Page 58 of Free Beast Mate

The beast slammed the door shut. The house rattled.

“Have faith I will kick this guy in the balls one day,” Dewlyn said.

“I heard that,” the tall brunette next to him answered. She wore a white dress, smiled wide, and fixed her sunglasses over her eyes. Amoris took my hand and pulled me with him. If he hadn’t pulled, I would have stayed there, paralyzed with fear. This beast made me uneasy. He was no teddy bear. Teddy bears were soft and fluffy, not hard, with cold, perceptive silver eyes.

“Emma,” he said and extended his hand, introducing himself as Jamie.

I nodded, unable to speak until his mate, I presumed, extended hers. She didn’t quite face me either. It was strange but her smile was warm, and I immediately liked her. I found her hand and squeezed. “Nice to meet you, Rey.”

“So, a redhead for my baby brother,” Jamie said and put Rey’s hand on his arm. Then he turned around, and she followed him into a room with nothing but a table for twelve. How strange for kitchens.

After Jamie and Rey claimed their seats, Amoris pulled out a chair for me. I glanced back at Vice and Dewlyn in the room connecting to this one. Oh, there. The kitchen. I recognized some appliances, albeit these were smaller. “Should I help out with the food or…?” I didn’t understand how this dinner thing worked. There were no lines for food, and we’d eat with silver spoons and forks and knives, things I couldn’t remember ever needing to use outside of Amoris’s cage.

Amoris shook his head. “Nah, they’ve got it.”

I sat down next to him and across from Rey, who tapped her fingers over the various things set on the table. “The glasses?” she asked.

“Didn’t bring them yet,” Jamie said.

Blind. The mate to the Alpha Beast was blind! And much loved, from what I could tell. Beast Father was an idiot. Tom was an idiot. Rey was beautiful, a breeder by all our community standards for beauty and health, and yet she would have been shunned in our community. I wanted to ask her about her life in her community but thought I’d get through the dinner first.

Oh, and what a dinner. Vice and Dewlyn set the table, and conversation flowed. People here laughed often. Dewlyn cursed quite a bit. Rey smiled and spoke softly. Jamie’s voice, on the other hand, boomed. Vice spent at least half an hour cutting the steak and potatoes on his plate and arranging them in some sort of order only he understood. I watched him and did the same so I wouldn’t appear to eat like an animal, though I was tempted to chug the delicious chicken soup down my throat.

Before I ate, I said a quiet prayer, noticing the table had gone silent. When I opened my eyes, they averted theirs. It seemed as if these people didn’t embrace prayer, and that was okay with me. They didn’t make me feel out of place out here in Above. I was just a regular girl having dinner, not some sheep who waited at the end of the line for scraps left over after the breeders, the warriors, and everyone else that mattered. I had a lot to be thankful for.

Next to me, Amoris reached for the bread basket and broke off a piece of hot bread. He passed it to me, and I remembered the day I’d stolen that stale loaf from his trash. Inside this one, I found olives. Sour green ones I’d never tasted before but knew about from pictures. I bit into it, and my eyes rolled back. “Oh my God, this is the best bread in the world. Thank you, Dewlyn, for the invitation.”

“Welcome.” She pointed a fork at the basket. “Didn’t make the rolls. Hasel lent me a hand today.” She stabbed the char-grilled steak and lifted it. “I made this.” She winced. “Can ya tell?”

“Mm-hm,” Jamie mumbled.

“I could kill someone with this steak,” Amoris said and banged the steak on the table.

Dewlyn laughed. “I know, but hell, I tried.”

“If you don’t like it, don’t eat it,” Vice said and chewed on his. He chased it with water. “Delicious.”

I looked around the table noticing only I’d eaten the soup. “I think the soup is great.”

“I made that,” Dewlyn said. “Me and you, Red, we’re gonna get along.”

Heat crept up my cheeks, and I lowered my gaze, thinking of Amoris’s tongue on my Little Red.

“What?” Dewlyn asked. “What did I say?”

Amoris chuckled. “I named her pussy Red.”

I snapped my head up, eyes wide.

Jamie winked at me. “Dirty. I like it.”

I wanted to hide under the table. Amoris threw an arm over my shoulder and brought me closer. He kissed my cheek and lingered at my ear. “After dinner, we’re going back home. Think about the things I’m gonna do there.”

I pressed my thighs together.

I bet every male in the room smelled my arousal.

I bet Amoris wanted them to smell it.

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