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Chapter 31: King

Author: Holly S. Roberts
last update Last Updated: 2022-10-20 14:21:17
It's been four weeks since Marinah arrived. We eat dinner together most nights and play an interesting game of cat and mouse. My half-grunt answers infuriate her. She's picked up the same habit when I ask her a question she doesn't want to answer, which means she's learning to play the political game.

On the nights I go without her company, Beast acts up strangely and before I know it, I'm having food for two delivered to my room. It's like he can't live with her or without her and his grumbling reminds me of a whiny baby. Tonight is one of those times.

A freshly showered, wet-haired Marinah, who is wearing jeans and a white tee, drags herself into my room and collapses in the chair. She's worn out from the training she's been putting in and that pleases me. I can actually go a step further and say I'm proud of her commitment.

The sexual awareness I have when she's near adds to my overall enjoyment of having her with me. I'm even becoming accustomed to Beast grumbl
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  • Shifter King   Chapter 32: King

    "You've had this the entire time?" Marinah asks in disbelief as she stares at the silk. "You needed to unwind a bit and the only way to do that was to get you on the road." "You are so aggravating," she grinds out in frustration. She wiggles on the back of the bike, wrapping the scarf around her head and securing it. Her thighs squeeze my legs and Beast takes notice. I can't think of a female I've met who's more aggravating than Marinah. Maybe Beast and I have finally met our match. I rev the throttle so she'll hurry and it does the trick. I have a spot picked out where I'd like to eat lunch. It will take another hour to get there. She wraps her arms around my waist again and we're off. This time it's her laugh that makes me push speed. "I loved it," she says an hour later after I pull over. "I should learn to drive." "Walking and running first. Riding a motorcycle last." Her tongue slips out and more than anything I want to kiss her. I grab our lunch

    Last Updated : 2022-10-20
  • Shifter King   Chapter 33: King

    Her eyes show the same need I feel, but her sense of honor holds true. "I need to return home and help my people prepare for the hellhounds with or without Shadow Warriors." I cup her jaw and kiss her again. I swipe the scarf from her hair after our lips meet and move my hands so the tangles are caught around my fingers holding her in place. I explore her soft, warm mouth and I wonder why I didn't kiss her sooner. Beast remains calm, drinking in her taste, wanting more. I want more. She got under our skin the first time she fell. The entire situation is impossible and I shouldn't have allowed it to go this far. "It's not happening between us, is it?" she asks softly when I reluctantly let her go. "No," I breathe loudly in frustration. "I didn't think so, but thank you for this," she looks down at the blanket and bag that contained our lunch before looking at me again. "We need to leave." Wrong time, right place. Maybe someday we can come back. Even I

    Last Updated : 2022-10-20
  • Shifter King   Chapter 34: Marinah

    The day was too perfect, and I should have known it wouldn't end well. I'm trapped in a very small cave with an injured beast-man with someone trying to kill him close by. The injured party in question has decided I need to be practically sitting in his lap while I try to remember not to look into his eyes. We stay this way for the longest time and strangely I feel safer than I ever have. The sun begins going down and I hear his slight snore before I have a chance to take a good long look at a Shadow Warrior in beast form. He's amazing. If I had to compare him to anything, it would be a wolf, but no wolf holds a candle to this creature. Short hair covers his body that once had smooth skin. His legs are larger and his arms have grown too. His wicked claws are sharp and deadly. It's his jaws and skull that have changed the most, though. Whereas his skull was round before, it's narrower and larger. His enormous teeth overlap and make it look like it would be impossible to cl

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  • Shifter King   Chapter 35: Marinah

    It takes two hours to get back to our quarters and I'm exhausted by the time we arrive. Axel is waiting out front when we pull up. Two of the men grab King when he lifts his leg over the bike and stumbles. They half drag him past Axel, who takes a long look at me before following the men. I hope his regard had to do with seeing if I had injuries, because he doesn't say anything and he doesn't look happy. I follow the men and they fortunately don't stop me from entering the medical room. King is moved to a bed and Axel quickly unwraps my makeshift bandage. "I'm administering a shot to relax you so I can help the bullet out the rest of the way," he tells King. "No." King lifts his hand and grabs the doctor stopping him from injecting the needle. King glances around the room until his eyes land on mine. I walk over and the men move back. I take King's free hand and hold it. He slowly releases Axel. "I don't think he wants an injection." Axel looks at me in frus

