His Beast Mate

by Milana Jacks

  Got a four and a two. Unlucky bastard. I contemplated if I should prod Boris for some information on Tom’s whereabouts, though I was pretty sure he bunked underground. Alpha Beast had ordered me not to poke my nose into anything else that happened in this house. Even if Men of Earth came, even if I had the opportunity to strangle Tom, the leader, himself, Alpha Beast had ordered me to stand down. Felicia of Wiedeg, he’d explained, was a beast female, and as such, her life was valued above all else.

  Instead of befriending Boris, I patted Felicia.

  Kitten

  The poker game lasted most of the night. John ordered me around as if he already owned me. And he did; he just didn’t know it yet. I wasn’t even sure how I would approach him about our mating. But I couldn’t worry about that right now. John caught some luck. He bested both Boris and Alex. They’d since left the room. I watched them walk away, knowing they’d wait out the end of the night in the house, perhaps try to hurt my human mate.

  John needed to lose and walk away unharmed. I couldn’t believe it when I’d smelled my alpha on his clothes. Could it be Jamie had sent a human man to rescue me? No. It couldn’t. Human men were weak. Fragile. But then again, a beast male couldn’t possibly get into this house without Owner hurting all the girls in his basement. He’d burn the house down before he allowed a team of beasts to capture him.

  John flicked the corners of his cards. I couldn’t see his hand.

  I inhaled the smell of my alpha and pretended to be cool, grateful the humans couldn’t hear my heart beating out of my chest. The dealer tech machine flipped a queen. Shit. A high card. I hoped John had some more deuces. Another queen. This Texas Hold ’em poker really excited me. I wanted to play this game, though I didn’t think I had the patience or temper for it. John seemed to have both in spades. Or hearts, as it may be.

  At this point in the night—I glanced at the clock; three thirty in the morning—Owner didn’t care what I did. I didn’t have to kneel next to John, and I could move around, read something, that sort of thing. Maybe I could get a drink for myself? I glanced at the bar. Gin and tonic. I’d give my left tit for a gin and tonic.

  A two flopped.

  Disaster. John had been getting deuces all night. If he had one in his hand, this would give him two pairs. I pinched John’s thigh. Show me your cards!

  He stayed cool.

  I pinched it again.

  Under the table, he nudged me, though it felt like a kick.

  An ace.

  I pinched John.

  This time, he kicked me. I was sure of it. I glared at him. If I’d had my claws, I would have sneaked my hand under those tight-ass pants and scratched him.

  The money kept piling up. The men had their serious poker faces on, but I heard their heartbeats and had witnessed enough of these games to develop an ear for how different men reacted to their cards. Owner had a winning hand. Or at least a hand he thought would win. I wanted him to win. He’d kill John if he lost.

  John bet more money, then leaned back and waited.

  I peeked above the table to see Owner’s forehead sweating. He wiped it with a tissue and counted his chips before he threw them on the pile.

  “Not enough,” John said.

  Owner nodded, a glint in his eyes. An addict, one of the girls downstairs had called him. I saw it now. He couldn’t stop, couldn’t walk away from the cards. Funny how he seemed in control of his life, but completely out of control of his bad habits. “Collateral?” he asked.

  “Kitten,” John said.

  What?

  Owner shook his head. “She’s worth more than this chunk of change.”

  “There’s…”—John paused to count—“three hundred thousand on the table.”

  “Like I said, not enough.”

  “So fold.”

  Owner glared at him. It hurt his pride, and not to mention, he probably had a great hand. “Where did you get all this money?”

  “Sold my daughter to the High Priest of Earth.”

  Torrent? I jerked my head up.

  John pushed me down and tapped my cheek, trying to comfort me. Torrent lived! It couldn’t be anyone else. High Priest of Earth was a title that had been reserved for him for years, just waiting for him to accept it.

  “A lot of money to get for one daughter. I got three. Hoping for twenty K each, maybe thirty.”

  John’s jaw worked. He released a noise that sounded like a growl. “My kid is special. Don’t talk about her.” He leaned in, hands fisted.

