“Marinah,” King says from behind me as I lift a large pan to the stovetop. I glance his way. “Would you sit with me and Beck so he can explain a few things?”
He looks so serious. I already know I won’t enjoy this conversation. I follow King and he pulls out the chair closest to him, moving it closer still. I take the seat, a good five feet away from Beck now. King sits down and grabs my hand. I look at our clasped fingers and grip his a little tighter.
“Go ahead,” King tells Beck.
Without looking at me, keeping his eyes solely on King, Beck fills me in. “The Federation wants proof of life and they will question you via Morse code.” He waits for me to acknowledge what he’s said and continues only after I nod. “We believe the hellhounds from the island are heading to the U.S. We have no idea why. The Federation has reported run-ins with large packs of hounds and many are coming from the coastal waters.”
“That makes no sense. Why would they leave here and go there?”
Beck glances at me quickly and then moves his eyes back to King, who just squeezed my hand a little firmer. “We believe the Federation has connected with one of their satellites.”
I jump up. “Why the hell would they do that?”
“Marinah,” King says softly. “Breathe.”
He’s right. Ms. Beast is about to make her presence known. I fight her back to a low simmer as she waits for another chance to push her weight around. I take two steps closer to Beck and apologize. Beck’s chair flies back when he leaps from it and moves farther from me. King’s low growl follows. I glance at King and realize I’ve forgotten about the mating frenzy.
“My bad,” I say sheepishly and step back. When I turn, I place a quick kiss on King’s cheek before taking my seat again. “Why would the Federation mess with a satellite when they know the consequences?” I ask King. Radio waves, microwaves, infrared waves, ultraviolet waves, and gamma rays attract hellhounds. Only a fool would want to have any of these much less use them.
“Their goal,” King tells me, “is to control the world. They don’t care about the individual people. They’ve been experimenting with keeping everything undetectable, but they’ve failed and caused the hounds to descend.”
“It’s not like there’s much to control,” I say angrily.
“They have you convinced there are few people left in the world. It’s not true. We’ve had communications from Australia, the UK, and parts of Russia. The U.S. and Canada are not the only countries to survive. There’s also a large population in Mexico.”
I’m stunned. Of all the things I’ve been told by King—how the hellhounds originated and how the Federation has tried to kill him numerous times, the Federation enticing the hellhounds to kill humans is by far the most outrageous. If this is true, my entire analytics job has been a lie beginning with the information they’ve fed me for years. It’s too much.
I’m shaking my head in denial when King speaks again. “You lived in a world much like Cuba was before the war. The Federation controls everything you know and do. What you eat, what you read, all the information given to you. They’ve brainwashed the surviving humans into believing the Federation wants the best for them.” His irises go dark. “It’s all a lie.”
I close my eyes to help calm myself. King has no reason to lie to me. I’m one of them. The world I knew crashes down on me a little more. Opening my eyes, I find King sitting in silence, giving me time to sort things out in my brain.
“They’ve really tried to kill you?”
“Yes.”
“What do I do?” It’s such a big question and the new me doesn’t like that I even ask it. Shadow Warrior. Fight. Thank you, Miss Obvious. Ms. Beast gives a small grumble and takes a nice jab at my kidneys.
“You answer their questions correctly, you make them think you’re on their side, and you return,” Beck says.
The same answer is in King’s eyes. “Without you?” I ask him.
“Yes.”
A wave of longing so strong I almost fall from my chair hits me. “No,” I say through the red fog that’s filling my vision.
“I’ll meet you at the citadel,” Beck tells King. It’s the only thing I hear before Ms. Beast takes over.
“You need to run, Marinah.”
I don’t even wait for him. I charge from the room and head to the shore, where I put miles between me and the house. The corruption of my country shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. I never saw it, never even had an inkling that anything was other than what I was told. And I must return without my mate. If they discover I’m a Shadow Warrior, they’ll kill me or worse, study me like a lab rat. I don’t know if I can do it.
Kill hellhounds, kill Federation.
So easy for her to say. Even if I kill all of our enemies, I’ll be doing it without King at my side. It hurts. It hurts worse that he’ll allow me to leave.
The sound of feet in the sand and the chills that run over my skin let me know King caught up with me. He’s running beside me as a human.
“Shift,” I tell him.
“I don’t want my post-shift anger to be part of this conversation.”
I’m the one who shifts. The shirt I was wearing is in tatters, but I couldn’t care less. I’ve seen no one on our beach besides his council since we arrived six weeks ago. King takes my hand and we walk back toward the house, which is miles away now.
“Start at the beginning and tell me everything. I no longer want to be in the dark,” I tell him.
***
We return to the citadel the next morning, much earlier than I wanted to. The only bright moment is the sound of small feet running through the cavernous hallways before Che barrels into me. I give him a huge hug after twirling around.
“My brother should be born soon. Axel says within three days.” He holds up three small fingers and my grin widens.
I wipe tears from my eyes and squat down to his level. “You will be the best brother.”
“Che?” his mother calls from the hallway he just ran from.
“Mom, it’s Marinah. She came to play.”
