Page 27 of Free Beast Mate

“No.”

“We call it quarters, but it’s really a prison, a cage for an animal we don’t understand. We use the purpose of his being to blackmail him, and he has no idea why. So it’s natural to refuse what your captor is providing when you know it’s ill willed.”

“It is not ill willed. We have to eat.”

“Yes, yes, we do. We have to eat, and he has to mate. It is against his nature to refuse his mate. It’s how we’ve successfully killed hundreds of beasts in the past year.”

“That’s a lot of dead beasts.”

“Mm-hm.”

“Well.” I cleared my throat and approached the table. “How many beasts are there?”

“Many.”

“If we kill them all, is that when we can go and live Above?”

John slid me a look. “You know better than to ask that. I can’t talk about Above.”

I hung my head. “I’m sorry I asked. Don’t tell anyone.”

“Stay out of trouble. And do me a favor.”

“Sure.”

“Put some clothes on before leaving, and tell Cole I want to see him.”

“The breeder boy?”

“That’s the one.”

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