Blind Beast Mate(23)

“No.” I shook my head. “Don’t say it. I left her alone for days, and she didn’t even know where she was.”

“You’re an ape. How could you not know? Oh, hold up.” He raised his hand. “I know how. You took her like an ape. Ape thought banging her and swinging his cock around was all it would take. You thought that’s all you had to do. I told you about the natives. These women aren’t bitches. You can’t just fuck them into submission, you gotta…talk. A looooot of talking about issues until your head hurts, but—”

“Shut up, Vice, I’m having a mental breakdown.” I scrubbed my eyes. “She asked me to leave her alone so she could figure out how to get out before I found out. But with no… The notes. Oh shit.”

“You wrote her love notes?” Vice threw his head back and laughed. She couldn’t read the notes. I’d almost spanked her for not reading them, not doing the things I wanted her to do. “Yeah, have a breakdown. Ape.”

I snarled in frustration.

“It’s the pairing,” he said. “That’s why most of the mates are running. We buy them like fucking candy at the store. We put prices on our mates. Have a think. Rey? We paid real nice for her. Real sweet, that one, and paired with an ape.” Vice shook his head. “It’s a bad practice all around. Dewlyn will tell ya. Showed me, all right, left my ass even after I’d courted her and talked about issues.”

“Courting didn’t help you any, and you broke our code.” Vice had explained the mating to Dewlyn.

“If you don’t break yours, you’re gonna regret it. You know anything about Rey?”

“Yup. She’s mine.” I thumped my chest.

“Apeshit.”

“I’m going over there.” I hopped on my bike and revved the engine.

Vice slapped a hand over my shoulder.

I bared my teeth. “Don’t fuck around, my brother.”

“Dewlyn will come. If you go there, she’ll bail again and do something stupid, get herself killed.”

He’d never forgive me. I revved the engine, pissed at myself for not seeing what was in front of me, and hella pissed at Rey for not telling me.

I moved the bike to hover over the lighthouse.

Rey removed her shoes, and her bare feet toed the edge of the pool. The hound barked several times. I didn’t think he liked her standing near the edge. I sure as fuck didn’t.

The back door slid open.

Dewlyn stepped outside.

Rey startled and fell into the pool.

My heart ceased beating.



I propelled the bike over the water. It wouldn’t go fast enough. When I got shoreside, I dropped onto the sand, not bothering to land my bike. My feet had never moved faster, and in a single three-hundred-foot leap, I dived after her.

At the bottom of the pool, Dewlyn tried to get Rey, but Rey was panicking and dragging them both down. Dewlyn’s mane of red hair and Rey’s brown one spread all around them. I couldn’t see shit. So, I yanked them both by their hair. It was all I could see, the first thing I could grip. I swam up and up, and when I reached the top, I had the two by their waists on either side of me. I shook the water from my face.

Vice stood on the edge and extended his hands. He had a mean look on his face. I handed him his. “If you don’t spank her blue, I will.”

Dewlyn caught her breath, then kicked and screamed as Vice carried her next door.

The hound kept barking, running in circles around the pool. Rey didn’t say anything, but I heard her rapid heartbeats. I bent her over the edge, where she coughed out the water from her lungs. Leaning my cheek on her back, I closed my eyes and breathed in deep. My lungs filled, and I released a slow, measured breath when I really wanted to snarl. Anger coursed through me like a living thing. It was better for us that she couldn’t see the silver glow of my eyes. I wanted to war.



Water from my hair dripped on my shoulders. I gripped my towel and tightened it around me. Dark sat next to my chair and whimpered every now and then as Jamie paced around the bar area in our kitchen. If anger could be felt, I’d drown in it right now. Playing around the deep pool wasn’t smart. I didn’t think it was that deep. I imagined it to be a shallow pond I could dip into. It wasn’t. And it wasn’t because Jamie was a big beast who needed a lot of room. I kept forgetting who he was.

The refrigerator door opened. “Wanna drink?”

I barely recognized his voice. Too deep and a bit scary. “No, thank you.”

“My little brother liked to drink,” Jamie said. “His favorite pastime on this planet. I didn’t understand it, and I hated it, but now I get it.”