A beast was a cross between a wolf and a man, with a mane of long coarse hair that looked more like fur than human hair, large claws, and big teeth that, somehow, fit inside their square jaw and didn’t impact their English. Didn’t impact it much. Their pronunciation was still a little funky, though, so when the bigger one of the two beasts said, “We’re looking for a ssskater. Long hair about her assss,” Hanna giggled.
“Shhh. I want to hear.”
“Welcome, Alpha Beast, and…?” my dad asked, extending his hand to the smaller one of the two, which, by the way, meant he wasn’t the size of a double door, maybe only a door and a half. Beast men were built like bulls. Huge.
“Vice,” the beast answered and shook my dad’s hand.
He looked familiar, like I’d seen him somewhere. I tilted my head, thinking. Fresh red scars marred the right side of his handsome face, and a plastic medical cover guarded his right wrist. “I sort of know him,” I said.
Hanna threw her mane of long red hair over her shoulder and whispered, “What have you done now?”
“Skated over Beast City.” Built about one hundred years after the nuclear war that wiped our planet of most humans, Beast City rose above the city our history named the City of Angels. Community Three, where I grew up, was about five hours away, smack in the middle of the Nevada desert.
I pointed at the guy named Vice and snorted. “That one tried to catch me.” There was absolutely nothing to do in the Nevada desert, and I didn’t fit well with the girly girls who picked flowers and crops and served in the kitchens. One, I’d burned down the kitchen when I baked once at fifteen, and two, I preferred to play football with the boys.
Two years ago, if I hadn’t stolen my hydro-skater from some dead guy I’d found by the community gates, I might have died from sheer boredom. Kickster was my lifeline, my ticket for the bucket list of shit I wanted to do.
“And what happened?” Hanna asked.
“I turned like this”—I twisted my lower body—“and skipped the corner. His ass flew right into an office space. Boom. Glass everywhere.”
Hanna gave me a low five. “Dumbass. How’s Beast City?” she asked.
“Oh man, they’ve got everything there. Grass, shops, jeans.”
“Jeans,” my sister repeated and tugged on the pair I wore. “These things?”
“Yup. Stole them from the beach. What kind of an idiot leaves their clothes out in the open, you know? If it were me, I’d bathe in the clothes. That way at least I would also have done the laundry at the same time.”
“I hate doing laundry,” Hanna said.
I nodded. I hated scrubbing the jeans, but oh, they were the best pants I’d ever owned. “Beasts have tech,” I said. “Laundry machines. No scrubbing. You load them dirty and unload them clean.”
Hanna groaned. “I shouldn’t want to go there with one of these ugly things.”
The beasts, she meant. Most of us were taught to hate them. I peeked back through the hole. “Hold that thought,” I said. “They’re handing Dad a bag.” I strained to catch what was inside when Dad opened it and peeked in. Mom’s eyes widened, and she smiled at the Vice guy, then strode toward the sanctuary door.
“Yes!” I said. “He bought me!”
Hanna patted me on the back. “You poor thing.”
“I’m not like the others around here.”
“I know.” Hanna tucked her chin, eyes on the floor, and whispered, “Smile and don’t give yourself away on the first day. Be all…homemade, you know, like a girl.”
“Will do.”
Mom swung open the door, and I stepped out and around her, then walked straight up to the Vice guy. I lifted my chin, my neck nearly snapping from how far it went back only so I could lock my eyes with his red ones. His face was all hard edges, starting from his jaw, and he was a blond to boot. This beast guy was fucking hot, so I gave him my best line. “Hey, sexy beast, wanna take me home?” When he blinked down at me, looking lost, I added, “Dude, did you buy me or not?”
Vice guy looked confused, but then his red eyes paled, became brighter, turned somehow almost faint pink. It reminded me of an albino snake’s eyes. I stepped back to give those crazy eyes and his bulging muscles some room. He grew in size, though not in height, and glared down at me. It made my panties wet. I glared back and waggled my eyebrows. “You like what you see?”
This huge beast of a man was my Prince fucking Charming. He’d take me away from the community and give me an awesome life in the City of Angels, where I could buy all the fucking jeans I wanted with his money. I’d give him beast babies, one, three, or seven if he wanted. However many he wanted.