Page 6 of Their Beast Mate

Chapter 3

Norem

After the most unproductive day of my entire career, I needed something strong and burning hot. Something that would make me numb for the night. This morning and on time, my brother and I had checked in with Mayhem, who sent us to Lore for training. Lore locked us up in an empty room without windows or lights, and made us sit there for an hour.

I made mental notes of Lore's posture and imitated his breathing. My brother behaved as if it were a short-term prison sentence. Zenor's energy rode him hard. I felt his restlessness. I had trouble concentrating. Hence my irritation. The entire time I tried to mimic Lore's meditation pose and listen to the instructions, Zenor's mind spun in circles. Toward the end of the hour, all that Zenor energy made me want to crawl out of my skin and chase after the girl he'd met this morning. The housekeeper.

Down in the basement, music boomed from the speakers. A ball on the ceiling reflected multi-colored lights, throwing them onto the red velvet curtains around the large space and casting shadows over people sitting around the tables and the ones mingling in groups at the main bar. The smell of alcohol and human women soothed me, and I found a nice semi-private table near one exit and far away from the main area. I plopped on the seat and stretched out my legs, sore from the beating I got from Lore after the meditation. I rubbed my chest and winced when I touched the place he rammed his head into.

I looked around the place for a waitress and found none, though I spotted Lore sitting at the bar. He lifted his hand in greeting. I should probably join him, but I couldn't take anymore of the introductions. Or people in general. I wanted to relax, get drunk, and go back to the room, where I'd pass out cold, mend my bruises, and wake up tomorrow fresh to tackle this meditation thing.

Numerous times, my brother called me a recluse. I didn't think I was one; I just wasn't him. Though twins, we weren't clones. I had my thing, and he had his. Putting us together inside the pod was a disaster. I'd told Alpha Beast Zenor and I didn't work well side by side, and asked that Zenor be reassigned somewhere where he could live up to his full potential. Alpha sent us here, to learn how to work together. Lucky me.

I couldn't imagine spending entire days with Zenor, the way Alpha Beast spent them with his brother, Vice. Being around Zenor was like being around a power generator. He couldn't sit. Couldn't settle. Couldn't calm down. Had trouble sleeping, too. Even now, after traveling from Beast City to New City, two meditation attempts, a twenty-mile jog—where I jogged and he sprinted—and Lore's beating, Zenor decided he'd go for another run before meeting his new girlfriend down here.

That poor girl wouldn't see it coming. He worked the beast-compound girls, dumped them, and moved on without even looking back. The whole concept of girlfriend was ridiculous and better left to the human males. Beast males were made for two things. One—to fuck when they must. Two—to mate. Girlfriends fit somewhere in between. I didn't do in between. Nothing good ever came from in between. Life was simple. Choices usually boiled down to two.

I found Lore's gaze and pointed at my empty table. He lifted a finger at the same time as a girl stepped around him and whispered something in his ear. Lore wound his other arm around her waist and kept nodding as she spoke. My gaze latched onto her ass. I'd have to be blind, not to notice that full, heart-shaped ass, since she wore shorts way—I mean waaay—too short. The hem of the white cut-offs rode above her asscheeks, and through her lacy neon-green shirt, I clearly saw the rest of her curves.

She had a very nice body and tanned skin, not as black as Lore's and not as light as mine. Somewhere in between. This in between was pretty. Her braid reached just above the middle of her back, and if she straightened her curls, they’d probably tickle her fine ass. The bartender passed her two drinks, and the girl spun and looked straight at me. I grinned so wide, my face might cramp. Finally, here came my booze.

The whiskey in the glass swayed as she made her way through the crowd, but I didn't worry about her spilling my drink. Too busy watching her hips rock. At my table, she paused. I stared, my mouth watering from my thirst. Yeah. It had nothing to with her sweet face and gentle smile. Sit on my lap and gimme my fucking drink. Of course, I would not say that to a woman. I had a clue or two.

The girl frowned, then straddled my lap.

Mindreader, this one. Now my drink. Oh, the blessed amber liquor.

"Zenor," she said in a way of greeting.

I didn't feel like correcting her; Lore probably had my brother and me mixed up. He only met us today and couldn't scent the difference between us from across the room. While we both had our late mother’s green eyes, short hair, and the same tall bulky built, beasts with trained noses could scent us apart—especially Mayhem's hunters.

"That's me, plum," I said.

I eyed the whiskey glass in her hand. The same hand traveled to her mouth. The glass touched those suckable lips, and the girl threw her head back and drank my whiskey. She smacked her lips, put the glass behind her on the table, and handed me a beer.

“Thank you.” I wanted to bend her over my lap and try my palm over her ass. Instead, I sipped my drink. Shoot me. It tasted like colored water with a hint of alcohol, whereas I needed a real drink to burn down my throat. "Where are you from?" I asked and leaned in to put my beer mug on the table. Of course, I didn't want her to fall off my lap, so I secured her with a firm grip on her hip. Maybe I brought her a little closer. So she wouldn't topple over.

I leaned back.

"Community Twenty-One, in Texas." The girl smiled, her eyes doing that seductive human thing. The one where a girl looked at a guy from under her lashes. As if she needed to seduce me. My dick was gonna cut through my sweatpants. Anyone within a mile radius could see my raging erection, though she pretended there was nothing big and ready to poke her little pussy between her legs.

Women. Never understood them, will never pretend to, and would definitely enjoy taking this one upstairs. Except she had to be on the clock. One of many girls auctioned in Mayhem's court. When I'd asked Alpha why he kept them, he said because they had nowhere else to go. This girl, like many others on this planet, did her best to handle her circumstances, but if she could choose, she wouldn't be sitting on my lap.

"Name's Shayma in case you forgot." She wound her hands around my neck, and inches from my face, said, "You scared me today, in your room."

Up close like this, I inhaled her scent. Some kind of a flower. A lily perhaps. Sexy. It made me want to lick her. Everywhere. Especially between her legs. If I made her my girlfriend, would she choose to sit in my lap? I could buy her. Should I buy her off Mayhem? Wait a minute—what the fuck was I thinking? "What?" I asked.

"I said you scared me today, in your room. You locked the door on me. Lore said I could entertain you tonight, which is fine, but I'm gonna need assurances you’ll behave."

"I'll do anything." The housekeeper. My brother did something she didn't like. I knew better than to stand for his name, but now I'd push on with it, because this girl was special. Or maybe I hadn't gotten laid in a while.

She chuckled. "Did you read my checklist?"

"I haven't had a chance."

She reached into her back pocket and took out a folded paper. She unfolded it and handed it to me, then squirmed on my lap. "I'll get another round, while you read."

"You will stay put while I read. I won't take long." Okay, now we were talking. In our main beast compound, using tools on human women required checklists, and in order to take a woman in the back, you had to read her paperwork. Knowing hunters and their views on property, I was pretty certain Vice made Mayhem include the papers in his court.

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