by Milana Jacks
“I don’t mind if we stay,” I said.
“We’re not staying.”
“You could stay. I don’t mind if you stay…alone, and do what you want. If you drop me off at our new home and return, I don’t…don’t mind.”
Jamie’s hands left me like I’d burned them. This time he didn’t growl—he snarled.
I intertwined my fingers over my lap. Behind my sunglasses, my eyes blinked and blinked. A reflex, something they’d done ever since my accident. I hated that I couldn’t stop it. I’d never been a coward, but I didn’t want to lose anything else. Jamie might be a beast with a short fuse. I said nothing else. I only wanted to be left alone. I didn’t want him to learn anything about me tonight.
Jamie
Did she… What the fuck did she just tell me? I’d cleaned up her hand and wrapped it the best I knew how. I wasn’t a nurse. Should’ve let our healer handle her, but he’d strike up a convo with my mate and try to piss me off by flirting. So I took care of it myself.
I snarled.
Man, I’d been growling more than usual the past week. My peach must think I’m a damn hound. Fuck. A hound. I had to go back to her community for the damn hound. Well, nobody said mating between different species was easy.
I couldn’t quite comprehend what she was trying to say to me. Oh, I comprehended, but I didn’t wanna hear that shit from her.
But then my peach went on to explain, drill that shit into my head. Rey said, “I meant only for tonight or tomorrow before we…you know… If…if that’s what you need. I’m tired.”
On cue, the chatter in the room died.
Tired? Bullshit. “Tired,” I repeated. I looked around at the room full of my male beasts, some mates, some native girls, some bitches—beast females—and all-around happy motherfuckers who couldn’t wait to meet a woman who’d settle me down. Every one of them sported a sly grin, and everyone just loved to piss me off. Including my mate.
They’d heard our business. The business I wanted to explain to my peach a while from now and not tonight. She didn’t get it. Fine. I’d show her our business. Right around the time when I shoved my cock into her pussy and told her she was mine. But seeing as she put me on the spot, I moved her sunglasses to rest on top of her head, then plastered my frame to hers so she could hear and understand me. “My beautiful girl,” I said through my teeth. I palmed her hip. “The light of my days, the girl I can’t get out of my head.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“Mm-hm. I am a happily paired man.”
She relaxed into my hold. I liked that, but I wasn’t done. I trailed a hand up her cheek and into her long hair, and lifted the one on her hip and landed it on her ass. Hard. Oomph, she stepped into me from the impact, bumping her big tits against my chest. My hand on her ass and the one in her hair tightened. I yanked her hair back and bit the base of her neck.
Rey
I yelped when he bit me, then pinched my lips together because the room was so damn quiet. Soft rock played low in the background. The room went silent of all chatter. Jamie’s teeth dug in, and he growled so loud, my body vibrated. I found his shoulders and patted them. He was a big man, as wide as a fridge. I was better off not seeing him anyway; he’d probably make me wanna take off at a run. A blessing I couldn’t see him. A bright side in the dark.
The patting must’ve worked, because he released my neck. “You are telling me,” he said at my ear, “I should go and fuck another woman on my pairing night.”
I wanted him to know I wasn’t gonna begrudge his cheating. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I had to put up until I got away or died. I’d love to be the only one for him. Tonight, I wasn’t prepared to be a wife just yet. He expected perfection. He expected babies. Even without thinking of running, I needed to get comfortable with my surroundings first. I didn’t even know where the bathroom was, and I couldn’t ask anyone or I’d be found out and returned. I couldn’t have him return me. So, I thought a bit of communication in between our lies would do us some good. My mother was a whore. I knew how men worked.
“Yes, it won’t offend me. Tonight.” I didn’t know why I added that last bit. Wishful thinking.
“And tomorrow night?” he asked.
“If that’s what you want.”
He spoke so low, I barely heard him. “You will pay for this offense.” He bit my ear.
