Sent Beast Mate (Beast Mates Book 3) Read online

Shayma was the fortunate rescue from one of the first communities we’d raided. We shut down the community and brought the women back with us. It meant she’d been with us the longest, practically a part of our tribe, and so I allowed her privileges such as touching my calf. “We have plenty of women,” I said. “Mother Beast smiled on us, but we can never have too many women. They make our world spin. Are you unhappy here?”

  Her eyes widened at my accusation. “I’m very happy. That’s not what I meant at all.”

  The doors opened with a creak. Humans would be here soon. “You will spend time with Lore this evening.”

  I caught her disappointment, but she knew the rules. Master Mayhem’s dick was off-limits.

  “Yes, Master Mayhem,” she said without further trouble and crawled down the steps.

  A deliciously harmless girl. I liked ’em like that. Obedient and harmless.

  Chapter Three

  Reagan

  The crowd that waited for the doors to open squeezed inside like a herd of cattle on slaughter day. About one hundred of us humans entered a well-lit hall and the heavy floor-to-ceiling doors closed behind us with a thud. I felt trapped in a dream. Surely I wasn’t gonna do this, wasn’t gonna lie with the beasts.

  Maurice took my elbow and nudged me ahead.

  Ancient iron chandeliers hung from the ceilings, long red velvet curtains draped over the windows, and balconies adorned both sides of the grand space. It reminded me of a theater setting for a play from the dark ages. I half expected the beasts that lined both sides of the hall to start clapping, eager for the performance to start. I didn’t think they’d enjoy my performance. Probably because I wasn’t very good at pretending that I was at a ball.

  After I’d killed Doug, Maurice didn’t kill me. Instead, he decided he’d use me to spy on the hunters, brought me into this New City, and planned to auction me to the highest bidder. The thought of a beast man buying me made me nauseous. The crowds didn’t make me nervous, the stage we shuffled toward didn’t make me want to gag, but the prospect of having to please a beast to keep myself and those poor souls at the circus alive made me sway on my feet. I stumbled back and turned to run.

  Maurice caught my shoulders. His gray eyes—same color as mine—narrowed as he sneered. “Be brave or be dead.”

  I turned back around and fisted my hands. Flowery feminine perfumes mingled with men’s sweat made me want to puke on the ringlets of the hair of the girl in front of me. The ringlets keep bouncing over her shoulders as her head moved from left to right, then up at the massive chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Probably none of us had ever seen a hall this big or this lavishly decorated. Oil paintings with silver frames hung from the walls. Whoever owned this place was rich and perhaps a bit pompous.

  I rose on my toes to see ahead. Even at five foot seven, I couldn’t see anyone on the stage from this far in the back. I tiptoed to the right. Ah, there. A beast man with skin as dark as midnight and a smile showing sharp white teeth as bright as the floors beneath our feet stood on the stage. He lifted his hands in the air, and his deep voice boomed through the hall. “Welcome to the court of Mayhem Senvil Augustus Aurelius Narcissus the Fourth, son of Alpha Victor Aurelius Demetri the Eighth, and Keeper of Earth.” Everyone clapped. I wanted to take a pin out of the girl’s hair and jab my ears. Pompous beast royalty indeed. My name had six letters. His had five words. The beast continued, “My name is Lore, and I’m overseeing the auction. Women forward, men stay in the back.”

  Nobody clapped at that one. More than one man looked around confused. In the Pairing Program, community leaders sold and delivered pairs. With this new auction development, it appeared the beasts would choose how and when they’d buy, where the buying would happen, as well as how much. Human men had no say here.

  Behind me, Maurice cursed, then whispered into my hair, “See that black beast up there?”

  “I see him.”

  “If he buys you, I’ll use the money to buy antibiotics for your dad.”

  Maurice didn’t know Mike wasn’t my dad, and I didn’t correct him. But Mike’s wound had festered, and the promised antibiotics could save him. I spun around. “What do you mean?”

  “Shit happens when you stab people.”

  “I did not stab him,” I bit out.

  Maurice gripped my jaw. “Watch that mouth, or I’ll burn him at the stake and make that redhead my personal toy.” He dug his fingers into my cheek, then released me.

