“Oh, God, Marinah, I thought you were dead. They tortured Kara and killed her,” she cries into my shoulder. “What’s happening?”
This is no time for tears. “We need to get Landan and Skylar out of their cells.”
“We’re here,” Skylar yells from another cell down the hall.
I take Mila’s hand, stopping her from going to Skylar’s door. “Don’t panic,” I tell her. “I can keep us safer in beast form.” She gives me the strangest look. There’s no time for explanations. I place the keys in her hand, step back, and allow Ms. Beast to take over again.
To give Mila credit, she only backs up a few feet during the transformation. Her eyes, which will surely pop out of her head, stare at me in wonder not revulsion. I open my jaws. “Meet Ms. Beast. She won’t eat you, I promise.”
Mila closes her mouth with a snap, takes a few deep breaths, allows her gaze to travel from my feet to my snout, and then accepts who I am. “Cool trick, Marinah. You’ll need to teach me sometime.” After that flippant remark, she runs toward the other doors. “Skylar, Landan, where are you?” she calls into the hallway, her voice echoing off the walls.
“Here,” they both shout at the same time. Mila goes to the third cell on her right and unlocks it.
“Don’t mind my new friend,” Mila grins while pointing her thumb over her shoulder at me. “She assures me she won’t eat us.”
Shocked green eyes face me. Skylar looks like she’s about to scream the roof down.
“If you yell, it hurts my ears,” I say throatily.
“Marinah?”
I hold out my hair-covered oversized arms. “In the flesh. Don’t mind the hair, I didn’t have time to shave.”
She runs at me and throws her arms around my waist unable to reach my shoulders. Ms. Beast may not like it, but too bad. “Sorry, I can’t pat your back or I might accidently slice something, I’m still learning to manage these babies.” I wiggle my claws and Mila giggles. If I would have known growing two feet and sprouting fur and claws was so funny, I’d have done it sooner.
When Skylar releases me, she grabs the keys from Mila and races to the door across from hers. She throws it open and goes to her husband who’s curled on the floor facing away from us. The smell of blood has my oversized nostrils flaring. I’m beginning to think Ms. Beast could be a closet vampire.
Her husband’s heavy groan fills the room when Skylar rolls him over.
“Landan,” Mila calls out.
“This one, I’m over here,” comes his muted reply.
She opens the door and he’s able to walk out on his own, looking no worse for wear.
“It’s really you?” he asks after Mila makes introductions again.
“Yep,” I answer with a snap of my jaws. “I clean up nice.”
He gives me a quick grin before following me into the room with Skylar’s husband. He’s at least upright now and sitting with his back against the wall. His face is swollen and covered in blood as well as black and blue bruises. “She’s with us,” Skylar assures him when he looks through his one good eye and tries to stand.
“Nice to meet you,” he groans then he slumps against the wall again.
That’s it for pleasantries. “Can you walk? We need to get out of here,” I say.
He attempts to stand again with Skylar’s help. “I’ll be too slow,” he gasps after taking precious minutes to gain his feet. “Take Skylar and get her out of here. I’ll follow behind and join you when I’m able.”
The look on Skylar’s face say she’s not leaving without him. Oh well, it’s better to beg forgiveness than ask permission and these warrior types do not make the best patients. In three steps and a slight bend at the waist, I have him cradled in my arms.
“The more you fight, the more danger you put us in,” I tell him when he briefly struggles. That stops him instantly. “Don’t worry,” I add. “I won’t tell your soldier buddies.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” He’s in obvious pain and I give him props for keeping the extent of his injuries to himself. He loops his hands over my shoulders to make it easier to carry him.
I look at our motley group. “There’s a building for you to hide in outside the city wall where you’ll be safe. We’ll go there after finding my friends. Do you know where they’re keeping the other Warriors?” I ask Harris.
He’s relaxed in my arms and I’m worried he might have passed out. His reply is groggy. “They have a special holding tank they set up before you arrived.”
