Blind Beast Mate(30)

I pushed past the door and stepped onto the roof. Heaving breaths, mouth gaping, I propped my hands on my knees and checked the area. Full-moon light graced the star-filled winter night skies. In the distance, a giant beast ship hovered over the city. The battle cruiser looked like it would touch the moon. Beneath the ship and inside the city on top of the hills, a few stray cars passed through the night. That small neighborhood was my destination.

“Nowhere to go, man,” the wounded guard said from the bottom of the last staircase.

I leapt onto the edge of the building and yanked off my hat. My long red braid bounced off the middle of my back. “What’s up, beasty mofo? I ain’t no guy.”



Vice



Thousands of feet above the city, in the surveillance room of my battle cruiser, I rested my elbows on my knees and leaned in as if I couldn’t clearly see the scene unfolding before me on the giant screen. My mate, Dewlyn, had escaped our home again. I’d chased after her, then ordered my males to sweep the city every single hour. They’d swept for weeks and come up with nothing. It was as if she’d crawled into a hole and hadn’t come up for air.

When the wait for her to surface got too long, I flew back to my battle cruiser, dropped the ship closer to Earth, and used the air traffic search sensors to sweep for small bikes such as the one Dewlyn had stolen from my brother’s mate. Thousands of small vehicles registered. I waited for one pink bike.

Patience paid off, and I got lucky. Yesterday, a small pink bike had popped up in New City. Dewlyn rode that thing like she rode everything else: hard and fast. And so here I was with my ship’s surveillance crew. My brother followed, his mate, Rey, in tow.

Next to me, the chair protested as my brother Jamie, the Alpha Beast, leaned closer to the screen too. His eyebrows drew down. “You took her hydro-skater, didn’t you?”

“Mm-hm,” I mumbled.

“And she doesn’t seem to have Rey’s bike with her.”

“Should’ve sold that damn thing when you had the chance.”

Jamie pierced me with one of his glares. If I hadn’t grown up with this asshole, I would’ve pissed myself. But I had grown up with him, and also our father, so I kept staring at the screen, ignoring the glare.

“If she doesn’t have transport,” he said, “what the fuck is she doing on the edge of the building?”

I shrugged. “The fuck if I know.”

“If this was Rey, I’d have gone mad already.”

“You are mad. There’s no need to go anywhere.” I watched the screen. The guard—finally!—caught up with her. He heaved breaths, one hand holding the side of his neck. When he saw her standing on the edge, his eyebrows shot up, and he showed her his empty hands. This beast was about five feet ten inches, with a shaved head and large hoop earrings. Medrix. I’d make him run laps for a week. Maybe then he’d build up some stamina. I popped my knuckles, wanting to break his face.

“All right, bitch, listen up,” he said. “Don’t be jumping on my watch. I can’t have it.” He motioned with his hand to the exit. “You can walk. Just don’t jump. It’s not worth it.”

Dewlyn pointed to the two-inch-wide black leather collar around her neck. My collar. The white inscription one could read from five hundred fucking miles away but Medrix had missed, read: Property of Vice, Tineyas Second.

Wide-eyed, Medrix swallowed. “A pair,” he said. “You’re Vice’s pair. Do not fucking jump on my watch!”

“I won’t if you give him a message.”

Both Jamie and I approached the screen. I swiped a hand over it. “Zoom in,” I commanded.

Man, she was something. All of four feet eleven, with her long red braid swaying in the wind, smiling big brown eyes, dirty jeans, and a dirty white T-shirt over her pear-shaped, honed body, she was fire contained in a tiny, sexy box. I needed to open up that box, have it spill its secrets without burning us both. She didn’t make it easy on me, and I didn’t know why.

A glint in her eye warned me something wicked had just crossed her mind. A cold shiver ran through my body. Dewlyn pulled on the belts strapped around her thigh.

“What’s she doing?” Jamie asked.

I shrugged again.

She glanced down, to probably over six hundred feet below. A knot of fear formed in my throat.

“Tell Vice I want him to leave me alone,” she said. “Tell him I hate him.”

“Bullshit,” I argued with the screen.

Medrix advanced.

“Don’t come closer, or I’ll go over,” she said.

“She’s messing with him,” I whispered. Right?