by Milana Jacks
Rey
An hour later, unable to get in touch of the woman and get Dark back, unable to make anything for dinner because I didn’t have any food, memories of Mom assaulted me. I didn’t want to have another bad day. I tried to force my brain to think about the memories I wanted to embrace in favor of the ones I wanted to forget. I wanted to remember my mom as the good mom she could’ve been. After she’d overdosed, I couldn’t shake of the guilt that rode me when I thought about her. I only remembered her bad days. And they were many.
Sitting on the floor, I leaned my back against the couch. Mom tried to stay sober when I’d lost my sight. She’d tried. At least I liked to think she’d stayed away from drugs and alcohol. I wanted to treat her addictions as a disease. I wanted not to blame her and feel guilty about blaming her. But it was hard to treat an addiction as a disease when I knew it was one she could’ve cured with willpower. When did lack of willpower become a disease? And when were people better people once they’d died? Did death make people better, somehow justified the way they’d lived and what they’d done while alive?
I asked the House to recite me all its functions.
In Jamie’s voice.
It soothed me, cleansed away the ugly thoughts. When more memories drifted through my mind, I cringed, not wanting to think about the day Uncle Sam came to fuck Mom and found me sleeping in her bed. He’d said things I was too young to understand. I understood them later when it was too late.
Not remembering wasn’t working for me today. I crawled to the fridge for more of my pairing cake. Before I ate everything, I saved one piece for Jamie, then dug in at the table, stuffing my mouth with happy thoughts. I thought about him and his warm body against mine, and I thought about his mouth and his big hands, and how I didn’t want to experience his disappointment. I knew he’d be disappointed because Jamie had bought a perfect peach.
A peach who didn’t even dare to go out and walk in the backyard.
Not even with a cane.
But I had to get out, or I’d rot in the house, fall back into the depression hole I’d crawled out of last year. Dealing with sight loss and Mom’s drinking and drug use took a long time. Dad didn’t really know what to do with me. Not that he made the time to do anything with me either.
I wiped my face and breathed deep, sat there for a while.
I needed to get some fresh air.
A knock sounded at the front door. On the other side of the door, Dark barked, announcing his presence. I nearly tripped over my feet to answer. I flung the door open, a big grin on my face. “My boy!” Dark tried to curb his excitement and went to work immediately. He placed his body next to my leg and waited for the leash, but his rapid tail wagging shook his whole body and gave him away. He didn’t want to work. He wanted to play. “Thank you,” I said to the silhouette against the sunlight as I knelt to pet Dark. “Oh, I am so glad you came by.” Not that I’d given her an address or anything, but maybe she had tech to find my address.
I frowned. How did she even know my phone number? A cold shiver ran down my spine. I’d answered the door for a stranger. It didn’t matter she was a woman. I shouldn’t have flung it open the way I had. I looked up. “Hello? Anyone?” Nobody was there. I squinted against the daylight and tried to pick up on dark masses on the street. There weren’t any.
I guessed the girl had left without a word, so I closed and locked the door behind me. Bending, I hugged Dark and inhaled his hound scent. I scrunched up my nose. I’d need to give him a bath, but first I checked his paws since he’d run for hours. When I pressed on the soft bottoms, he didn’t respond or jerk his paw away as if in pain. I ran my fingertips over the bottoms of the paws and didn’t feel any cuts or objects imbedded inside. “You’re not even sore,” I told him. Weird, but okay. “Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll find you a place in the backyard so Jamie doesn’t go crazy and bite you. Don’t tell him I said that. Then we’ll rest. Do you like cats?”
Dark barked a definite yes. Or so I told myself.
Neither Dark nor I were ever trained on guidance. We trained together, worked together the best we could. At first, when I’d found him outside the community gates, we fumbled a lot. Back then, depressed and angry at the whole world, I often contemplated whether life was worth living. Dark taught me more about sight and humanity than any other person I knew. When he first started to lead me around by barking, I got out of my self-pity stage and rushed head-on to train with him. Although Dark had failed the temperament training once, he was a smart animal and, to be honest, a pretty good judge of character. He hated Uncle Sam and had bitten him.
