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
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
It's hours before we find Nokita. The human soldiers ran before the tunnels blew and Nokita tracked them for miles."We killed about one hundred Federation soldiers." He wipes dirt and blood from his face, exhaustion plain in his eyes. "They planned this from the beginning."Anger shoves K-5 through my system. We're in Warrior form and the spike in K-5 is unwelcome. Seeing Marinah in my peripheral vision doesn't help. She's surrounded by Warriors. Beast wants them dead simply because of how close they are to her. The human side of me understands she's an anomaly and my Warriors are only curious. Marinah glances at me and realizes what's happening immediately. She walks over and places her hand on my arm, digging her nails in to help me push back against Beast.It's a few minutes before I can speak. "We'll backtrack to the rendezvous point and then split up and go to where the planes are hidden," I tell Beck. We parachuted down and the pilots landed at prearranged airstrips to hide u
I wake up in King's arms. He's sleeping with a satisfied grin on his face, though I'm anything but satisfied. I take a few minutes to stare at him, memorizing each line on his face. Groggily, I finally stumble to the shower and climb into cold water to help me wake up. Ms. Beast doesn't mind and lets me know by humming inside me. She's a fickle beast. The bathroom door opens and King peeks into my morning sanctuary."Need your back washed?" he offers.My eyes flash and desire rolls through me. "If that's all you're coming in for, don't bother," I answer grumpily.He gives one of his killer grins, making me clench my thighs. His blue eyes go dark. King's idea of a back wash includes my legs, feet, arms, stomach, and thighs. Thighs quickly become my favorite. When he's tired of playing, he pushes my back into the wall and lifts me until my legs circle his waist. After a kiss that sizzles my insides even in the cool water, he slides home. The feel of him overwhelms me and everything we
I ignore the tangy smell of blood that trails down my face while continuing my mad dash through the dark, dense jungle. Teeth of a sharp, prickly branch slice my other cheek. I wince internally when my salty sweat hits the bloody scrapes that now cover most of my face. Sweat also trails between the rough, inch-long hairs covering my body, leaving a distinct scent trail to follow. Right now, there's nothing I can do about it. I've done a fairly good job at keeping my breathing even so my sensitive ears pick up the slightest noise and alert me to danger. While running, I'm planning. Upon seeing the perfect place to hunker down and wait, my course of action is suddenly clear.Danger. Close. Ms. Beast whispers inside my head.Too close, I snarl back, darn her.Kill. Her whisper sends shivers through my entire body.I change direction slightly to avoid a small open area, slow my pace, and head for a thicker crop of trees and brush. Sniffing the air with my elongated snout, I pick up not
"A little gentleness goes a long way," I grind out between very human teeth. I shifted from my Warrior form as soon as we entered the citadel. I hate the tile floor when I walk across it with three-inch nails jutting from my feet. King laughs at me whenever I grumble about it. Of course he's had more time to grow accustomed to a Beast form that's more than two feet taller than our human one. Also the whole jaw thing which reminds me of an alligator. Add in the stiff bristles of inch-long hair covering my body, and I'm not exactly pretty in Beast form. King wraps the cloth around another time and tapes it securely. His head is tilted down, but he glances up when he's finished, and my breath catches. His incredible crystal-blue eyes heat me from the inside out, and I forget that my fingers are attached more by sutures than flesh."You never complained while I worked on my needlepoint," he teases softly.I put my forehead against his, breathing the air he expels, absorbing the incred
With the island's reduction in hellhounds, mice and other small rodents are more abundant. The hounds killed everything living they could sink their teeth into, causing a huge reduction in our small animal inhabitants. Now that's changing again, and the eco system is improving. In our new turbulent world, we have no idea how long this will last, and we're taking advantage as best we can. Our food production has doubled, and we're hoping to have a good crop for long-term storage after harvest.I turn my head at a noise about a hundred yards away that doesn't fit the nightlife. The area in question is too dense to see into, but I figure the sound of ringing metal is a clue and the dynamic duo are near. From the corner of my eye, I catch King adjusting his leather straps. Before I object, he shifts."You did that on purpose when I wasn't looking," I whisper. King doesn't control his Beast form in the first hour or so after shifting, and it's usually me that uses my Beast form if we need
"Che, come now," he commands and takes off jogging at a slow pace so Che can keep up. Running the child into the ground will be a good start to his coming punishment. Che takes a last look at me before deciding his only chance to continue living is with King.When the noise of their departure fades to small animals and crickets, I drop Ruth on her head a few inches from the ground. She tumbles into a scrambled mix of arms, legs, and curses that shouldn't come from the mouth of a ten-year-old. I casually step forward, my boot landing on her hair. She beats at my leg which I barely feel. "This is how easy you are to kill. For some reason you don't get that. I could easily kick your head in, and there's nothing you can do." I place my hand on the sword strapped at my hip. It was a gift from King, designed after a sixteenth century German Mortuary Sword-double-edged, thirty-six inches, with two fullers to reduce the weight when I carry it in human form. It's long enough to remove the head