Sent Beast Mate(Beast Mates, #3)(50)

Although I’d retrieved Dewlyn’s sister, none of the Men of Earth talked. They couldn’t, because we’d killed them all. In retrospect, I should’ve kept at least one. Jamie hadn’t spoken with me at all, hadn’t returned my calls. I didn’t get the city, but I’d secured this home for my mate, so that was still something. We were gonna grow roots right here.

Knock. Knock.

It came from our front door. I groaned, not wanting company.

Reagan lifted her head from my lap. “There’s someone at the door.”

“I heard him.”

“Who is it?”

“Probably Vice.”

“Don’t you wanna let him in?”

“He knows I’m busy. He’s fuckin’ with me is what he’s doing.”

Reagan stood, swayed, and held a hand to her temple. “Got up too fast.”

Immediately, I grabbed her hips to steady her. Then I plastered my ear to her belly.

She giggled. “Even your hearing isn’t that good. It’s too soon to tell.”

“Then I have to work harder on making them.”

“Sure,” she said, “after people leave.”

Knock. Knock.

I looked up at the ceiling, praying to our Mother he’d go away.

“I don’t feel right keeping him outside,” my mate said.

I went to get up, but she tapped my shoulder. “I got it,” she said, and checked that the corset covered her nipples, then opened the door. She squealed like a piglet. Since I’d never heard a sound like that coming from a woman before, I leapt off the couch, crossed to her in another single leap, and crouched, ready to defend. Then I blinked at the thing standing on my front step. It wasn’t Vice, but I was pretty sure he’d left it there. Like I’d said, to fuck with me.

“Oh my God, Mayhem. It’s a dog!” my mate squealed.

Reagan stepped toward it, but I put a hand on her shoulder. “It doesn’t look like a dog.” The thing at my front door sort of resembled a dog, but this one’s hair was missing in places. It was tall and lean with curly white hair only around its head, its paws, and the tip of its tail. Everywhere else, there was no hair. It also wore pink earrings. With the white hair fanning around its head, it looked like something that belonged in a cornfield to scare off the birds. “I think it’s a giant cat,” I concluded.

Reagan led the animal inside. She closed the door, knelt, and hugged the thing. “There’s a note.” She plucked the note from the bling-bling collar and read, “Dear Reagan, Happy Pairing! From Rey and Dewlyn.” My mate squealed again. “We got a poodle!”

“I am petrified,” I said.

“You gonna be dead if you don’t let me in,” came from behind the closed door.

I swung it open. Jamie’s grin split his face, but his eyes were silver white as he locked them with mine. Instead of greeting him, I went on alert. Until he stepped to the side. Vice’s battleship hovered over the horizon. A small army of Jamie’s males spread out around my lawn. A pod landed softly on the street, and the door opened. Dewlyn flung the mane of her red hair and propped her foot on the doorstep. She shouted, “Hey, May, ya seen that? That’s how you land, my man. That’s how you land.”

Everyone came except Rey.

In Jamie’s opinion, I had not earned the city.

Dewlyn laughed, closed the door, and went back up in the sky.

Rey of the Alpha Beast stood in the middle of the street alone and unguarded. This was why Jamie had walked into my house all worked up to kill and maim. As Rey walked over to us, I grabbed Reagan’s hand and squeezed, then glanced at Jamie, who couldn’t look away from his mate. I didn’t blame him.

Jamie said in Tineyan, “I want them all, Mayhem, I want them all yesterday. Where could they be hiding?”

“I sent them a truck full of food,” I said. “With a driver who’d do anything to get his daughter back. I have his daughter.”

Jamie grunted. “I’m a better man for righting my father’s wrongs.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s not a favor, my brother. None of your males are loyal to me, but they know I got their last heir out of Tineya. My father almost caught you, didn’t he?”

“Almost.”

Jamie chuckled. “I got you away from there because I’m stronger with you on Earth and on my side.”

“What of this city?”

“I have to keep my word. No Men of Earth, no city.”

“I got Hanna.”

“I want Men of Earth. Let’s have a party, hm?”

Rey climbed the steps. I greeted her. Reagan took over and led her inside. I paused at the door. On my driveway, Jamie’s beasts mingled with my hunters. Boarding Jamie’s ship and bringing my people here was the first best thing I’d done in a decade. But that was for them, not me. Reagan was all for me. Had I stayed in Tineya, I’d never have met her. In a way, I owed Alpha Beast a whole lot more than he owed me for finding Dewlyn’s sister.