Beast

by Holly S. Roberts

  “Maylin decorated it for us.”

  “I love it.”

  “I love you.”

  Marinah turns and walks into my arms. I scoop her up again and carry her to the bedroom. When there is nothing between us, I lift and place her on the bed. Her hair is its normal wild mess, and I flip it from her eyes.

  “Hi,” she whispers.

  Our lips meet and finally the restlessness that’s dogged me fades. We’re tired, and it doesn’t matter. What matters is this connection. It pulls on me when she’s more than a foot away. Now I’m whole.

  My hand finds her right breast, and she sighs into my mouth. “More,” she groans.

  “We’ve only just begun.”

  Her groan is louder this time, and she digs her fingers into my back, trying to hurry me along. Not happening. I want to feel every inch of her, and I don’t want this over before it starts. I ignore her hands and concentrate on her body. I take her nipple in my mouth and suck until she bucks beneath me, and then I turn the torture to the other one.

  “King, please,” she begs.

  She’ll be doing a lot more of it.

  ***

  Marinah

  His blue eyes stay glued to mine while he suckles my breast. Finally, when I almost can’t take any more, he gives me a sexy grin and backs down my body until he’s situated between my legs. It’s not what I want. I need him inside me.

  “Mate,” I say gently and hope my eyes are as pleading as my voice. “My eyes are up here.”

  He knows exactly what I mean but instead of giving it to me, his tongue makes a long swath through my folds. I rest my head back and close my eyes. No, I don’t always get my way and that’s okay. Sometimes.

  ***

  I’m too tired to sleep. My finger twirls through the hair on King’s chest. He’s awake too. “Why did the men take a knee when I went into Nova Warrior form?”

  King rolls so we’re facing each other. My hand falls to the side, and he places it back on his chest. “You won’t like the answer. I can tell you when we’re ready to leave and then you won’t need to think about it until it’s time to return.”

  This isn’t good, but I have no idea why. “You’re scaring me.”

  “We should enjoy our time together.”

  “How would I enjoy it with this hanging over us. You just need to tell me.”

  He rolls to his back and looks up at the ceiling. He doesn’t say anything for several minutes, and if his eyes were closed, I would think him sleeping. Even though it kills me, I give him time. “Shadow Warriors were different on the home planet.”

  “From what I read, they were homicidal maniacs.”

  “That about covers it. Only the strongest were leaders. If you weren’t strong, you died. It was as simple as that.”

  “Okay, I know that.”

  “The strongest were the Nova Warriors.” He stops talking while it sinks in.

  “What exactly are you saying?”

  He rolls my way again and lifts the hair off my cheek. “You’re our king. Or more precisely, our queen. You lead the Shadow Warriors by default.”

  If I thought the world crazy before, it’s insane now.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  King

  She handles it better than I expected. It’s been three days, and she refuses to mention a word about it. Like I said, better than expected. Before coming here, Beck asked if she understood what’s happened. He laughed when I asked if he was planning to tell her. His exact words were, “Throw me in a pit of hellhounds first.”

  Wise man.

  It’s four incredible days of bliss before she decides to voice her concerns. We’re in bed in the early afternoon, after enjoying uninterrupted adult time. “I can’t be a leader,” she says with her head lying on my chest and her body half on mine. “I’ve just commanded my first unit. Leaders need experience.”

  “They do.”

  “How the heck do I gain experience? No, wait. I don’t want that kind of experience. They’re your men, King. Don’t do this to me. You can’t.” Her fingers dig into my hip.

  Very softly, I tell her the truth, “They’re your men now.”

  Her agitation hits a new level, and she sits up. “It won’t work.” She slams her fists on the bed beside me. I fight a smile. Now is not the time. “You can’t possibly feel good about this, do you? You’re the leader of the Shadow Warriors.”

  “Was.”

  “How can you not hate me?”

  I place my finger on the tip of her nose. “You’re my mate. I could never hate you.”