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  • Shifter King   Chapter 36: King

    Beast has never been this calm. The pain is all but gone, and my mind is completely clear. This has never happened when Beast takes over. There's a completeness that I haven't felt before. Why did Beast want her dead? A bigger question is why did the men who came after me want her dead? Without the K-5 flooding my system in waves, I can concentrate on what's important. Someone wants Marinah dead and I need to discover who. Then I'll eat them. Marinah rests the bowl beside us when the healing food is gone and then eats her meal quickly. Exhaustion rolls over me and I fall asleep to the sound of her eating. Sometime during the night, I shift back to human form. When I open my eyes, sunlight enters the room through a high window. Marinah is gone. Axel walks in and takes the chair she vacated. "Good to see you awake." "Where is she?" He sighs. "She went to take a shower and change clothes. She'll be back as soon as she finishes breakfast. I told her I wou

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  • Shifter King   Chapter 37: Marinah

    Today's torture isn't enough to keep my mind off King. Boot isn't helping. He usually assists me, but today he's staying practically on the other side of the room like I'm a leper. I'm currently walking a balance beam and fall for the twentieth time. I step back onto the tricky beam and glare at my worthless trainer across the large open space between us. "What is going on?" I demand after wobbling and then finding my center. "You just fell," he says like he has no idea what I'm talking about. "If you were standing over here, giving me a shoulder to balance with like a good little trainer, I wouldn't land on the floor or did you forget that part of this exercise?" "You're depending on me too much and you need to learn to trust your feet. You're standing just fine now. Try lifting one toe and pointing it toward the door." "I'll do it if you come here and keep me from falling." He crosses his arms, the stubborn man. "I'll watch from here, thank y

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  • Shifter King   Chapter 38: King

    Seeing Boot so close to Marinah ruffled Beast's feathers. Mine were a little more controllable, but I'll admit I didn't like it either. Boot is mated and it's the only reason he walked from the room under his own willpower. I'm at a crossroads. Marinah returning to the Federation is still a very real possibility. Add to that, her confidence since she began training is remarkable. She's standing tall and tripping less. I'm sure having Shadow Warriors around where you're the shortest person helps her value her height. We are larger than life and intimidating. Since her arrival, Marinah has shown little fear, but now she's not just fearless, she's inspiring. She has a strong work ethic and Boot's daily reports have gone from "It's torture to watch," to "She could be an actual fighter." He doesn't mean in the ring, he means war. That won't be happening. I've spent too much time examining my inner turmoil with Beast. I still don't understand it and he's not following normal gu

    Last Updated : 2022-10-20
  • Shifter King   Chapter 39: Marinah

    I jump half out of my pants when I turn from the door and see Boot standing in my room partially hidden in the shadows. "What are you doing here?" From his expression it's something bad. "My son is missing. He talks about killing hellhounds all the time. His plastic knife is missing along with his bicycle." Fear seizes me. Hellhounds are the creatures of my nightmares, and the terror I feel at even the thought of being near them almost takes me to my knees. "He would go out alone to find them?" "That's what he's done, we know it." The worry in Boot's eyes is clear. If Che runs into a hellhound, he's dead. "You need to tell King." "If I can't find Che I will, but I was hoping you would help me look." He's out of his mind. "You're out of your mind," I say out loud. "I can barely protect myself and even that's debatable." I deepen my breathing so I don't hyperventilate. "He's on a bike. How far can he get? Please, I need your help. Maylin i

    Last Updated : 2022-10-20

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  • Shifter King   Chapter 141: King: The Island (Cuba)

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    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

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  • Shifter King   Chapter 137: King

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    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

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