  One night, getting drunk hadn’t been enough to satisfy the Men of Earth who had raided our circus. They’d tied Mike to a pole and made me throw knives at him with a blindfold over my eyes. I’d missed and buried a knife in his thigh. Maurice had just promised to care for the wound. Mike needed medicine, and Maurice could get it.

  The world started spinning, and I swayed on my feet. Maurice kept his hands on my shoulders. He shook them. “Do you want him to die?” he asked.

  I drew breaths, tried to compose myself. “These beasts will eat me if they find out their enemy sent me.”

  “Then don’t let them find out.”

  Maurice spun me back around, and I forced myself to breathe and face my future. I didn’t ask what would happen if no beast bought me tonight. I knew. Maurice would take me out and shoot me, then dump my body somewhere in the ditch. Mike would die, and nobody would miss me. Maybe Hanna would ask, but soon she’d have enough problems of her own to worry about.

  Women pushed their way forward, some eager to be sold, some not. I better sell for something, anything. I waited, wanted to see how all this worked, maybe try to catch the eye of an important beast, someone I could attempt to entice with eye contact and eyelash batting. Better yet…I looked down at my breasts and unbuttoned one more button. I pushed out my cleavage. Without a bra, I let the cold January weather in the city once known as Louisville, Kentucky, perk up my nipples.

  In the front, the group of about fifty women, wearing light sundresses that covered only ass and breasts but not much else, positively vibrated with excitement. Beasts on both sides of the room whispered and pointed, picking out their prized cow. Here, here, beasty man. I moooo the loudest. Pick me, pick me!

  Four beasts came from behind the stage. They dragged a wagon piled with everyone’s paperwork. I peeked past the hair ringlets and between people’s shoulders and caught sight of another beast man. I moved the girl’s stray strand of hair so I could see him better.

  Oh boy. My heart skipped a beat, and I backpedaled to Maurice.

  “There’s a beast on the…throne up there. Who is it?”

  “Mayhem the Barbarian.”

  “Fuck that!” I whisper-hissed. “He’s like a Halloween nightmare monster.”

  “Did you think I would bring you to just anyone? I need a girl inside his court.” He pushed the small of my back. “Get back up there.”

  “No way. We’re all gonna end up in his stew.”

  “He doesn’t partake in auctions.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Intel.”

  “What if you’re wrong?”

  Maurice smirked. “I hope the intel is wrong and he buys you. If you pair with him, I’ll keep only Hanna and release the other girls. I swear on God. And if you manage to return valuable information, I will release Hanna.”

  “And Mike?”

  “Maybe.”

  “What kind of information?”

  “Anything of value.”

  Grrr. “How would I give you information? I can’t imagine they’d let me scribble up some notes, then gimme a phone to use. Oh, and by the way, I don’t even have your number.”

  “I have ways of contacting you.”

  Of course he did. “And you’ll release everyone? Swear on God,” I said.

  “I swear.”

  I went back and waited my turn.

  Mayhem looked like an inspiration for the male sculpture standing in the corner of the hall. With an elbow propped on the recliner’s arm and one booted leg over the other armre st swinging to the low music in the background, he looked relaxed, as if he were chilling out at the beach. Because of the way he sat, sprawled and comfortable, I clearly saw the size of his thigh through the gap his long brown leather…wait a minute. A kilt? Oh sweet baby Jesus, he wore a kilt.

  I’d never seen a man in a kilt before. His thighs…well, damn, they looked strong and hairless. In fact, he didn’t seem to have any hair on his body. All clean-shaven and boyish looking, Mayhem the Barbarian looked like an angel sent to tempt us. I expected a bearded, hairy, unkempt beast with buck teeth. Nope. His long blond mane of hair fell over his hard chest and obscured his face while his gaze fixed on the paperwork in his hand.

  A trumpet blared.

  Startled, the girls in front of me screeched. My eardrums might just blow.

  “Forward!” Lore shouted.

  I guessed they wanted us closer to Mayhem’s royal ass, and so we advanced like good cows. Lore dropped more files in Mayhem’s lap. Mayhem didn’t lift his gaze from the one he’d been perusing, but said, “Next auction, can we lose the trumpet for good?”

