by Milana Jacks
“Good morning, house,” I said. “You and I will need to be friends, or I might burn you down by accident. Can you start a cup of coffee for me? No? Well, that sucks.”
Twenty bucks said the note left instructions on how to use the beeping vehicle to get to the marketplace, where I’d use the money to buy whatever I needed. I chuckled.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Fork poised halfway to my mouth, I froze. “Who’s there?”
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Coffee. I sniffed again. Someone just turned the coffeemaker on, which meant someone was in the kitchen with me. I scrambled away and into the corner, and when Uncle Sam swung a pitchfork at my head, I covered it with my hands.
I rocked.
It wasn’t real.
He wasn’t real, but behind my eyes, I saw memories. When I was frightened, Uncle Sam swinging the pitchfork at me came as a flashback. I rocked some more because the scene would pass. “Who’s there?” I peeked between my elbows. I didn’t see or hear anyone. Okay, okay, I needed to cool my shit. Jamie had said he had a cat. Perhaps his cat climbed the counter and pressed the button to start a cup of coffee? “Kitty!” I called out.
By the time Jamie phoned later in the afternoon, the house and I had gotten to know each other pretty well. I’d tripped only once on the cat’s little toy mouse, but hadn’t found the cat. Maybe the cat was an outdoor type and preferred to run around the neighborhood. Just as well, because I’d called it several times while searching for cat food. No cat, but I found a bag of food.
“How’s a day in your space goin’?” Jamie asked as I sat down on the new leather couch in the living room. This entire home smelled new. Even the wall paint.
Jamie was bitter about space. “Great. Yours?” I’d much rather he told me about his day.
“You like your spacious house?” he asked.
“I love it.”
“Did you get to the market yet? It’s a space station away.”
“You’re being a big baby,” I said.
He chuckled. “I need razors, and I forgot to get you a toothbrush.”
“I brought mine so… And I have extra razors too.”
“Those little pink disposable things?”
“They’re purple.” Weren’t they purple?
“A man razor, baby. I ain’t using pink or purple shit. Get me MachoBeast number three, would you? Don’t cook on the first day, I’ll get us pizza on the way back. Did you figure out the appliances? I left you a note.”
“Okay,” I said. “Macho three.”
Silence descended. I waited because I didn’t know what to say. The Alpha Beast was not the man I’d expected him to be. He seemed to care. He could’ve bought any girl, I reminded myself.
“I also left you something on my nightstand. Was gonna give it to you yesterday, but changed my mind and thought it’d be a nice surprise when you woke up today. All alone in your space. Did you see it?”
I stood and counted the steps to the stairs. There were two staircases. Home phone at my ear, I climbed the seven steps of the first staircase, rounded the corner, and climbed up and up the step before the last.
“Meow.” The cat announced her presence.
Too late.
I tripped and tumbled down both flights of stairs, losing the phone in the process. The back of my head hit the wall. I winced when I bounced off and hit my forehead on a glass door. It shook. I immediately covered my head in case the glass shattered.
The shaking settled. Oh, thank God.
Heat rushed into my cheeks, and a small bump formed on my forehead. I tapped it. Not bad. It’d be fine, and I hadn’t broken anything, including the glass, which I was pretty sure was the back door leading to our backyard.
Still, I stayed down for a bit. The side of my thigh hurt, and I rubbed it.
“Rey!” Jamie shouted from the phone.
I got back on all fours and followed his voice. “I dropped the phone! Hold on.” Where was the damn phone?
“Rey, I’m coming!”
Frantic, I hurried back up, tapping the stairs with both hands, careful not to hit the poor cat again.
“Re—”
The cat answered him with a mew.
My hand landed on a smooth oval object. “Found it!” I announced and pressed the phone against my ear with my shoulder while crawling the rest of the stairs to the top and into our bedroom.
“You all right?” Jamie asked.
“Oh, just a phone accident. Don’t worry about it. What’s your cat’s name?”