  It just dawned on me that he could also have a wife. That was where kids came from. My hope deflated. My mate was married. With kids. I didn’t care if he won or lost anymore. The way he took care with me had made me gullible and stupid, had given me hope. But humans didn’t mate. For all I knew, John cheated on his wife on a regular basis. Like Owner.

  I sat back on my heels and away from him. I stared at the red, blue, white, black, and golden chips on the table. I counted them for distraction. Of all the things I’d been through, this was the hardest. I wanted to crawl back into my cage.

  Owner lifted his hand. “All right.”

  “All right what?”

  “All right. You can have the entire weekend with the beast bitch. No more. But I wonder—”

  “Wonder later.”

  Owner wouldn’t fold. Pride was a vice, and he had it in spades. The last card dealt was a deuce. Neither of the men bet anymore. Owner flipped his cards. A queen and an ace. Owner had a full house, ace high. I’d seen my mate, who had a wife somewhere out there waiting for him to come home. And I would get a night with him, but not the entire weekend, and definitely not an eternity.

  John watched Owner gloat and said, “Nice hand.” He reached over the table and flipped his cards. A pair of deuces. Hm. What did that mean? His pair of deuces and the pair of deuces on the table made four of a kind. Did that beat the full house? I hoped not. John would die after our time together upstairs. He wouldn’t go home to his wife. Oh Mother, what do I do?

  John pushed the stack of money toward Owner, then he lit up a cigarette he’d rolled and leaned back. Casual. What the fuck was he doing?

  I glanced at John. Impassive, he blew smoke in the air as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Finally, I asked, “So who won?”

  “He won,” Owner said and stared down at the pile of chips. “The beast bitch is not for sale.”

  What? John had offered to buy me again? When had this occurred? Gosh, it must be a man thing, or human thing, because I sure as fuck didn’t read minds, and my hearing was superior to theirs. I’d heard the mention of a sale and Owner’s refusal.

  John chuckled. “I kept saying the same thing about my kid. Not for sale, and yet he took her anyway.”

  Owner matched John’s smile. “I like you, man.”

  “I’m buying the kitten.” John finished his smoke and put it out in an ashtray. I sneezed.

  “You don’t have that kind of money.”

  “How much are we talking?”

  Was this how human women felt when the community leaders bargained for their bodies with beast males? ’Cuz it was pretty shitty. For the first time in my life, I understood Jamie’s mate, Rey, who’d said the Pairing Program was wrong, called him out for buying people, but I’d disagreed with her. We needed mates. Now as I sat here feeling like a prize cow, I understood her.

  “Two hundred thousand more and you can walk out with her.”

  John reached into his back pocket and retrieved a worn brown wallet. From the inside, he pulled out a leather pouch and spilled it on the table. Several diamonds bounced against the green cloth. “Roughly ten K each one. Plus my winnings.”

  “You want her bad,” Owner said.

  “I want to fuck a beast bitch. Tie her up and do what I want to her. It’s not every day that I stumble upon a trained one. You feel me, friend, don’t you?”

  Owner stood and undid his tie. He picked up the diamonds and put them in his pocket. “Kitten will show you out
.”

  Chapter Three

  John

  After William left, I leaned back and relaxed my neck, letting my head fall back. I bought her. I did it. I needed a drink, and I looked up at the bottle of fine whiskey. Damn, it was fine. Burned down the throat and didn’t leave that sour-ass cheap aftertaste I’d accepted came with hard booze. I was a beer man, but this John persona in a suit drank whiskey. The Men of Earth John persona didn’t drink; he did drugs. They liked to jack up with shit. Made them all a little more brave.

  Felicia’s hands traveled up my thigh. I knew she knew her duties. They’d trained her as a sexual slave. I’d seen quite a bit in my life, but Felicia’s situation was the saddest. I caught her hands before she unzipped my pants. “Are there cameras in the room?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Does he plan to turn them off?”

  “Yes.”

  “When?”

  “When you drop your pants.”

