Maybe he was an alien. Maybe he didn’t care about me—Krystal—at all. Maybe the only reason he was here was because his beast—who I still hadn’t seen yet—decided I smelled right, or whatever it was the Atlans used to choose their mates. Maybe, for him, this wasn’t personal at all, just survival. He had mating fever. He already told me that he had given up finding a mate. That he had planned to go back to Atlan and turn himself in for execution.
Now, he had me.
Or did he? Where was his beast? I thought only the beast could truly claim an Atlan mate. That’s what the TV show said. That’s what the brochures I’d read from the Interstellar Brides Program processing center said. I’d brought every single one home after Kimberly volunteered. I knew all the different kinds of Coalition males a woman could be mated to, their planets, their kinks and desires and customs by heart.
Atlans didn’t claim their mates. Their beasts did that. So what was going on between us?
“Mother!” Brody’s small fist pounded on the closed bedroom door. I dropped my forehead to Iven’s chest with a sigh. Reality called. Kimberly had been ‘mom’. We’d agreed he needed to pretend I was his mother—not his aunt—to make it more difficult for the assassins to track us. Even when we were at home.
“Yes?” I called back.
“Alexander is hungry.” As if hearing his name summoned the giant cat, his yeowling, babbling chatter to Brody grew louder on the other side of the door. “I gave him the steak. He said you’d be mad, but he was hungry. Now I’m hungry.”
Silence, for three seconds.
He said you’d be mad? Was the cat telepathic now?
“Hi, Mr. Smith. I know you’re still here.”
Iven snorted in amusement at Brody’s proclamation. “I am.” If he knew anything about Elite Hunters from Everis, he would know Brody could hear him, smell him, and even if he could not, Brody probably just knew—by some magical, mystical sixth sense—that Iven was in the house. The child was a miracle I had yet to completely figure out.
“Okay.” Shuffling noises. More cat mewling. “Can I meet your beast?”
All amusement vanished. “No.”
“Why not?” Brody’s small voice carried clearly through the door.
Iven rolled away from the question I was sure he saw in my eyes and got out of bed. “He was bad. He’s banished.”
“Oh.” Brody’s disappointment mirrored my own. Banished? What the hell did that even mean? How did an Atlan Warlord banish his beast?
Iven walked to my closet, opened it and pulled an empty suitcase from the top shelf. “Pack your things. We’re leaving.”
I sat up and pulled the sheet up to cover my bare breasts. For the first time since he’d dropped to his knees and put the mating cuffs on my wrists, I felt naked. The languid thoughts I’d had about pleasing him earlier evaporated like mist in bright sunlight. Gone. “Why? Where are we going?”
“My house. It’s safer. I know the area, and the security system is Coalition issue, not human.” He already had his pants on. Was working on the boots. Wouldn’t even look me in the eye.
“Can’t we have breakfast first? Take a shower? It’s Saturday.”
“No. We leave as soon as possible. You will eat and shower at my place.”
“I want to take a shower here. I bought pancake mix. Brody loves pancakes. We can go after breakfast.” I played with fire. Knew it. His mood, from the moment Brody had mentioned his beast, had turned brooding. Angry. Something was wrong. Something was wrong with his beast.
9
Iven, Grays Harbor Elementary, Monday, 11:22 am
* * *
The lunch bell would ring in approximately eighteen minutes. The children would march to the cafeteria, then recess…and I would march straight to the classroom down the hall.
My mate had been out of my sight for almost four hours.
My beast was furious with me. That was nothing new. The entire weekend, I’d held Krystal as she slept. Gently scrubbed her in the shower. Fucked her until she’d collapsed from exhaustion. Watched over her as she cared for Brody. Made peace with their killer cat. Been content for the first time in years.
I kept my beast leashed. I’d been fighting him for so long that holding him in check was automatic as breathing. I didn’t even think about it.
He’d nearly escaped when my mate walked on that broken glass. He’d smelled her blood and I’d transformed, my shirt ripping to shreds to accommodate the beast’s much larger size.
