Sent Beast Mate(Beast Mates, #3)(52)

Jamie leaned his elbows on his knees, and Mayhem did the same as if to protect me. But he didn’t need to, because Alpha Beast asked me what I wanted in exchange for more on Tom.

“I want New City,” I said. “I’m tired of moving around. Been there, done that. I want to grow roots right here with the beast who loves me.”

“I want his location,” Jamie said.

“I was a child, but I remember traveling past a sign for Retreat, Texas.”

“Never heard of it. Where the fuck is it?”

“In Texas,” I replied. Alpha Beast’s eyes narrowed. Rey smiled. I winked at the big bad. “I also remember white tubes, and that I wasn’t supposed to go inside them alone. My mom crawled up the white tubes when she wanted to go into town.”

“Crawled up implies you lived down or under.”

“So it seems.”

“Retreat,” Jamie said, looking amused. “Appropriate.” He leaned back, gaze on Mayhem. His teeth receded, and he chuckled. “Well done, my brother. Got any tea?”

Say what? I just spilled my sob story to a stranger, and he wanted tea? “No, I don’t have tea.”

Mayhem and Jamie spoke more. Rey and I were at a loss for words. As she prepared to leave, I walked her outside and promised to visit with her up on the ship. When the couple left, I stood at the door with Mayhem, watching the beasts leave our front lawn. “I didn’t get it,” I said.

“Get what?”

“New City. Is it yours?”

“It’s ours.” He kissed the top of my head. Weight I hadn’t known I carried left my soul. I rested my cheek on his chest. Solid as a rock. Just as well. He needed something solid to guard his fierce heart. I’d almost killed this male and he’d turned around and secured us an entire city to call home.

When the cold wind threatened to blow the fur throw off my shoulders, I thought of Mike. “I’m not lost anymore,” I told the wind. It turned out beasts did buy girls for twenty dollars and then make them into princesses. I had my own tiara upstairs. Perhaps I was a Cinderella after all.





Afterword





Hello! Writing these two people has been an awesome experience for me. I particularly enjoyed torturing Mayhem. Perhaps you’ve noticed more backstory and detailed description in this book than in the first two. You can thank my supernatural editor Linda for pushing me to open up the world. You can thank me for the gross stew scene.

I thank you for writing reviews, recommending the beasts to fellow readers, and spreading the word. On the next page, read an exclusive peek into the next book in the series.





Caught Beast Mate





uncorrected proof pending release





I dug my elbows into the sand and crawled forward. My leg scraped the dirt, and I knew the wounds couldn’t heal by now. Even if I made it out of this desert, I was pretty sure they’d cut this leg off. Yeah, a crippled beast would charm Sienna’s tits off.

I shook my head. The fuck I cared? My mate was out there somewhere, dead or being raped. What would my Alpha do in this situation? Jamie would push harder, try to survive if only for her. He would try to rescue her. But first he would move the planet out of its orbit to find her. Me? Torrent, son of High Priest of Tineya? I couldn’t even find my mate in the shelter in the middle of Beast City—where I lived, no less—let alone on this entire continent. They could’ve taken her to Anywhere, USA, while I crawled across the deserts of Nowhere, USA. Damn me.

Fuck this shit. I was done.

Yeah, I needed my rest. Hadn’t slept in a while, kept moving, kept crawling, hoping I’d get somewhere.

I never got anywhere. Luck didn’t have my back, and that one time luck did have my back, I got shot, had the scars to prove it. My mate’s father shot me. If he’d killed me, it would’ve been great all around, for me and for her. But no, I lived. I lived and lived and lived again. I rested my cheek on the dirt, the sun behind me, burning my back.

At least now I sported an awesome tan.

In the distance, she appeared before me. Golden hair, clear-sea eyes, and she smelled like lavender. I licked my sore lips. A tinge of copper in my mouth. I sucked the blood, thought about honey, and she came to me. What if I were to die while immersed in a delusion where my mate came to me?

Hell yes.

Any day.



It was summer on Big Bear Lake. High altitude. Clean water. Better chance for forest survival. So our science team had said, and we dropped them off up there for ground sampling or whatever else they did. A leader from the small community below Big Bear invited me over, probably hoping I would pair with one of the women from his stock. Even though we accepted dollars as our currency, revived the economy to hold the human’s green money, I always had a pot of gold coins stashed under the seat of my bike.