Caught Beast Mate(50)

Vice guided me into the round slick black space vehicle they called a pod. The interior was simple, with two leather seats at the helm, five in the back, with a two-one-two formation. Vice showed me the single seat in the middle and strapped me in with a seat belt, then sat down in front of me when another beast took the front passenger seat. Daddy sat behind me, a shotgun over his lap. I expected someone would load up Torrent, but the doors swished closed and locked.

“Prepare for liftoff,” a woman’s voice said, and I snapped my head to the front. “Seat belt safety, yada yada, and go.”

Dewlyn. We lifted, and so did my stomach.

“Christ,” Daddy mumbled from the back.

I spun around as much as the seat belt allowed. Daddy’s eyes met mine, and his went soft. It didn’t agree with his hard features. With his hair buzzed to a half an inch, and his cold gray eyes and multiple scars, not to mention his broad strong build from years of manual labor, Daddy looked rough for a man in his early forties. But Daddy was not cold or rough, not even a little bit. “What happened?” I asked. Another loaded question.

He shook his head. “I don’t know, baby girl. I don’t know. This past year was a complete mess. After he took you, I crawled back to the bunker, got on the radio, and called Roy. Remember Roy?”

“Twenty miles south. Marker one hundred.”

“That’s right. Roy came up and took me down to Larry in the community. Got treated there. While I was in recovery, that motherfucker Torrent stopped by looking for one Sienna with blonde hair. I’d hoped he’d fallen off the bike and died when I shot him. He lived, but I took comfort in knowing the asshole didn’t have you. You ran free. That’s my girl. Always free to do whatever she wants. That’s how we roll. Damn proud—”

Vice cut him off. “I take it Torrent took you without paying. I take it, it was done by force.”

“Fuck off, Red-eyes. I’m talking to my kid.”

I’d never seen Daddy speak in such a way. Or curse as much. The time apart had changed him, made him tougher, as if he wasn’t tough enough before.

Vice ignored him and spoke to me. “It is unlike Torrent to become violent without provocation. He is a spiritual male, our future priest, we hope.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Dad said.

Vice continued, “But I believe you. She is his mate, so anything is possible. I’m interested in how this happened so that I may find a way to compensate your family.”

“Fuck your compensation.” Daddy leaned in. “You fucking blackmailed me.”

“Mayhem did that.”

“Y’all are the same to me.”

“Are we now?” Vice’s eyes paled.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“They put two and two together after I burned that shelter down. Me, old man looking for his kid. You, the kid they had in the community. I agreed to go back in with Men of Earth so they’d keep you safe. And I honored my side. Unlike them. It was a complete and utter accident I heard about this coup. I was in the right place, diggin’ up the right potato, putting it into the bag at the right time when I overhead them talking about the com in New Mexico and planning to take it back. I’ll never forget the fucking potato.” He dug into his pants and got a round baby potato. “See this, Red-eyes? That’s the potato I dug up when I heard about a coup. The women would handle it, guy next to me said. Martyrs. All of them. So then I had to find my way out. I wouldn’t have called Mayhem if I thought I could kill them all with my two bullets. But as it seems, I didn’t even use my two bullets.” He smiled. “That’s all right. I’m a patient man. Motherfucker’s still breathing. Someone got his leg, though.” Daddy waggled his eyebrows. “You know who got his leg?”

“You?” Vice asked.

“Not me. Karma. Karma got his fucking leg.”

Something exploded. We looked down at the community that, if only briefly, had served as my home. The east wing crumbled in upon itself, carrying the sanctuary with it. Several piles of bodies burned in the yard. Near the gates, Mayhem and Lore stood around one body while those two people in blue hustled. Lore lifted his mother’s body. Hasel stayed limp. She’d died. I looked away.

Vice twisted in his seat and put a hand on my shoulder. His red eyes locked with mine. I teared up again. “I minded my business. I tried to not see things, not say things, not hear things. I should’ve said something. And the boy? Cole? He…he locked us in. He locked us in. I can’t even believe it. Did he really lock us in? It couldn’t be him. I refuse to believe it. He’s just a boy!”