Page 50 of Free Beast Mate

“Thirty feet.”

“Two hundred and seventy more to go.”

“I’d hurry up if I were you,” John pitched in.

“Another word from you, ol’ man, and I’m gonna throw you out.” But he was right, of course. At this pace, we’d be stuck here for an hour. “Felicia, can you show me the upward trajectory?”

“Trying.” She pulled up the scans and showed me the hole. Too dark. I couldn’t see around me, and we couldn’t pull up the dimensional scan that would tell me exactly where the ship was located inside this hole. But I knew that Community X hid below a town.

“Lock in on the town,” I told her.

“What are you gonna do?” Felicia asked.

“We’re gonna shoot straight up.”

I put the brakes on Ferry while her thrusters worked. Heat warnings flashed, but I ignored them. Five, four… “Strap in, everyone!” On zero, I let go of the brakes. Ferry shot up as if released from a bowstring. Cole screamed, my ears popped, Felicia hung on to her seat belts and closed her eyes. Pressure in my lungs built and built, nearly ripping my chest open.

The sun blinded me. I threw a forearm over my eyes and peeked underneath. I saw a gaping hole in the ground, and next to it, fields of dirt and sand, a few houses scattered on the left. The residents of Retreat, Texas, ran around like ants. I recognized Men of Earth with their shaved heads and long robes. Some tried to shoot down Ferry with arrows, while others spread out.

Someone clapped, and I glanced back. Emma hadn’t moved. Back at my controls with daylight hitting my eyes hard, my vision blurred. I pulled up Ferry’s artillery, surprised to see it hadn’t been loaded off. “Torpedo engagement confirmed. Dropping in ten, nine…”

John came to stand next to me. “Don’t even think about it.”

“I’ve already thought about it.”

“There’re women and children down there.”

“There’re women and children on this ship too. Nobody would spare them. Tom has suffocated hundreds of his own people.”

“If he surrendered to Alpha Beast, his people would have lived. Don’t do it, Amoris.”

Felicia put a hand over my twitchy finger. All I had to do was touch the screen. I wanted Community X to burn. “Mayhem’s hunters are coming,” Felicia said and pointed.

I wiped the tears light had brought out from my eyes and tried to make out the beasts. It took me a bit to spot them; hunters were notorious for their stealth. About half a mile away, painted beast bodies crawled the ground.

“Mayhem’s hunters aren’t loyal to Jamie,” I said.

“They are now. John’s right. We can’t blow the place.”

“We should,” Emma whispered. “We should. Let it burn in hell.”

I scrubbed my face.

Five, four, three, two, and I deleted the command. Ferry closed the torpedo doors. John squeezed my shoulder.

I hoped I wouldn’t regret this. We hovered above, watching.

Below, a group of hunters chased Men of Earth while another group rushed the community exit doors separating civilians from Men of Earth. Jamie would show them no mercy. By the time land vehicles approached from the north and loaded up the women and children, the dust had settled.

“To Beast City!” Cole said and thrust his fists in the air. “Yay!”

To Beast City.

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