Caught Beast Mate(13)

“Nope.” Three, five… I counted the room numbers on one side of the hallway. Three steps to seven.

“Momma wants to talk to you.”

At my door, I leaned my shoulder on the wood, and crossed my arms over my chest. “What about?”

“Don’t know.”

“You know. Tell me.”

He shook his head.

“Fine, I won’t go, and you can tell her you forgot to give me the message.” I entered my room. Our room, the one I shared with four other girls. I walked past the row of four beds to sit on the gray blanket covering my single bed in the corner by the window. Daddy and I had shared a large bunker, and I’d also shared a room with several girls inside the shelter in Beast City. I couldn’t complain, and lack of privacy didn’t bother me. At least in this wing, I bathed with other girls and not with those monsters on the other side.

Georgina, one of the girls, rested on her bed. A hijab covered her long brown hair. Her dress covered the rest of her body, and she looked perfectly serene reading her holy book.

“Hi,” I said.

“Heard you dragged another beast here,” she said by way of greeting. “As if we don’t have enough.”

I ignored the jab and grabbed my soap and towel.

Cole answered her. “Mind your business.”

Georgina huffed out a breath as she got out of bed and pushed past Cole. He closed the door behind her.

A strange odor drifted inside. I nearly gagged. “Ew,” I said and scrunched up my nose.

“Momma’s cooking,” he said.

“What’s she cooking?”

“Mixing herbs for medicine. You know, for you girls.” Cole blushed.

“If Hasel finds out she’s cooking up contraceptives again, there’ll be hell to pay. Meh.” I swatted my hand through the air. “You know what? I don’t care, I just wish Momma Jo’d let us air out the rooms.”

The beasts didn’t bother the women who huddled in this wing. Some of the women had suffered from a prolonged sickness that had come upon the community this winter. When Hasel tried helping them, Momma Jo threw a fit and forbade her daughters from taking anything from the beasts or even mixing with the beasts, so the ones who made it through the infection were still recovering. Three girls had died.

Once, I made a mistake and snuck meds back into the east wing. Momma Jo found out and warned me she’d kick me out if I ever did something like it again. So I did nothing. I stayed out of people’s way and minded my own business, even though I knew those three girls would’ve lived if only she’d let me help. Her kids, her cause, her business.

I helped out on the beast side of the community because Hasel asked me to. Momma Jo didn’t care if I went there as long as I kept my mouth shut about what went on around here. Like how we couldn’t open the windows because the smell of herbs Momma Jo cooked would spread on the wind and the beasts might come, drawn to the strange scent. Hasel had confiscated the first batch Momma Jo had made us drink. It tasted god-awful, but hey, I hadn’t had my period in January. If nothing else, the tea kept the cramps away. Last week, when I got my monthly again, boy, I wished for it.

Cole leaned against the door. “She wants to know about the new beast.”

“Go and tell her.”

“I’m not allowed.”

“Why not?”

“Hunters don’t yap.”

“Ha! They yap all the time.”

“Amongst one another.”

“You are not one of them.”

He pinched his lips. “I will be.”

I sighed. “Cole. It’s not good for you to think of yourself as a beast. Beasts aren’t what they appear to be. They are not kind, not nice, and sure as heck don’t care about human males. They take whatever they want, whenever they want.”

“What did they take from you?”

“My Dad.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“They took yours too. And your brother.”

“No, they didn’t. Not my brother.”

“Sure they did. Even if he’d left the community, he’s not here, so they took him away.”

“I shot my brother.”

My mouth dropped. “Wha…? I didn’t know.”

“Nobody knows. Kiera, my sister, was dying of flu. Medicine is out there”—he pointed at the window—“somewhere, and I asked permission to go get it. He refused, saying our prophet Tom would come and save us. Tom never came. Instead of Tom, the hunters came. But not before my sister died and my brother tried to escape. My brother was a coward, and my dad was a dumbass who got himself served as a meal.”

I cleared my throat. “Exactly. In the food chain, the beasts are above us. At worst, we are food. At best, we are pets. They like us, but they don’t need us. Don’t forget that.”