The woman's gaze drops to the table at my abrupt question. I've been dealing with too many men. The only thing that works with them is short, uncomplicated words with a grunt or two thrown in. I now prefer it that way. When the women on the island seek me out, they want me to solve every domestic problem on the planet, and they talk entirely too much. I change how I deal with them because shooting out commands puts them in tears or worse, makes them angry. You do not want to eat food made by an angry cook. King and I found this out the hard way. This female is different. Now that I've had a few minutes to assess her energy, I feel the Shadow Warrior essence though it's slightly different than the males, softer somehow, which makes sense, but also more powerful in its overall capacity. Interesting. She's watching me closely like she knows my thoughts. Her slight smile drives me crazy, and I almost growl. "Male Shadow Warriors have one thought and one plan of action:
Landan says a few words as we walk away from the cabin. His voice dies out when he realizes I'm paying no attention. He's quickly learned the nuances of dealing with Shadow Warriors, and he makes his escape with a muttered excuse of checking on things, whatever that means. My Beast has fully accepted Marinah as Alpha. Unfortunately, there are two beings inside this body, and I personally wanted to bite her head off for dismissing me so abruptly. I no longer have delusions over who could kill who. Marinah takes her training seriously, and every Shadow Warrior has seen her change into a deadly fighting machine even when she's not in Nova form. She's been working on that too. Her control isn't great and pulling forth her Nova takes a lot out of her. If she's angry about something, it's easier which doesn't make her happy. She wants absolute control over each facet of her Warrior, and I have no doubt she'll achieve it, eventually. Beast finally grumbles, mate. I want t
My flight isn't just about the women. I've barely been holding my own in the leadership department. It was hoisted upon me after my Warrior form warped to Nova which is a term for a Beast form on steroids. King was, well, king. Now it's me as leader and nothing comes naturally. My days are frustration and tension rolled into one. I've been training as much as possible, learning to handle every weapon we have. My knowledge on guns was nonexistent, especially the Russian weapons available on the island. Now, I can look at a firearm and give you the make, model, and caliber of bullet it fires. I spend hours each day working with swords, developing my skill, magnifying the damage I can do. King and Beck drill me endlessly on military strategy, and the amount of knowledge I've dumped into my brain should make it explode. And still, I feel inadequate as alpha of the Shadow Warriors. How long before I simply take my role for granted and stop worrying about how many people I'll kill wi
Mate, Beast chides. Wet mate, I whisper back with an internal laugh. Flinging Marinah into the water satisfies something inside me that's been missing for far too long. I have all of two seconds to enjoy my self-satisfied state before I'm attacked from behind. Claws sink into my back and wrap around my face, going for my eyes. A three-hundred-pound mountain lion is out for my blood. By the time Marinah appears above the water's surface, I'm in a battle for my life. The noise coming from my throat is not that of a Warrior. A claw catches me in the forehead and teeth sink into the side of my face. "If you hurt Callie, you're a dead man," Marinah yells between coughs while spitting out water. "She's the devil," I shout back on a strangled high note while trying to save my left eye from being gouged and possibly eaten. The hellcat is plastered to my head, doing everything she can to skin me alive. Dripping wet, the darn thing probably weighs three pounds.
The helicopter drops us a mile from the most populated housing area near the shore. We rappel down so the helicopter doesn't need to land. Once we're on solid ground, Marinah leads us toward the fight. Beck's information says there are at least fifty soldiers fully armed with as many hellhounds. Marinah is worried for Che and Ruth. She doesn't need the distraction while she's finding her Warrior legs. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to stop her from building a ragtag team of adolescent human juveniles. Her leadership style will settle down, but in the meantime, even though she understands she has too much on her plate, we must put up with her need to save the world, not just our small island. We creep through the sand along the rocks near to shore. One of the men gives a signal, and our eyes turn toward the water. Five mid-sized rafts rest on the shore. Marinah signals one of the men to destroy them. The use of rafts tells me they have an undetected ship offsho
During the next twenty-four hours, we receive no demands from the Federation for Knet, not that we expected any. Knet has information they want and to them, he's little more than an animal. I never completely trusted Knet, but he's one of my people so his loss affects me. The soldiers who attacked us simply disappeared. At least the ones we didn't kill. I'm sure having a submarine makes that easier. From what we know, soldiers landed, a group captured Knet, returned to the sub, and left soldiers behind to kill as many humans and Shadow Warriors as possible. Those who stayed behind are dead now and still my rage simmers. I turn the corner and see Maylin and Missy talking. Missy is Beck's mate and Maylin is Nokita's. They're both pretty and neither changes into an alien monster. And yes, I'm being petty. I simply don't want to deal with them right now. Missy wastes no time getting up in my business and both women block the hallway. "You haven't slept. The only way you'll be
