by Milana Jacks
The beasts had ravenous sexual appetites, and their women would know how to please their males best. Either one of the two options would work for me, if only for tonight. I wasn’t in good-wife mode just yet. I wanted to explore my new house. Alone. So that I could find my way around the house, mainly a way to escape. I didn’t know if I could manage an escape, but I sure couldn’t sit on my ass, awaiting my fate.
We crossed a short expanse of concrete, went through a large building, and then my sensible heels dug into the soft grass all the way to the source of the loud music, barbecued ribs, alcohol, and laughter. Grass was a commodity on Earth. The beasts did what they could to revive our planet. We’d ravaged our resources before the beasts came, and they gave nature a second chance. I was born into this world, but I’d read our history and seen the pictures of California grass before the Great Nuclear War.
I squeezed his hand tighter, balanced and counted my steps as we crossed the yard. If I had to use a bathroom, I’d need to find my way back inside, wander the hallways until I found small doors somewhere in the back. In the community’s main hall, the bathrooms lined the walls before the back exits.
I was on step ten, the Alpha Beast’s sixth when he said, “Don’t worry.” Twelve, thirteen, fourteen. “I won’t let you out of my sight. Even with my collar on, I don’t trust any of these motherfuckers. I have the most beautiful pair on Earth, and here I have over seventy single, dirty, horny bastards.” He chuckled.
Despite his words, I was pretty sure he trusted every last one of them, and I loved the collar, even if I found it suitable for hounds. The leather on the collar smelled new. I touched a small heart pendant that dangled from the middle. Sixteen, seventeen, and a left turn. Most girls in the pairing program had issues with collars, but I knew the importance of ownership with the beasts. If you weren’t owned in the city, you were anyone’s and anyone’s girls got passed around. At least he wouldn’t pass me around.
On step twenty, we stopped. The Alpha Beast sat down with me on his lap. He arranged my legs, then placed them on the bench, and his left hand slapped the table, his upper arm bracing my back.
A hand snuck into my hair and released my hair clip. Just as well, it was hanging by a thread since the ride anyhow.
My long, brown curls draped over his arm.
He did something, maybe brought it to his nose, because he said, “Smells like heaven.”
I smiled.
“Don’t gimme that fake smile. I’ve seen you give a plant a more sincere smile. You don’t wanna be here, do you?”
No sense in lying. I was so nervous. My palms sweated, and with his superior senses, he might even be able to smell my fear. “Where is here?” I asked.
“The beast compound. Our sanctuary, if you will.”
“I see. It’s not that I don’t want to be here,” I clarified, “just not tonight. Maybe in a few nights, when I’ve found my way around…the city.”
“I don’t want to be here no more than you do, but I got to show face.” He rearranged me on his lap. I felt him grow. He didn’t hide it. He moved me over his erection. “Baby, I’m gonna try to be nice tonight. You looking forward to it? I bet you are. I bet that’s why you wanna go home, to get to know your beast. I bet you’re wondering how big I am, if it’s gonna fit into your tight pussy. Are you wondering?”
“Yes,” I muttered on a mission not to lie. How big was a monster cock?
“Let me tell ya, I’ll make it fit.”
Oh. How comforting. As comforting as my mother’s promises of one last drink. I shuddered.
He bit my earlobe. “I will not fuck you. I will mount you like a beast male mounts a beast bitch in heat, you hear me? I’ve never wanted a woman more in my entire life, so get used to it. The sooner you do, the better it’ll be for you.”
I cleared my throat. “Maybe in a few days after I make you dinner first. I’m an excellent cook, and we’d get to know each other before—”
“Got ribs, burgers, chicken right here. You hungry?”
“I didn’t mean right now, but—”
“Got a cake coming. You’ll have some. What do you say?”
“Yes, Alpha Beast.”
“Jamie, my name is Jamie.”
Jamie. Such a sweet name. It didn’t fit.
