Page 3 of His Beast Mate

Chapter Two

John

My mission:retrieve Felicia of Wiedeg, the warrior beast female who had been captured with Torrent, the High Priest of Earth—and now my son-in-law—because I was an unlucky bastard, tied to the beasts for the rest of my life. Even my grandkids would be beasty. I could’ve killed my son-in-law, the sorry-ass fucker. God knows I wanted to, but then Sienna would hate me. After all he’d done, she loved him, and if she could forgive him so could I. For as long as he didn’t fuck up.

I stuck a hand into the pocket of my suit pants and played with the bullet with Torrent’s name on it. It was my talisman. From the other pocket, I got my tobacco and paper. Lifting an eyebrow at William Ghason, a businessman who came from old money, I rolled the cigarette. “I hide my rare jewels,” I told him in response to him calling Felicia that.

I’d hidden my daughter for seventeen years. This was before, when I thought the beasts picked their pairs based on looks, and Sienna was a looker. She’d captivated me from the first time I saw her dumped in a basket near my bunker. I sat next to the crying newborn baby, awaiting her father so I could beat the shit out of the guy. I thought he’d left the kid while he went hunting and would come back. It hadn’t crossed my mind that someone had left the girl out there to die.

The night came, and I picked up a stranger’s baby and raised her as my own. Never told her how I’d found her, and I never would. Who the fuck wanted to feel abandoned? Nobody. She didn’t need to feel like people didn’t want her. I wanted her. She was precious and cute as a button, my rare jewel, and rare jewels should be protected. Felicia was no rare jewel to this man. More like a hammer in his toolbox.

“I hide mine too,” William said.

“That makes me think you have more than one.”

He sat at the table, jerked her chain, and she moved to sit beside his leg like a good puppy. He patted her head. “If you’d like to sample, I’ll show you my jewels. Some are for sale, some are not. Stay the night, rest in my home, and have your way with any you like. With the kind of money you brought to the table, I’ve selected the finest one. My apologies, John. Shall I take her back?”

I sat down beside him and across from Boris, one of the two Men of Earth stooges, who stared at Felicia’s tits as if he’d never seen tits on a woman before. Granted, hers didn’t have an areola. They were pale, with a small dent for a nipple. I wanted to reach over the table and slap him. Fucking sick people played here. And I better settle down and learn how to play along. “Deal and we’ll see what happens,” I said.

William dropped Felicia’s leash.

I glanced at him, bent, and picked up her leash, then tugged her over to my leg. Alpha Beast had set me up as a wealthy new neighbor in Highborn Hills, a rich human neighborhood on the edge of Beast City. I made sure to flaunt my cars and money, attended all the right parties, and sure enough, a month later, I met Boris. He hooked me up with a private poker game. I’d played poker before, but not this version of Texas Hold ’em. I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing, and this damn suit itched. The whole room pissed me off. It made me want to bite someone.

Before I rang William’s doorbell, I’d met up with Jamie, the Alpha Beast, who gave me one of his T-shirts. I wore the oversized thing under my button-up shirt, hoping Felicia would sniff it out. She didn’t. She kept her head down. I had to get her attention so she wouldn’t fight me when I attempted to rescue her. Vice had advised me of that, had said Felicia trained with their males and could become violent. Though, I didn’t understand how she’d fight anyone in her current state. They’d broken her.

I folded my crappy hand of cards and did what William had done. I patted her head while the other three men continued playing. When she didn’t look up, I hooked my finger under her chin and nudged it up. When our gazes locked again, my heart thudded, maybe skipped a beat. I wasn’t sure what it did, but it was something I hadn’t felt before. Despite her surroundings, there was something alive in her pretty forest-green eyes. And they paled when I ran a thumb over her lips.

The men watched me. I patted my thigh, signaling her to rest her head there.

“I see you’ve come to like my kitten,” William said.

A fucking kitten? “Yeah, she’ll do.”

Felicia lay her head on my lap, her face away from the table. I shifted in my chair, feeling a little awkward that she’d buried her face practically in my crotch. It was all right, though. Women didn’t excite me. I had a case of limp dick, had had one ever since I could remember. Rarely got the useless thing up.

So when my dick stirred from its slumber, I wanted to die of shame. After all the times I needed it to get going and it hadn’t, now it decided it liked a woman on her knees. Fucking pervert. Here I was, behaving no better than these fuckers. I glanced down at her, and she kept inching toward my dick. My dick extended and met her halfway. I patted her head, hoping she’d take the hint and move away. But she kept going, and when she got right up in my crotch, she inhaled. I heard her soft snort. Her head jerked, but I pushed it down with my hand, not wanting her to alarm the others. I smiled down at her. “That a girl,” I said.

An unspoken understanding passed between us. At least I hoped it had. I hoped she understood I was not here to abuse her. I was here to rescue her, though we’d planned the rescue at a later time, after I’d scoped out the situation. I came smelling of her Alpha Beast so she’d know a rescue was imminent. But now that I’d seen her? I wouldn’t leave without her. “I’m gonna win,” I told her.

She shook her head, but the motion was brief. I picked up on it but didn’t understand. William had invited me over for a night, promised me poker, booze, and now pussy. The winner took the prize, his jewel for the night. She was probably one of the ones not for sale. I needed a moment alone with her, so I better fucking win this. Otherwise, I’d have to kill three armed men in the room, one butler, and a security team standing guard outside the house.

He dealt the cards.

Got a four and a two. Unlucky bastard. I contemplated if I should prod Boris for some information on Tom’s whereabouts, though I was pretty sure he bunked underground. Alpha Beast had ordered me not to poke my nose into anything else that happened in this house. Even if Men of Earth came, even if I had the opportunity to strangle Tom, the leader, himself, Alpha Beast had ordered me to stand down. Felicia of Wiedeg, he’d explained, was a beast female, and as such, her life was valued above all else.

Instead of befriending Boris, I patted Felicia.

* * *

Kitten

The poker gamelasted most of the night. John ordered me around as if he already owned me. And he did; he just didn’t know it yet. I wasn’t even sure how I would approach him about our mating. But I couldn’t worry about that right now. John caught some luck. He bested both Boris and Alex. They’d since left the room. I watched them walk away, knowing they’d wait out the end of the night in the house, perhaps try to hurt my human mate.

John needed to lose and walk away unharmed. I couldn’t believe it when I’d smelled my alpha on his clothes. Could it be Jamie had sent a human man to rescue me? No. It couldn’t. Human men were weak. Fragile. But then again, a beast male couldn’t possibly get into this house without Owner hurting all the girls in his basement. He’d burn the house down before he allowed a team of beasts to capture him.

John flicked the corners of his cards. I couldn’t see his hand.

I inhaled the smell of my alpha and pretended to be cool, grateful the humans couldn’t hear my heart beating out of my chest. The dealer tech machine flipped a queen. Shit. A high card. I hoped John had some more deuces. Another queen. This Texas Hold ’em poker really excited me. I wanted to play this game, though I didn’t think I had the patience or temper for it. John seemed to have both in spades. Or hearts, as it may be.

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