Page 52 of Free Beast Mate

Her walls groaned. The pressure in the cabin blew. My ears popped again, and I thought I’d go deaf. I held on to Emma as the ship sank. Blue sea all around us, happy schools of fish swimming across the screen. Imported Tineyan corals, and then a dolphin zipped past.

Thunk.

A groan.

Ferryhit the sand. She bounced, and my stomach bounced with her. I waited until the ship settled, then stood and headed for the emergency exit, the one we used in case we sank our ships into Tineya’s seas. Everyone followed, and we crammed into a small metal…cube. The door closed behind us. I punched in the panel, telling Ferry to eject us, hoping like hell she would. We waited.

The space reminded me of my cube, the one they’d shoved me into when Emma came around or any time I needed a lesson. I half expected a needle to pierce my back. At the thought, I gritted my teeth. Something must’ve showed on my face, because next to me, John asked, “You all right?”

I nodded and wiped cold sweat from my forehead. Flashbacks came one after the other. I leaned back against the cell. “This fucking thing needs to go up.”

“It’ll go,” Felicia said. “Give it a minute.”

Cole sniffed but had stopped crying. He held on to John, who seemed like he knew how to handle kids. He kept his palm on top of the boy’s head and told him to be brave.

My breaths came out in pants. The small space made my skin crawl, making me think that bastard Adam would activate the needle shot. They fucking did that to me twice a week while my mate came inside my quarters. I lifted Emma and put her head on my shoulder, wishing like hell she could put her arms around my neck and hang on to me. Though I was pretty sure I needed her more than she needed me.

Finally, the cube disengaged, and Ferry ejected us. My stomach rose back up and settled as we emerged on the top. We floated on the sea.

A pause, then Felicia said, “Well, we ended up in the sea.”

“Are we done yet?” Cole asked. “Is it over?”

I smiled down at him. “Let’s hope Jamie is busy and someone else comes to fetch the people who breached the skies.”

Felicia chuckled. “Hear, hear.”

The cubicle bumped against something and stopped moving. I looked up through the small window on the very top. The sky above us and nothing else.

“I think we hit the shore,” John said and cracked open the door. A barrage of laser fire hit us, denting the sides of the cubicle.

Cole started crying again. “They’re gonna kill us.”

Jamie wouldn’t relent.

“When I was twelve years old,” I shouted, “you made me drink your piss. You said it would make me an Alpha like you.”

“What?” That was Vice.

“And you, my brother. Did Anna Karenina wear a lilac dress to the ball?”

“No.”

“No, she wore a black dress. You know how I know that?” I smiled.

“Tell me.”

“You fucking made me prance around in a black dress and called me Anna.”

“Like a princess,” John said.

“Vice!” I hollered.

My mate stirred. “Sorry, baby. Hold on. Vice!”

“Yes, I’m here,” came from the other side of the thin metal wall, followed by a knock. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Away.”

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