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Chapter 20: King
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Shifter King Chapter 21: Marinah
He claims to have hellhounds and there's no reason not to believe him, but still. Hellhounds kill with single-minded purpose and in turn they are nearly impossible to kill. They have no problem breaking off parts of their bodies to slip through things like fences, gates, and prison cells. The Federation had no success at taking much less keeping one alive and whenever they tried, humans died. Six months before the end of the war-maybe I should call it the first war since the hounds are returning-a hellhound broke into the underground compound where I worked. It killed twenty-three people. Twenty-one of them were heavily armed. Three of my co-workers and I made it to a reinforced steel closet and closed the door with the hellhound inches from destroying us. I've had nightmares about them ever since. Now King is saying he can take me to see a hellhound. Before the war, I had a nice busy life going to school, hanging out with friends, and dreaming about my future. Just think
Shifter King Chapter 22: Marinah
King walks forward and nods to one of the inside guards who immediately lowers his head. The guard gives me an unhappy side eye. King takes my focus off the guard when he speaks. "We use Neodymium super magnets charged with electricity to keep them from moving more than a few inches. What we find interesting is they seem to know and don't fight it. They almost go into a coma-like state after they realize they can't escape." It's time to look at the reason for my nightmares. Their flesh is a dark gray with twisted muscle for arms and legs that doesn't look like it should twist in those directions. Patches of short dark hair cover most of their bodies. Long, lethal claws extend out at the end of all extremities. The genitalia is gone on both or they're female or they had none to begin with. Why is he showing me this? It's wrong and they should be killed. This will be at the top of the report to the Federation when I return home. If I return. Kin
Shifter King Chapter 23: King
She's human, I tell myself. Not weak, just human. "Stay with me," I mutter as I carry her back to my room. I sniff her hair, which is partially in my face. She smells enticing and that isn't a good thing. "Please put me down," she requests when we're halfway to our destination. I slowly drop her legs and tilt her body upright. Breathing heavily, she grabs the wall and hangs her head. A few seconds later, she places her hands on her knees and takes huge gulping breaths of air. I say nothing as I wait for her to gain control. "It's a panic attack," she says after her breathing slows. "I get them occasionally." She stands straight and closes her eyes for a moment. "You've given me a lot to think about. Please take me to my room so I can sort it out in my mind." Sweat at her temple captures strands of hair and they stick to her pasty, soft skin. Incredibly soft skin. "This way," I point to the right and walk ahead of her to put distance between us. The s
Shifter King Chapter 24: Marinah
The walls of my room close in on me. I use every breathing technique I have-counting by threes, fours, and sevens and nothing seems to help. Five minutes after entering my claustrophobic room and working on my breathing, a hysterical burst of laughter leaves my throat. I've literally survived the zombie apocalypse. The laughter turns to tears. Our government did this. Scientists said the earth was heating at an unnatural rate. They also said GMOs were safe. They got it half right. The group of protesters I hung with in college had a hard-on for Monsanto, but we were equal opportunity marchers and went after DuPont, Bayer, Dow, and BASF who practiced the same hidden techniques to keep the population ignorant of what they were doing. All we wanted was transparency. You would think we were asking them to stop their business completely. Labeling food was our objective. Allow the people to decide was our motto. The honey bee colony collapse was directly tied to B
Shifter King Chapter 25: King
If I'm lucky, she will remember every word tomorrow. I watch her sleep, and within a few minutes she begins softly snoring. While she's out, I do something I've wanted to try since discovering Beast's aversion to her. I allow him to come to the forefront without transforming. It's not easy to do and I must keep a tight leash in order to keep him from taking over completely. Beast leans over and sniffs her bare leg. He doesn't touch. Kill the woman, pops into my head. Why? I ask. Dangerous, he replies. Slowly I extend my hand and touch her leg again. Beast growls deep in my chest. Dangerous how? I press. Deadly. I don't see it. Her stumbling bumbling routine can't be a hoax. Beast leans over and licks her leg where I'm touching. He tastes her, but so do I. It's strange. I've been with women and none have tasted like her. It's an untamed wild flavor that makes me wonder if she's not quite human. Who the hell knows what other creatures roam this
Shifter King Chapter 26: Marinah
The pounding in my head wakes me, and nausea makes me run for the bathroom. The liquor comes up and the vile taste of vomit almost makes it impossible to hold my guts inside my stomach. How I wish I could remove them. Never again, I think to myself as I lean against the toilet holding on to the cool porcelain for dear life. Of course, I've said the exact same thing before even if it has been years. About five minutes later, I walk from the bathroom feeling somewhat reborn after my purge and search the bedroom for signs of King. Though I threw back the covers when I ran to the bathroom, there's still an indent where King sat on the bed last night. It wasn't a dream. Darn, that's not good. I think I asked him to have sex with me. I think I need to dig a very big hole and bury myself in it. Instead, I grab clothes from my closet and head to the shower. The sooner I see King and face the consequences of my actions, the better. Really what can he do
Shifter King Chapter 27: Marinah
"Did they kill the two hellhounds you have?" I ask Axel, hoping my wish came true. He crosses his arms. "King told you about the two we hold?" "King did more than tell me, he showed me. Alcohol didn't numb the sight of them or the smell." I can't help the revulsion running over my skin and I shiver. Axel's fingers are steepled and he softly thrums them together. "Did he explain what they are?" He's being careful. He must know if I find out certain things my life is forfeit. And that sounds as stupid as it is. "Yes, I know we're really fighting hellhumans and not hounds." He gives a relieved sigh. "We still call them hounds. Makes it easier than thinking of them as once being humans." I get that and feel the same. Something's been bothering me since King explained what they learned, though at the time I was too afraid of the answer. "I never saw my father's body. Is he one of those... things now?" I dread the answer and thinking in these terms
Shifter King Chapter 28: King
My shoulder hurts, my head aches, and a raging hard-on is making me exceedingly uncomfortable. Even after battling hellhounds, getting bit, and fighting the poison all night she gets to me. The man, not the beast, which is a problem. Beast refusing not to react when she stares in my eyes is perplexing. Hell, everything about the woman and Beast is perplexing. I crawl out of bed, rebuffing doctor's orders. I refuse to lie around all day. Axel is a mother hen when it comes to his patients and he needs to relax a little. When I stand, the pain in my shoulder makes it difficult to draw a full breath. Along with our remedy for hellhound bites, Axel must cut the dead tissue from the wound. The area around the bite begins to putrefy immediately. It's only our healing ability that gives us time for the antidote to work or I would be dead ten times over by now. I pull on my pants slowly, fighting a groan, while hoping Axel doesn't arrive to argue with me. After I'm dressed below t
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Shifter King Chapter 141: King: The Island (Cuba)
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
Shifter King Chapter 140: King
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
Shifter King Chapter 139: Marinah
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
Shifter King Chapter 138: King: Federation Territory
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
Shifter King Chapter 137: King
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
Shifter King Chapter 136: Marinah
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
Shifter King Chapter 135: King
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
Shifter King Chapter 134: Marinah
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
Shifter King Chapter 133: Marinah
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