"Stare at water, pretty butterfly," Cosway instructs while she pets the small tabby cat she kept for herself. It's Callie's brother even though they look nothing alike. Butterfly is the name Cosway chose for me. She's the only human besides Ruth, Che, and their mothers who has no fear, even if I were to shift into Nova. She accepts me completely for who I am even though that person is extremely screwed up right now. Since Cosway came to the island, her skin has softened with repeated washing, and her hair is no longer something from the legends of Medusa. I'm envious of the soft auburn color that has a wavy quality with delicate wisps and everything. Her brown eyes shine with a light that attracts people. Or maybe it's her entire persona. She just makes you feel comforted when you're with her. Some would say Cosway is simple-minded. They would be wrong. Yes, she has a simple way of figuring out problems, but she solves them. She also has a way of helping me sort m
My heavy boots eat up the cool tile floor as I walk the endless corridors of the citadel. Marinah's absence is a dark hole in our daily routine. She's part of the island's lifeforce even though she has no idea what that means. The island and people come alive when she's nearby. The Warriors have adapted to her and her leadership. They have grown to expect her strange warrior ways and work with them for the better. She doesn't see it because she's too caught up in her own head. I've tried taking things slow, giving her time. Maybe time isn't the answer. Warriors understand war. I've been treating my mate like a human woman and not the bloodthirsty Warrior she's become and the men expect. The punch of energy from Marinah's Beast hit me in the gut when she went after Beck. Fury and confusion filled me, mirroring what was going on inside Marinah. I've felt it before, but this was different. Our mate bond pulled me along, and I wanted to kill Beck too. I almost went after hi
I head to the training field and beat up on all comers for the next two hours. My men look at me in fear by the time I'm through. I'm going to be a father and I should be ecstatic. All I feel is fear, and it's not something I'm accustomed to. Strangling my mate might help. A baby. We could have lost our child before I knew about him or her. My thoughts return to strangulation. My men practically fall to the ground when I head back to my room to shower. Thankfully, Marinah found another place to be. I need time before I deal with her. I shower, dress in fresh clothes, and I leave the room. Labyrinth's body is in his quarters. His funeral will be tonight along with the Shadow Warriors lost in the Federation's attack. Beck, Nokita, Cabel, and Alden stand outside Labyrinth's door, their faces somber. "Marinah is with him," rebukes Beck. He's angry he didn't go with us and it's not his death. Marinah made the right decision on who she took on our mi
Marinah picks up Labyrinth and tosses him over her shoulder like he weighs forty pounds and not three hundred and forty. The black dress is in tatters, only covering parts of her massive form. Mrs. Barnes opens groggy eyes, and I set her on her feet. I give her one minute to find her balance. "Move," I order when her time's up. She cries and sniffs and squeals, and sniffs some more while she tries to run. Her bravado is gone. The pointed heels of her shoes become a problem. With a growl, I pick her up and flip her over my shoulder the same way Marinah holds Labyrinth. Her shriek is music to my ears, but we don't need the noise so I slam my hand down on the backs of her exposed thighs. She shrieks once before she decides silence is best. We run without stopping and make it to the rendezvous point in thirty minutes. Mrs. Barnes crumples to the ground when I try to place her on her feet. She can rest here and wallow in her bad fortune. Alden doesn't take his eyes from the presiden
The room turns my stomach. Starvation, death, and helplessness fill the world while these people hold parties, laugh, drink alcohol, and pretend they live in a different time. Several men smile at me inquisitively as I slowly stroll around the room. I give them assessing smiles, meeting their eyes. "You belong," I repeat internally. It's twenty minutes before President Barnes enters-his wife on his arm. I'd forgotten about her. She's a scientist as well as first lady. Her hair is perfectly manicured, her head held regally as if the world belongs to her. Diamonds drip from her throat and her wrists. She lives in a different world. I never liked her and for the most part, she stayed far away from the government's workings. For some reason whenever I saw her, I felt like a lab rat. I can now put my finger on my feelings. I respected them back then. I'm disgusted now and detest everything the Barneses stand for. No, I don't like the woman. A small ache goes through me
