by Milana Jacks
A swollen pussy, not ready for more. Yet.
Sienna was Daddy’s little girl. I didn’t think of it in a creepy way but in the same way my dad had sheltered and protected my sister, might even have killed her mate for his selfish reasons to keep her with him for the rest of her life or killed him thinking he wasn’t good enough for her. Her mate was a simple merchant. Nobody sheltered and protected Sienna anymore. Having spent her entire life in isolation from people, having trusted her father for guidance and support, after I plucked her out of her comfort zone, she did whatever was necessary to find her way in a world completely new to her.
Sienna stirred, tilted her head a little, left her neck exposed. I kissed it and inhaled lavender shampoo, a scent I’d forever associate with her. “Yummy.” I licked her skin.
“Hi, Torrent. I hope you’re not hungry.”
I laid my head back on the pillow and swiped stray hairs away from her face, “Morning.”
She scrubbed her face. “What time is it?”
The rusted old clock on the wall read ten thirty in the morning. I pointed at it.
“I overslept,” she said. “Today is Thursday, and we do laundry on Thursdays. Hasel will sprout fur.”
“She’ll get over it.” My hands roamed her back, stroked her hip.
“Yeah, in a year,” Sienna said and chuckled. “I swear the woman holds grudges like no other. One time, I left to mark the community before bringing breakfast for Mayhem and Reagan. She scolded me, and nagged about it for days later. Still mentions it.”
My mate wanted to talk this morning, while I wanted to eat her pussy. I smelled a tinge of arousal in the air. My dick jumped all over that. But I couldn’t be a complete asshole. Not this early in the morning, at least, so I asked, “Mark the community?”
“Mm-hm. I take sticks and some red cloth pieces. I wrap the cloth around the stick and bury them in the sand around the community.”
“That’s interesting.” I ran a thumb over her pale nipple.
“You think I’m weird.”
“No, baby, I don’t think that. I think it’s…different. Why are you marking it?”
“For my dad. So he knows where I am. When Dad went hunting and took me with him, he’d mark his path so we didn’t get lost. If he saw the marks, he’d know it’s me.”
I didn’t have the heart to deliver the news that her dad worked for Jamie and couldn’t leave or risk his mission and his life. “How do you know he’s looking for you?”
“Reagan told me. Before she left with Mayhem to go to New City. After they got together, really got together, anytime I asked her to tell me more about what he’d said, she evaded.” Sienna shrugged. “She’s one of them now, so…”
“One of who?” I asked, even though I knew the answer. Reagan was one of us. The beasts. The enemy. Her nemesis, she’d called me. I gritted my teeth when she lowered her eyes and didn’t answer. “You are one of us too,” I said.
Her gaze was somewhere on my shoulder, and her hand landed there. She squeezed. I flexed my muscle.
“Reagan eats people,” she said.
My eyebrows shot up. “Very interesting.” I said nothing else because I noticed Sienna’s eyes went out of focus and her fingertips slid up and down my arm, down the side of my torso. Back up. Down my abs. My mate was petting me, and I wasn’t sure if it was absentmindedly or on purpose. I was sure that it made her wet, because I smiled at her growing arousal. Mine had already let itself be known. The tip of my dick poked her belly.
“You have extra muscles,” she said and tapped the side of my hip where we indeed had an extra muscle on each side that helped us move faster. “And bones, I presume.”
“And a boner.”
“Do you have any family?”
The boner comment went right over her head. I kissed her nose. “I don’t want to talk about my parents.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m having a great morning.”
“Do you miss them?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because my parents don’t miss me.”
Sienna smiled. “Feelings don’t work that way. You can’t not miss them out of spite. You don’t miss them because maybe you don’t like them.”
“I don’t like them. I miss my sister.”
“Oh, how nice to have siblings. Where is she?”
“Not here.” Sienna’s eyes were like the boy’s from last night. Wide, innocent, and curious. “Your pussy is wet.” I licked my lips.
She shrugged. “It’s sexual awakening. It will pass.”
