“Alpha Beast?” a soft, young female voice said.
“Not now,” he said.
“The cake is ready.”
“Enjoy.”
“Um…”
“Mind?” he asked.
“What?”
“Um means mind in Tineyan.”
“Um…You need to cut the cake.”
“Says who?”
“Says Earth customs.”
“No.”
“I worked two days on that cake. Don’t think for a second you won’t be paying me for it because you won’t cut it. I want my money.”
“Who the fuck’re you?” Jamie asked.
“Catering. Best Cake and Deco? You placed an order a week ago.”
“Viiiiccccce!” he bellowed.
I gripped the couch so as not to jump out of my skin. Best Cake and Deco might lose their employee. Jamie’s voice sounded like he’d eat her and her cake.
Vice’s answer followed the springs creaking under his weight as he sat down next to me. “Great cake,” he said. “I’m gonna have a sugar-coated bride. She looks delicious.”
I chuckled and allowed myself to both blush and enjoy this stranger. Vice flirted. It’d been…never since men flirted with me. A wicked man.
“Pay her and get her out of here,” Jamie said.
“But what do I do with the cake?” the girl asked.
“Bitch’s holy pussy! Eat the cake, girl. Vice,” Jamie growled, then took my arm. “We’re going home, baby. Come on.”
“I don’t mind if we stay,” I said.
“We’re not staying.”
“You could stay. I don’t mind if you stay…alone, and do what you want. If you drop me off at our new home and return, I don’t…don’t mind.”
Jamie’s hands left me like I’d burned them. This time he didn’t growl—he snarled.
I intertwined my fingers over my lap. Behind my sunglasses, my eyes blinked and blinked. A reflex, something they’d done ever since my accident. I hated that I couldn’t stop it. I’d never been a coward, but I didn’t want to lose anything else. Jamie might be a beast with a short fuse. I said nothing else. I only wanted to be left alone. I didn’t want him to learn anything about me tonight.
Jamie
Did she… What the fuck did she just tell me? I’d cleaned up her hand and wrapped it the best I knew how. I wasn’t a nurse. Should’ve let our healer handle her, but he’d strike up a convo with my mate and try to piss me off by flirting. So I took care of it myself.
I snarled.
Man, I’d been growling more than usual the past week. My peach must think I’m a damn hound. Fuck. A hound. I had to go back to her community for the damn hound. Well, nobody said mating between different species was easy.
I couldn’t quite comprehend what she was trying to say to me. Oh, I comprehended, but I didn’t wanna hear that shit from her.
But then my peach went on to explain, drill that shit into my head. Rey said, “I meant only for tonight or tomorrow before we…you know… If…if that’s what you need. I’m tired.”
On cue, the chatter in the room died.
Tired? Bullshit. “Tired,” I repeated. I looked around at the room full of my male beasts, some mates, some native girls, some bitches—beast females—and all-around happy motherfuckers who couldn’t wait to meet a woman who’d settle me down. Every one of them sported a sly grin, and everyone just loved to piss me off. Including my mate.
They’d heard our business. The business I wanted to explain to my peach a while from now and not tonight. She didn’t get it. Fine. I’d show her our business. Right around the time when I shoved my cock into her pussy and told her she was mine. But seeing as she put me on the spot, I moved her sunglasses to rest on top of her head, then plastered my frame to hers so she could hear and understand me. “My beautiful girl,” I said through my teeth. I palmed her hip. “The light of my days, the girl I can’t get out of my head.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“Mm-hm. I am a happily paired man.”
She relaxed into my hold. I liked that, but I wasn’t done. I trailed a hand up her cheek and into her long hair, and lifted the one on her hip and landed it on her ass. Hard. Oomph, she stepped into me from the impact, bumping her big tits against my chest. My hand on her ass and the one in her hair tightened. I yanked her hair back and bit the base of her neck.
Rey
I yelped when he bit me, then pinched my lips together because the room was so damn quiet. Soft rock played low in the background. The room went silent of all chatter. Jamie’s teeth dug in, and he growled so loud, my body vibrated. I found his shoulders and patted them. He was a big man, as wide as a fridge. I was better off not seeing him anyway; he’d probably make me wanna take off at a run. A blessing I couldn’t see him. A bright side in the dark.