by Milana Jacks
The guard down the hall walked to my door and banged a fist on it. “Quiet. I’m trying to nap.”
“Call Sienna. Tell her I’m hungry.”
“I called her the first time you shouted.”
“And?”
“She’s busy. You gotta wait.”
“Thanks.”
“Anytime. If you yell again, I’ll break your good leg.”
“Fuck you too, buddy.”
The asshole laughed, and I heard his footsteps retreat back down the hall. A chair protested, so he must’ve sat down. Sure enough, snoring sounded ten minutes later. I wished I could sleep. And I probably could and should, but the image of them raping Felicia haunted me.
Back in Dewlyn’s community, we’d been careless, thinking the humans would scatter in fear the moment we landed our bikes on the wall. They scattered all right, hid, ready and waiting for us. Fucking Vice. All his fault for talking Jamie into training some of the dominant females for battle. If he hadn’t allowed Felicia to train, she wouldn’t be taken now. Fuck me too for not taking the arrow aimed at her back. I wished I had.
I lifted my stump. “Look at this,” I said to nobody. “How can I serve my Alpha and my mate when I can’t even get up and get my own food? Fuck this life.” I banged a fist on the wall and scrubbed my face. My beard had grown too long, and my face itched. I hated facial hair but had to keep it. I didn’t want her to recognize me.
I sniffed. Mother fuck. I stank. Even though Hasel brought a washcloth and I’d cleaned up, I wanted a shower. No, not a shower, a bath. A nice warm bath, preferably in a huge tub with jet streams and my naked mate. I eyed the iron tub. My mate and I would barely fit inside, which would mean she’d have to sit on my lap. On call, my dick sprang up. I looked down at the tent it made, contemplated stroking it, or cutting it off completely since it wouldn’t be used. Neither of those things happened because a rap came on the door.
I propped myself up higher, fixed my nappy-ass hair, and threw more sheets over my middle. I sniffed under my armpit and hoped her inferior sense of smell couldn’t smell what I smelled. Die, you smelly asshole, die.
Sienna wore a long pale pink dress—again three sizes too big—with a white collar tight around her neck. She carried a tray. Her long hair was pulled back in a braid, and she didn’t make eye contact as she sat down on the bed, facing the window. “Hi,” she said.
“About time.”
“I was supposed to remove the curtains.”
“Leave the curtains. Privacy around here is just as bad as it is around the compound.”
“The Beast City compound?”
“Yup. Had a room much like this one. Bunch of males running around. Three meals a day, though.” She only nodded. “Hey, you all right?”
She turned toward me, and then her gaze dropped to my chest. My muscles tingled, ready to expand, ready to try to chase after her. Because she looked straight at the scar I’d left there after her father had shot me. Our med unit could’ve prevented the scar tissue, but I chose to keep it as a reminder.
The silence between us stretched. My heart raced. Steam from the baked potatoes and a chunk of pork on the plate made my stomach growl. Sienna took the clue, peeled her gaze away from my chest, picked up the fork, and stabbed the piece of roasted meat. Was she gonna feed me again? Why, hells, yes. She extended her hand, eyes on the meat. Already salivating, I opened my mouth and growled.
Sienna dropped the fork. Pork juice splattered on her dress.
“What’s the matter?” I noticed her hand shook. She fisted it on her lap. I covered it with mine and squeezed.
“I haven’t had to feed a beast before yesterday,” she said.
“That’s music to my ears.”
“I mean I have cared for Zarik. Mended his clothes, cleaned his rooms, grooming and such, but never fed his beast.”
If I didn’t die, I’d go mad with jealousy. Crazy bells rung in my head, and I growled. Couldn’t continue about Zarik. “What do you mean by feed a beast? We are beasts.”
Sienna reared back. “Your eyes and teeth. You’re spouting hair.”
