Jamie, the oldest, boarded a ship, and we left for Earth with him. Since we had humans to worry about, we forgot our dominance issue for years, but after Goner died, and I found Dewlyn, it surfaced again. New City, designed for me and my mate, would help overcome this problem. But I didn’t think the city apart was necessary, and I didn’t want the burden of leadership. I could control myself if only he’d stop picking on her. “We don’t need another city. We need to stay together. Don’t be like Father. You hate him for making us leave.”
“No choice. And besides, Dewlyn is…a wild card.”
I controlled my temper in all things except when it came to my mate. My brother meddled in my business with Dewlyn. “She is mine.”
“I’m looking out for you. And her. She took the key. She’s working with someone. If she’s working with Men of Earth, we need to know.”
Anger flared, probably showed in my eyes, and my blood boiled. Instantly, my muscles filled in and fur replaced my hair and the skin on the back of my neck. I spoke through my battle-formed teeth, “Dewlyn is my mate. I will handle her and anything involving her. You will stand down.”
Jamie peeled his gaze away from Rey and locked it with mine. “You are my brother, and I fucking love you. If she threatens you, your well-being or her well-being, I will put her in a room with padded walls until she comes to accept that she belongs with you, because what happened to Benji with Rey’s sister…” Jamie cleared his throat. “I put a bullet in his head, then had to call his parents and arrange a pickup. I won’t be doing that shit no more, so you do what you gotta do, and if she runs off again, I’m gonna knock you out, cage you, and then I’m going after her without you.”
“Try it.”
“Fix the shit, Vice. Find out what’s the matter with her. She used to look at you like you were a god. Find out what happened to her inside the community. Something happened.”
I tilted my head. “Why you say that?”
“You know Rey didn’t have an accident. You know her uncle hurt her.” I nodded, and he continued. “But I can’t go around saying my mate was probably raped. She asked me not to, so I didn’t. Nobody knows. They hurt the girls in Community Seven, so I shut it down.”
My fists clenched, and I looked up at the sky, closed my eyes, and tried to settle my mind when all I could think about was going to her dad and ripping out his throat. Back in Tineya, the dominant of the family sheltered unmated females until they mated. Once mated, the mate sheltered them. Without saying it, Jamie had said he thought Dewlyn had suffered the same fate as Rey had between the time I bought her and the time I picked her up.
This meant her father had lied and hadn’t sheltered her as he should’ve. But fuck, that community had the best reputation. They worshiped their god. They were…nice people. Still, it would explain why Dewlyn felt safest out there on her own. She might resent me for buying her, and she felt I couldn’t shelter her.
Wrong. I could and I would shelter her and our babies. But first, she needed to give me answers and a chance, trust me with her body and mind. “If they touched her, they will pay,” I mumbled and started walking back inside.
Rey’s hound barked.
Something fast and red zipped past the side of the house.
Fuck. Me.
I gunned after her.
Chapter Seven
Dewlyn
I beat feet with fury, no longer that girl who tripped over herself when she looked back. Hair flying around me, I raced across the street, leapt over the neighbor’s roses, the little stone frogs in her garden, and the frantic poodle in my way. Then, I hopped on the poodle’s house and swung my body across the fence. I had to get out of this neighborhood and into the busy City Park.
Vice ran faster than me. I needed wheels. Frantically, I searched the street.
There! Down the street. A red, four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle was parked haphazardly next to the space car on the driveway. Keys in the ignition. Thank you, baby Jesus. I sprinted, hopped on the ATV seat with a thump, and threw it in reverse.
I looked behind me.
Barefoot and shirtless, Vice rounded the corner, murder in his eyes. He didn’t seem to be in a rush. Instead, he strolled down the middle of the street. “Don’t do it!” he bellowed loud enough for people to pour out of the houses. “I will chase you to the end of the world!”
I revved the engine.
His gaze drifted down to the reverse brake lights, then back to me.
“I’ll do it!” I said.
Now closer, still strolling down the street, Vice hit his chest. “Oh yeah?”
He dared me to run him over? Truth or dare? Always dare.