Her Broken Alpha - Isoellen Page 0,39

Holding back his smile, he gave her what he hoped was a mild, blank expression rather than the lewd and hungry one he felt stirring. He'd been hoping that he wouldn't have to wait too long to punish her.

He bit off the end of another slice of apple and handed her the rest, watching her put her mouth where his had been.

Mac knew Darre didn't keep slaves. Ambivalent about the practice of enslaving drones, Darre represented a stronger position when he forced weaker alphas to obey him. He allowed the appearance of it, though. The five male drones on his staff who did menial labor for him all wore a collar with his mark for their protection, but they earned a salary and could leave his employment any time. There was just nowhere to go.

He had never allowed any females in his tower or other holdings. He couldn't stand the smell of them, nor did he want a lot of extra bodies around.

Drones were too easily injured and prone to sicknesses. They caused more problems than they were worth, and betas only irritated him.

Since weakness was a commodity in this sector, he permitted Mac to sell drones like any other asset. Setting them loose as free agents would just get them killed. There were no uncollared women or drones because there was no one to ensure their safety and freedom other than their owners. Might made right in the land of the damned, and drones didn't have the might to oppose alpha strength.

With Naya here, other females were now a necessity. It would be unhealthy to isolate her. Having a whole building full of them plus a bunch of drones, all of whom would need policing and protecting, was going to be a gigantic pain in his ass.

"Bring them here," Naya said. She didn't ask; the command was tentative, but she made it anyway.

"You heard her. Have them make a place for themselves in the empty floors above C Building. Use any resources you recover from Berandal. Get them collars with my mark. I want all his usable goods. But no male breed. You get any volunteers, they have to face me in the pit and I don't want them in the tower."

"That's a lot of new people." Mac didn't look happy about it.

"Time for a change, Mac. No choice now." He tugged at one of Naya's curls and fed her a cheese-covered cracker.

"Females are gonna cause me a shit-ton of problems. Let the men know I'll only allow contract marriages. I won't be running a brothel. There will have to be two signatures. And everyone works. There's a lot to be done over in C.

“Now, is that it? I want to know what you have on the crow and my girl here."

"Did what you said. Cleared out his compound. As you said, ten women all dressed up like high-priced contract girls. Most of his drones were female too. Found his stash—a safe—and retrieved ten data pads, all new tech, password-protected."

"He had a scribe handle his finances. I bet he knows the passwords."

"Got twenty-six men in the hole. They all look like beta scribes."

"Keep them alive. I want to talk to the man who knows how Tenbel spent his money. Ask the drones. Are they used up?"

"The drones? Yeah, they’re in bad shape."

"They will help, then. They’ll get a little revenge. They can go into C too."

Mac nodded. "Tenbel was the type to think drones deaf and dumb. But they won't talk to me. I tried. They started peeing themselves and blubbering before I got within ten feet of them."

"You ask about the breeder?" The breeder in question stiffened when he mentioned her in the third person.

"No one said anything," Mac answered.

"I want to know everything."

"What'd she say about it?" Mac nodded in Naya's direction.

Monster looked at her. "Naya?"

"Am I a person now?” she asked tersely. “In the room with you?"

Darre bounced his knees, rocking her. She squawked and grabbed at his shirt. She really had no fear. The beast loved that, but the man wasn't sure how he felt about it.

"How did you end up with Tenbel?" he asked.

"I woke up in a box." She shivered at the memory and his hand automatically moved in a soothing motion up and down her arm. "A wooden box. I went to sleep in my bed in Sector 5 and woke up being pulled out of a box. I was so folded up in there it was hard to stand after. Everything