“Did they need our help to fight the hellhounds at all?”
“No, they only wanted the Shadow Warriors here.” He groans. “They’ve been luring hellhounds in for months, but I don’t know what their goal is besides putting their thumb down on the Warriors and controlling them. Yesterday they began evacuating personnel from the tunnels. I was taken into custody early this morning and interrogated. It’s me who betrayed you.”
“Good thing you did,” I say thinking of Kara. “They would have killed Skylar if you hadn’t.”
“There’s something bigger going on,” he says and then coughs up blood, which lands on me and mixes with that of General Smyth’s. I wait for the coughing fit to pass. “My men are loyal to me and they will fight with the Shadow Warriors against the Federation.”
“Thank you,” I reply even though nothing really makes sense. The Shadow Warriors were no threat to the Federation. Unfortunately, there’s no time to contemplate why the government is so stupid. “We need to go,” I say as I turn and carry Harris out with Mila, Landan, and Skylar trailing. “I’m handing him off to you, Landan, if I need to fight. Be ready.”
“I can fight,” Harris whispers. I don’t bother answering. He’s in bad shape and without knowing the extent of his injuries, I can’t count on him.
“Were you planning on telling us about your new hairdo?” Landan asks when we start walking.
I turn the corner and enter a longer corridor. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. This is just a bad hair day.”
“That’s not bad,” Mila giggles. “It’s super cool and I need to make an appointment with your hairdresser.”
Our laughter isn’t loud, but I hold up a hand when I hear footsteps in the distance. I turn and place Harris in Landan’s arms. “Let me take care of whoever this is and I’ll be back.” I don’t give anyone time to argue. I take two steps toward the sound and it hits me or I should say it hits Ms. Beast.
Mate.
King.
He found me.
Chapter Twenty-Six
King
IF I THOUGHT Beast was irrational before, it’s nothing like the insane monster he is now. Come hell or high water, he’s finding Marinah.
Mate.
Find, I reply.
It takes an hour and most of that time is spent avoiding the few people I run across. There should be hundreds of humans out during the day and avoiding them should have been harder. There’s also a high-frequency noise that Beast is picking up with his sensitive ears. It’s electronic and will attract the hellhounds. I shake my head to alleviate the irritating hum, but it does no good.
The door Marinah showed me the last time I saw her is propped open with a small piece of wood. I enter quickly, knowing it’s probably a trap and run straight at the opposite wall expecting gunfire. Nothing—no sound besides the annoying hum and no humans. Going by scent, I find Marinah’s room. From there I follow her trail. It leads me to the Shadow Warrior’s quarters, which are empty, and then to an interrogation room that holds Marinah’s and a male human’s scent. Her blood is also on the ground and even before Beast breathes the word inside me, it’s an established fact.
Kill.
Gladly.
I follow her scent again, the red haze making it difficult to concentrate. It’s almost like I just shifted and the K-5 is shooting through my veins. My rage is completely out of control, and if I encounter anyone before I get to Marinah, their life will end.
Five minutes
later, I barely have time to brace myself when Marinah hurls around the corner and throws her arms around me. Her claws dig into my back and she rests her snout on my shoulder. “You’re hurt,” I say and hold her close to assure myself she’s in one piece.
“Head wound. Not serious. We’re in trouble.”
She doesn’t let go and Beast purrs inside me. After a slow deep draw of air so her scent fills me, I’m able to speak rationally, “Soldiers hunted us. Nokita is keeping them busy. Do you know where Labyrinth is?”
Her enormous head nods against my shoulder. “We’re heading there now. They’ve been evacuating humans and they have something planned that we’re not going to like.”
“Can you hear the high-pitched hum?” I ask even knowing she must hear it.
She tilts her head back and shakes it slightly. “I thought that was my head injury and ringing in my ears. What is it?”
“I think they’re attracting the hellhounds here to the tunnels.”
“We need to find Labyrinth.”