As the crowds came to congratulate us on our pairing, Jamie grunted along. And while he happily grunted and hit his chest at least twice, I tried to match everyone’s names with their voices. It was difficult. Most beast men’s voices were identically hoarse, sort of like they’d chain-smoked all their lives. Only four beast women approached, so they were easier to tell apart. I worked though my new family, the feel of their hands and the brush of women’s soft skin on mine when they kissed my cheeks. I identified at least three Southern beasts by their accents.
Minutes passed, and nobody else came. I guessed we were done with congratulations. Sighted people didn’t tap tables with their hands; they looked to see if there was something there. I didn’t want to spill anything. I removed my backpack and placed it on the table. When glasses didn’t crash, I dug inside for my sunglasses. For one, the strobe lights on the roof of the compound shone brightly over the backyard, and two, people expected eye contact. Even if I was shy—and I wasn’t—I’d have to make some eye contact. I’d been avoiding his for most of the night.
Sunglasses worn at night weren’t an unusual sight, so I slid them on.
“Hi, I’m Karen,” a woman said. “I run the bar around here.”
“Rey,” I said and followed her voice with a smile. I tied my backpack, busied my hands in case she extended one of hers.
“Can I get you a drink?”
“Yes, please, I’ll have whatever Jamie’s having.”
“Jamie, is it?” she said.
Hm. “It is.”
A man sat next to us. His pants—presumably black jeans—brushed the tips of my sandals. “Be on your way,” the twenty-dollar-bet man said, “and come back with something hard for me.”
Now I knew Karen either wasn’t anyone’s pair or she was this man’s pair. I put my dollar on the former. I’d been around enough to know. My mother hustled in a man’s world, after all.
“Vice,” the man said.
He might be introducing himself to me. Oh God, help me. “Vice for vice president?” I asked and stretched out my hand. This was better than him extending his, because I knew where my hand was.
“Vice for wicked.” Soft lips touched the top of my hand, and I exhaled in relief. He was introducing himself. Under my sunglasses, I blinked at his elegant gesture and didn’t withdraw from his soft grip. I wondered if he wore tailored pants. The beasts came in all shapes and sizes. This one might wear nice clothes. A gentleman. Under my fingertips, Vice’s skin was smooth, and I thought I might be right on track with the suit thing.
Jamie worked with his hands. They were callused, and it suited his jeans attire. I disliked generalizing, but I had nothing else to help paint a picture of my husband. I wondered what he did every day, or if he even held a day job. A job would take him away from home. It would give me some breathing room. At least for now.
Chapter Three
Jamie
I’d almost kidnapped Rey straight out of her home, put her on my bike, and driven her to my house. That was how crazy I’d been when I first saw her smile. For us—the beasts from faraway planet Tineya— mating was a simple process. You saw a female, you felt she was your female, you took the female and made her yours. Making her yours meant conquering her pussy with might, fucking her to oblivion to get her into heat. That was our whole purpose as mated male beasts. To conquer our mate’s pussy and get our mates pregnant with little beast babies.
We never told the communities we depended on their females for mating. We couldn’t tell them we needed the girl and not any girl. We’d told them we took girls as pairs as if we could choose between many, even went as far as buying random women and putting them in the cities. It kept the power in our hands,
or they’d try to fuck with us. Or hurt our mates.
Vice—the ass—had lost his mate before he’d even claimed her. We’d been looking for her all over this godforsaken land. We came to Rey’s community in search of Vice’s mate but found mine instead. I couldn’t get Rey out of my mind, and the fact her uncle wouldn’t let her talk to us, wouldn’t let her join us for lunch, made me want to kidnap her even more.
I didn’t ask him to pair her with me the same day. Instead, I’d listened to my brother Vice when he’d advised against mixing with scum the likes of her uncle. He’d said to be certain Rey was mine before asking for her. I went back home and couldn’t get a wink of shut-eye all night. What if she ran off like Vice’s mate had, and I couldn’t find her? Naturally, this idea made me crazy.