  I groaned. Though my dick could use some love, a blowjob from this poor creature was the last thing on my mind. But I had to do something for the camera. I knew William and possibly the other two perverts watched us.

  She rubbed her face against my hand. I patted her cheek and looked down. She smiled, showing me her blunt teeth. I hadn’t expected a beast female to be…cute, with chubby red cheeks and disproportionately large eyes framed in long dark eyelashes. Poor thing.

  Those seductive eyes kept dropping to my dick, though, and suddenly, a blowjob sounded great. Dick fully erect, I moved it to the side and away from her pouty lips, then glanced at the tiny camera imbedded into an old man’s eye in the painting on the opposite wall. His eyes were painted green, and one of them was brighter than the other. Since the beasts had jacked me up with enhancements, I had sharper vision than the average human. I saw the camera. “Kitten,” I said. “Would you get me a drink?”

  “Sure.” Felicia stood and stayed there. I think she wanted me to look, so I perused at least six feet of curves with toned muscle, abundant long dark hair, big tits, and a shaved pussy. Almost a human female…but not. Felicia’s body aroused me.

  “Do you like what you see?” she asked.

  I nodded.

  She walked to the bar and rose on her toes, then bent over. Jesus Christ. What an ass, and the small slit between her legs… It made my mouth water. She poured me a whiskey and walked back. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. There was something wrong with me.

  “If you were my male, I’d castrate you,” Felicia whispered and dropped back to her knees. She handed me a drink and put her hands on my thighs.

  I downed the liquid in one gulp and put the glass on the table. “Excuse me?”

  “Castrate you, motherfucker.” She watched my dick, not me.

  I sat up straight. “Why would you want to castrate me?”

  “Marriage is a sacred union. It’s a promise, and it should last for a lifetime. It doesn’t include spending nights with other females.”

  “I’m not married. Where did you hear that?”

  “You got a kid. She came from a female.”

  “Ah. Nope. Never been married.”

  She looked up, eyes wide. “But you have a child.”

  “Her mother passed away at birth.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  I grunted.

  “I am proud to service you, then.” She grabbed my belt and yanked.

  I put a hand over hers. I couldn’t let her do this. Fuck the camera. There had to be another way.

  “Of all the males in the world, one John has a conscience.”

  I bent down to whisper at her ear, aware of the men who might be listening. “You’ve been traumatized, and my doctor…Lers is gonna take care of you.” I dropped her a name. Lers, their healer. Every beast knew him. She nodded. We understood each other. She had smelled Alpha Beast on me, and she had to know this was a rescue mission. Vice had told me Felicia would understand. He also told me she was capable of defending herself, and she would be an asset to me. I ignored his advice now because he hadn’t seen this poor creature. Though she mouthed me plenty, she was broken.

  “I have not lost my mind. My dignity, claws, and teeth, but my mind is fine. I want to service you.”

  “Sweetheart,” I said, firmer.

  “Name’s Kitten,” she said, “Once upon a time, it was Felicia. But Felicia was a weak bitch who got herself kidnapped, raped, and beaten. So I had to kill her off.” She pointed to her head. “Up here, you understand. Felicia is no more. She died when they took my claws. I’ve renamed myself Kitten. Call me Kitten.”

  “Kitten, sweetheart, we’re not doing this.”

  “Then I won’t go with you.”

  “What the fuck do you mean you’re not going?” I growled.

  “Unzip your pants and show me your dick. Then we can go.”

  God help me, she made me so hard for her. I took her face between my hands, and she climbed onto my lap. Her movement was fluid, like a cat’s. She licked her lips, her gaze on my mouth. I would go to hell for this. I leaned in and kissed her. Close to her lips, I said, “We can walk out of here. I bought you fair and square.”

  “You think they’ll just let us walk out?”

  “Yes, because we’re in a nice neighborhood and nobody wants to piss off Alpha Beast in his city.”

  Her eyes widened, and she drew back. “We are in Beast City?”

  “We are.”

  “I thought we might be but couldn’t be sure. I can’t believe I’m so close to the compound.”