I reached for Dark’s leash. He whined, in a way telling me I’d taken it off in the community. “I’m sorry, boy. I didn’t have a choice, but I promise I’ll work on the big bad beast.” I needed to leash Dark, hold him next to me, so we could go out in the backyard and he could see where I stepped. I had to find a place to hide him for the night, and I wanted fresh air.
We went up to the bedroom while I spoke to Dark and told him about our new talking house. I wasn’t crazy, I knew he didn’t understand me, but when this animal was all I had for company, it wasn’t crazy to speak to him. It would drive me crazy not to speak to anyone. In the past, a living, breathing animal in the house had been my salvation on days when all I had to look forward to were my soft footsteps in a dark house.
Upstairs, I dug into Jamie’s side of the walk-in closet and found his drawers. I opened every one of them, then touched in between the racks of jeans and leathers. He must have old belts, Dad had a dozen belts. I tapped around and tapped some more. I didn’t find a belt, and I knew I was running out of time. He’d be home any moment.
Dark nudged my leg.
I touched his head and his jaw. Something round, long, and coarse brushed my fingertips. It wasn’t a belt. What was it? I gripped it and frowned, ran my hand over the long, flexible object. It was coarse yet not abrasive at the same time. “I think it’s rope.” Dark held Jamie’s rope between his teeth. A rope. In the bedroom. Okay, then.
I padded my way to Jamie’s side of the bed and placed my hand on top of the nightstand. Dark must’ve found it on the nightstand, because he couldn’t open the drawers. Patting the surface, carefully, so I wouldn’t knock things off, I knocked something off anyway. Quickly, I grabbed it before it fell.
I gripped a long, smooth, metal object. It curved like a fishhook with a ball on the tip. Jamie had left the rings on the nightstand too. A courting custom of a sort for him. This was another gift for me, but I had no idea what this was, so I placed it back on the stand.
Sighing, I threaded the rope through the metal hook of Dark’s collar and headed downstairs. I paused on the last step. I loved bikes. The entire neighborhood heard a man coming home.
I swung open the back door.
Dark went outside.
I crawled back upstairs.
Chapter Nine
Jamie
Rey had about three minutes to straighten up the things before I walked inside. We’d play a little interrogation game. The one where I asked questions and she answered. Like how in the world did she know Dewlyn? Had Dewlyn been in contact with her? What were they up to? Running together. My claws flexed.
In the driveway, I checked the bike to see if she’d used it. I’d programed it to city limits only, and the mileage read “sixteen.” Same as yesterday. I stormed inside and sniffed out Rey, coffee, and a dirty hound. She’d hidden him somewhere thinking I wouldn’t let her have it. And that was fine by me.
I whistled. My cat didn’t come begging for food. Big Balls—Light was a better name—was fed and hiding from the hound. The smell of coffee told me she’d figured out how to use the house tech. Still, she hadn’t gone to the marketplace. I opened the fridge and scouted the empty shelves. She ate only cake. Left me a piece. Coffee and cake. All she was eating. What the hell? Was she starving herself?
I slammed the fridge closed and walked to the glass door overlooking the backyard,
where a hound sprawled in my damn lounge chair. He didn’t even bother to turn and look at me. His tongue hung out of his drooling mouth, saliva pooling on my brand-new chair. Little shit. Hand on the door, I almost opened it, then decided I’d let her explain. I’d given her enough space. Two nights, and one of those nights I’d spent on my couch. Fuck space.
Three steps at a time, I climbed upstairs. I opened and closed the bedroom door, intended to speak with her about her damn space. I was gonna give her a piece of my mind. Inside a dark room, I threw the keys on the dresser and went to turn the lights on, thinking she pretended to sleep again.
And then I saw her. Naked. She knelt on the edge of the mattress and pressed her cheek to the soft cotton sheets, effectively giving me her ass and a slit between her legs. Her hair fanned out around her like a veil. Reaching under with little fingers, she teased her clit.
I stood behind her ass and looked down at her pussy, my mortal enemy. I inhaled. Man, if I had nipple clamps for her tits, I’d close them over my nose right now. I inhaled her budding arousal again. My claws flexed, and I grunted when my cock sprang up. “What’s this?”