Six hours later, minus braids, and practically bald, we're settled on the plane. The look on Alden and Labyrinth's faces match mine. We are unrecognizable as Warrior with our shaved heads. I'd rather dress in pink. "You would think your power was in your hair the way you whiny babies are handling this," were Marinah's exact words. Personally, I was resigned to my fate and remained stoic, hoping one of the men would talk her out of it. Her alpha stare came into effect, and she chopped a section of her braids off with her sword. The men followed suit, giving me sad puppy dog eyes while we sheared our heads. Beck kept his mouth shut from that moment on. If Maylin hadn't saved the day and trimmed up the mess we made, the lot of us would have needed to go completely bald. I run my hand over the prickly stubble. Cutting our hair was necessary for Marinah's plan to work. Her hand lands on my opposite arm. I pull her close so she rests her head on my shoulder. "Sleep," I whispe
Seven Warriors lost their lives. We have several humans in uncertain condition but so far none have died. I locate the wives of two of the men. They know their mates are dead, but I want them to understand as the wife of a Shadow Warrior, they will be cared for. The looks on their faces say it all. There is nothing comforting about death. "Will it ever end?" I think to myself after leaving. I don't have answers. When we came to the island, our plan was to take over for a short time. The people put up little resistance. Starved and short on medical supplies, they needed us as much as we needed them. Once the world was settled, we would give the island back to its people. On days like today, I don't see it happening. Beck finds me as soon as I return to the citadel. "We have a problem at the shipyard, and Nokita is asking for you." Of course we have a problem at the shipyard. I change course. The sun blazes down on us as Nokita explains what parts he ne
I wake up in the warm cushion of King's arms. He's awake and staring at me. "How is the soldier?" I ask groggily. He knows who I mean. "She survived. Axel performed surgery on one wrist and put both in casts. What do you plan on doing with her?" My heart is heavy. "I'm not sure." I roll so I'm facing King. "I couldn't kill her. Even Ms. Beast couldn't do it." "Hmm." He almost has me smiling, but then I remember the pain of losing our men. "How many of our people died?" "Your people. Seven Warriors, no humans." I ache at the news. "Who?" King recites the names. It hurts. Two of them have families. One just became a new father. I sit up partially. "The men need us. What are we doing in here?" King locks his arms around me again and pulls me back into bed. "You can read your grandmother's journal, but you are not leaving this room until you're healed. It's not up for discussion." I want to argue. His hard, calculating e
I pace outside Axel's office while he treats Marinah. He kicked me out and blocked the door an hour ago. Mate, Beast rumbles. I glance at the door in anger, deciding if I should break it down or not. I'm sitting in the infirmary while medical teams work on Warriors and islanders. I should care but my focus is Marinah. Earlier, when the fighting stopped, Marinah held her Nova form and didn't revert to her Beast. I approached her slowly. It took a few minutes before she stopped ripping the soldiers apart. I saw when awareness entered her eyes. She had no idea what she'd done. A moment later, she toppled over. I thought she would change form, but it never happened. There was so much blood from the soldiers she killed, it took a few minutes to figure out she'd been shot. I rushed her to Axel's infirmary. Before throwing me from the room, he found two bullet wounds, one in her shoulder, one in her side, and an additional knife puncture in her other side. I came
A shadow falls over me, and I look into King's huge jaws. "You need to shift. I'll loosen your straps." His clawed hands are slightly clumsy when he unfastens the buckles. He runs a sharp claw along the bare skin on my back when finished. "One kiss and we'll take up where we leave off when this is over." He says it like we're going on an excursion through the park. I appreciate the light comment. I'm wound up so tight, I don't think I can breathe. Now he wants a kiss and I can't think of anything more delicious. I morph in his arms, growing in height, expanding in girth, and turning a flavor of ugly only a mate can appreciate. With my fangs in the way, I kiss him because he loves me in whatever form I take, and I love him. My radio spits, "The artillery on the ships is keeping our planes back, but they've got one crippled ship so I'm changing the plan if my alpha approves. I'm tracking the sub and want to take it out." "Go for it," I yell as another explosion rocks
Energy spikes through my blood as we travel the winding roads. I feel alive. There's nothing left of the frightened young woman who clung to King on the back of his bike, holding on to a man she didn't trust. That man, beside me now, is the reason I'm an entirely different person. My hands open and close on the motorbike's handlebars in anticipation of the coming fight. Hellhounds are one thing, but humans are the real enemy-thinking, plotting, murdering humans. Bloodlust fills me. I'll kill them all. We hit the city and weave through the winding side streets at breakneck speed. I love the powerful rumble between my thighs, the tilt of the bike when I take corners, and the feel of wind against my face. Who knew I would turn into a biker chick? We glide through the open metal gates, abandoning the bikes, and head to the roof of the citadel at a full run. I shift to human form while Shadow Warriors and humans scramble out of our way. We crash through the roof's door and cha