“I’m surprised you even know what that is.”
She slapped my shoulder. “I’m inexperienced, not stupid. Now tell me more about you.” She batted her eyelashes, blue eyes wide and inexperienced. I didn’t deserve her. “All right. My father is a High Priest of Tineya, a servant of Zivot Maka, our Beast Mother. He’s Tineya’s Alpha’s closest friend and adviser, a beast with a lot of power. My mother is kind and soft-spoken, a complement to his evil. Every firstborn male in my family, ever since our family was registered in the records, has been a High Priest. So when I was five, our father started taking me to his meetings and functions, showing me around the business, so to speak. I loved it. All of it. The prayer hours, the quiet of our…sanctuary, the counseling he offered to some of our people. At twenty-one, I witnessed a Judgment and didn’t want that life anymore.” I shivered. It wasn’t from the cold.
Sienna noticed and rubbed my hip. “What is Judgment?”
“It’s a part of our court system. Any beast sentenced for execution can call upon the servant of the Beast Mother to grant him mercy. The High Priest is asked to judge the beast for the crime. This particular beast didn’t believe Alpha Nie is descended from our Beast Mother, a crime punishable by death.”
“Oh no.”
“Mm-hm. The beast wouldn’t relent, even challenged the alpha. I sat there thinking he should tell them he believed it and save his life. But he didn’t. Kept calling Nie a fraud. I judged him not guilty, for he lacked education, and proposed we take him and his tribe members into our cities so that we may show them the truth. That’s what I said in a hall full of people while I smelled my father’s fear and knew something was off. The beast didn’t live much longer after that. I tried to convince myself I hadn’t smelled my father’s fear when the beast challenged the alpha. He feared Nie would get defeated. If Nie is holy, how could anyone defeat him? Still, I denied what I knew to be true because I believed it blasphemy. When I returned home, my sister called me on it.”
“On what?”
“Doing whatever Father told me, thinking whatever he said was true. Keimia questions everything. I questioned nothing, trusting that my father and my then alpha were always right. Alpha Nie’s lineage is kept secret, and there is no evidence that our Great Mother even existed.”
“Some people question God too.”
“She’s one of those people. Before I left for Earth, we fought, and I told her off. Quite firmly. I was offended. I’m a believer. Usually, Keimia would give up, but the day I came home from Judgment, the day she’d prepared to leave for Earth, she didn’t let it go. She opened my eyes to the injustice on my home planet and offered me her cloak, said there was only one place on the cargo ship and that I was taking it. Naturally, I refused, told her she should leave. Keimia knew Alpha Nie would assassinate me for freeing the beast who’d challenged him. I couldn’t leave her behind.”
“Is she on Earth?”
“No.”
“So you left her?”
“Keimia conked me over the head with the butt of her sword and threw me over the balcony into the sea.”
“Oh my God.”
“Yes. Goner, Alpha Beast’s brother, waited in a small boat, then loaded me up on it like a sack of potatoes.”
“Damn.”
“Mm-hm. In her opinion, my life was worth more than hers because I would one day mate and continue our bloodline. Keimia wou
ld not mate. Our father made sure of it.”
“Do you hear from her?”
“Rarely. Last I heard, she’d formed a rebellion of her own. She won’t settle until Alpha Nie is defeated and Jamie takes his place.”
“Double damn.”
I smiled thinking of Keimia and her fierce spirit. “My sister is very opinionated. She was the first to rebel against our father and the first beast bitch to train for battle.”
“I’ve always liked swords,” Sienna said. “We have an old one in the bunker. Too heavy to lift, but it looks nice.”
“You can play with my sword anytime,” I said and squeezed her ass.
“What happened after?” I pressed her closer. Her hands flew to my chest, and she tried to shove me. “I’m all ears,” she said.
I would not eat pussy this morning. “After the boat, I woke up in some shithole room next to Goner, who liked his booze far more than he should. I protested, wanted to leave. He thought I was stuck up, knew nothing of the world, and offered to show me the real Tineya. So we spent time in some sort of a pleasure house outside the capital that I hadn’t even known existed. I lived my life as a highborn, up in our towers and surrounded by seas.”
