Sent Beast Mate(Beast Mates, #3)(8)

“I bet her pussy tastes like honey,” Lore said. “Take a look.”

Fine. I put her file aside and spared her a glance.

The girl had approached, all right. She stood on the first step with her mouth slightly open and her bottom lip trembling. She tucked it between her teeth. Her abundant, long, straight black hair curtained a face adorned with tiny freckles over her nose, and her shirt barely held together handfuls of tits. I concurred with my cousin. Cute. Would taste good if she were mine. But she wasn’t.

“Eyes up,” I said, because she stared at the floor.

The girl lifted her chin.

Gray eyes locked with mine.

Something cold ripped through my chest, and my lungs arrested. A growl escaped my chest. It felt like I’d died. I inhaled just to be sure I could. This response, the force of my instinct, meant only one thing. This girl was the spy. She was it, the girl I’d been waiting for. In an instant, auctions became a thing of the past, the whole room cleared out before my eyes, and all I saw was the prey before me.

I bared my teeth.

She peeked under her bangs, gray eyes wide.

My whole body roared to life, and even my dick hardened at the prospect of a cat-and-mouse chase. They’d sent her here to gather information for Men of Earth. Once they deemed her mission complete, she would try to poison her beast. Or kill him in his sleep. There was only one beast she’d deal with, and that beast was me. I rounded my chair, gave the crowd my back.

Lore stepped in front of me. “Stop with the crazy,” he said. “It’s making my skin crawl. Sit your ass down so I can buy her and take her downstairs. I’m gonna gorge on that one.”

“She’s the girl for me.”

His eyes paled. A challenge. “I’ll pay you.”

“It’s the girl we’re after,” I clarified.

Lore glanced back at the girl. “Are you sure?”

“Don’t question me.”

“What a shame. Proceed as planned?”

“Yes.” I turned back and motioned her over. As she approached, the peculiar scent of my prey caught my nose. All the blood slid down to my erect dick. I wanted to consume her. It was a case of a hunter having its prey, nothing more. With my mating instinct muted in the background, my hunting instinct rode me harder than necessary because I really wanted New City for my future mate and me and for my people. This girl would give me all I wanted.

After I worked her and wrung her dry of information, I’d snap her in half and hunt the man hovering in the back of the room. For now, I let him think he got me.

When her front touched mine, I felt her tremors. With her head tipped back as far as it would go, she stared at my face. I bent a little and inhaled the scent of her sweet breath as her mouth opened slightly. My claws sprang out, and I fisted my hands so they wouldn’t fly out and touch her. I didn’t know if I’d rip her or hug her close and thank her for being here. Finally, I had a mouse to hunt. It would be a quiet hunt, but a hunt nonetheless. I didn’t think I could get through another one of these auctions.

“There’s blood on your face,” she said.

“You’ll clean it.”

“Me?”

“You.” I took a minute to compose myself, my face, as always, impassive. Then I twirled my finger, motioning for her to turn around. She narrowed her eyes as if she didn’t understand the gesture. I sensed some defiance, but that was okay, because I’d train her. “Turn around,” I clarified.

She wrinkled her nose and didn’t turn, maybe because she didn’t want to show her body. No room for shyness around here, so I spun her by her hips and ripped the shirt off her shoulders so her breasts would be bared to all. I didn’t need to see her, because I didn’t care what she looked like, but I knew the Men of Earth guy who brought her was here in the crowd, and I wanted him to see there was nothing different about this girl. Auction as usual. Women came; they stripped; we bid.

A growl escaped my chest, and the room silenced of whispers.

Lore’s breath brushed my ear as he whispered, “Look a bit less excited if you can help it.”

Certainly. I cleared my throat, and said, “Bids.”

Silence.

As I stood behind her, my body against hers, we were skin on skin. My pretty prey felt so good, and I fell in love with the prospect of destroying her. Why not? She’d come here to destroy me. I swept my gaze over the quiet room. Why was nobody bidding? I snarled, “Bids!” I put a hand over her naked shoulder and felt her tremble under my palm. She should fear. Seconds passed. Nobody bid a dime on her. My tribe members didn’t like her as much as Lore and I did.

Lore jabbed an elbow into my ribs.