Maylin, with her stomach looking large and uncomfortable, enters the foyer. I smile, but her eyes are on King. She runs like a waddling duck and launches herself at him, tears immediately falling.
I might have felt sorry for her. I might have taken a few moments to understand that King’s her rock right now. She is pregnant after all. Ms. Beast has other ideas. My shift takes place so fast I don’t even realize it’s happening.
“Marinah,” King yells and places Maylin behind him. Her screams only incite me more.
Kill.
Ms. Beast doesn’t like King protecting her and my hand swipes out leaving a furrow of claws across King’s neck and shoulder.
“Wow. You’re one of them,” Che says from behind me, having no idea how dangerous I am right now. “I didn’t know girls could be Shadow Warriors.”
Nokita rounds the corner like his butt is on fire and grabs Maylin, pushing her back behind him. “I’ve got her,” he tells King.
No. Eat her.
“Marinah,” King shouts.
“Can you teach me how to change like that?” Che asks.
It’s the combination of both of them that gives me pause. I am Marinah. I do not eat people. I pull Ms. Beast back, forcing her to accept my will.
“It’s the mating rage. Breathe deeply and we’ll get Maylin out of here.”
When Ms. Beast fights back at me, it hurts. It won’t stop me, though. I am in charge, not her. “I’m okay,” I tell King, breathing deeply and forcing Ms. Beast back into her warm cave somewhere in my gut, which she decides to shred.
I turn to a large-eyed and excited Che. “Sorry, kiddo. I’m just learning,” I say after the transformation.
He smiles, having no idea that I almost ripped his mother’s head off. “I’ll go see if my mom is okay. You scared her and you shouldn’t do that while she’s carrying my brother.” Out of the mouths of babes.
“No
, that wasn’t nice of me and I am truly sorry.”
He jumps at me again and circles my neck. “Don’t leave without playing with me first. I have a new truck.”
“That’s a deal.”
Che runs off and I give King a sheepish look. “So that’s what all that ‘mating rage’ stuff is about?”
“That would be it.” He grins back. “The news that we have a female Shadow Warrior will spread like wildfire.” Crap, that isn’t good. “We’ll keep it contained to the citadel until we’re ready to let everyone know. We don’t want the Federation discovering your secret until we’re ready.”
“Thank you,” I say before he pulls me in and kisses me.
“You’re sexy when you’re jealous,” he says.
“Get a room after the call,” Beck says and then turns down one of the hallways and disappears.
The room holding the Morse code machine is small. King and I have been over everything and I know what needs to be said. King has me sit across the table from Beck, which is a wise move. I now understand what King means by no touching the opposite sex unless they’re a child or too old to be a threat. Pregnant mothers are now on the do-not-touch list too.
King sits beside me and Beck connects the machine to electricity. There are actually two machines—one for receiving and the other for communicating. Beck checks his watch, which I only see from the corner of my eyes. I will be taking the mating rage seriously from now on.
Beck starts tapping into the machine and then we wait. A minute later, we receive our reply. “They want to know the first name of your father’s mother,” Beck says after little lines form on the other machine.
“Eddy,” I say quickly.
A few minutes later… “Her dog’s name?”
I smile at the memory of the small ball of fluff from my childhood. “Quibbles.”
We wait. I look nervously at King. He only shrugs.
The receiving machine begins clacking. “You’re to return to the Federation,” Beck says like it’s expected. It is. That doesn’t mean I like it. “A plane will come for you tomorrow.”
“No,” King says. “Tell them she arrives in one of our planes with one hundred Shadow Warriors ready to fight hellhounds.”
It’s what we talked about. Hearing him say it is another matter. This is what I came to the island for and I should be elated. That’s the exact opposite of what I feel. Ms. Beast doesn’t like it either and she stomps her feet in frustration, bending my insides out or so it seems.
Beck sends back our message and we wait again.
“They need you back tomorrow.”
“Three days,” King says. “They can wait three days.”
Chapter Eleven
King
THREE DAYS LEFT with my mate and most of that will be spent preparing. We’ll stay here at the citadel until she leaves. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. We’re lying in my big bed and I pull her closer, kissing her temple.
She sighs and wiggles until she’s closer still. “I’m scared,” she whispers.
I’m terrified. So many things could go wrong and the biggest is her Shadow Warrior status. If the Federation finds out about her, we’re all screwed. The plan is to send one hundred Warriors with Marinah. Within twenty-four hours, three hundred more will drop onto U.S. soil. We’ll dig in and wait for Marinah’s signal, which could be days, weeks, or months. I’ll leave the rest of our Warriors behind to protect the island. They’ll also be on standby if we need them. The humans on the island are moving into the populated towns near reinforced living quarters and our main food supplies. We’ve been preparing for this day since we arrived. We didn’t know who we’d be fighting and we hoped it wouldn’t be the Federation. Now I’m not so sure.
“How will we survive this?” Marinah asks.
“This?”
“You, me, love.”
“I love you too,” I tell her because she needs to hear the words before she leaves.
“I never doubted it.” She twirls one of my braids between her fingers. “I just don’t know how I can leave you.”
