Wild Beast Mate(4)

“Don’t worry,” Jamie said to the males, who worked mostly up here in the spaceship. “Not all human women do this. Most of them are sweet as sugar and will receive your attentions with open arms. Vice is just a lucky motherfucker, that’s all.”

“Shut it off,” I said.

Nobody moved.

“What is that thing?” one of my crew members asked.

“A parachute,” I said. “I want everyone on this. Comb the cities for old parachutes, anyone selling parachutes, or anyone seen with balloons of any kind.”

Jamie patted my back and nudged me into my office.

This ship belonged to me. I won it in a fight with a neighboring planet during one of our blood games. That had been the last time I’d ripped into flesh. Since we’d taken over Earth, I’d assumed a place at my brother’s side as an advisor, seeing as Jamie ran hot and we needed to exist with the humans, not devour them. Though right now, I definitely wanted to devour one particular human female.





Chapter Two





Dewlyn



Breaking back into the spotless, brand-new House of Mayhem the Barbarian, was a piece of cake. In the garage, I shouldered off the jumping equipment, thinking I’d check for loose strings in the morning. It was late in the night, and I was beat. My feet felt like lead as I dragged myself upstairs to the third floor and into the big bathroom, stopping only long enough to put away the stolen key. The double shower bath was almost as big as the one in Vice’s home, and I wanted a long shower.

Unprepared for the force of the impact once I hit the ground with the parachute, but too busy cheering myself on while landing, I didn’t feel the soreness of my body right away. Now, after the adrenaline dissipated, I groaned and massaged my sore calves, knees, and thighs after stripping off the dirty clothes. I kicked the clothes into the corner, eager for the shower and a fluffy, comfortable bed.

“House,” I called to the House of Mayhem. “Shower on.”

The House didn’t register. Ah, I needed to rig the damn thing again. I padded back into the bedroom, which was loaded with the latest tech. I sighed at the sight of the large bed. The crisp, clean peach sheets called my name. Alas, this home really was nice, though, I admitted, Vice’s had a better view.

Built for the mated beast high-ranking officers, these postwar, refurbished, rich human’s homes sat on the repaired Kentucky landscape, mostly secluded from one another. Seclusion while on a job was necessary for me since I didn’t want to be discovered snooping around the city, though I felt comfortable enough around this home. Nobody would look for me here, thinking I wasn’t crazy enough to hide inside the sacred place where a beast brought his precious mate. The beasts’ family homes were sort of like caves for the cavemen.

Vice was no different. A caveman with one purpose in mind. The purpose? Breed his mate with beast babies.

A mate.

I cringed at the word and suppressed the memories that threatened to cripple my resolve to live my life. Despite the thoughts threatening to turn me into a worthless piece of shit every time that cursed word “mate” came up, I opened my backpack and dug out my rigger, an inch-wide metal card, kind of like the key I’d stolen, but not translucent. I slid it into the house controller, the remote-control-looking device, which set up the House’s voice commands. The rigger would rig the house tech and make the smart tech listen to me and not the voice of the beast it was programed to hear.

Rig in place, I swiped my finger over the blue button.

“Adjusting voice controls,” the House said through its speakers. This meant the rigger currently worked on the house tech. It would take a minute or two and, since I’d unfortunately had to rig each time I entered and exited the house, I crossed my fingers it would work at all. A minute after, the blue circle on the remote still kept spinning. I left it to work and forced my legs to head for the shower.

“Shower me,” I said and hopped in the bath. Thirty seconds later, the hot water burst all around me. Oh yes. I let the water bathe my face and relax my muscles before I set out to wash my long hair. I needed to dye it soon too. My brown roots showed already. Tomorrow, when I got back, I’d ask Patty to dye it for me. After tomorrow? I bit my lip. Maybe I’d scout Community One. It was far away enough. Eek, I needed better transport. If only I could get my Kickster back, fix the screw…



The first meeting



“The Beasts are here,” my sister Hanna said, one ear pressed on our sanctuary door.

“Yeah?” I put the screwdriver down and leaned my hydro-skater—Kickster—on the chair, then joined her. I peeked through the keyhole.