“A peace offering,” she said.
“Damn straight.”
She chuckled.
What happened to the piece of my mind I was gonna give her? My mate’s peach pussy happened. I looked down at my erection. She had me by the balls. The mating worked its magic. It was as if Rey had said Here’s some sweet pussy, beasty boy, and I said, Yes, ma’am, gimme a lick. What the fuck? I groaned and sat next to her. Leaning, I kissed one ass cheek, then kicked off my boots and undressed. After I walked around the bed, I took her hand and thumbed my rings. “You decided you liked the rock after all.”
“I love it,” she said. “I’m sorry about last night.”
Damn straight. I glanced at the nightstand for the toys I’d left her. I wanted her to get familiar with things I wanted to do. “Baby, did you find my note downstairs?”
“Um, no, I didn’t see it.”
“It was on the bar.” She didn’t reply. “It’s all right, maybe the cat played with it.” The cat didn’t play with it. The cat knew better than to climb my new kitchen.
“What did it say?” she asked.
“It said you should wear your butt plug tonight,” I lied. “I left it here for you.” I’d left rope and an anal hook.
“Ah yes. I didn’t know what it was.” A pause. “And there was no lube,” she added.
“The lube’s in the drawer.” I’d teach her the difference between a hook and a plug soon. “Have you seen what’s in the drawers?” I put the hook back in the drawer and got the plug. I lubed it and put in on the nightstand.
“I didn’t want to…invade your side. For privacy, you know.”
“Fuck privacy. I want you to learn what I like so that when I shove things up your ass, you’ll know what’s coming.”
She chuckled. “I get it.”
“Good. You got a hairbrush? A thick, strong one?”
Rey left for the bathroom while I searched under the bed for my rope. She returned with a wooden hairbrush and scurried back on the bed. I stuck my hand out and caught her hip to plop her on my lap. Her hair smelled like my shampoo. I didn’t like it, and I didn’t like how she often hung her head, rarely ever met my eyes. I turned up her face. Rey’s body stiffened. “Look at me,” I told her.
We locked eyes, and I heard her pulse pick up. Good. My mate had pretty green eyes framed in long eyelashes. She really was the most beautiful girl, and I couldn’t be mad at her for five seconds, let alone five minutes. Still, I had to be firm so she knew I wasn’t playing around. “Tonight, I’m gonna groom you and play with your ass and your pussy.”
“Groom me?”
“Brush and braid your hair. Tomorrow is a new day. You can look forward to spending some more time with me, seeing as the space I’ve given you is too spacious. I’m worried about you. I know you take meds.”
She hung her head again. “It was only yesterday. I don’t take them every day.”
“Who gave them to you?”
“My aunt.”
I’d have a word with her aunt. Rey was twenty-one to my two hundred, and she wouldn’t age anymore, because that was how mating worked. She was very young. At her age, I thought I knew everything about life when I didn’t know shit. Under my claw on her chin, her jaw moved as she ground her teeth. Was she gonna bare her teeth at me? Oh, fuck that. I bared mine. She didn’t flinch, but her heart beat faster.
Hm. Maybe scaring her wasn’t such a good strategy. I contemplated this. A beast bitch would want to be scared, chased, and hunted, then impaled and fucked hard. Rey was no bitch. I had to figure this out on my own since I couldn’t take much advice from my unwise brother. His mate ran around the land like a stray puppy.
“Back on Tineya, when I was twenty-one,” I began, “I’d just finished my military training and I was ready to explore…space. My parents didn’t let me, and I didn’t like how they had control over what I did and didn’t do. Dad and I butted heads for a year. One day, he sat me down and told me Tineya can’t have more than one Alpha. So he gave me a ship and told me to get the fuck off his planet. Me, Vice, and Goner started planning our trip to Earth, and when we mapped our voyage, we took volunteers with us. You all needed some governing anyway, so we took over what was left of your cities.”
“Who is Goner?”
“Goner is my younger brother. He crashed and burned. I renamed him Goner after. It’s what my people do. We rename the dead.”
She swallowed. “It fits.”
