison Mayhem. She didn’t have the courage. I would never think you would. Not in a million years.” She paused, waiting for my reaction. I said nothing, so she continued. “I hear Momma Jo had a word with you yesterday. I went there today and smelled something odd. It is not food she’s been cooking. Oh, there is food, but underneath, my nose scented something else. Momma Jo was as pleasant as ever. She’s up to no good.” Hasel paused again. I waited. Hasel snickered. “You’re a smart one. Keep your mouth shut. Deny deny. I know it’s you. You tried to kill Alpha’s beast in my house.”
“Why would I do it, hm? I have no reason to.”
She flicked flour dust away from her apron and tilted her head. “Are you sure about that?”
“Positive.”
“Have you two crossed paths before?”
I waved my hand. “No.”
Her foot tapped faster. My heart matched its speed. “We called him by a different name,” she said. “Priest. We speak of the dead in such a way. Priest is no more. I house one Torrent, son of Tineyan’s High Priest, our finest beast royalty, highborn with healthy bloodlines, one who is sure to breed strong beasts. This past summer, I hear, Torrent mated one Sienna of Big Bear. It is presumed she escaped him en route to Beast City, after which she hid inside a shelter set up by Dewlyn of Tineya’s second. Is that correct?”
Okay, I didn’t like where this was going. I didn’t think Hasel would know the details of how I got to be here. After I confirmed Priest had died, I’d avoided Dewlyn at all costs, hoping everyone would just forget about me. I probably should’ve avoided Reagan too, maybe changed my name, but then Daddy would never know I lived. “I’m not the only Sienna in the country.”
“You’re not. But he is the only son of the High Priest.”
“This beast,” I pointed in the general direction of the west wing, “is not the beast who kidnapped me.”
“Kidnapped?”
“Yes, kidnapped.”
Hasel frowned. “You mean bought you.”
“Oh no. Not all pairs are bought. The beast hurt my daddy and took me on his bike. He kidnapped me. At seventeen too. That’s not in the Pairing Program. I know what’s in the Pairing Program, and kidnapping is…is against the beast code of ethics or something.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I wouldn’t know.” Hasel shrugged. “The pairing is designed to ease the humans into our ways. Alpha Beast and his brother are trying to be fair. If my boy Mayhem took over the planet, it would be vastly different. In our tribe, the beast takes what is his to take. No paying, no begging, no niceties. Torrent acted as a beast male. He took his mate fair and square.”
“You keep repeating that word, mate.”
“Mate is for the beast. I was once a mate. It’s a great honor, one you human girls don’t seem to appreciate.”
I snorted. “I don’t see anything honorable in kidnapping. I hate him.”
Hasel slapped her thigh.
I jumped.
“You hate him so you poisoned him.”
“It’s not the same Torrent guy! I’ve never seen the beast before. And you know what else? If I wanted to kill him, I could’ve left his sorry ass out there in the desert.”
“Cole claimed him, so you had to bring him in. Though I have no doubt if you were alone, you would’ve left him.”
“I would have brought him back.”
“You hate us.” She growled and uncrossed her hands. She flexed them, clearly a show of claws. “You and every woman in the east wing. But oh, they are comfortable. I feed them, I care for them, I give them their own quarters, because I know they fear and hate us. By doing so, I thought I would let them see us as people. You think we’re animals, no different from those pigs out there in the mud. I gave you a chance. I thought you were more like Cole than them girls. But you proved to be the most hateful one. Sneaky little bitch. I kept you safe, and what did you do? Poisoned a wounded highborn under my roof!”
My makeshift bike was ready. My backpack waited at marker fourteen. All I had to do was slip away. I’d only need fifteen minutes. By the time they figured out I’d left, they wouldn’t be able to catch up to me. “What do you intend to do with me?”
“Ha! That’s the catch. I can’t do anything but keep you safe, for you are a mated female who will breed us fine beasts of strong bloodlines.”
“Let me out, then.”
“You didn’t ask what I want,” she said.
“What do you want?”
She leaned in, eyes paled to gray. “I want to make a meal of you, scrawny as you are. I want to suck the marrow of your bones, girl.”
“That’s horrible, Hasel.”
“I won’t. And killing Momma Jo without proof would make me look bad. I hold on to hope one of the girls is a mate for one of the beasts. It is my duty to protect the girls until they are taken.”