I roll to face her and we stare into each other’s eyes. “If there were any other choice, I’d make it happen.”
She leans her head into my shoulder and rests against me. “My father would love you too.”
“The same with Greystone.”
I hear her sniff. “I can’t lose you.”
“I won’t be far and no matter what happens, I will find you.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
She leans up and looks down at me. “I’ll find you too.”
***
“I’m incredibly sorry for what happened yesterday,” I tell Maylin. She laughs and continues braiding my hair like that of a true Shadow Warrior. I couldn’t care less what the Federation thinks of it.
“When Boot and I first mated, he almost killed Nokita. It is one of the scariest things I witnessed. You do not want to see two Shadow Warriors fight, believe me.” She laughs again as she realizes what she said. “I forget you are one of them. Your secret is safe with me and Che. No one else will know.”
From King’s report, word didn’t spread. Maylin and Che kept the secret to themselves. “Thank you.”
“I will always owe you for my son’s life.”
I cover her hand with mine and stop her movements. “You owe me nothing. Your son is part of our family as are you.” I release her and wait as she wipes away tears.
“Pregnancy is hard on a woman when she wants to appear strong.”
We both laugh.
“You are beautiful,” she says after the last braid is complete. “And I am going to have a baby and must lie down. Would you fetch Axel for me?”
She’s so calm I almost don’t understand what she’s actually saying for several seconds. “You’re having the baby now?”
“Not now, but soon, maybe a few hours.”
Holy cow. I spring from the room and tear into Axel’s medical domain like my legs are on fire. “The baby. It’s coming.”
“Take your eyes off mine, young lady, and step back if you value my life.”
I come to a halt and look around. King isn’t here.
“If you give me the slightest touch, he will scent it on you. Same goes for any woman who touches him, so don’t give me that look.”
He’s right. Unfortunately, now is not the time to agree or disagree. “Baby. Maylin. Doctor,” I say slowly so he understands we need to hurry.
“I’ll get my bag. Go back to Maylin and tell her I’m on my way.”
I turn on my heels and run back the way I came. Che is waiting in front of their door. “My brother is coming,” he says while jumping up and down excitedly.
“Yes, he is. I need you to go find King. You’ll stay with him until I come get you.”
He shakes his stubborn little head. “That’s not fair,” he says kicking the carpet with his worn sneaker.
“Babies take a long time and when they come, they’re bloody and not something you want to see until he’s cleaned up.”
“Bloody, cool, I’ll sneak in when no one is looking.”
Save me. “No, you will do as I say because you’re a good little boy and you don’t want your mother mad at you.”
“She’s always mad at me,” he tries to weasel.
“King will be mad too.” His expression changes at that and I think I’ve finally gotten through to him. “Now, go find King.”
He runs off and I suck in a relieved breath. “Maybe I’ll have one just like him someday.” I’m smiling when I enter the room and find Maylin in a full-on contraction. She’s holding the bedpost and breathing heavily.
“What can I do?” I ask. “Axel is on the way.” The contraction ends and she leans into the post.
“Do you need to lie down?” I haven’t the foggiest idea what she should be doing.
“I will when the pains are worse. Please rub my lower back between contractions and stop if one is coming.�
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“I can do that.” I move around her and begin rubbing her back.
“Thank you, it helps.”
“Your English has really improved.”
“Nokita helps me.”
Interesting.
Axel enters the room at the start of the next contraction. He places his bag on the bed and begins laying out items on the small nightstand.
The contraction ends and I begin rubbing her lower back again.
“Sheets and plastic are under the bed. Can you put them on the bed before the next contraction, the baby is coming quickly,” Maylin says when she’s able to speak.
Under Axel’s direction, I spread what looks like painting plastic over the bed, followed by a sheet and towels. A woman I don’t know walks into the room with a pan of steaming water. I thought that was an old wives’ tale, but I’m learning differently. Axel washes his instruments in the water while I try not to look at them and focus my attention instead on Maylin. I may be a Warrior, but some things are terrifying still and Axel’s baby stuff is at the top of the list.
“Stop, stop,” Maylin half screams and I hastily jerk my fingers off the muscles of her lower back. She’s breathing hard and I feel an overwhelming sense of panic.
Kill.
You’re an idiot, I tell Ms. Beast. Kill hellhounds, keep babies safe, I explain because it helps relieve my stress. A strange feeling comes over me, it’s something like warm and fuzzy, or a shot of vodka straight to my veins. Ms. Beast must like babies. She quiets inside me as I help Axel move Maylin to the bed.
Maylin takes my hand in a hold that rivals a Vice-Grip. For the most part she’s handling this better than I am. I guess doing all the work takes the fear out of the equation.
“Are you ready to help deliver a baby?” Axel asks.
I look at the strained muscles on Maylin’s face and neck as she fights to push the baby from her body. “Do I have a choice?” I ask desperately as I do everything I can to remain upright without fainting.
Baby. Ms. Beast whispers through me. She’s just in time to join the party because the baby is coming quickly.
Warrior Page 7