  Lore snorted. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  Mayhem sighed and looked up at us. More than one girl whimpered when his orange eyes swept across the room. In appearance, the beasts were humanoid, but different enough from us to be frightening. The bridge of the nose was wide, setting their large eyes farther apart than ours. Ridges marred their foreheads. Their jaws looked stronger, harder, with prominent bones on the bottom jaw. Also, the powerful jaw protruded to accommodate their large teeth. The beasts were hairy, predatory looking, and thus frightening.

  Never in a million years had I expected any one of the beasts to look like this. Never. Oh, Mayhem had the wide nose, the larger than was necessary eyes, the funny, bone-rigged forehead, and prominent jawbones but somehow, his facial features, when put together…well, I’d seen one or two beasts here and there and found them ugly. This male was not ugly. On the contrary, he was…pretty. Mentally, I chastised myself, then focused on what needed to be done.

  His pretty-boy looks couldn’t sway me. Everyone would be released, and we’d travel to the happy place, wherever that might be.

  I ground my teeth as Mayhem called the first girl, hoping like hell I quick-stepped like her as she climbed the steps. I was afraid my feet would fold or even worse, they’d spin me around in an attempt to get away from here.

  “Marjory,” Mayhem said with the enthusiasm of a hibernating bear. My stupid loins took notice of his baritone voice. I ignored my loins as he continued, “Turn away from me, face the crowd, and leave your clothes on the floor.” I thought he looked relaxed, but his tone sounded as if he was bored. After Marjory turned and stripped, he ordered her to prance back and forth on the stage. Okay, so maybe we weren’t cows anymore, more like prancing ponies. Marjory even lifted her knees and stomped with a big grin on her face.

  “Thank you,” Mayhem said. “You may stand in place now.”

  “Yes, Master Mayhem.”

  Huh? I looked around the room to see if anyone found that address a bit odd, but nobody blinked an eye, so I kept it to myself. I guess I’d fallen behind on the latest news where we should call the beasts masters. Hell, no.

  “It says here you’re an alcoholic.” He pointed to her paperwork.

  “Yes.”

  “How much have you had to drink tonight?”

  “Oh, not too much.”

  Mayhem bit his bottom lip and tilted his head. “You’ve listed yourself as the seller.”

  “Sure did. Alpha Beast raided our community nearby. No community in New City anymore, and my son had left for Florida.”

  “And you have nowhere else to go.”

  “I got the street and my bottle.”

  “Mm-hm. Bids,” he said.

  Beasts shouted, and Marjory was sold for twelve hundred and fifty dollars.

  “Congratulations, Harrison. She’s yours.”

  Harrison beast man approached the stage and put leather cuffs on Marjorie’s wrists. Marjory then dropped to her knees, kissed his boots, and promised she’d serve Master Harrison best. What mastery? What kind of twilight zone had I entered? These aliens must’ve altered something. Were all these people in the zone, and I was the only sane human left? No, no, everyone looked normal.

  I better adjust quickly, learn fast, and get on with the program. And I better keep my mouth in check. Oh yes, I made a conscious decision that when I got called up there that I’d do exactly as Marjory had.

  Mayhem flicked his wrist. “Next,” he said. “Alina. It says here you were on house arrest. Ran away to another community, left your husband.”

  “It’s true,” Alina said and stepped out of her clothes.

  Mayhem didn’t even lift his eyes from the papers. He couldn’t even be enticed to look at the auction girls. Lore looked, however, and when his gaze met mine, I winked at him.

  He showed me his sharp teeth and winked back.

  Okay, this was good. Though he looked like he could break a mountain in half, he also looked friendly. And horny, judging by the expanding package under his kilt.

  “She’s good in bed!” a man shouted, and Alina turned bright red. “Don’t want her cheatin’ ass in mine anymore. Five hundred to start.”

  Well, that caught Mayhem’s attention. He snapped up his orange eyes and found the man who’d spoken behind me. “Is she your wife?” he asked.

  “She was.”

  “Why did she run?”

  “Dunno,” the man said.