I smile into her neck. “Then you need to pull your claws from my skin and hope I don’t bleed to death.”
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry,” she says carefully pulling her claws from my skin. She lifts them in front of her face and her jaws form a grin. “I so need a manicure.”
No matter what happens, my mate will always have her sense of humor. She rubs her snout against mine and our Beasts purr as one. This is definitely love.
Her friends don’t bat an eye when she leads me to them and makes introductions. I take over carrying Harris. “She said she wouldn’t tell my soldiers about this,” he says after we’ve gone about a hundred yards.
“About what?”
He coughs before answering, “Being carried like a baby.”
He probably has no clue that baring my teeth is a Warrior’s idea of a smile. “I’m not Marinah, and your soldiers will hear all about you being carried.”
He chuckles and then coughs again. I can smell the blood covering him and his cough gurgles. He needs immediate medical attention. My men are on the other side of the wall hunkered down waiting. When Nokita meets up with them, he’ll charge in and follow my scent. If he doesn’t make the rendezvous, the Warriors are giving me one hour before they come into the tunnels to find us.
I glance down at Harris. His breathing is shallow and he’s on the verge of passing out. We need him conscious long enough to find Labyrinth.
“We need a doctor,” his wife says.
Marinah answers for me. “The doctors belong to the Federation and chances are good they were evacuated with everyone else.”
“I’m good,” Harris says with another cough. “You aren’t getting rid of me this easily,” he gasps with another cough that ends with him hacking up blood.
Skylar turns a tear-streaked face to Marinah and whispers, “Please don’t let him die.” Marinah squeezes her hand without answering. She’s aware we’ll need a miracle to keep Harris alive.
We keep running until we come to a split hall. “Left,” Harris says so softly that even my Warrior ears barely pick it up.
No. I stop. Beast senses something. In another minute we hear scurrying claws against cement.
Hellhounds.
I turn so they’re at my back. “Run.”
Marinah hears them too and immediately does as I say, for once. The others follow her lead and start running. I almost slam into Skylar when Marinah abruptly stops. “They’re coming from this direction too.”
The Federation plans to annihilate us with hellhounds.
The tunnel lights go out.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Marinah
CHILLS RACE UP and down my spine. It’s a hoard of hellhounds and they have us trapped.
“Head back toward where they’re holding Labyrinth,” King yells.
Marinah assesses the human’s needs and starts yelling orders. “Landan take Harris. Let me get in front of you so you can place your hand on my back and follow. I can see perfectly. If you can hear the hellhounds behind us, yell and I’ll move to the back.”
I move around them and grab Mila’s hand first and place it on my side. She slides it around so she’s touching my back. Skylar is next and then Landan with Harris in his arms. “Keep as close as possible to Skylar, Landan. She’s following Mila who’s holding onto me.”
King picks up his pace and I follow as quickly as I can. He plans to meet the hoard head-on without me to give us time to get through. That’s not how this is happening. King explodes into a full run and tackles the first hellhound he sees. There are at least six behind the one he has and he’ll have trouble taking them alone.
“Get them through, Marinah,” he yells when I leave Mila behind and run at King.
“Not on your life. You don’t get to have all the fun without me,” I say as I swing my arm and use my claws to slice into the throat of the hellhound closest to me.
“Being in charge,” he grunts, “means doing as I say.”
“Ha ha. You really think you’re in charge?” I challenge.
The head of the hellhound King’s tussling with comes sailing past me. Wet blood showers my face and I laugh as I send my own hound’s head through the air. It thuds against the far wall. “Any bites or scratches, baby?” I holler at King.
“If you get so much as a nick, I’ll tan your hide,” he yells back.
I’m laughing as I grab the next hellhound by the leg and swing it into his friend behind him. They both slide across the cement and flounder against each other, arms and legs getting stuck then unstuck before they attack again. I have just enough time to see King take out his third hound.
“More are coming from this way,” Landan yells from behind us.
