I mourn the loss of my friend while the absence of Marinah destroys me. I can only take the nagging sense of danger for so long before I'm at the breaking point and act. Getting away undetected by Nokita isn't easy. He was taught by the best tracker we have and I never had much luck escaping Beck. I bide my time and while the men are eating dinner, I sneak off quickly. Once I'm clear of our perimeter guards, I shift, giving Beast the lead and kick it into high gear, running at top speed. Beast loves it because he knows exactly where we're headed. Mate, he whispers into my soul. I travel more than seventy miles in three hours, avoiding hellhounds and humans, and arrive in the Federation's territory a little after eleven. I feel Marinah in every cell. I know she's close, pulling on Beast even if she isn't aware it's happening. She'll feel it and I'm counting on her to listen to her beast. I have no idea where she is within the underground compounds, so it could take
Seeing King was exactly what I needed and still, I'm torn apart when he leaves. I lay awake for hours thinking about him-his scent, his taste, and how his body feels when he becomes part of me. Ms. Beast likes these thoughts and for the most part only purrs in contentment. When my sadness overflows over King leaving me, and I can no longer take it, I switch to making plans. Beginning tomorrow, things will change even if it means grabbing the president by the balls and discovering what the heck is going on. Sitting in my room like a good little Federation follower isn't getting me anywhere. Foggy headed from lack of sleep, I need strong black coffee to clear my brain in the morning. Even the disgusting chicory stuff the Federation serves should help. The cafeteria isn't crowded when I enter and take my usual table after putting today's mush-an unidentifiable substance-on a tray and filling two cups with straight black coffee. After the first cup, I feel better and while no
With the hair on the back of my neck standing on end, I check drawers and cabinets hoping Labyrinth was able to leave a message or something. I find nothing-no note and zero of their personal belongings. It's like they were never here. There's only one person who can provide answers and it's time for me and the president to have a long talk. If he's harmed a single Shadow Warrior, he'll be the first dead Federation president in office. I know where his main work quarters are and that's where I head. I pass only two people on the first half of my journey, which is odd. I pass no one when I get closer to the president's office, which is stranger still. "Miss Church. We need you to come with us," says an unknown man wearing military attire followed by four soldiers. The "Miss Church" is telling. I could handle all five of them in Warrior form, but now is not the time. "Sure," I say with much more calmness than I feel. "I was looking for President Barnes's offi
Our sentries pick up movement around two in the morning. More than five hundred Federation red stripes are headed our way. My worry for Marinah doubles. We're on the move within fifteen minutes, running in beast form and putting miles between us and the soldiers. By the time the sun rises, we're sure they're tracking us. Nokita approaches and gives me the latest update. "They are heavily armed and have three tanks with them. We can win this battle if that's what you want." Marinah and Labyrinth are compromised and yes, we can win this battle. The cost will be high to our Warriors, though. I also know many of the Federations soldiers are fighting under duress and killing them can only be used as a last resort. "Send five groups of five to disrupt Federation stragglers and make them nervous. I'll lead the remainder of our forces closer to Washington. Keep their soldiers busy for as long as you can and don't kill if possible. But our Warriors come first. If you need t
You know what this means, I say after trying to unlock the door again and managing only to drop the keys. We're finally in tune to each other and she doesn't fight me. My transformation to human is seamless. Unfortunately, it leaves me nearly naked from the waist up. I open the door and Mila throws herself into my arms not caring that I'm also covered in blood. "Oh, God, Marinah, I thought you were dead. They tortured Kara and killed her," she cries into my shoulder. "What's happening?" This is no time for tears. "We need to get Landan and Skylar out of their cells." "We're here," Skylar yells from another cell down the hall. I take Mila's hand, stopping her from going to Skylar's door. "Don't panic," I tell her. "I can keep us safer in beast form." She gives me the strangest look. There's no time for explanations. I place the keys in her hand, step back, and allow Ms. Beast to take over again. To give Mila credit, she only backs up a few feet during
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 th
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 a
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 a
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