Sometimes it was best if I shut up. This turned out to be one of those times. I honestly didn’t think I’d offend him. How could I have offended him? Dad and his brothers fucked so many women, their wives didn’t even call it cheating. Leslie called it sharing, and some others straight-out didn’t even want their men around. In fact, they pretended it was normal, a part of their life, and if they made a fuss about it, they got placed in a home so far away from the main community house, they’d need a full tank of hydro-fuel to get to their man. Right now, I didn’t want to be placed far from Jamie, the only person I knew around here. A man who dragged me around, which helped more than offended me.
“Rey, honey,” Vice said and tugged my hand.
“Vice has a death wish,” Jamie said and slapped his hand away. “You might have one too. Did you cut yourself on purpose so you’d go home?”
I stepped back. “No, of course not.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m damn sure.”
“’Cause I know girls from your community do crazy shit to get attention and even crazier shit not to get any. Let me lay it out for you. I don’t fall for it, been there and rode that crazy train with Vice. Let’s get this straight. You are…all mine. If you don’t wanna pair with me, just fucking say it, because I don’t need to force myself on bitches. Bitches come all over me.
“I’m not trying to be a bitch,” I mumbled.
Beasts around the bar snorted.
“A beast female is a bitch. It’s your fucked-up community who misinterprets our culture. Another thing. If you got something to say to me, you tell me at home and not here. And even when you tell me shit at home, don’t fucking tell me what to do.”
“I didn’t mean to—”
“Yes, you did. You think I bought you to put you at home so I can go whore around.”
Okay, then. I shut up, didn’t want to piss him off anymore.
“We’re going home,” he declared.
Jamie sounded like he wanted to be paired with me. I was his. Despite the way he’d delivered his possessive speech, I loved what he’d said. I’d never been anyone’s.
Chapter Five
Rey
One of Mom’s many men slipped past her radar, and his greasy fingers slipped into my dry channel. It lasted only for a few nights. Later, he got bored, couldn’t fit his big cock inside my small frame, and he didn’t feel like putting an effort into it. A blessing. I was six years old.
At sixteen, I found a boy who wasn’t scared of my dad, and I used him for sex. Following a great several months of fumbling, I got the hang of it, got pretty good at sex. It didn’t last as long as I would have liked. At eighteen, I was too busy learning how to deal with sight loss. It’d been a while since I’d had sex. A blessing around the community.
In our bedroom, Jamie’s hands slipped the sunglasses from my head. He lifted my white dress and threw it somewhere to his right. He turned me around and bent me over. I braced with my elbows on the bed. Underwear slid just below my ass cheeks, and he caressed my ass with his rough hands. “You’re mine. Say it.”
“I’m yours,” I said.
“It means I’m yours.” He slapped my ass.
I winced but didn’t make a peep.
He slapped again.
Again.
Again.
I buried my face in the mattress.
“You will not even dream of telling me to go elsewhere. You will serve me in all things as pairs serve each other. Yes?”
Again.
I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a breath. “It hurts.”
“It’s supposed to. Bel
ieve me, it hurts me more.”
Again.
I chewed the inside of my mouth.
Again.
“What did I say I’d do?”
“Um…”
“Mind?”
Again.
“I don’t know!”
Again.
I tried to think while he spanked me. “Mount me? You said you’d mount me like a…a bitch.”
“Is bitch a bad word around here?”
“It’s a beast female.”
“You hate that word,” he said and squeezed my ass.
I opted for truth and said, “Yes.” Oh, my ass hurt. I wanted to rub it but didn’t dare put my hands there. He’d just spank me more.
“All right, peach. I’ll remember things you don’t like, while you should remember I keep my promises.” He spat on his fingers and ran them through my slit. He said nothing else. He wasn’t happy, and I wasn’t happy I’d made him unhappy when I should’ve worked to make him ecstatic. If I knew how to suck him off right, I’d’ve choked on him, but I didn’t, and making an idiot of myself wasn’t on my agenda. Anymore. If he returned me, Uncle Sam would shoot me, so I enjoyed Jamie’s attentions and continued on my mission to please him.
