Chapter 6: King

Beast eventually settles. Nokita stays far enough away to avoid a fight but close enough to do his job, which is protect me. When I'm calmer, I wave him over.

"Shift and run with me," I rumble from enlarged jaws and elongated teeth. "Adjust my gear belts first."

Our military fatigue pants consist of tough stretch material that expands with our form. The waist belt and crisscrossing leather chest straps do not stretch, though. They have only enough give so they don't snap when we morph. When we're in this form, our claws are incapable of fine motor skills. Now that I'm calmer, I notice the discomfort of my gear. I want the ability to breathe comfortably while I run off more energy. I stand still as Nokita adjusts the straps and then fine-tunes his own.

Our beast form resembles no real or mythical animal. We could never pass as anything but your worst nightmare. Our entire body undergoes changes when we transform. Bones crack and reshape and our jaw elongates while our teeth expand to six-inch, razor-sharp fangs good for ripping and crunching everything from muscle to skulls. Our non-retractable claws extend three inches past our fingertips and because of this, we modify our firepower by removing trigger guards. We also grow more than two feet in height and tower over even the tallest humans.

Our biggest problem is boots. Up until this point no one's engineered footwear that allows toes with three-inch claws to expand through them. Boots, even in our human size, are not easy to come by and many of our warriors forgo wearing them entirely. The boots I had on when I exited the car are long gone and it may be awhile before I come across another pair that fits.

Our thought process changes when we shift too. Dopamine floods the frontal lobe of our brains at ten times that of a stressed human. Adrenaline and noradrenaline flood the rest of our brain fifty times that of an angry human. This makes us the perfect pissed off killing machine. Immediately after shifting, we process little outside a predator's sense of his surroundings. A plus is that we do know our enemies from our allies. We comprehend basic strategies and that's about it until we adjust to the chemicals. The key to making the adjustment smooth is giving us something to kill quickly or enough space to run.

Now that I've run Beast down, I'm able to string thoughts together, analyze, and strategize. As long as we continue running, Nokita will fade from his rage state in an hour or so. We hid this from the Federation. After we morphed, they never considered that we slowly regain brain function. Not all of it. Our animal side still reigns supreme, but we understood what they really thought of us. Their fear aside, which is understandable, contempt was their greatest emotion. No, not all. Secretary Church and the men closest to him took a great deal of time to understand our capabilities and treated us as they did other soldiers. Even so, we safeguarded our secrets.

The major difference between humans and our kind is the chemical Kedorine 5. We've had hundreds of years to study our physiology and with the advancements in science this past century we made great strides. Kedorine 5 is one of the many secrets humans will never get their hands on. Upon our death, K-5 breaks down and completely disappears within an hour. We have no doubt the U.S. collected Shadow Warrior bodies after death. We also know they discovered nothing that will help them. I tamp down my rage at the thought of humans experimenting on our dead.

We can hold this form indefinitely but the longer we remain like this, the longer it takes our human brain function to normalize after shifting back. It was a mistake to stay in beast form for two weeks before Marinah arrived. I would have had more control if I morphed a few days before her arrival and not hours.

Now that Beast is tired, my thoughts are clearer. My ability to adapt quicker than other Shadow Warriors so closely to shifting is one reason my men named me alpha. I have advanced abilities passed on from Greystone, my uncle. Only the strongest among us are able to control a squad of Shadow Warriors. I'm the lucky one who's able to control them all.

Greystone was the mightiest Shadow Warrior in five hundred years. When I was a child, he foresaw me walking in his shoes. I didn't believe him because admitting he was mortal was beyond the comprehension of a young boy with hero worship.

My thoughts return to the woman. It's taken months for us to reconsider our stance on humans. They betrayed us after we saved them from annihilation. Bringing a woman here to negotiate was my idea. Women and children calm us. Even I knew there would be trouble if a man of power arrived. Our latest report had no government positions filled by females. By asking for a woman, I assured myself I could control me and my men.

Now Marinah holds a position of power among our enemies. Her father was a strong man and that makes her very dangerous.

Kill her, Beast whispers inside my skull. This doesn't worry me because Beast wants to kill most humans. He usually hesitates over females, which makes Marinah's predicament tricky. My human side is rebelling against causing her harm or maybe I should say my sexual side. I've tried not to think about her long legs wrapped around my hips.

After running another two hours, Nokita rumbles, "May I ask question?"

His speech is improving and I bet he's been mulling over what happened between me and the woman. "You may ask," I growl. We must speak more from our throats due to our jaw structure. Communicating in this form is one of the first things taught to us when our transformation begins at the onset of puberty.

"Woman," he snarls.

I can't stop an answering snarl at his unintended tone. "Yes?" I try very hard to block the dopamine from flooding my brain again. Beast knows I'm behaving irrationally and I feel his agitation.

"Mate?" Nokita asks.

I stop running. Nokita takes a few more steps before turning and waiting. I sift the word "mate" through my mind. "No," I shake my head. "The need to protect is not heightened over that of the usual female."

"Grrph, lust."

There is no denying lust. It's there, Beast is fully aware. "We need to head back," I say because there's no point in answering him.

"Lust," Nokita grumbles again.

"I haven't denied it, so stop with the 'lust'." It's a command, so he shuts his jaws and we head back to the motorcycle.

I've had enough of Nokita's guard duty, so I shift and hop on the bike, leaving him to return on his own. I pass through the narrow streets using the same path Boot took the woman. Her arrival was planned in detail. The U.S. has no satellites to see the progress we've made since taking over the island. We suspect spies just haven't managed to catch one yet. The condition of the town isn't as important as the citizens we're hiding. The Federation doesn't need to know about them. We've claimed them and battle is the only way the U.S. has a shot at getting their hands on our people. If it comes to that, not a single human outside this island will survive. We will not give the U.S. a second chance.

Right now they need us for what they refer to as hellhounds. Only key people in their government understand what they're truly dealing with and they aren't transparent to the majority. We'll keep what the hellhounds are to ourselves as long as it benefits us. Our kind stayed hidden for centuries and we are very good at keeping secrets. The caveat is Marinah's ability to keep a few.

Beast slithers beneath my skin.

"The woman has a chance," I say into the wind.

Beast cracks one of my ribs and I laugh. He doesn't like being controlled.