“I’m not… I…”
“Do it!”
I gripped the handle. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I live only for you.”
He lived for me. I tried to process what he’d said. He lived for me, and I’d come here to hurt him. He wasn’t a bad man, so that made me a cold-blooded killer. No different from those men who’d killed Mike. With his knife in my hand, I felt safer. It gave me courage, so I said, “Men of Earth settled in our circus camp, held ol’ Mike, and brought me here to get information. See, here’s the thing. Mike’s wife didn’t want to adopt me. She left him after he adopted me. I owe him everything, and they killed him. They wanted me to poison you. They want you to stop hunting because you’re getting close to their camp. I want you to stop hunting. I don’t want your hunters to get this one guy, because he’s mine.”
Mayhem took a few seconds, then his eyes paled in excitement. “You plan to avenge your father. I feel your need.” He thumped his chest. “Here. Knowing my mate wants to hunt down my enemy makes me all warm inside. Vengeance will be yours. Where is he headed?”
The doors crashed open.
Mayhem leapt off the chair, banged a fist on the table, and his muscles bulged in an instant. Knife in hand, I stood too.
“Lore! Stay back,” he said.
Lore peeked around the corner, then withdrew. A hand flew around my waist, and Mayhem positioned me behind him. A low growl rose in the room, a warning growl.
“Don’t believe her lies,” Lore said. “Come in, and nobody’s gonna get hurt.”
“Touch her and die.”
Lore stepped out and showed Mayhem a strange-looking thing. Maybe a gun? I’d never seen any of them with a gun, only knives or machetes. “Nobody’s gonna hurt her. Let me take her.”
“Die it is.”
Mayhem lunged, catching Lore by surprise. Chaos erupted. Claws slashed, and I screamed as Lore clawed Mayhem’s chest. Blood seeped from his wounds, and yet he stood there and bellowed, “Don’t touch her!”
Three more beasts entered the house. Needles flew out of the gun and into his neck. Mayhem went down. He propped his hands on the floor and tried to get up. Our eyes locked.
A tear escaped mine. He would give his life for me, and I’d almost taken his. Then I just stood there looking to be saved like the helpless child I’d once been.
“She’s with Men of Earth, Mayhem,” Lore said, and put a hand on Mayhem’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.” He pointed at me. “Take her.”
“Run, Reagan, run,” Mayhem yelled before he threw Lore across the living room and lunged at two males advancing on me. One beast left for me. I skipped to the right. The beast followed, his hands outstretched as if to catch me. I could tell he didn’t intend to hurt me, because he hadn’t grown into his battle form like the other beasts. I skipped to the left, and he followed. Then I rushed him, crouched, and slid under his legs, slicing across his inner thigh. I ran out the house to the open garage door, burst through, and leapt on the pink bike. “Anywhere but here. Go, go, go!”
The other door connecting to the house burst open. Oh God, no.
Hands grabbed my hips.
I twisted, knife positioned to stab. Mayhem. “I almost killed you!”
“Twice.” He threw me over his shoulder, opened the space car’s door, and flung me in the backseat. His beasts blocked the driveway. He took the wheel at the same time as Lore appeared at the car. He banged the top. “You can’t leave us. You hear me!”
Engines roared. The car lifted and propelled us to the skies.
Chapter Seventeen
Reagan
In the back of the car, it smelled of evergreen and, maybe, baby powder. I got my shit together, fixed my hair and clothes while looking around Mayhem’s car. A minivan of a sort. I’d never been inside a sky car, and I didn’t know what to expect of the interior. Portable shelves full of diapers and baby supplies on my right and a large sliding door for the back passengers on my left made me think it was some sort of family car. Why in the world would a single beast male have a car like this?
Past the baby seat and three toddler car seats, I moved to the passenger seat. Mayhem had saved my life from his people. He got me out of there when he could’ve gone down and let them take me. He knew I’d tried to poison him, and he’d have let me. He was either crazy or as crazy as people said beasts were for their pairs. Although he’d called me a mate, something intimate, judging by the way he’d said it.
“Put your seat belt on,” he said. I chuckled. Oh my life, how strange you are. “Now, Reagan.” Yes, Master Mayhem. I strapped on a seat belt. “Good. Where to?” he asked.