His fingers played over my entrance. They probed and withdrew, probed and withdrew. Heat pooled in my belly, and a soft moan escaped my lips. In response, he grunted, satisfied.
The head of his cock rested at my entrance. It pushed inside and stretched and stretched. It wanted to fit. Jamie’s hand caressed my back, relaxed me, and I moaned louder, trying to accommodate his thickness. A large hand pressed the back of my neck and lowered my head to the bed.
“I ain’t a gentleman. Maybe you’ve heard, maybe you didn’t, but we’re animals.” He pushed into me, stretching me so wide, I thought I’d burst. A pause and he huffed out a breath. “Spread your legs a little more, and use your hands to open yourself.”
I widened my stand and spread my ass cheeks. He pushed in some more. When would it end? His cock felt a foot long!
His fingers brushed my hip and trailed down to touch my clit. I gasped at the gentle Yrub of his fingers. He rewarded me with a pinch on my sensitive bud. “Your little pussy is tight and all mine. Say that it’s mine.”
“It’s yours.”
“You’re gonna be a good girl for me, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“That’s great, baby, now push back. Let your man inside.” He slapped my clit.
“Oh!” I reared away from his hand and impaled myself to the hilt. I gasped, thought for sure I’d split in half. One hand on the back of my neck pressed my cheek to the mattress, and the other teased, slapped, and used my clit while he moved inside me. Slow and steady, he stretched me. My moans grew louder; his grunts followed. He yanked my hair back, my body arched off the bed, and he slapped my clit with rapid hits. I screamed my orgasm, but Jamie didn’t stop.
He didn’t even pick up his pace.
Slow and steady.
His mouth trailed over my neck.
My muscles relaxed, knees giving out, so I hooked my hand behind his neck to keep myself from falling. He placed his foot on the bed for better leverage and turned my face around so his tongue could push inside my mouth. I opened for him. He liked that and started pounding my pussy so hard, the bedframe banged on the wall, and when my legs shook, he spread his palm over my lower belly to hold me up in case the hand in my hair wasn’t enough.
One last push and I felt him fill me.
He paused and breathed hard but didn’t stop kissing me.
And he didn’t fail to clean me up and tuck me into him after. “You’re a champ,” he said to me before my eyes closed. “I want to fuck every hole you’ve got, and that’s what I’m gonna do. Get used to it. You gettin’ used to it?”
I smiled in the dark and touched his face. My fingertips ran over his jaw first, and it was hard. His cheekbones next, and they were also hard, but his mouth was soft, and it turned up at the corners. When I got a good idea of what my husband looked like, I scooted closer and pressed my lips against his chest.
Jamie grunted and moved my hand into his hair. “Pet me.” My smile widened as I ran my fingers through coarse hair that fell to his shoulders. I imagined Jamie had dark hair and piercing blue eyes. “Your people tell me…” he started, then rested his erection on my belly. Jamie’s cock hadn’t gone down. Oh my. “They tell me you like to cook, so I haven’t gotten us anything. I’ll take you to the marketplace…sometime midmorning, and you’ll get what you want. I’ll see my schedule tomorrow and call. Be ready, don’t make me wait.”
I’d rather he didn’t. “If you’d give me a few days of space, that would be nice.”
A claw hooked on the bottom of my chin and pushed my face up. “Space? You know that word you hate? I hate space the same way. I hate when you tell me you want space. What that tells me is that I’m invading your space as if it’s a universe, and I’m a giant blob inside it. I’ve only had you for a half a night.”
“I only meant I’d like to get around by myself for a while.”
“You mean…independent of me?” He said “independent” as if spitting out a nasty bug. “Ever rode a bike?”
“No.” Disaster!
“Then you depend on me, ’cause I gotta teach you how to ride in the city. Streets, buildings, how to land, where to go. What the fuck?”
“Only three days alone.”
“No way.”
My eyes watered. Tears threatened to spill. I blinked them back and hiccupped. Tomorrow was too soon.