King leaps over me and takes out one of my hounds. He isn’t playing fair. The last one comes in low, its jaws snapping with teeth dripping their mean old nasty saliva. “Sorry, guy, I don’t have time to play.” I leap over him in the same move King used and take him at the throat with my own claws. It’s the first time I manage a clean cut and take the head in one strike.
I’m super badass!
With no time to celebrate my outstanding accomplishment, I run at Mila, Landan, and Skylar. She’s on the floor with one hand on Harris’s chest and the other holding his fingers. She can’t see him in the darkness but she’s holding on for dear life. I tune my ears past the sounds of advancing hellhounds and the infernal humming and concentrate. Harris is no longer breathing.
Skylar’s tears give away that she’s aware he’s gone. “Come on, Skylar. He wanted you to live,” I tell her after taking one of her hands.
“No, we can’t leave him.”
“We won’t.” I pick him up. King takes Landan’s hand and places it on his back like I did earlier. Mila touches Landan and we’re off with Skylar holding onto her husband’s hand. She cries softly as we run and my heart breaks. I can’t imagine losing King.
“Our Warriors are approaching,” King says a few minutes later.
It’s Labyrinth with his men. “Hellhounds are everywhere,” he says as greeting.
“We killed seven,” King replies, “and there are more behind us.”
“Our kill count is closer to fifty, but there were ten times that many if you keep going in your current direction.”
“Get the humans between us and we’ll head back in the direction we came. Nokita will be coming from that way with reinforcements.” If we’re lucky which I don’t say out loud.
The Warriors fan out in the narrow hallway. One takes Harris from me at King’s request. “No,” Skylar cries, refusing to let go of his hand.
“It’s okay, we’re not leaving him,” I say softly. “I need my hands free to fight and keep everyone safe.” I look into the eyes of the Warrior holding Harris. I don’t know him. “Leave him only if her life is in danger.”
He nods and Skylar continues crying.
The thought of so many hellhounds would have scared me to the point of insanity before
my transformation. Now, a wild glee fills me and I do what I was born to do. The first hellhound that runs at me meets his end in one swipe of my claws. Now that I have the technique down it won’t go to waste. Warm blood sprays when the next hellhound dies. Around me Warriors yell our battle cry. “Forward or die.” I’m one of them now and feel more alive than ever before. Blood fills my mouth and covers my claws as the hellhounds turn to dust. Two come at me at once and I’m able to kill one and rip a long gash in the other’s stomach. He turns quickly and I miss a killing blow again. I ignore the slight sting on my side. King has five syringes of antidote on him. I’ll tell him about the scratch if none of the men need a shot more than I do. I’m ready for the hounds next attack and end it quickly.
The sounds of tearing flesh and bloody gurgles fill the enclosed space as more hellhounds pour into the hall. They fight each other to get the lead and it momentarily jams them in the confines of the tunnel and helps us.
Kill, Ms. Beast laughs. Kill.
Finally, all I hear is the non-stop hum and the heavy breathing of Warriors. We’re all blood-spattered and heaving, the air thick with the tangy odor of blood.
“Marinah,” King calls and I run around the Warriors closest to me to join him. We look over each other checking for injuries. Thankfully, he doesn’t notice the scratch on my side. When I glance up from examining him, the men around us stare slack-jawed. Think monster-sized, bloody, gory jaws and you might get the picture. King pulls me in close to his side. “She’s Warrior. Get over it, we have a job to do,” he says when they continue staring. “Getting out won’t be easy,” he goes on like I’m nothing out of the ordinary. “Our other Warriors could be anywhere. We can’t count on them for backup and I don’t think the Federation plans on us leaving here alive.”
Suddenly, the irritating hum is over-shadowed by a heart-stopping blast of an emergency horn. I cover my ears and try not to scream. It takes about thirty excruciating seconds for my hearing to adjust and I know exactly what the horn means.
Landan puts my dread into words. “They’re blowing the tunnels,” he shouts.
Warrior Page 15