  “I’m ready to leave this place. Let’s go.” I took her hand and interlaced our fingers, then led her to the door. She tightened her grip as I palmed the lock. “Don’t be afraid,” I said. “We’re gonna walk out to my car. That’s all we’re gonna do.”

  Kitten nodded and took a deep breath.

  I opened the door.

  The dawn’s early light spilled over the foyer, casting the doorman’s shadow over the marble floor. I crossed the room, casual but wary of the quiet house. When we got to the door, the man stood there like a statue, staring at the wall as if I hadn’t approached. “The door.” I pointed.

  He glanced at me, then at her. “My master is making a mistake. Should’ve kept the beast bitch in the house. She’s a prisoner of our war.”

  I shrugged. “William must like the money more. I bought her fair and square.”

  “God will judge her.”

  “Kiss my ass,” Kitten pitched in.

  I slid her a death stare, not wanting her to attract any more attention. “You got a blanket I could put over her?” I asked the man.

  The doorman snorted. I took that as a maybe and looked around. Kitten beat me to it. She walked to the open dining space and swiped a white cloth from the table. As she wrapped it around her body, the pair of Men of Earth descended the steps. They each held glasses in their hands. With their hair mussed, their eyes glazed, and their pants haphazardly zipped, I knew what they’d done while William and I played cards. They’d been raping one or more of the poor girls I suspected he’d stashed inside this house.

  And that was the issue with backup. Alpha Beast couldn’t storm this place and kill everyone. We feared endangering Kitten’s life, and now I feared for the other women too. I had to be careful. Tactical. “What’s this?” Alex, the quiet one, asked.

  Kitten stood in the middle of the foyer as if frozen, unable to move toward me. God knew what they’d done to her for her to be frightened just by the sight of them. “Kitten, come here.”

  At the sound of my voice, she shook her head as if something had awakened her, and came to stand next to me. I tried grabbing her hand again, but she fisted it. The men approached and stood next to her. Really close to her. I didn’t like it. I moved her to my right, next to the door, and said, “She’s mine.”

  “She’s a prisoner,” Boris said. “Tom will want her back.” Ah, Tom, leader of Men of Earth. Boris and his buddy, Alex, needed to be apprehended and
questioned. I hoped Alpha Beast had some sort of surveillance on this place so we could track their movements.

  “He can call me.”

  “You don’t understand,” Alex said. “The bitch ain’t going anywhere.”

  “He lost her in a hand of poker. Collateral plus more. She is mine.”

  “William is a moron. He can’t gamble with the bitch. She’s not his to gamble with.”

  I shrugged. “Not my problem. Take it up with him.”

  Kitten,” Alex barked. “Come here.”

  Who was this guy? And then everything happened in three seconds flat.

  The doorman reached for my girl.

  I slapped his hand away.

  Kitten stepped in front of me. Christ!

  She swiped his gun.

  I reached for the gun, but she shot the doorman point-blank between his eyes. She aimed and shot the other two. Then she handed me the gun and dropped to her knees, her forehead on my boots.

  I gaped at the three bodies with holes in their foreheads. “Wha…” I crouched and spread my arms. “What the fuck?”

  She lifted her head, green eyes pale, the color of jadestone. “You are my mate. I vow to protect and serve you for the rest of my life.”

  I blinked.

  She threw her arms around me and buried her nose in the crook of my neck.

  “Well, fuck me.” I patted her back and looked around the place. We were dead meat. Right in the middle of the foyer, with William’s entire security team outside. I checked the gun. Four rounds left. This would not kill everyone. “Kitten,” I barked, mad as hell with her, but as I said her name, I changed my mind, taking in her situation. Before me was a woman, abducted, beaten, and humiliated, and she found it her duty to protect me.

  God, this was awkward, and I was way out of practice with the opposite sex. Her Beast Mother had chosen the last male on earth who knew what to do with a female mate. Man, I could find my way in life, get what I wanted most of the time, but women? Didn’t know what to do around them. I cleared my throat when she sniffled. “Don’t start crying.” It came out as a command when I intended for it to come out comforting.