  “But I’m a Nova Warrior.”

  I sit partway up and lift her onto my lap and lean back against the headboard. “I knew you were special from the first moment you shifted. No, it was even before that. You haunted my dreams since you fell down those stairs and landed at my feet. I love you for who you are. Every inch of you, human, Warrior, or Nova. My uncle chose me as leader because I was the strongest. He was never easy on me, and I did everything I could to live up to his standards.” I rest my head on hers and inhale her fear. “If Greystone had an inkling you existed, he wouldn’t have looked twice at me. From the beginning, I trained you to be a leader. The men on my guard earned their positions. You. You demanded it.”

  “No.” She shakes her head.

  “Yes,” I whisper.

  “No,” she says again. “I can’t lead hundreds of Shadow Warriors. I can’t strategize nor do I understand war like you do. It won’t work. The men will never respect me as their leader.”

  She’s the most stubborn woman on the planet. I knew this would be hard. I didn’t know I would be talking to a brick wall. “Did your squad have trouble obeying your orders?”

  “No,” she says in clear frustration. “They did exactly what I asked.” I fight another smile. Ask is the key word in her statement, and I know there was no asking involved.

  “The men recognized you as their leader. No hesitation. No Shadow Warrior in our history has worked as hard as you or come so far in such a short amount of time. You’re the only one who doubts your abilities.”

  “King.” She leans up and places her palms against my jaws. “You are the King of the Shadow Warriors. It’s who you are.”

  Now I smile and convey what I truly feel. “Not anymore.”

  ***

  Marinah

  We spend three weeks on the island. Missing Ryan’s funeral was hard, and I plan to visit his family after we return. Missy and Beck come for us. Ruth is with them, but she isn’t speaking to me. She sits at the end of the boat pouting with her arms crossed and a “do not mess with me” look on her face. Someone promised her training, and that someone is me. I don’t say a word to her.

  Beck nods my way. His head is slightly down, and I swear he’s nervous. I hate it and need something to occupy my mind. King and Beck start talking in low tones about the whistles, and it’s selfish of me, but I don’t care about them right now. “How are the wounded?” I ask Missy.

  “They’re up and moving about, even Garret. He’s living with Axel, and he’s in medical training. Axel wants to kill him for overexerting himself, but Garret is strong and obeys the doctor as well as you do.”

  “That bad, huh?” Then something occurs to me, “Is Maylin losing her job?” I ask in concern.

  “No, she’s helping to train Garret, and he helps her with the baby who just started crawling. Baby Boot is under everyone’s feet and Garret has been a godsend.” She drops her voice at the end and peeks over at Beck. He didn’t hear her, and she sighs in relief. I get it. King would be doing his snappy growl thing if I said what she did.

  Being around someone who understands the difficulties of Beast rage is nice. “Baby Boot will be as bad as Che in no time.”

  “Yes,” she agrees. “He’s already a handful.”

  I need to get a little nosier. “How are Maylin and Labyrinth getting along?”

  She rolls her eyes. “For the most part, better. Labyrinth has made his
intentions clear to the entire island, and he’s patiently waiting for Maylin to figure out she can’t live without him. Maylin still drags her feet, but she’s mellower if that makes sense.”

  I have no idea what “mellow” means in this circumstance, but I nod anyway. I’ve never been accused of being mellow. “Any word from the outposts?”

  “Landan’s doing good as governor,” says Ruth, butting into our conversation.

  My eyes snap to hers. “You are on guard duty. If your focus is on us, you aren’t doing your job. Expect a punishment.”

  “What for?” she immediately shouts back, her face going as red as her hair.

  “Disrespect. I’ve been proud of you for sitting quietly and watching out for our safety. Now that’s ruined.”

  She stomps her foot for maximum effect. “I wasn’t looking out for your safety. I just wasn’t speaking to you.” She folds her arms in front of her in triumph.

  She has no idea who she’s up against. “Good. I like that even more. Add guard duty to your pout and get back to it.”

