Page 42 of Free Beast Mate

The door opened, and Tom smiled as if he’d already granted me sainthood for my sacrifice. A light I hadn’t seen since we’d captured Lord Amoris shone in his gray eyes. He spread his arms, and I walked right into his warm embrace. He kissed the top of my head. “My sweet Emma. The precious girl. I always knew there was something special about you. When the healer suggested we sterilize you, I forbade it.” He put me at arm’s length. “I had a vision of you with a swollen belly. You are a miracle.”

Tom thought I was a dumbass. Did he think a physical disability made me less smart? I smiled as wide as a hyena. “Thank you. You have always guided me onto the right path.”

“Come sit with me.” He motioned me over to the bed, and I sat beside him. “How is the mating?” he asked.

“Unusual.”

“Ah, well, it is to be expected.” Tom looked uncomfortable, wringing his wrinkled hands. “I’m probably not the right person to speak with you about the arts of…of coupling.”

“Sex,” I said surprising myself. He made me so angry. I’d been cursing quite a bit lately too. God, forgive me. Everyone is just pissing me off.

Tom lifted both eyebrows. “Yes, sex. Let’s get you to Dolly.”

* * *

Dolly,our healer, worked in the area of Sector One reserved for businesses. It housed medicine, arms storage, water containers, and other things that made the community run, like the tech we’d received from Beast Father that allowed fresh air distribution through Community X. Without it, we’d have suffocated a long time ago. Dolly specialized in women’s reproductive health. The people from Above called her “the woman in white,” and the girls she’d brought into the community adored her.

As I entered the hallway leading to Dolly’s office, a tall girl bumped my shoulder. Ouch! I bounced off her like a rag doll and slammed against the wall. “Hey!”

She glanced back, a brief flash of eyes in the dark. Then she rounded the corner.

“Oh my God,” I whispered. I swore on all that was holy I’d just seen a beast female, with abundant dark hair and a braid longer than mine. Her eyes betrayed her. Like Amoris’s, they were large and pale. I rushed after her but found the hallway empty. A ghost.

I frowned. Had I seen her? Was I going mad? I could be going mad. It was possible with all the madness happening with me lately. I’d ask Dolly about stress and mental health. Maybe she’d confirm I’d gone mad, because…a beast female in Community X? Ridiculous. Did they even have females?

I walked back and entered Dolly’s office, the familiar smell of bleach somehow soothing me. A couple of women waited in line, so I came to stand behind them when Dolly opened the door to the medical examination room. She was a tall blonde with light brown eyes and a cheerful smile. I smiled back.

“Oh, Emma, come right in.” She waved me inside. “Girls, excuse me. This is Emma, the lord’s mate.”

They didn’t protest. They looked excited. “So nice to meet you, Emma!” one called out. Dolly closed the door and led me into the room. Clear jars filled with preservative and organs she’d ripped out of women from Above decorated the large library intended to hold books. Tom didn’t want the unholy beasts to populate Earth, so after the mates Above were chosen, Dolly got the call. She paid the women a visit and sterilized the ones who refused to join our cause.

Shame washed over me, shame of ignoring the evidence of evildoing in front of me. If it wasn’t for Amoris casting doubts in my mind, and Tom confirming Amoris’s rhetoric, I wouldn’t have seen the jars even now. Oh, I’d see them, but I wouldn’t understand the meaning of them. Somewhere out there, women had died for Tom’s cause because they didn’t know better. Because they weren’t allowed to know.

I never thought I would become a beast mate, and I didn’t know a whole lot about Above. Every mass, Tom had repeated the same warning: Those who welcome the unholy beasts welcome the devil. I didn’t question if Tom and Dolly followed the devil. Nobody had the right to take the future away from those women. And Tom took. Dolly took.

I stepped on a stool and climbed onto the examination table, giving Dolly a smile that showed all my teeth.

She gathered up her instruments, and I opened my mouth so she could check my throat. “How’s the mating going?” she asked.

“Excellent,” I mumbled while a cold steel stick pressed down on my tongue.

She removed the stick, grabbed the medicine gun, and pricked my finger with it. Whatever she read on the screen stole her cheer. “Negative. Booo.”

“What is?” I asked.

“Your pregnancy test.”

Dear Lord. It was true. They’d take everything from me. My hand flew to my chest, my heart beating with fury. I tried to remain calm. “Um, I know that.”

“But you said the mating is going excellent.”

“It is. We’re getting to know each other.”

Dolly put the gun thing down along with her black-rimmed glasses. “I see. Well, it’s unfortunate you were not trained in the arts of pleasing a beast male. So I’ll have to give you quick pointers.” She left for the dreaded library. From one of the cabinets at the bottom, she got something. She sat beside me again and held up a…wooden penis. I stared at it. It was half the size of Amoris’s penis. A giggle escaped my lips.

“Try to be adult about this,” Dolly said, her lips pinched in a line.

“Okay,” I pinched mine too, because otherwise, I’d laugh.

---