Shit. I closed my eyes and looked down, willing to calm myself. Even as my muscles strained, my external vitals didn’t show I controlled my battle form. When I calmed, I looked back up at her. “Our eyes pale when we’re excited. It’s involuntary, and I’m mending the wounds, which makes me hungry.”
Sienna tilted her head. “Have we met before?”
Fuck me. Zivot Maka would punish me more than she already had. Our Beast Mother would take more than a leg from me. I knew it, but I’d deny meeting her anyway, because five minutes with my mate was worth a lifetime of suffering. I chuckled and lied straight through my teeth. “We haven’t met. I’d remember meeting a beautiful girl like you.”
Sienna blushed. “I’ve met a beast with eyes like yours.”
I winked at her. “There are many beasts with the same color of eyes as mine. In fact, about seventeen percent of beasts have brown eyes. In our battle form, they pale to hazel.”
“A battle form. I’d call it a werewolf.”
“Ah. But werewolves don’t exist.”
“Neither did aliens until you came here.”
“True.”
“It’s the teeth,” she said. “And your jaw. It’s large and hard, and when you open your mouth, all your teeth show. I don’t want to feed you, you know, put my hand inside the jaws.”
“Well, I’m not gonna bite your hand.”
“I don’t know that. The one I remember bit my dad.”
Here goes. “You want to tell me about it?”
“Sure. A beast went after me and Dad. Dad fought him. Before the beast snatched me, Daddy got him in the chest.” She pointed at my scar.
I lifted her hand with mine, picked up the fork, and put it in my mouth. “Go on. Tell me what happened.”
Sienna fed me another few bites. I put my hand over her knee. She paused but didn’t reject my touch.
“We rode to Beast City. He was losing a lot of blood, couldn’t ride his bike. So he parked in the middle of the desert. Then he fell off the bike. I called his people on their emergency channel and told them our location.”
That did not happen. She made it up. “How did you know to call them?”
“Oh, you know, I pressed buttons on his bike until a beast answered my Mayday call.”
“And then what happened?” I squeezed her knee when she put more food in my mouth. I dreaded finishing my meal and searched the tray for dessert or something else she could feed me.
“I told them where we were so they knew to come get their guy.”
“He snatched you and killed your Dad, but you found it in your heart to save his life.”
“I’m not a monster. I couldn’t leave him there.”
She’d robbed me and left me to die. “How did you know where you landed?”
“A compass on the bike’s dashboard.”
“True.”
“The beast died shortly after. Before the help arrived.”
“Penance,” I said. “For taking you.”
“I’m surprised you agree.”
Sienna put the tray away, then stood there for a second. “You’re not as bad as him,” she said.
“Not at all.” I am worse.
“In a few hours, I’ll return with lunch and breakfast. Three meals a day.” It was already after eight at night. I chuckled.
She winked at me and opened the door.
“Thank you,” Zarik said from the hallway. He and the guard walked inside carrying water buckets. They dropped the buckets and pulled the tub to the middle of the room, then poured the water inside the tub. The guard left immediately while Zarik stayed. “For his bath,” he told Sienna.
“He needs one. Can you help him inside? Then we can be off.”
Wait, what? We? There was no “we” with Zarik and Sienna, and there never would be. And I was certain I’d have to kill this male when he brushed his knuckles over he
r shoulder. The only thing that saved his hand was Sienna. She recoiled from his touch. Damn straight! I sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. “Thank you, Zarik. That will be all.”
He snorted.
“Got something to say?” I cracked my neck.
His gaze drifted to my stump. I was the weaker of the two of us, but I outranked him and Sienna was mine. Mine! I growled a warning.
“Okay, then,” Sienna said and pushed Zarik out the door. She slammed it shut, folded her arms on her chest, and glared at me.
“What?” I barked.
“What’s your problem?”
“Oh, I can’t even count them all.”
“Try.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You care for me and me only.”
“I care for whomever Hasel asks me to care for, and when you leave, this beast will stay. Such is my shit life until I can leave too.”
“Where are you going?”