  “I do.” Mayhem leapt out of the chair, took Alina by her shoulders, and twisted her around. People gasped at the purple bruises over her kidneys. Mayhem stepped to the side, around her and down the stairs. He strolled casually to the man in the back. We all watched in horror as Mayhem’s body grew, his face elongated, his teeth dropped and filled his massive jaw. He took the man’s head and bit into his cheek. He ripped his cheek right off.

  Blood spouted around them, the women screamed—myself included—but Mayhem seemed bored. He strolled back to his chair, chewing on his meal.

  Silence.

  The music stopped. The low growls of beasts around us vibrated in the room. Their eyes hadn’t paled in excitement before, but now, as I looked around, every last one of them looked ready to devour us.

  We were at the beasts’ mercy.

  I turned around. Maurice shook his head, telling me to keep my shit together. I could barely stand here. I wanted to climb those curtains and hide behind them. Okay, so maybe the pretty blond boy with the pale orange eyes and a lean swimmer’s body really was a monster. Not that I didn’t know that before, but he looked so tame and angelic incapable of a horrific thing such as eating that man’s cheek. A barbarian.

  Okay, then. More of Lore for me. Lore didn’t have a title, and he looked monstrous. By the law of opposites, he’d be a teddy bear. I managed to direct another smile at Lore.

  “Erbiyo,” Mayhem said, “this one’s my gift to you. Lore, have someone tie her husband to the pole next to Herbert. Give the husband the five hundred lashes he asked for. Let’s see.” Mayhem opened a file. “Reagan.”

  Chapter Four

  Mayhem

  “Reagan,” I repeated when the girl didn’t come forward. I flipped though her file. The file said she worked as a babysitter in Beast City for a wealthy human family. Since they’d traveled across the seas last month, they no longer needed her. The man named Maurice had found her penniless on the street and brought her here.

  In other words, her file revealed an ordinary human woman. We didn’t get much of the ordinary, we got more of the desperate volunteers such as the first two girls up here who’d gotten thrown out of their communities. Ever since the communities got the word of Jamie’s fortress project in the Beast City, they went quiet, didn’t call with pairing offers as often as before. Most didn’t come to the auctions, thinking we’d grow desperate and deal with them anyway, pay a fortune for the girls. I wouldn’t pay a dollar. If I ever saw my mate, I’d simply take her, and if anyone stood in my way, I’d eat them. Win, win.

  I felt like eating Alina’s husband for trying to sell me damaged goods. But that would’ve scared people, and we had to keep the show rolling in the hopes that Men of Earth would take the bait and bring a girl to us. I couldn’t kill anyone in my court. Yet.

  Having nothing else to do, I reclined back, kicked up my foot, and licked my teeth. Mmmm, not bad. Humans tasted differently depending on their diet and hygiene. The one in my mouth fed well. Maybe I should’ve kept him for supper. “Reeeeagan,” I called out again as I continued reading her file. “It says here you are…” I paused, unsure what to say about this one’s profession. Aerialist. Wait a minute. It got better. Hobbies: juggling. None of those matched her former babysitting job, so I presumed she ended up babysitting when she couldn’t find an aerialist job. Or she didn’t want to be auctioned and had scribbled nonsense on her paperwork. Nothing we hadn’t dealt with before. A swift paddling and a nice warm meal tamed girls with attitude. She’d adjust within a week.

  “I bet her pussy tastes like honey,” Lore said. “Take a look.”

  Fine. I put her file aside and spared her a glance.

  The girl had approached, all right. She stood on the first step with her mouth slightly open and her bottom lip trembling. She tucked it between her teeth. Her abundant, long, straight black hair curtained a face adorned with tiny freckles over her nose, and her shirt barely held together handfuls of tits. I concurred with my cousin. Cute. Would taste good if she were mine. But she wasn’t.

  “Eyes up,” I said, because she stared at the floor.

  The girl lifted her chin.

  Gray eyes locked with mine.

  Something cold ripped through my chest, and my lungs arrested. A growl escaped my chest. It felt like I’d died. I inhaled just to be sure I could. This response, the force of my instinct, meant only one thing. This girl was the spy. She was it, the girl I’d been waiting for. In an instant, auctions became a thing of the past, the whole room cleared out before my eyes, and all I saw was the prey before me.