Sent Beast Mate(Beast Mates, #3)(17)

My body hit the door. Damn doors. I’d never get used to them. Tents had flaps. I walked in and out of them as a free beast. This shit had handles or had to be commanded to open. I pressed the damn handle and entered our Observatory.

Multiple blue hologram panels surrounded the room. Lore sat at the helm, swiping and poking at the laser lights. He swiped over the screen and commanded it to zoom in. I rested my hands on the back of his chair and watched my mouse.

Leather ties nicely placed in a trash bin beside my desk, the mouse put her pants on, tied a blanket over her chest, and now rested in my chair. From the desk, she picked up the human scripture, then twirled in the chair while reading.

Lore stretched out his arm, palm up. He wiggled his fingers.

“Yes?”

“Bet twenty,” Lore said. “She won’t wait for you.”

“She will.” I owned her and had ordered her to wait. I wanted to see if she would attempt to contact the man with my com unit. She’d watched me pull it up. Besides, she seemed to be fond of tech. Maybe she’d learned to use it. “Fine. I bet.”

The mouse ran a hand through her hair, then bit her lip, her gaze dropping to the desk drawer where I’d stashed the Bible and the warehouse key Dewlyn, Vice’s mate, had stolen, then left at my house. We harvested food on Earth in different places, then used ground transport or our ships to haul the goods to the markets. Men of Earth wanted food, so that was what they’d get. I’d given her clues. I wanted to know if she was an assassin sent to the wolves hoping she would complete her mission and then die herself. Or if she was also an informant. Informants needed to deliver information. I’d given her information.

The two girls we’d found dead in their mating beds had been martyrs. They were sent after their mates for their cause of wiping the Earth of beasts. We’d never let them take control of Earth. This planet, although primitive compared to Tineya, was fertile, and with some effort in the years to come, it would recover from human destruction. But if we gave it back to them, they’d destroy all life.

She tapped her fingernails on the drawer, then drew them back.

Lore shook his head. “She’s only here for you. Their tactic seems to be to kill one beast at a time. The higher they climb, the better. With Jamie and Vice up on the ship, you’re the prime target.”

“Thank you for the reminder.”

“Welcome. Give her to me.”

I didn’t answer but watched her hop on my desk, rise on her toes, and twirl. Hm. She bent backward, extended one leg, toes pointed up, and picked up the knife with her teeth.

“What’s she doing?” I asked.

“Fuck if I know. She looked bored, took up something to do.”

“I left her a damn book to read. Inside that scripture it says ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ It’s a nice book.”

“She’s flexible.”

“Thank you, Lore.”

“Anytime.”

Knife in hand, still bent, she flung it up in the air. She spun around, then caught the handle of the knife between her teeth. I shivered. What the fuck was wrong with her? That knife could’ve pierced through her mouth! “Did you see that?”

Lore swiped a hand over another screen and commanded a replay. Sure enough, we saw that. On the other screen, back in the office, she threw the knife again. And again.

I paced the Observatory, not looking at the screen. “Is she done yet?”

“Still at it.”

I glanced at the screen as she caught the damn thing again. I left her a knife so she’d believe me gullible and trusting, seeing as humans believed they were superior to us, that we were animals no different from the wolves they’d nearly driven to extinction. Wolves were predators that hunted in packs, so their belief was fine by me. I hadn’t left the knife so she could play with it.

“She sat back down,” Lore said.

Finally! I looked back at the screen and caught a blush over her cheeks and her pretty face lit up with a big smile. She giggled. Something strange fluttered in my chest, and I smiled in turn.

“You’re a dead beast,” Lore said.

“Why?”

“I think you like her.”

“Of course I like her. She’s my pretty mouse. I never had a pet.”

“Whatcha gonna do when she tries to kill you?”

“She won’t. It’s not in her nature. She’ll fall in love with me and tell me what I want to know.” What I didn’t give voice to was that little nagging feeling in the back of my mind telling me my mouse was a good girl struck with bad circumstances. I didn’t voice it because it would tell Lore I’d already lost the upper hand, in which case he’d be bound to protect me. The thought of him taking the mouse from me for my own good made me uneasy. She was mine. I would have her. She would tell me everything.