“Nowhere. Remember my dad?”
“Mm-hm.”
“He’s alive, and he’s gonna find me. When he finds me, I’m going home.” She flung open the door. “Bye!”
“Wait,” I said. “Do you remember his name?”
“Whose?”
“The beast from the lake?” Shit! Too late. She’d never mentioned a lake.
“Priest. They call him Priest.”
Chapter Seven
Sienna
Hasel blocked the hallway as I attempted a dash to the east wing. She wore a dark green kilt and a black T-shirt, still lighter in color than her eyes, which narrowed. “He needs a bath.”
I tried to smile as sweetly as I could, but the thought of touching him made me…uncomfortable. I’d hoped I could avoid it or at least postpone it until tomorrow. No luck there. I spun on my heel and went back inside his room. I’d bathed Zarik, but this beast was no Zarik. This one gawked at me, made me feel pretty and uncomfortable at the same time.
I pushed my sleeves above my elbows, then got a chair and sat next to the tub. I dipped my elbow inside. The water was warm. “Hop in,” I said.
Torrent sat up, and the sheets slipped and fell on his lap so I could see his entire torso, his chest, all corded muscle covered in tattoos. If he was this wide starving, I couldn’t imagine how big he was on three meals a day. I shook my head. That wasn’t entirely true. I could imagine what he looked like on three meals a day. But I chose not to think about that now, or I’d run away from the only place that fed me and end up starving somewhere in the desert. So I stared. Whereas Zarik was lean, Torrent was built wide and…okay, so maybe even sexier with the tattoos. I liked the tattoos. Hunters didn’t wear them.
Torrent stood, tilted a bit, then found his balance long enough for the sheets to fall on the floor. There he was in all his naked glory. My gaze followed the sheets to the floor and stayed on them. For the first time, I noticed the bloodstains and pointed. “You need a new dressing for the leg.”
“Forget my leg. You’re welcome to look at the rest of me,” he said.
I didn’t. “Zarik covers his…his man parts.”
“Does he now?”
“With a towel over his middle.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Maybe because you wouldn’t. He’s not so forward. Much nicer than you.”
“Is that so?”
“You know what? I’m gonna head on over to the laundry and get new sheets. You can get comfortable inside the tub.”
“Stay,” he barked and picked up the sheets. He tied the ends over his middle. “Is this better?”
“There are underpants in the closet over there.”
“I don’t wear them.”
I chuckled. “Daddy always goes commando.”
Torrent tsked. “I’m not your daddy.” He sat back down. “Need to wrap the dressing. The cut isn’t closed yet.”
“Right.” From the supplies in the closet, I got a plastic wrap and secured it around the wound. Then we managed to get his heavy frame inside the tub. He leaned back, a big smile on his face while I sat back on the chair. I tried not to estimate the length of his teeth or the length of the thing between his legs. And I tried to ignore his large hand on my knee and how my cheeks burned when he began swiping his thumb over my skin.
Picking up the sponge, I said, “Nice tats.” I ran the sponge down his chest.
He pointed to the dark blue mass right under his left armpit. “This is Daveko Sea and Singidun City, capital of Tineya. My house would’ve been here, my parents next door, my aunts here. Well, the entire flock of us live on this beach.”
“Do you miss the sea?” If I kept him talking, he’d deflate that big thing between his legs.
“Yes.” His hand traveled up and paused at my thigh, his thumb caressing the sensitive skin.
“There is a lake on Big Bear,” I said, even though he already knew. He told me so when he asked about Priest. “Daddy would get worms before we went fishing. Do your people fish?”
“On the other beach.”
This time, I poked his chest. “Here?”
“Pero Sea, on the west, is where we fish.”
“What do your fish look like?”
He spread his arms wide. “Huge.”