“Our cat,” he corrected. “And I haven’t named it yet.”
“Is it a girl?”
“Got big balls, so no.”
“Light,” I said, thinking about my hound, Dark. I tapped the nightstand and found the object he’d left me.
“Light it is. Are you upstairs yet?”
“Yes, mm-hm.” On the floor, I leaned my back against the bed, fingers playing with a small velvet box.
“Open it,” he said.
I did. Inside, my fingertips felt a pair of rings. One solid and the other with a large round stone pointing up. My hand flew to my mouth when a sob threatened to escape. I dropped the box with the rings. Rings were our customs, not theirs. This was for me.
“Do you like them?”
I took a few seconds to calm down, and then I said, “They’re beautiful.”
“That’s sweet, baby. Your little voice makes me very hard, so I gotta go talk with some of these fuckers here and get my boner down. But don’t worry, I’m gonna dip into your sweet peach tonight. And the night after for the rest of my life. What do you say?”
“Yes, Jamie.”
We hung up, and I placed the box back on the nightstand. Then I found my pills in the wooden box I’d brought in my pack. I took a few to get back on the bright side of life. I wasn’t one to wallow in self-pity, but I also didn’t refuse chill pills on days I knew I couldn’t find the bright side. My heart ate at me for lying, but my brain told me to hold on for a few more days, until I had a backup plan in case Jamie decided he didn’t want to be paired anymore. Despite the rings promising me forever, it could happen. Anything could happen. My great-grandparents didn’t believe in aliens, but here they were. My eyesight was fine for eighteen years. And now it wasn’t. Anything could happen, and I’d learned that lesson the hard way.
Life was a dealer. Some people got a shitty hand, but I always hoped the next hand it dealt me would hold my wild card. Maybe Jamie was my wild card, and if so, I had to use the card wisely, even if I felt like shit for doing it.
The pills helped me deal, and I napped for hours, effectively sleeping the day away.
I forgot to put the rings on my finger.
When Jamie came home, he threw the box against the wall, then closed the bedroom door. I pretended to sleep.
Around midnight, I crawled in search of my rings. I slipped them on and cried quietly, listening to the TV downstairs.
Chapter Seven
Jamie
“Da fuck you mean the hound ain’t there?” I growled into the phone, already straddling my bike. I whistled and jerked my head. Vice understood we were gonna take a little ride back to my mate’s uncle. “You better tell me you’ll find the damn thing by the time I get there.”
“Can’t do,” he said.
“You will do.”
“Can’t. Someone already took the hound. Swiped it right as you took up into the sky.”
“Who?”
“Don’t know her.”
“Her? It was a woman?”
“From Community Three.”
I put him on speaker as Vice approached. “I thought you said you didn’t know her.”
“Community Three. That’s all I know. Saw her. Dark skin, fiery-red hair to her ass. Jumped down from her car before it landed. Hydro-skater I think.”
Vice froze in place. I knew he thought it was Dewlyn, his mate. Hell, we both knew it had to be Dewlyn. Community Three’s girls had dark skin and
fiery hair, and Dewlyn skated over skyscrapers. Crazy hair to match the crazy under the hair if you asked me, but I tried not to judge my sister-in-law, the girl who’d left my brother when he’d laid out his cards. Dewlyn had said ugly things to him. There was nothing he could do about it but run after her. Such was mating. One-sided. Same as mine.
I’d never tell Rey anything. A day and a half of fucking space to go. I flexed my claws as if preparing for battle. Space? My mate already got her space. She struggled with her new life, and I didn’t know what to do when she didn’t want me to do anything. Fuck forbid Rey left me the same way. I shuddered. With the rings back on the nightstand, the future smirked at us.
Hanging up the phone, I locked eyes with Vice’s red ones.
“She’s been following me,” Vice said. “What does she want with the hound?”