“What is that? Are those tears?” He swiped a thumb under my eyes. Could he see in the dark? I was pretty sure we cuddled in a dark room.
Jamie put something in my hand. A tissue. He sees in the dark.
“Only three days?” he asked.
“Three.”
“A courting,” he declared. “For three days. You want me to court you.” A pause as he mulled it over. It took only a minute, and by the time he was done thinking about it, I felt like I’d been lying on pins and not a mattress. He pecked my lips. “The days are yours, babe.”
The nights were Jamie’s.
Chapter Six
Rey
Midmorning, I sat up on the bed and listened. The house was quiet. “Jamie,” I called out and waited. Nothing. He kept his promises. Excellent news, because I could explore and get a good feel for my new home. I needed to know where things were so I wouldn’t trip over anything.
After the shower, I found a new dressing for my hand by the sink and replaced the old one with it. On my way downstairs, I counted the stairs of a three-bedroom townhome and came to a stop on the bottom floor. Hand stretched out in front of me, I counted my steps to a dark painting that hung against a white wall right across the stairs. I followed the hallway along the wall. It led me into a large room. I rounded the corner and hit a marble counter. This was the kitchen, and it was done in dark colors against white walls and floors. The contrast was a good thing.
Both hands running along the counter, I inspected it for electronics and objects, but mainly for the stovetop and the oven because those burned. I mentally marked the first corner, then a long workspace, then another corner where I found the coffeemaker and a toaster before a double-door fridge. The fridge fit into the third corner. A step away from the sink was a stovetop with an oven underneath.
A car zoomed above the house. I froze, hoping it wasn’t Jamie. Did he own a car? When the car landed on the road with a soft hiss, I knew the kitchen window above the sink opened to the street. I waited for someone to come in, and wiped my sweaty palms on my shorts. After a while, when nobody showed up, I reached up and checked the window. The drawn blinds blocked the morning sunlight. And prying eyes. Good.
Next, I searched for a dining room table and found a bar island in the middle of the large kitchen. It had drawers underneath and barstools around it. I sat on the tall stool and tapped the bar’s smooth metal surface. In the midd
le, I found a pen, a rectangular paper—probably a note—and what I thought was a stack of cash. On top of the note Jamie had left me was a small oval object. It had two buttons. Okay, then. I pressed one.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beeeeep!
An alarm sounded.
I pressed the same button to shut it off.
It didn’t shut off.
I leapt from the chair and got down on all fours with high hopes I wouldn’t hit my head on the wall. All fours was better than tripping and injuring myself, so I scooted out of the kitchen, around the corner, and to the end of the hallway, where I threw my hand out and hit a smooth metal door. The front door. The car beeped behind it. I pressed the other button.
The car alarm kept beeping.
I pressed it again.
Nothing.
“The hell!”
I pressed both buttons.
The beeping ceased.
I exhaled a breath and leaned my forehead on the door.
Jamie had left me a car or a bike I couldn’t drive. Jamie had left me a note I couldn’t read. In the cities, they might have tech that could read things to me, but since we didn’t have high tech in the communities, I wouldn’t know where to look or how to use it. Another thing I needed Jamie to do for me. What could I do for him before I asked him a million and one things I needed to become independent? Could I get out of here on my own? I could. I’d figure it out.
First thing first. He wanted to taste my cooking. It would buy me a good day with him. I crawled back into the kitchen and opened the fridge. There had to be some eggs. Everyone had eggs. My fingertips ran over a pitcher of—I sniffed—tchai, lots of beer bottles, and one plastic box—I opened to sniff—food. Hungry, I took the food.
Scrambling from the floor, I found a drawer with cutlery and got a fork. White cake frosting melted on my tongue. Our wedding cake. Someone must’ve dropped it off this morning. Closing the fridge, I sat on the floor and leaned my back against it. I dug into my breakfast of champions. The not-vanilla cake was fluffy and delicious, the frosting sweet on my tongue.