And yes! His hand was off my thigh. “Must make for a nice meal.” In my excitement over fishing, I hadn’t noticed I’d dropped the sponge and had been washing him with my bare hand. I hadn’t noticed until Torrent’s eyes paled and his gaze dropped on my hand resting on his lower abdomen. I froze there and fisted it, his manhood fully grown, curved, and the tip of it touching the back of my arm.
I jerked my hand away.
Torrent caught it. Man, he was fast.
But gentle.
He peeled open my fingernails and put my palm back over his lower abdominals. They tightened under my touch. “It’s just a dick, baby.”
“I know what it is.”
“I’m telling you because you didn’t get the pussy joke from yesterday.”
I frowned. “Sweet pussy. I thought you wanted to eat cats. I’m not quick on the uptake.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is. People talk, and I find myself tuning them out unless they’re talking about something that interests me.”
“That’s not slow on the uptake.”
“Whatever you say.”
“I presume my dick is of no interest to you.”
“It isn’t.”
Torrent leaned in and put a hand over the back of my neck. He tugged. Gentle, not hard, so I could resist him. I didn’t resist. Caught in the moment, I forgot I hated him. I thought he’d kiss me, but he didn’t. Instead, he buried his nose in my hair and inhaled, then whispered in my ear. “If someone else has asked you touch them, I want you to tell me.”
I shook my head. “No one.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Only you.”
“You’re welcome to touch. It doesn’t have teeth. I want to feel you touch it. I dream about your small hand stroking it. So you know, nobody will take your supper away if you leave now. But if you stay, I will make it worth your while.” He lowered the sheet. His manhood sprang up like a dagger. Torrent took my hand in his and put it over his cock. It was smooth and hard. He moved our hands up and down while the fingers of his other hand tightened in my hair and he peppered small kisses on my cheek so I could hear his breaths hitch as we stroked him. “Your hand feels so good on me. You’re gonna get me off. Keep going.” His hand left mine and snuck under my dress.
My cheeks burned.
My whole body burned like a furnace.
My breaths came out hitched and uneven.
He touched my panties, ran his finger over the seam. “Fuck, I can smell you.” He groaned. “Your panties are wet.” He moved them aside, and his clever fingers played at my entrance. I grew hotter, my breaths now coming out in pants, and I squeezed his dick when he inserted his finger inside me.
“Do that again, baby.”
I squeez
ed his cock.
I could stop, leave. I eyed the door. I probably should leave, but I didn’t want to, because whatever he was doing felt great. Girls in the shelter talked about such things, and I’d tuned them out, wasn’t interested in sex chat. I wished I hadn’t, I wished I’d listened to the other girls instead of Dewlyn, who only ever talked about her Kickster. Dewlyn was now paired with the beast man.
A pair. “We can’t pair,” I said.
Torrent ignored me. He threw his head back and asked me to move closer to the edge of the chair. I moved and impaled myself on one finger. “Baby, I love seeing your hand on my dick. It’s so small and does something to me. Stroke me faster.” He swiped a thumb over my bud. I gasped.
He swiped again and again until he found a rhythm. I abandoned his dick and gripped his arm with both hands. I leaned back and watched him stroke himself and stroke me at the same time.
Torrent thrust two fingers inside. I winced and bit my lip, feeling full. His thumb strokes returned, and I began moving, seeking release, wanting to come.
He knew when I was close, for he abandoned himself to pull me to him. I leaned in. A hand snuck over the back of my neck, and he brought our lips together. This time, he held firm, and I couldn’t pull away. Just as well, because I didn’t want to. I rested my hands on his shoulders. Under my palms, the hand that worked my pussy moved with the force of his thrusts, and I panted into his mouth as his tongue entered and sought mine.
Torrent tasted of male confidence and control. For a brief second, I forgot why I hadn’t wanted him to touch me and allowed myself to enjoy his tongue and those fingers with claws that didn’t cut or hurt me. But when he growled, I remembered and opened my eyes to his pale ones. Excited, he’d turned into his beast.
It confirmed my worst nightmare was real.
I fled the room.
Chapter Eight
Torrent