“If she followed us, she saw the owner. She’ll talk to my mate is what she’s gonna do.”
“I’ll handle it,” Vice said.
I didn’t believe him but nodded anyway.
We started up the bikes. They lifted off the ground, and the tires folded. I revved the engine and propelled us to our houses, where we set up a lookout on top of a far building.
Mine and Vice’s homes sat on one side of the road, and the neighborhood was on the other. We were born predators, and my eyes glowed bright silver as I surveyed every person in my field of vision. “She knows where Rey is. When she knocks on my door, Rey’s gonna let her in,” I said.
“She might not.”
“She will.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know. Let Dewlyn drop off the hound. We’ll get her when she goes inside the house. I’ll put the house on lockdown, and you take her. Nice and quiet. This is a family neighborhood, remember? There are kids and fucking curly haired poodle hounds. Let’s not make drama.”
“Your new hound will fit right in with the poodles,” Vice said.
I slapped my brother’s back. “That hound’s gonna bang his way through the poodle pack.”
“How’s Rey?”
“Didn’t want the rings.”
“Keep at it,” Vice said. “Be nice.”
“I’m a peach, and I’m courting her. Every day I leave her a toy on the nightstand. We’re gonna try my new toy tonight. She’ll like it.”
“What is it?”
“Anal hook.”
“Peachy. Does she even know what it is?”
“Doubt it, but she will tonight.”
“Let me give you a tip,” Vice started, and I rolled my eyes, bored already. “There are still, oooo, maybe eighty percent of people on this planet who don’t know how we roll. Maybe Rey’s one of them.”
“She’ll get used to it.”
“You going about it all wrong, bro.”
“Too soon?” I nodded in agreement. “How would you court her?”
“I’d go for the anal plug.”
Rey
“Hey, you,” I said to Jamie’s cat, Light, who ate my hair. Lots of hair to chew on. My great-grandmother was Greek, and I inherited volumes of long, dark brown curls. From my dad, Don, from Ireland, I inherited green eyes. Small waist, long legs with a big ass and big breasts. I knew why Jamie had paired with me at first glance.
I threaded my fingers through the cat’s soft fur. He purred. And continued to purr for a while since I had nothing else to do but pet the animal and allow it to chew my hair. We were friends already. So much for escaping this house. I couldn’t even make it outside, too scared of the city I’d never seen before. When had I become such a coward?
The phone rang.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Rey of the Alpha Beast?” a woman asked.
“Yes?”
“Did you lose a hound?”
Abruptly, I sat up. The cat protested with a hiss. “I lost my hound the day before yesterday. Do you have him?” Hope blossomed in my chest. Someone had found him.
At the sound of my voice, Dark barked in the background. My heart swelled.
“What kind of a hound is it?” the woman asked.
She wanted an ID. “A gray hound.” At least my mother had described him as such. “He’s got a patch of black on his belly and answers to Dark. Got a thick black leather collar with a purple tag.”
“Got your hound, girlfriend. Yay!”
“Yay!” I repeated.
“So, you wanna get him? He looked hungry and tired, and I gave him a Fast-Kid’s meal on my way back from work. Is ham okay? He’s riding in my car. I’m heading home.”
I didn’t recognize the young woman’s voice, so she wasn’t from my community, which was the nearest community to the Beast City. Dark must’ve snuck into another community.
All right. I sighed, thinking. Two problems. I couldn’t get him all the way from her community, and Jamie didn’t want a hound in the house. If I told him I needed Dark, I’d need to explain why I needed him. One night of great sex followed by a disastrous night where he’d slept on the couch did not a pairing make. Returning me back to Uncle Sam wasn’t an option.
Screw Uncle Sam.
Screw Jamie too.
The Alpha Beast had signed the pairing without even meeting me. He shouldn’t have, but he had. A done deal, and there was nothing I could do to change that. Jamie had signed up for a life with me. He should’ve asked to meet with me first!
