Page 21 of Free Beast Mate

“I know.”

“Breeders get the medicine.”

“Correct.”

“Not even you.”

“No, not even me. If I get sick, I die.”

“Are you feeling sick?” John asked and crossed the room to open the exit door.

Oh boy. I hadn’t thought about that. Tom looked god-awful, pale and barely walking on his feet. “It’s the age, son. When you get to be sixty, you’ll know.”

“Sixty ain’t that old,” John said.

“Around here it is.” Tom leaned on the door. Behind him, I paused.

John put a hand on his shoulder. “I worry about you.”

Tom tapped his hand. “You’re a good man, John.”

“She’s important. I can feel it. If she goes out there, she can get sick and fucking die on us. Leave her inside with him. One week. That’s all I ask for. One week.”

Tom thought about it and sighed. “If she’s not a mate, I’ll hold you responsible.”

“Agreed.”

Tom patted my head. “You poor, unfortunate child.” He enveloped me in a hug, and when I put my hands around him, I felt how he’d shrunk in only one month. Tom was unwell. “Go on,” he said. “I hope to see you back at the sanctuary in no time.”

Tom left us.

Unsure what to do, I looked to John, who closed the door and motioned with his hand. “Leave the supplies with me. I’ll put them back.”

“So what? I walk in and have sex with him?”

John made a sour face and shut off the monitors. “I have a daughter your age. Don’t talk to me about sex. Your mom would know what to do. I can call her.”

“They hanged her.”

John tapped his fingers on the desk. “Is Tom your father?”

“No. My dad burned the last time people around here got sick. Sector Eleven. Not that he’d advise anything if he were alive. He didn’t recognize me as his.”

John pursed his lips, thinking. I stayed there, hoping he’d impart some wisdom to me. When he said nothing, I asked, “Well?”

“He’s not gonna hurt you. I swear by this. I’ve seen it.”

“And the sex?”

He winced.

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the help, John.”

“Any day.”

“I’ll just go on and seduce the beast.”

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