Page 4 of Bound to the Beast (Interstellar Brides Program: The Beasts #9)

“Children, take your seats. Your names are on top of the desks.” Thank you, Lady Radu.

I’d accompanied her the day before as she decorated the room while I did surveillance sweeps and mapped entry and exit points for the entire building.

The place was impossible to lock down, with dozens of doors and windows.

I hated it instantly and demanded we just find the boy and take him to a safe location.

Problem was, we weren’t sure which boy in the classroom was the target. Yet.

When they all stared at me like I was a phantom, I stepped to the closest desk and read out the name. “Chloe.”

An adorable girl with dark brown hair and brown eyes stepped forward. I pointed to the desk. “This is your seat. Sit.”

She scurried like a frightened rabbit as I walked to the next desk and called out a second name. “Henry.”

A boy with red hair, freckles and one front tooth missing from his mouth slid into the seat without looking away or blinking.

Did I truly look so odd to these children? Lady Radu had assured me I would pass for human in these ridiculous clothes.

“Why are you staring at me?” I asked.

Henry finally blinked. “Did you go to college?”

I did not, but I knew the reason he asked. “Yes. I was top of my class at the finest academy in the quadrant.”

“What’s a ‘cad-a-me’?” Chloe whispered.

I thought of the long weeks of combat training I’d endured with my fellow Atlan Warlords and sighed. Such things were not for children. “It’s a school.”

“Where you learned to be a teacher?”

If being a teacher was code for thwarting Hive tech and ripping their bodies in half with my bare hands, then… “Yes.” I pointed to the next desk. “Ava.”

One of the shy girls from the cubby area quietly slipped into her seat.

“You’re too big to be a teacher. You should be a football player,” Henry insisted.

“I do not play football.” I moved on. Pointing and calling out names.

Seemed the children were now paralyzed, waiting for their name to be called before they would sit.

“Andrew. Liam. Brody.” The blond boy who had led me to class took his seat.

Brody. Another possible Everian prince. His size was comparable to Connor’s and he’d faced me directly in the corridor outside, showing no fear.

Of course, that could also just be a sign the boy was lacking intelligence.

I continued, “Jesse. Sara. Katie.”

I paid little attention to the girls. Each boy I watched, assessed every movement, the tilt of their head, eye contact, confidence, reactions, speed.

What were Elite Hunters like when they were children?

Surely there were signs. Faster reflexes.

Innate intelligence or courage. Perhaps both.

I could not believe the universally feared Elite Hunters, males who could move faster than the eye could track, who hunted the most dangerous, deadly criminals and enemies in the known universe, would be so defenseless and weak when they were young.

When all the children were seated, I walked to the large desk at the front of the room and stood behind it, arms crossed over my chest, tight yellow fabric straining at the edges.

I heard a few stiches pop in the seams that crossed my shoulders as I stared at twenty-eight pairs of helpless, innocent little eyes.

My appearance with Brody evened out the class. Fourteen boys. Fourteen girls.

Had I ever been so young? So fragile and small? How was I supposed to protect something that could break so easily? What the fuck was I doing here?

I glared. The clock ticked, the sound annoying and loud in the sudden quiet as I faced off with a bunch of six year olds.

A young female with red hair raised her hand and waved at me from a desk in the front as if expecting me to respond. So I did. “Yes, Elizabeth?” I had already memorized their names. Their faces. I felt responsible for all of them, not just the Everian prince I suspected hid among them.

“Aren’t you going to teach us something?”

Hmmm. I shook my head. “I want you to teach me something.”

They all looked confused, until I smiled. Then they looked terrified.

“Everyone take out a sheet of paper and write two paragraphs about yourself, where you are from, and who your parents are.” Perfect, brilliant plan. I would discover the young prince within the hour, take him out of here and end this foolishness.

Sweet little Elizabeth raised her hand again and I sighed.

“Yes?”

“I don’t know how to spell all that.”

A chorus of agreement traveled through the room as Elizabeth continued her explanation. “I can only spell my name, and Sam, because that’s my dog. And my ABCs, but Qs and Rs are really hard.” Her happy smile was filled with pride. “My mommy taught me.”

Her name. Her dog? By the gods, these young ones knew nothing. A change in strategy was in order.

I walked to the first desk on the edge of the classroom and stared down at a little boy named Josh. “Josh, you will be first. Stand and tell the class where you are from and who your parents are.”

The young one stood. Mumbled. “I’m Josh. I have three older sisters, Manda, Lily and Sassy. But her real name is Samantha. She’s twelve and she plays Minecraft with me.”