“Luxury of ignorance,” Sienna said.
“Exactly.” I pecked her lips after she licked them. “Goner got us bitches and booze, and late in the night, after everyone cleared out, we started talking. I was drunk on booze and pu…only booze. And like most people on Tineya, I was curious about Jamie, the heir to Tineya’s throne sent out to conquer the universe in the name of his father. That night, Goner said it wasn’t so. Alpha Nie feared Jamie, so he sent him away while he still could. I didn’t believe Goner, but after what he’d said matched up with everything else, I became a skeptic, started questioning my entire purpose, mainly the priesthood. By then, I couldn’t imagine serving as High Priest of Tineya one day. I snuck off planet with him, knowing it was my last chance before I ended up like Hasel’s mate after my Judgment.”
“Oh my God, it was her mate. How do you know?”
“Yesterday, I thought I’d mention the day to her and confirm I’d judged him free.”
“Was she there?”
“Nah. Hunters of Mayhem stayed far from Alpha Nie. He hunted them for spreading lies. Those weren’t lies. He isn’t descended from a deity. He’s just a beast desperate to cling to power even when Tineya has a stronger male. Jamie could defeat him, take everything back.”
“Is he going to?”
“Don’t know. Maybe.”
“Oh! So he’s going back to Tineya?”
I showed her my teeth. My mate still didn’t like me or my people, maybe hoped we’d take to our ships and return. “Alpha Beast will never leave Earth to humans. Never. His mate is human. Before I left, I heard there is a female inside Rey’s belly. A female has never been born of a human and beast pairing. She will be the first. Our future is here, so don’t think about me leaving you or you leaving me. We’re stuck together, and we’re perfect, if only you’d believe in us.”
Chapter Eighteen
Sienna
Torrent lay on his back, forearm over forehead. I’d offended him. A knee-jerk reaction from years of growing up believing I should fear, hide, or run from the beasts. One night with him couldn’t change that. I huffed and sat up, my bare feet touching the floor.
I tapped my fingers on the bed. I couldn’t walk around naked. What to do? Ah, Reagan’s clothes fit me. From the closet, I pulled on a white T-shirt and black tights with a sense of relief I didn’t have to wear the baggy dress anymore. At the mirror, I paused. Gosh, I’d forgotten what I looked like when not dressed in those community attires. Despite going vegetarian, I hadn’t lost any weight. I expected a pale face to meet me, but my cheeks were rosy. I smiled and marched to the door.
“Where are you going?” Torrent asked.
“To the bathroom.” I opened the door.
“There’s a bathroom—”
I slammed the door closed.
“Come right back!”
“Sure,” I mumbled, intent on returning whenever I returned.
As I walked by Mr. Silent, he spoke. “Happy mating, was it?”
Christ. He’d probably heard us. “Yeah,” I threw over my shoulder, pretty sure I wouldn’t get the same greeting from Hasel since I ran late. I thought she’d chastise me. Until I walked into the kitchen.
Pans and pots covered every inch of the counter. God knows what bubbled in the big pot. Hasel, wrist-deep into dough, turned to greet me. I’d never seen her smile this wide. Even her eyes laughed. “Happy mating! May you breed the finest beasts.”
“We didn’t breed.” That wiped the smile off her face. Ha! “I thought we’re doing laundry.”
“It can wait. Mating can’t wait. Go back to your rooms.”
Which rooms did she want me to return to? I was pretty sure she meant Torrent’s, and I didn’t want to go back. “Can I help you with something?”
“No. You’re the guest of honor tonight.”
“I am?”
“We’re having a…pairing party.” She clapped her hands, and flour burst out and all over her. She giggled, the first time I’d heard Hasel laugh. “Matings are happening. It’s a cycle. Mayhem released the hunters from duty so they could scout for mates. It’s a cycle. We are in a cycle!”
“What is a cycle?”
