Page 13 of Their Beast Mate

I slid him a glare. Norem looked like he swallowed cow shit. He'd done something. Yes. Norem finally fucked up. I felt better already, sat down, and stretched my legs, waiting for his bullshit.

"Plum, you came and asked for Zenor."

"I did."

"I might've been lazy and failed to correct you. My name is Norem. This is Zenor."

"You lied to me. Why would you do that?"

"Because," I said, "he's not your mate. I would never lie to you, and I never will, from now to the end of time."

Norem held her gaze. Oh, he was doing his puppy dog eyes. The ones that had girls dropping their panties and wanting to comfort him. Dickhead.

Pinging sounded in the room. Vice appeared on the wall to my left. He looked like he'd crawled out of bed a minute ago. Accurate, since it was close to one in the morning.

"Mayhem," he said in way of greeting, then scrubbed his face and shook out his mane. "What can I do for you that you can't do for yourself at this hour?"

"Not a thing."

"Then why not wait until the morning?"

"Your males, your problem. If I'm brought back to work because of this, you're getting up too."

Vice sighed. "What is the issue?"

"The pair of males Jamie sent over for meditation practice." He pointed at us.

Vice expanded his view of the room. "Zenor and Norem of Tevent."

"Second," we answered formally.

"They found a mate in my court," Mayhem said.

"Congratulations. I take it you have no pairing papers. I told you you'd need them. And ’cause you love tech, I had digital papers made specially for you. Sending them over. Anything else?"

"You're a bit slow in the morning."

It took a few beats for Vice to tilt his head and ask, "Did you say they found a mate?"

"Indeed."

Vice turned to us. "Speak."

"Shayma is my mate," Norem said.

I shook my head. "Can't be. She's mine."

Norem sneered. "Are you jealous I mated first? Is that it?"

"Truth." I thumped my chest. "She's mine."

Vice leaned back and steepled his fingers. "Which of you saw her first?"

I stood on one leg, ’cause my other kneecap might be dislocated. "Me. I saw her first."

"I licked her first."

"Oh God." Shayma turned red.

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