Early the next day, I yanked one of their priests out of his bed so he could draw up the pairing papers. I rode back to her community with said papers and a case of money I’d strapped to my bike. Her uncle, the greedy bastard, had taken all of five minutes to sign the papers and take the money, but he held my mate for another week. Motherfucker.
But she was here now.
I buried my nose in her hair and inhaled a peach shampoo scent. I bet her pussy tasted like peaches too. My mouth watered. When I lifted my head, Vice brushed his thumb over the smooth skin of the top of her hand. My eyes turned silver-white, and my canines elongated. Slowly. My brother loved fucking with me. Or he wanted to die.
I tugged her hand away. “Vice, my brother, fuck off about a foot away.” Vice laughed, and my mate chuckled. “Something funny?” I asked.
She shook her head.
I pinched her thigh.
“Ouch.”
Ten minutes later, Karen, one of the natives I’d asked Vice not to keep around, brought me tchai, a cold green sweet drink with peppermint. The tchai plant from Tineya grew pretty well on Earth. I didn’t drink alcohol, not after my youngest brother flipped, drunk on his bike. Went down from a few thousand feet and splattered on the green grass we’d just finished planting that year. Just like that. Gone. Me? Fuck no. I had a mate to take care of and fuck real good so we could have babies. No alcohol and riding for me.
Rey tasted her drink. Again, she tried to fake a smile. But I’d seen her smiles when they were genuine so I knew she wasn’t all that into it. She probably hoped I’d have a bottle of whiskey or at least a case of beer and that I’d pass out. Lots of beasts drank, especially during their pairing party. We called it a mating party, but with natives at our compound and in the city in general, we’d adapted our customs. Earth’s natives couldn’t know we needed the mates they provided to reproduce. They feared us. As they should.
Rey still sipped her tchai but finally scrunched up her nose. Nope, definitely didn’t like my sweet drink. The plant was a native of my planet, not hers, and I liked it real sweet. I liked many sweet things, so I licked her neck and smacked my lips. “I’m gonna eat you,” I told her.
Rey’s skin turned clammy and pale.
I wanted to tell her I often joked like an asshole, but kept my mouth shut. She should fear me. I had her fear and nothing else going for me. It would keep her within the city walls when I left for the day. She could take off on me like her sister took off on Benji before I had to put him out of his misery.
I caught Vice’s gaze. He shook his head in disapproval. Fuck him. Vice had courted his mate for weeks. Even before he’d claimed her, he broke our code and told his mate he couldn’t have another. Said he’d give her the world. Little shit took off running the same night, and we hadn’t caught her since. Ain’t happening with mine. I tucked Rey closer.
Rey sipped her drink and covered her dislike of it with another of her fake smiles. I had to watch her. She covered up pretty well. I bet she was an excellent little liar. Came from a family of crooks.
At last, Rey put her glass down on the table.
Glasses clicked together.
Tchai spilled over my hand before the glass hit the floor. I gripped Rey’s hips, planted my feet, and shoved the bench back about ten feet away. “Damn it!” I said. I’d almost dropped her.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Rey said, frantically moving her hair over her shoulders. Her small feet crunched the glass as she ran back to the table. She took out tissues from her backpack and tried to clean up the mess.
What the hell? I stomped after her. “Don’t run on the fucking glass.”
“Okay,” she said.
“Hey.” I put my hand on her shoulder. “Let Karen clean up. Shit happens, don’t worry about it.” Tchai seeped through the thin tissues and drenched her fingers. Instead of swiping the tissue over the spill, Rey dabbed and dabbed and dabbed. “Watch out!” I shouted.
“Ah!” She jerked her hand away with a piece of glass stuck in the middle of her palm.
“Fuck. Me.” I grabbed her wrist and turned her palm. “Let me see.” Motherfucker. Should’ve just taken her home.
And of course, people gathered around us to see. I spotted Karen, who stood at the table like she didn’t have things to do. “Whatcha looking at?”
“It was an accident,” Rey said.
“Nothing, she’s a klutz,” Karen answered me. She had a death wish too. “Watch your mouth,” I said. “Vice? Didn’t I say to tell her not to come around?”
