“I changed my mind. Lore offered to buy you back. Do you like him?”
“Um, well, sure. Yeah, he looks…gentle.”
Mayhem bared his teeth. I leaned back as he leaned forward. “I was joking. Lore cannot buy you, because I am keeping you. You understand me?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Nope, de nada, amigo.” I didn’t speak Spanish, but I liked the sound of it. Aliens spoke their language plus English.
“De nada means you’re welcome.” Okay, so this alien spoke Spanish. He pointed behind his ear. “I have a translator.”
“I want one of those.”
“No.” Mayhem leaned back and ran a hand through his blond hair, and as it fell back over his shoulders, he tucked one side behind his ear. This close I noticed the ears appeared harder then mine, as if formed of bone instead of cartilage. Then he stood and began pacing the room. Back and forth, back and forth. His boots stomped the hardwood floors, the hem of his long kilt lashed at his boots, and I began to wonder if he wore underwear or if his things just swung around free.
After at least two minutes of pacing, he crossed his arms over his chest and tightened up his abs. Tall, lean, and blond. Dayum. This beast was a gift to my sore eyes. I should probably work on getting his attention. If any valuable information was to be had around here, it would be from him. Intent on approaching him, I stood.
“Sit,” he said. “Don’t move.”
I sat back down as he did. Something troubled him, and I didn’t know what it was. I hoped he didn’t suspect me. I had to stay here, get whatever I could, and report back to Maurice.
Mayhem scrubbed a hand over his face.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“No.”
“Can I get you a drink? Do you guys drink?”
“No and yes. Sit there and be quiet.”
“Okay.” I examined the vase-and-apples painting. It belonged in the kitchen, not in the office, I thought. But hey, I knew shit about the arts.
“My rooms,” Mayhem said after a minute, “are adjacent to my pair’s rooms. I am not paired yet. Would you like to serve me before I am paired?”
“Yes, yes, I would.” I was in with Mayhem! Hanna would be freed. Relief flooded me, and I smiled a wide one.
“I use other women I own. Do you understand?” My smile faltered. He picked up on my mood switch. “Is this going to be a problem for you?”
“Most definitely,” flew right out of my mouth. You know those moments in life when the brain-to-mouth filter fails? My failing filter would cost me my life. I couldn’t take the words back, so I stayed with it. “It’s the truth. Before I babysat, I worked at the traveling circus. Rope walking and such, you know. I had a partner, and I couldn’t even share my rope with her, so I know I can’t share my toys.” Well, fuck. I’d called Mayhem the Barbarian a toy. I better keep quiet. I’d lived through a long day. What I needed to do was masturbate and get some rest. I’d start anew in the morning.
Mayhem didn’t look amused. I didn’t blame him.
“Rope is a strange toy to share with your partner,” he said. “Do you still play with rope?”
I nodded. “Oh yes, I’m an aerialist. It’s in my file.”
“You know what I think?” he said.
“No idea. None.”
“I think you were sent here for me.”
I gulped. “What do you mean?”
“I happen to love rope too.”
Mayhem
The mouse couldn’t lie to save her life. Literally. If she were smart, she would have agreed to anything I’d said. I did not use the women I owned. My males used them. The mouse would be a different story. I would use her to get the man who’d escaped our surveillance after the auction.
I needed her to feel threatened so that she’d work for me. The easiest way to threaten her was with other women, threaten her that she’d lose her rooms and my favor. She was after me, and I was after her.
The way she couldn’t resist telling me she wasn’t fond of sharing me told me several things. One, it confirmed what one human female had said about me. God’s gift to women. The mouse didn’t share her gifts. Two, Men of Earth didn’t train their assassins well. They threw untrained spies to the wolves, didn’t place any value on them. Men of Earth counted on our lust for women and our need to breed. Although my mating instinct was always present, humming low in the background of my mind, I hunted prey first and foremost. She was my prey. A mouse with whom I didn’t need to breed.
I lusted only for my mate, wherever she might be. Not many of us mated, but I knew deep down inside, one day I would. I had to. I was the last of my line, the last one with royal Alpha blood from my tribe. I couldn’t be so unlucky as not to find the one who would give me babies to continue my line.