Page 103 of The Female

I’m willing to let Gray have the human until she dies.

“Why are you so against Shay?” I ask.

Silas raises a brow and turns his attention to her. She spins to meet his gaze, her back straightening and head held high as all high-bred females have been taught. They show no weakness and meet the stares of men head-on.

It’s a shame she’s so shit at fighting. I was disappointed by her inability to defend herself in the pits, and no coaching was helping. She didn’t even seem that excited about it, either.

“She’s fun, but she’s not a woman I’d ever want to bond with,” Silas eventually responds. He holds eye contact with her as he speaks. “I want a female I can love, not a selfish, cruel one who serves as only a mediocre fuck.”

I hold back a groan as Shay tenses in my lap, and I wrap my arm around her waist to keep her seated. I don’t want her picking a fight with Silas.

I can tell he’s not in the mood for a friendly spar. He’d kill her. I’m sure the only reason he hasn’t done so yet is because he doesn’t want to deal with my anger afterward, but there’s not much I can do if he’s directly challenged.

A challenge is a challenge. It would be a fair kill.

“Why did you bring Shay here?” he asks. “Is this some sad attempt to make Charlie jealous? She’ll never care for you if you keep treating her like she’s disposable.”

I shrug, feigning indifference.

“Sheisdisposable,” I say.

Even if I don’t want her to be, she still is. Her entire life is just a tiny blip compared to mine, and she offers no skillsets that would even remotely serve to make her indispensable. She is, in every sense of the word, disposable.

My heart clenches at the thought of her dying, but there’s nothing I can do about it.

Silas laughs. “Try saying that to Gray.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You missed a lot in the time you’ve been gone,” Silas says. “He loves the human and has already begun whispering to her about bonding.”

Shay snorts. “He would never.”

Silas glances to the side, the action just enough for me to realize this is a sensitive topic for him, too. Has he thought about bonding with Charlie? Why would Gray go to Silas about it before me?

My body warms at the thought of bonding with her, of finally feeling her soft flesh on mine, but I push the idea aside before it gets out of hand. We could never bond with a human. It’s not even worth considering or fantasizing about.

While Silas and Gray like to believe we’ll pick a bonded mate out of love, the sad truth of the matter is that it will be a political play. I’ll do my best to find a female we all care for, but at the end of the day, the one we choose will need to be beneficial to my position.

Shay’s uncle is the king of Envy, and her ties to him are strong.

“He’d never suggest we bond with a human,” I argue before turning toward Shay. “Leave.”

She scoffs and crosses her arms over her chest, clearly unhappy with my order. This situation has made her cocky, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes as I grab her jaw. She flinches as my fingers dig into the bone on both sides of her mouth, but she continues to meet my gaze dead on.

“We want a female who obeys us. If you can’t give that, it seems as if I’ve made a mistake,” I spit.

In all honesty, we’ll need a female who holds her own against us, but I don’t trust Shay enough to let her sit here and eavesdrop on this conversation. There will be riots if my people hear we are having discussions of bonding a human, and Shay loves to gossip.

Her eyes flash with anger before she gives in and leaves. I readjust as her weight is removed from my lap, a relieved sigh slipping from my lips as I fix my shorts and stretch my legs.

She’s not heavy, but having her on me was sure as fuck uncomfortable.

“I made it clear that Charlie is only temporary when I bought her,” I say, continuing the conversation.

What happened while I was gone that Gray decided Charlie would be our bonded mate? I know he wanted her to serve all three of us in some capacity, but never as our mate.

My lips flatten into a straight line as I reach out and slip my mind into Silas’s.

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