“I told her.”
“I’m no good anymore,” Karen started. I knew what was coming. That little flavor called drama. The one I didn’t want spoken in front of my mate. We, the beasts, loved to fuck. We fucked often, and we fucked hard. If unmated, we needed to get it like everyone else got it before they committed. Everyone had a history, and so did I, but I wanted to mate with Rey tonight, and I wanted to settle down. I didn’t want her thinking anyone else mattered to me, because they didn’t. But Karen always had a mouth too big for her health, and she didn’t disappoint. “Well, well, well, aren’t you two something? Alpha Beast, I didn’t think you’d mind. A few weeks ago, you didn’t mind. And you?”
She looked at Vice but didn’t get a chance to say anything because I interrupted and said, “Bad shit happens when you think, because when you think, you’re not thinking at all. Mind your position and your mouth. Vice, escort her outside the city.”
Karen rested her hands on her hips. I shook my head when Vice grabbed her elbow to escort her out.
“Hey, get off me!” she shouted. “You’ll tire of the Jamie act. That little whore won’t know what to do with you.”
I searched Rey’s face for signs of jealousy, but she didn’t seem to give a shit. Yeah? Well, she’d give a shit once she got used to her new life and me.
Man, of all the women on this planet, I got a sweet native mate. I needed a female bitch, and not this…this…man, she was beautiful. I had to take care of her hand. My perfect girl might be clumsy, and that was okay with me, ’cause I wasn’t.
A piece of glass stuck out of her palm. Blood trailed down the sides of her hand. She stared at it. I licked the blood from her hand. Sweet. “Don’t listen to her,” I said, even though she didn’t give a shit. “Or anybody. You know how it is in the city.” I plucked the glass from her palm, and she winced. “Nasty cut. Let’s get it cleaned.” I tugged her wrist and led her inside, where I sat her down on a soft, worn-out couch, then left to get the supplies.
Chapter Four
Rey
Back inside the compound, I sat on a leather couch and fisted my hand. The cut burned and bled. I didn’t expect the Alpha Beast to tend to it, but right in front of me, a chair scraped the floor and a black mass sat down. It could only be Jamie. None of the others were this big. How tall was he?
He took my hand in his. Although rough, his hands were tender; claws scraped my skin but didn’t slice. As he poured—I sniffed—peroxide over the cut and wrapped gauze over my hand, I pretended to survey the surroundings while I really listened and inhaled the scents dominating the room. Since I’d lost my sight, my other senses had strengthened, and because I used to see before my acci
dent, it was easy to paint a picture of the room.
To my left, the people chatted around the bar or at least a popular place where drinks got served. To my right, several voices followed footsteps. Coming and going, coming and going. Maybe the hallway to the bathrooms?
“Alpha Beast?” a soft, young female voice said.
“Not now,” he said.
“The cake is ready.”
“Enjoy.”
“Um…”
“Mind?” he asked.
“What?”
“Um means mind in Tineyan.”
“Um…You need to cut the cake.”
“Says who?”
“Says Earth customs.”
“No.”
“I worked two days on that cake. Don’t think for a second you won’t be paying me for it because you won’t cut it. I want my money.”
“Who the fuck’re you?” Jamie asked.
“Catering. Best Cake and Deco? You placed an order a week ago.”
“Viiiiccccce!” he bellowed.
I gripped the couch so as not to jump out of my skin. Best Cake and Deco might lose their employee. Jamie’s voice sounded like he’d eat her and her cake.
Vice’s answer followed the springs creaking under his weight as he sat down next to me. “Great cake,” he said. “I’m gonna have a sugar-coated bride. She looks delicious.”
I chuckled and allowed myself to both blush and enjoy this stranger. Vice flirted. It’d been…never since men flirted with me. A wicked man.
“Pay her and get her out of here,” Jamie said.
“But what do I do with the cake?” the girl asked.
“Bitch’s holy pussy! Eat the cake, girl. Vice,” Jamie growled, then took my arm. “We’re going home, baby. Come on.”
