Page 23 of Free Beast Mate

Emma picked up her dress and tried to put it on but I’d ripped it, and it was now useless. I pointed to my bedroom. “Get something from over there.”

“It’s fine. It wouldn’t be the first time my dress got ripped in two… damn weeks. I’d need to clean the entire sector for Ms. Jeany to make me a new dress.” She pinched her lips and lifted her middle finger.

I sensed a bit of attitude. All that red-haired fire was coming out. But I couldn’t give up. Tom wanted me mated. They wanted me mated. They wanted her here. They put her here. Why? Why did they want me fucking mated? “I don’t care,” I lied.

“Oh no?”

“No.”

She flung the dress away and approached the table. I tilted my head. Emma limped. Had I imagined it? I believed she walked with a limp. Had someone hurt something else on her? Her hip, her leg. Did that asshole break her leg? I snarled and felt like making someone suffer for a long, long time.

Emma sat down across from me and folded her arms over her breasts. It only made her tits look bigger.

Elbows on the table, I leaned in. “Is there something else anyone has done to you?”

“Adam lashed me. And by the way, I broke the rules, so it’s on me. He acted as he should have. I own my mistakes.”

Oh man, Tom had this girl trained and brainwashed. The others who came and went? Not so much. Emma was smart. And sexy. Bloody hell, she was sexy. And naked, her pale nipples peeking above her arms, just begging for the warmth of my palm. Or a slap. Or a clamp of my teeth. “Why are you limping?” I asked before I leapt at her and fucked her on the floor. At that thought, I wanted to whimper. I cleared my throat. Steady there, lord. Don’t ruin your reputation.

Her eyes found the floor. “I was born that way. If I’m your mate, you’re gonna have to deal with it. I don’t wanna hear any shit about that from someone I have to spend the rest of my life with. So you know.”

“You’re not a breeder.”

“No.”

“They think you’re not mine because you have a limp, is that right?”

“That’s right.”

“So why did they send you back in?”

“John thinks I’m yours.”

Not stupid, that one. “John is wrong.”

Emma smiled. “I’m stuck here for a week, though, so better make the best of it.”

Fuck me. “You will tell John you would like to leave right now.”

“I can’t. John shut off the monitors. He’s not looking.”

“Trust me,” I said. “John is looking.”

“I believe him.”

I snorted. “You would.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” I let my head fall back, searching the fake sky up on my ceiling. It was a cloudy day. “I want to know why they’re sending me girls. Why you’re here. If you tell me, you can stay the night.” What? Fuck me. With my brain in the clouds, I spouted nonsense. I couldn’t look at her for five minutes without wanting to fuck for five years. One night, and I was done for. Mated male. The end of me. One sniff did kill a beast.

“We need to find your mate. There’s no more time left. I hoped since most girls had already taken their turns with you, I could too. That’s why I came here. I need to know for sure.”

I leaned back in my chair and lifted my hand. “Stop right there. Nobody in this forsaken place took their turns with me.”

“Whatever.”

Oh, the attitude. “How’s your bottom? Feeling a little sore?”

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