Page 34 of Free Beast Mate

Chapter Twelve

Emma

Amoris lay beside me,his head propped on his hand, his silky hair spilling over the pillow, his red eyes attentive and curious about…me, I supposed. The male was many things, but ugly wasn’t one of them. He knew it, and he played it to his advantage. He wanted to know about my hut, and I wanted to know about the Above, but neither of us talked. We lay there in silence after I refused to talk about life in the community.

I carried a grudge. He was disappointed with me. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d disappointed people, namely dad, Tom, and many others. But over the years, they’d come to accept that I couldn’t change, and I’d built the wall that protected me from mean people and their unkind words.

Besides, I worked hard around the community, and after Dad’s death, Tom really took a fatherly role for me. He protected me when I’d get bullied. Not so much from people who had grown up here, but from new people from Above who wanted my position. They wanted to be near Tom. They begged to serve him. I believed Tom refused them because he trusted me to take care of him as I took care of my dad. When Dad got sick, I didn’t care that he never wanted me in his life. He was still my father. I nursed him, and I remember Tom sitting outside Sector Eleven and telling me about his daughter, Reagan. He regretted having lost her. I’d asked about his wife. Mrs. Lesnadt was here one day, then the next, she wasn’t. I presumed she’d ventured up Above and the beasts had eaten her, because Tom hadn’t answered me.

Amoris waited for my answer now.

I waited for him, unsure what I waited for. An unfamiliar fluttering started in my belly when Amoris’s eyelids dropped and his gaze found my shoulder. He reached for it and pulled the hem of the dress back up but didn’t take his hand away. I froze, the fluttering in my belly intense and spreading down. I felt myself dampening my panties.

Amoris’s nostrils flared. “I smell wet pussy.”

My eyes widened. “You really can do that.”

“Mm-hm.” He brushed a claw over my cheek. “Don’t be embarrassed. Be scared.”

“Why should I be scared? I know you’d never hurt your mate.”

“You should be scared, because I’m a captive here. There’s nothing more important to me than my mate and—”

“Ha! That’s odd. Because you seemed quite disappointed.”

“Let me continue. You should be scared, because Tom wants me to mate. Something is very wrong with that. I’m terrified of why that is. Now that they’re certain you are mine, I’m terrified they’ll threaten you to get information from me.”

“Tom would never hurt me or let anyone else hurt me.”

“You seem certain of it.”

“I am.”

“You were lashed.”

“I broke the rules.”

“Then why does he want me to mate?”

I shrugged, lifting his hand off my shoulder. It slid down and cupped my elbow. His thumb circled the inside of my wrist, and I grew hot again.

Amoris inhaled. “You’re responsive.”

“It tickles.”

“Mm-hm.” He leaned in and brushed his nose with mine. “Does that tickle?”

“Maybe.” I lifted my head and pecked his lips.

Sparks of silver flashed in his eyes. “Little girl, little girl, you’re playing with fire.”

“I’m not little.”

He kissed my nose. “You call out the soft side of me. I’d let you call me Daddy. Would you like that?”

“Um, no. I don’t think…not really.”

“My lord will do.”

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