I flipped him the bird.
“You’re wrong, bro. Fear drives her. My mate gets off on fear.” Vice cut the eggs next. I watched the precision and how every piece on his plate got moved around until all the pieces had their place. Weird. Vice began eating eggs only, no bacon, and he ate like a prince—not like his brother—with small bites he picked up while watching me. This morning, he wore tailored gray pants with a button-up, cuffed white shirt, not the military pants from yesterday. His claws were polished and sharpened. A row of small, bright lights above the bar reflected on his shiny black dress shoes. I hoped the suit meant he’d go to work in the office up in the high-rise about a mile away.
A fork clinked against a plate. Across from me, Jamie cleared his throat. “What were you doing in the building?”
“Diving practice,” I said.
“In the middle of the night?”
“Ah-ha.” I moaned around the food in my mouth. “Oh, Rey, even your eggs rock my world.”
She smiled and opened her mouth when Jamie interrupted. “The project manager called saying the key to the food storage is missing.”
Vice put his fork down and wiped his mouth. “I presume it’s been missing for three days?”
“Mm-hm,” Jamie said.
I munched on my food.
“When did you hear from him?” Vice asked Jamie.
“An hour ago. Medrix called, told me the news.”
“Dewlyn, baby,” Vice said, “did you take the key?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“There you have it,” Vice said and continued eating.
Jamie didn’t buy my lie, so he continued. “I wonder how it’s missing, why it’s missing, but more importantly, why would someone risk their life to steal it. So we’re clear, New City is being built for Vice as Vice is ready for his own turf. So I ask again, nobody in this room would happen to know how the key disappeared the same night someone in this room was there without permission, and why the cameras were disabled while someone searched the room, broke into a drawer, and stole the key.”
I shrugged. “Wasn’t me.”
“Then I gotta find the stupid who stole from Vice and me. And the only stupid I can think of are Men of Earth.”
Vice growled.
I looked between them. “Who are Men of Earth?”
“A new movement,” Vice said. “They want to retake control of Earth. Started out overseas, moved here a little while ago, and we’re trying to identify them.”
“Got nothing to do with them,” I said. True.
“So why you hunting down pairs?” Jamie asked.
“Because every girl deserves to choose her man,” I said.
Vice cupped his chin and leaned an elbow on the table. “Mates are not forced.”
“But they’re not asked anything either.”
“Such is your leadership,” Vice said. “The agreements to the Pairing Program come from them.”
“And,” Rey said, “the pairing is better than the alternative.”
“What’s the alternative?” I asked.
“Wiping all adult males from the communities,” Vice said.
I gaped.
“Which, by the way,” Jamie added, “is still an option. They’re all at our mercy. We only need females to populate this place. The men we keep around for no reason. And they keep fucking with us.”
“That’s vile,” I said.
Vice steepled his fingers. “Interesting observation,” he said. “Men of Earth. Never heard of them?”
“No.” An honest response.
Vice nodded while Jamie narrowed his eyes. He didn’t believe me. Whatever.
Vice continued, “They are dedicated to killing us. They call it cleansing. You should be familiar with the rhetoric, seeing as your history tells tales about a man named Hitler. I recall he cleansed as they intend to clean.”
I shook my head, not familiar with this Hitler guy. I’d look him up when I got out of here. “I don’t know anything about them, I swear.” The girls would starve if they didn’t have a way into the storage place. Once I got the key back, I needed to figure out how to steal a truck and transport the food to Beast City without getting caught. Ugh. I had work to do, and instead, I sat here being fed and pampered.
Engines roared on the street. Rey’s long dark pigtails swung behind her as she turned her head toward the sound. “Mayhem’s here.”
Mayhem, the Barbarian? Oh man, I’d broken into that guy’s house. The loud bike parked, and Rey let a tall beast male inside. The blond didn’t believe in a T-shirt, only an ankle-length leather kilt and boots. He wore rings on his fingers and, unlike many beasts, had a clean-shaven jaw, a shaven body, and no tattoos. A pretty boy in a kilt. Made me wonder why he got the barbarian title.