Every cell in my body withered and died, just a little. This was impossible. Could these children not focus and supply the information requested? Josh hadn’t answered either of my questions. “Where are you from, Josh?”

He shrugged. “I dunno.”

“Were you born here? In Gray’s Harbor?”

He twisted his hands, one around the other. “My mom says I came straight from heaven and that I used to have a different body in heaven. But then I decided to be born and now I have this body.”

“You came outta her vagina.” A young lady from the back…

Chloe…shouted over his explanation. The class erupted into giggles as she made sure Josh heard her.

“Josh, you growed in your mommy’s tummy and then you came out of her vagina.

And she screamed and the doctor told her to push you out like poop.

” Her squeals of laughter made poor Josh’s face turn bright red.

I turned to the class in an attempt to quiet them—and end Chloe’s mischief. “You all passed through your mothers’ vaginas when you were born.” Basic biology. Did humans teach their children nothing?

The classroom erupted into howls, several children pretending to laugh hard enough to fall out of their seats onto the floor.

Henry was one of them, his arms wrapped around his waist as he rocked back and forth with forced laughter. “You’re not supposed to say vagina. That’s a bad word.”

“It is not.” My voice was louder than I intended.

The beast paced within, suddenly restless.

We’d caught the hint of a scent. Intriguing.

Unexpected. Where was that coming from? I came out from behind my desk and walked to the center of the room.

“Everyone quiet. Get back in your seats. Vagina is not a bad word. It is the scientific word used to describe basic female anatomy.”

The screeches and laughter increased. One little girl, Ava, started a chant and several of her classmates joined in.

“Vagina. Vagina. Vagina.”

“That’s a bad word!” Henry yelled at the chanting group, which only increased their numbers to more than half the class.

“Vagina! Vagina! Vagina!”

“No it’s not! It’s basic nat-omee.” Ava yelled back before dropping her head in time to the chant as if she were at one of the humans’ rock concerts, jamming out to a heavy metal song.

“Vagina! Vagina! Vagina!”

I whirled around to identify all the culprits and demand they stop chanting at once. Connor had his arms crossed over his chest, mirroring my earlier stance. “My brother calls it a pussy. He’s in high school. He knows about girls.”

Pussy was, in fact, my preferred term for the soft, wet, hot sheath that wrapped around my hard cock when I was aroused.

I’d not been with a female in many years, but suddenly my system flooded with memory.

My cock hardened, grew until I could barely walk, the tight fabric of my khaki pants smashing my manhood with a relentless squeezing fist that only made the pulsing organ ache all the more.

Where the fuck was this coming from? Why…?

“Vagina! Vagina! Vagina!” Ava’s group grew louder.

Connor and his group of boys raised their own voices in their own chant, a direct challenge. “Pussy! Pussy! Pussy!”

I shifted my hard cock in my pants and fought to control the beast. Lost the battle as his bellow roared through the room louder than a cannon blast.

“Quiet!”

The children obeyed instantly. Both little girls who’d been hiding in the cubbies earlier began to cry. Seconds later, I heard sobs from three more of the little girls.

Gods, no. I hadn’t meant to frighten them. How had this gotten so out of control?

I turned, ready to attempt to make amends, assure the little ones I meant no harm.

A human female stood in the open doorway, eyes narrowed. Three additional human females peaked around the door’s frame behind her, mouths hanging open. “What is going on in here?”

I forgot to breathe. She was beautiful with full lips, rich golden curls falling in soft waves around her face, and eyes the color of Earth’s oceans, a dark blue a male could drown in.

Her face was round and soft. She was tall, for a human female.

The beast approved, my cock throbbing to reach her.

Fill her. Fuck her. Claim her. I had no doubt the curved body and generous breasts on display under the form fitting, powder blue sweater-dress would be equally soft.

The garment hugged every part of her from neck to knees.

I wanted to rip it from her body, throw her on the floor and take here here. Now.

The classroom had gone silent but for a few sniffles as the girls’ curiosity helped them recover.

The woman’s gaze darted from my face to the tight stretch of yellow fabric across my chest, to the all too obvious bulge of my cock under my khaki pants.

Her breath hitched and her cheeks turned pink.

Her gaze darted around the room as if searching for a safe place to look.

I willed her to look into my eyes, to see me, see the beast clawing my insides to shreds in an attempt to reach her.

In my mind , the beast raged. Rejoiced. Fought to be free. He chanted now, a single word.

MINE.