Terrified he’d find me a burden the way Uncle Sam and even my mom had after my “accident,” I needed to find a way to preserve our pairing for a bit longer until I found a way out. Or until he saw me for me and not for the long, dark hair and tight pussy. Looks were superficial. Pounding a pussy for sex’s sake wasn’t gonna keep him coming home to me either. I was fairly certain Jamie was handsome, and even if he wasn’t, the power he carried probably got him laid more often than I’d like to know. I felt terrible for leading him on, but I had to take care of myself. Nobody else would take care if I didn’t.
I couldn’t go back to the community. My dad was dead. My mom was dead. Uncle Sam would get rid of me. People wouldn’t even notice I was gone.
“You still there?” the woman asked.
I swallowed my troubles, refocused on the now. I needed someone to show me around, and then I could do everything on my own. Dark would show me around. “Sorry, yes. Which community is yours? I’ll get him by tomorrow. I’ve moved, and my car is…is in the shop for the day.”
“Oh, that’s not a problem. I found him in the City, right by the Beast’s main compound.”
“He followed the bikes from the community,” I whispered in disbelief. “That’s a hundred plus miles. My poor baby, his paws must be raw.”
“Very cool hound, huh?”
Dark barked in confirmation. He was cool.
“He deserved his Fast-Kid meal. I’ll pay you back for it. Thanks so much, he means the world to me.” Happy tears spilled, and I let them. How could I get him? I wiped my face and sniffed. “Where do you live?”
“Let’s meet at the City Park.”
“I’m new in the area, and I don’t know where that is, but if you give me—”
“I’ll come by.”
Click.
“Hello?”
No answer.
I pressed the touch screen. Things beeped. I presumed I’d pressed buttons, so I tried to find a redial one.
Beep.
She hadn’t taken my address. I didn’t even know my address. “What is my house address?” I mumbled.
“House of the Alpha Beast. House Nine, Street E, Zone One of Beast City,” a female voice said.
I placed my hand over my collar and gripped the little heart pendant. “Oh dear God, what is that? Who are you?”
“I. Am. House Nine. Street E. Zone One of Beast City.”
The house spoke! “Hello, House Nine. I’m Rey.”
“Hello, Rey. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
“Yes, oooh yes.” I even clapped my hands at the tech. “But first, how can I red
ial a number?”
“Press the green button.”
“Thank you. Very useful. I cannot see the green button. I do not see any buttons. Is it on the top or the bottom?” I ran my fingertips over the touch screen and, presumably, the numerous buttons. Things around the house beeped. Was this even the phone or a controller? “Hopefully, the button’s not in the middle,” I said.
“Processing Rey’s replies. Please wait.”
A minute later, I fidgeted in my seat, seeing as I’d lost the sense of urgency with the woman on the phone. I bit my nail. “Are you done processing?”
“Yes. Voice commands are activated on all appliances. Speak into the appliance.”
Phone in hand, I touched my lips to the phone. “Hello. Phone.”
Nothing happened. “It’s not working,” I announced. The house didn’t reply. “Hellooo. House?”
“Yes, Rey?”
Okay, okay. So to address the house, I had to say “house.” “House, I don’t understand how you work.”
“I do not work.”
“Operate!”
“Processing. Please wait.”
Damn it!
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The house processed the coffee. I’d play nice with the house and wait until it processed. I bit my other fingernail. Once done, House mimicked my voice and said, “Command redial.”
Well, hearing my own voice was a bit freaky, but the phone redialed and rang on the other side.
“House, can you use Jamie’s voice?”
“Who is Jamie?”
“Alpha Beast.”
“Yes, Rey,” the House said in his deep baritone. I smiled and waited for the woman to answer. I’d get Dark. Somehow. What I’d do with Dark after he got here, I’d worry about it after he was here.
Minutes later, I couldn’t get the woman back on the phone. I thought about the pills but poured a cup of coffee instead.
Chapter Eight