“Took up Wolf for myself just in case. Remember that.” The scent of her arousal drove me nuts. My hand found its way between her legs, and I played with her pussy lips while waiting for her to tell me it fit. Cold silver eyes Vice had said fit the name Wolf. Rey didn’t say anything.
“And Vice?” She blushed a little.
“Why you interested in Vice? Because he kissed your hand? I’m gonna cut his hand off and gag his big mouth.” I moved her to the bed and arranged her just the way I wanted her, kneeling with her back to me. I placed her palms on her thighs and stood behind her to watch her hair tickle her ass.
She showed me her profile. “I’m not interested in him.”
“So why are you blushing?”
“Because…” She cleared her throat, clearly uncomfortable, but I wanted her to get on with it. She was mine, and she ought to fucking tell me everything. “I want to touch you too,” she said.
Huh. There I unloaded my history thinking I’d get her to unload some of hers, and all my peach wanted was to mate. I could do that, and I would after I cleared some air. She had me by the balls, and I’d have her by the pussy.
She wanted to stroke my cock. “Great, baby. Keep talking. I like this.” I got the plug. One hand on her shoulder, I said at her ear, “I’ll let you play with my cock, let your little hand slide up and down while your pouty little mouth sucks on it. Sit up a little.” When she did, I pressed the tip of the plug to her asshole. “Now, sit down. Slowly, let it slide in.” I pressed her shoulder and guided her down. The plug was seated, and Rey sighed in discomfort. It was okay. First time. It shouldn’t be comfortable.
But I could make it comfortable. I poked her pussy with my finger, conscious of my claws. It was wet, and my finger glided in and out with ease. My peach needed attention; her greedy pussy told me so. “Does your pussy hurt like it’s missing something?”
“Yes, it aches.” She lifted her ass off her heels and lowered it to the mattress, trying to get more of my finger inside. I hovered on the outside and teased her. “Greedy little pussy,” I said. “Wants something bigger. Your beast gonna give you bigger.” I bit her ear. “You think you’d gag on me? I bet you would. Should I make you gag?”
She nodded, still trying to ride my finger, so I gave her two. I let her fuck herself, coat my fingers. When she got close to coming, and even though I loved hearing her come undone for me, I licked my wet finger
s.
Rey protested.
I ignored her and picked up the hairbrush, spun it in my hand. Groom her hair or paddle her ass with it? Decisions, decisions. I opted for paddling because she kept trying to play with herself. Her fingers were back down there, and she rode them.
“Did you get your pussy nice and wet?” I asked.
“Mm-hm.”
“Get your fingers out of there and put your hands here.” I tapped the mattress, and she stretched her arms, hands folded on top of one another exactly where I’d tapped. She wiggled her ass while I shuffled through the drawers looking for my rope. “Where the fuck is my rope? Lock the bedroom from now on, I don’t want animals in here.” The cat might’ve chewed and clawed my rope, thinking it was his toy. Now I had a hound too. Definitely locking this room.
No rope meant I’d work with my hands and she’d have to do as told. Fine. One-handed, I took her wrists and placed them at the small of her back. I dropped to my knees so I could take a better look at her pussy. Rey’s pussy was pink and small. Cute. “Baby,” I said, and she startled at my breath on her wetness. “I’m gonna paddle your ass, okay?” She had a big ass. It would bounce and bounce, and I’d lick her like a puppy after. I ran my tongue over my canines.
“Um…if that’s what you want.”
“I want, and you will tell me if you don’t like it. Yes?”
“Yes.”
“You will not lie to me.”
“Okay, Jamie.”
I swung the paddle.
Rey yelped and immediately tried to get away. I held her down with my other hand and hit again. And again.
Again.
Again.
And over her pussy.
Rey screamed. Her pussy swelled, and I poked it with my tongue, sucked her clit between my teeth until she calmed, thinking I was done. I hit both cheeks real fast. Snap, snap, snap, snap.
Rey wiggled, then twisted to the side.
Two more.
I swung and hit the back of her thigh. My eyes glowed with excitement, watching her in pain. I tasted her pussy again, just a small lick so that I was sure she liked it. Her arousal filled the room. I swung one last time and placed the brush next to my knee.