  “Hmph.”

  I turn away and address Missy again. She watched the exchange closely. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” she mutters much like she did when I gave Ruth the sword.

  I move on, letting Ruth get back to her pouting. “Has the Federation made additional threats against the outposts?”

  Missy shakes her head. “Silence, no communication or sightings.”

  I don’t tell her my feelings on the situation. This was a test. They set us up and wanted a mass casualty of Shadow Warriors and humans. I’m sure Smythe wasn’t intended to die, but I know that won’t slow President Barnes. He has more planned for us.

  Missy and I talk about other things like the gardens and food production after that. I don’t hear another word from Ruth. We make it back to the citadel, and Ruth quickly walks away.

  “Hey,” I call from behind her. “Grab your sword and have your butt in the gym in ten minutes.” Her eyes light up, and then she remembers she’s mad at me and stomps off. This should be fun. I go to my room to change with King on my heel.

  “You’re starting with Ruth already?” he asks as I tear out of my clothes. I plan to be five minutes late so Ruth is waiting on me. Today will set the tone for what I have planned, and she’ll discover who’s really in charge.

  “She’ll have Sundays off and will be training with me each day. I’ll give her enough to work on that she stays out of our hair.”

  “And your other duties?”

  Something I absolutely don’t wish to discuss. “If you need me in a meeting, let me know.” I pull on new socks and my old workout shoes. The loss of the Doc Martens hits me hard for a moment. I loved those shoes. Saving Garret was more important, and I know both he and Axel agree.

  “If you don’t schedule a meeting, there won’t be one.”

  I blow out a huff of air, glad I’m heading to the gym to release some of this stress. It shouldn’t be this way after three weeks with my mate, and I’m not happy about it. I try so hard not to give in to King’s manipulations, but it’s impossible. “We need to know the frequency of the whistles and the sooner we can duplicate them the better.”

  “Would you like me to get someone working on the whistles,” he asks patiently.

  With a growl, I walk to the door. “Do what you think is best.” I walk out, and I don’t miss the laughter behind me. He’s pushing and he knows it. I am not the leader of the Shadow Warriors.

  Ruth is waiting for me when I walk in. “Get your butt off the floor. I expect you to be warmed up before I enter the gym. Place your sword against the wall. You won’t be needing it today.”

  “Then why did you have me bring it?” she demands.

  I turn and give her my full hard-eyed attention. “I will answer you once on this question and not again. In this gym, my word is law. I won’t be questioned about what I tell you to do. If you don’t like it, there’s the door. If you are unclear on something, you have permission to ask respectfully. Any other way will receive punishment.” Her attitude deflates a little. “As for the sword. Mine is against the wall. A warrior never goes anywhere without her sword because if someone needs saving, we need our weapons.”

  Now her eyes shine. She’ll never be a Shadow Warrior, but our new world needs humans who know how to fight. Ruth will be a warrior by the time I’m finished training her. We begin. I use the same techniques used on me back when I was trying to do simple things like keep my balance. Ruth is a great student and loves the attention. I expected complaints, and surprisingly, there have been few. When she does complain, I handle it with a hard look and a set of pushups.

  When we’re finished, I go over the warmup she’ll do before I ever enter the gym. “Every day, unless something comes up that I can’t get out of, you will meet me in the gym at six each morning. You will arrive earlier and be prepared to start the minute I walk through the door. You will not leave unless I am thirty minutes late. Then you will know I have something more important that needs my attention.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Good job today. Next week we’ll start working with weapons.”

  Her eyes light up again. “Will you teach me to shoot?”

  “Eventually.”

  I walk to the bag I brought in with me, and I hand it to Ruth. “I found this for you. It’s not much, and you’re probably too old for it. I wanted to bring you something back since we had to delay your training.”

  She doesn’t even know what’s in the bag, but the look in her eyes tells me I did good. She opens it slowly like it will break. When she pulls the doll out, her eyes go huge. One minute she’s holding the doll and the next her arms are wrapped around me and she’s crying.

