Jamie stared down at her as if seeing her for the time. Then he and Mayhem left us.
I remembered the day. I remembered she begged me to take her with me, and I didn’t. At the sight of her, her potty mouth, her spirit, I’d formed an opinion that my mate was a little firecracker, a misguided youngster, who needed a bit of direction on how to deal with her new role in life, which was to be my pair. Her father promised to guide her. And he’d done just that.
When I’d picked her up, in body if not in mind she’d aged a decade. At first, I thought it was a good thing, but soon realized Dewlyn had fallen into some kind of depression. I tried to shake her out of it by being honest and telling her we were mates. It did the opposite. And now I learned why. She wondered how a mate could leave a mate behind.
I swept the crowds with my gaze. Some cowered, turning around and going about their business. The braver ones stayed. “All right. We’re gonna take this inside the house.”
When I picked her up in my arms, she didn’t protest. It hurt more than my broken nose.
I walked quickly, her head bouncing off my shoulder. “Everything that’s happened before this moment is over. Say that it’s over.”
When she didn’t answer, I squeezed her tight, demanding she did. “It’s over,” she said.
“That’s my good girl.”
I didn’t know how I’d fix us.
Chapter Eight
Vice
In our bathroom, Dewlyn threw up, then sat on the floor, pulled up her knees, and rested her chin on them. Her hair was matted, her body was scratched, and she looked broken. I flushed the toilet and allowed her time to cry on the cold tile of our bathroom floor while I fixed my nose and wiped the blood off my face. I knew she wouldn’t let me touch her, so I didn’t even try cleaning her up, but focused on figuring out what to do with her.
She’d found a shelter for others, helped them out, and yet when she cried for help, nobody came to her rescue. I should’ve been there. I wanted her forgiveness, but I couldn’t ask for it.
Dewlyn was my wild fire. Strong, capable, and daring, but also a fragile human. As I looked her over, I realized I needed her out of this state of mind. I wasn’t an ignorant idiot. I’d read every history book I could find, and I knew the human mind could break even when the body seemed perfectly fine.
I’d seen Dewlyn break down before, and Dewlyn did nothing halfway. If I hadn’t walked in on her one night before she ran off the first time, she’d have drowned in a pool of her blood in this very tub. I never wanted to see that again.
I plopped on the tile across from her and propped my elbow on the tub. “Tell me about this…this tea.”
“All my aunts and sisters and the other girls drink the tea before you guys pick us up. It takes a month for it to work and then we drink it for the rest of our lives so we don’t conceive.”
Too quiet. Dewlyn was too quiet. “And you didn’t like the tea?”
“No, it tasted like crap.”
“What’s in the tea?”
“I think it’s carrot root.”
I made a mental note to contact our bio team. “So that’s why your community needs a month to prepare.”
She shrugged, tugging on the ends of her hair, not meeting my eyes. “That and other things I don’t know about. It goes on in the white house on the edge of the community. Once bought, the pairs are separated from the community. I was under the impression my mom separated my paired aunts so they wouldn’t be distracted as she showed them the ropes. Housekeeping, the tech in the city, and sex. The pairs leave the white house with their mates, and they don’t return.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“Tell you what, Vice?”
“That they butcher our mates!”
“They don’t butcher mates. Women do as they’re told. They drink the tea. They don’t know any other way. We’re conditioned from birth. All except me, of course. I don’t know why I’m like this, always wondering what’s out there. Besides, Vice, we live with men, not beasts. We’re told you are an animal breed. We’re told you eat people. We’re told you took our planet from us, and then we’re told to go and make you all happy. You have claws and fur. You have canines. It’s not attractive, and it’s scary. You are dominant, overbearing, possessive, and you do whatever you want with us. It’s the only thing parents can do. Not let you breed so that one day, you all die out and leave us humans be.”
“So that’s why you hate me?”
She looked out the window. “I don’t hate you, but I try to, and it’s easier when I remember watching your bike take off.” She snickered. “I’d’ve even worn the fugly dresses you bought for me. I would’ve painted my nails too. If you liked it and wanted me to do it, I would have done it. I’d have done anything for a man who took care of me. I would have given you those babies you want.”