“So what? I sit here for…the rest of my life?”
“Torrent is coming for you. Prepare to serve him as you should.”
Chapter Fourteen
Sienna
After Hasel left, I rushed, spearhead in hand, to the lock. If I ran when Cole took me out for my potty breaks, he’d come under fire from Torrent. So I’d pick the lock now before Torrent came in here.
I jabbed the spearhead inside the keyhole and twisted, straining to get it open. When it didn’t work, I jabbed the iron.
Jab, jab, jab.
I began crying again.
Frustrated, I screamed and jabbed the thing in the hole. It got stuck inside, and I couldn’t get it out. I looked up at the ceiling and laughed, then wiped the tears from my face. The dress proved too hot to wear, so I stripped it and threw it behind me. The lock? Impossible to break for a beast, and for me? A hopeless dream. The cage was built to withstand their strength.
A soft knock came from the door.
When the person behind it didn’t enter, I said, “Come right in.”
I sat back in my corner and pulled up my knees.
Torrent came in. He closed the door softly behind him.
“And he walks,” I said.
Torrent nodded. “Put together a cane from the table legs.”
“Crafty,” I said.
He approached the cage. With a shaved head, a naked, tattooed torso, and standing upright with little support, he looked more like the beast from my memory. Except now he wore a black leather kilt. Cavemen had nothing on Torrent. “You forgot to shave your beard,” I said.
“You like the beard. I’ll let you braid it, and you can tug it when I…”
I stuck my fingers in my ears.
He winked. “I bet you’re surprised to see me.” He raised an eyebrow at the spearhead sticking out of the lock. “What’s this?” He yanked it out with ease. When I didn’t answer, only hugged my knees tighter, his lips stretched into a smile, his eyes crinkled at the corners. “This cage is built for beasts. Even Alpha Beast can’t break out of here. Just so you know.”
“I know.”
“You tried anyway.”
I shrugged.
“The same way you tried to kill me. If you’re gonna kill me, at least kill me dead so I don’t gotta suffer and wish I was dead.”
“I’m sorry about the suffering.”
“Yeah, well, it happens. Against the odds, here I am alive. Again.” Torrent unlocked the door and walked inside the cage. He locked it behind him. “We’re gonna spend some time together. Me and you, Sienna, me and you.”
I scooted back as far as I could, wishing a wall would open and let me out. “I’d rather be alone.”
“I know.”
“I tried to kill you.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“You’re a monster. Why so nice now?”
“I am a monster, baby, don’t you forget it. But I’m your monster, and I’m yours for as long as I live.”
“The mating. Hasel said it’s mating
.”
“We don’t have a change of heart, and we only have one mate. You are mine, and I intend to mate you. Come here.”
“Oh, I’m comfy in my corner.” I tightened my arms around my legs. “Very comfy.”
“I want to talk to you in private.”
“We are in private.”
“You are never in private. You’re always followed or chaperoned. I’m surprised you managed to slip anything under Hasel’s watchful eyes.”
“Nobody is here.”
“They don’t have to be here. The guard at the top of the stairs can hear us.”
“What do you want?”
Torrent grunted and managed to sit on the floor next to me. He gathered up his kilt and tapped his good leg. “Sit on my lap, and I’ll show you exactly what I want.”
“No, thank you.”
Torrent snorted. “You won’t sit in my lap, but you’ll bathe me.”
“I had to bathe you.”
“You don’t have to do shit, Sienna. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. The only thing you gotta do is listen to your heart. What’s it tell ya? Are you wrong for trying to kill a person?”
“You’re not a person, you’re a monster.”
“Bullshit. That’s what those crazy bitches taught you to say, tried to get you to believe.”
“Daddy said you all are monsters. I believe him, and all I gotta do is sit tight until he comes for me.” My chin quivered, and tears stung my eyes.
“Sit tight is a human expression meaning you gotta keep out of trouble. You’re in trouble.”
I sniffed and inhaled something pleasant. It wasn’t me, ’cause I needed a bath. “You’re wearing aftershave,” I said. “Zarik’s.”
“Baby?”
“Hm?”
“I’m gonna go monster on everyone in this place if you say his name again.”
“Did you really break his nose?”
“If I’d said to him what he’d told me, he’d have cut my tongue out. Or worse. We do not speak of mates. We tease each other but don’t fuck around about mating, and we certainly don’t share.”