  I hold her close. “At least tell me you like it.”

  “I love it so much.” Her muffled words are spoken against my stomach. With a last squeeze, she runs from the room, the doll clenched in her arms.

  I’ve killed as much time as I possibly can. Hiding out actually. It’s time to find my mate and face the music. My life sucks so bad right now.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  King

  Marinah’s avoidance doesn’t bother me. She needs time to think this through. What she doesn’t understand is, she’s a leader and she’s strong enough to lead the Shadow Warriors. I remember my doubts in the beginning. They ate me alive. The difference is Marinah has me at her side. I won’t let her flounder.

  Axel begins testing the whistles after I give him Marinah’s orders. I inform my guard that Marinah doesn’t have meetings or training planned for today.

  “You told her?” asks Beck.

  “She took it as well as expected.”

  “That bad?”

  “It could have been worse.” And the earthquake that took down San Francisco in 1906 could have been worse too.

  “You want us twiddling our thumbs?” asks Labyrinth.

  The man’s a lummox and I don’t count dexterity as one of his pluses so I doubt he could. “Until we have our orders, go for it.”

  He nods, lifts his hands, and twiddles those monstrous thumbs. That’s when Marinah walks into the conference room. The men come to attention immediately, and it hits me that I need to stop calling them my guards. These men belong to Marinah.

  She gives the men a little finger wave and takes her usual seat which is not at the head of the table. She gives the empty seat a scowl for posterity and thankfully no one snickers.

  “Is this an official meeting?” I ask sincerely, keeping my voice as level as possible.

  She grinds her teeth hard enough to break them before answering, “Do cows fly? Of course, this is an official meeting. Everyone’s here.”

  Someone’s workout didn’t go too well, and no way will I point out that Axel is missing.

  We all sit down. I don’t take the seat at the head of the table either. If Marinah isn’t sitting there, it will remain empty. She glares. Finally, she places her arms on the table,
lifts her hands, and sinks her head into them. “I can’t do this.” She peers up at the men. “I mean, I. Can’t. Do. This.”

  They remain silent.

  She meets each man’s eyes. Beast doesn’t make a peep which means the three weeks alone with Marinah helped the mating rage. It couldn’t come too soon. “You can’t think I’d make a better leader than King?”

  Silence.

  “Argh. Someone say something, anything.”

  Beck lifts a finger. “If I may?”

  The question only irritates her more. “Whatever it is, just say it.”

  Unlike the usual Beck, his voice is soft though firm when he speaks. This is new. He always managed to inflect a sneer in his voice when speaking to me, specifically when I was being difficult, though I’m sure he would have a better word for my volatile behavior. Beck receives everyone’s full attention.

  “Greystone trained King to take over as leader when the time came.” His gaze flicks to me then away. “From reading our history, this can be a very volatile time for Shadow Warriors. King’s transition was seamless. The biggest reason was our Beasts accepted King as the true leader. No quibbles internally, no desire to challenge, just absolute acceptance. When you morphed to Nova, it happened that quickly. My Beast knew. King’s Beast knew.”

  Marinah stays silent all of two seconds. “And that’s supposed to make this easier?”

  I help her out, “He’s telling you this so you understand. You are our leader. Our queen.”

  “Don’t call me that again,” she snaps.

  “Yes, your highness.”

  Her glare practically shoots flames this time. I watch her fight for control, struggling internally with Ms. Beast. It lasts for several minutes. The men look everywhere but at Marinah. Meeting her eyes will be hard for them. They’ve kept their eyes from hers in deference to the mating rage. Now she’s alpha and even she will feel the effects soon. I’m not planning on mentioning it. She’ll discover it herself.

  She slowly inhales then exhales. And once again. Her fingertips begin tapping the table, and she finally blows out a huff of air which sends hair flying off her forehead. “I don’t even know where to begin. What exactly am I supposed to tell you to do?”