“It’s a burst of mating heat. One after the other, bitches go into heat, and matings happen as their heat calls to the male.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m not in heat.”
“Of course you are. I smell it. If I smell it, he smells it, and he’s gonna wanna breed you until you take seed.”
“Ew.”
“Sex is healthy, child. It is healthy for the mind and for the body. In my days, my good ol’ male and I would close our tent off and…” She smiled down at her dough. “We made Lore.” She took a small chunk of dough, spun it into a ball, and put the ball on an oiled tray.
I sprinkled some flour on my palm and did the same. “Do you have any other kids?”
“I had another. Couldn’t carry him all the way.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago. We hit drought that year, and I barely survived myself.”
My hand flew to her shoulder. Before I could retreat from touching another beast, I tapped it. “Lore is a fine man.”
“Yeah well, I hope he’s out there scouting too. That boy needs to settle down. All he does is let those auctioned girls use his body.”
“I’m sure he’s looking.”
Hasel nodded and put the tray in the oven. She wiped her hands on a rag. “Momma Jo accepted to join us at the party.”
I sucked in a breath.
Hasel glanced at me, then back down to an empty tray. She oiled it and worked on the dough again. I made seven balls, she made ten, and we continued kneading in silence before she said, “I don’t know what to do about her.”
Surprised, I paused my work. I always thought Hasel knew everything. She seemed as strong as a rock and fast to make decisions. “What do you want to do?” I didn’t want to make it my business, but I asked anyway.
“I keep them fed and clothed, expecting nothing in return.”
“You also ravaged their home and killed her husband.”
“Their husband,” Hasel corrected. “Their tribe is inbred.”
“It was a community.”
“A breeding tribe,” Hasel repeated more firmly. “Humans produce about an equal number of males and females. Lots of females and only a few adult males in a community makes for a breeding facility. Besides, her husband supported Men of Earth and spat nonsense and hate. A waste of clean air and food. He had to go.”
“Why did you invite her?”
“Shouldn’t I have?”
I shrugged. “Don’t know.”
“I thought you’d like to have her present.”
I didn’t know if Hasel was testing me or genuinely askin
g me if I would like to have Momma Jo at my mating party. I shrugged again, though I wanted her to come. When I escaped the circus and came here, Momma Jo welcomed me. Despite her refusal to see me after my incident with Torrent, when she gave me the poison, she did it because she’d believed I’d be miserable mated to a beast. I’d believed it too. Now, I’d mated him. And I wasn’t miserable. Perhaps it was the novelty of sex or his promise he’d always sit in my corner. I didn’t know, but I couldn’t say I was unhappy, though I tried to deny any sort of feelings for him.
“She is up to something,” Hasel said. “What is it, girl?”
Placing the dough on the tray, I shrugged. “Don’t know.”
Hasel gripped my wrist.
We locked gazes.
“She is not your mother. They’re not your friends, and they don’t care about you.”
I tugged my wrist, but Hasel held firm. “They’re not my enemies either,” I said.
“Are we your enemies?”
I tugged, and she released me.
“The party’s at eight,” Hasel said.
Chapter Nineteen
Sienna
Torrent didn’t wear a suit. Or even jeans. He’d cleaned up, shaved his head again, but not the beard. He’d combed and rebraided it tightly. In his black kilt and armed with a pair of knives, he leaned on the door. Though Hasel had found some crutches for him, once he leaned on them, they broke. In the afternoon, he worked in the shed. He’d reinforced his wooden cane with a large steel pipe. It would hold him better. Clean and wearing a kilt, he looked…deadly. Okay, and maybe handsome. In a brutal way. I’m your monster.
“I’m running late,” I said.
“They’ll wait.”
I glanced at the white sundress laid out on the bed for me. It was plain, kind of like me. I slipped it on. “They say you’re not supposed to see me while I get ready for the party.”
“True.”
“They say it’s bad luck.”
“Our bad luck streak is over.”
“You think so?”
“Mm-hm.” His eyes paled, and I felt as if he’d peeled the dress off me. “You’re beautiful.”