Chapter 7: King

I cut the engine on the motorcycle and roll to a stop in front of the citadel. It's a facade. My main residence is much cozier and fits my farm boy roots more. If the woman leaves here, we want her superiors learning as little as possible about us. Two guards open the doors and I enter. The sun is an hour from setting, so it's the warmest part of the day indoors. We prefer heat over cold due to the K-5 that is always just beneath the surface.

I glance over my shoulder. "Boot and the woman?" I ask.

"Boot is in your office," Knet's angry tone follows me.

Knet isn't happy with his current duty. It's his punishment for repeated transgressions against my authority. Nothing major or he would be recovering from a sound beating. I head toward my temporary office. The door is slightly ajar and I push it open and enter the ten by ten mostly bare room.

Boot is at my desk with his son, Che. My ire rises and they both look up.

"Hi, Che," I say as I ruffle his hair. "Go find your mother and tell her she needs to take you home." He gives his father a quick hug and runs out. "Explain?" I say once the boy is out of hearing range.

Boot puts down the book he was reading to his son. His eyes meet mine for a split second before sliding away. "His mother is expecting and she's resting in my room. Che needed to stay out of her hair for a short while."

"No children or women once the negotiator arrived. Did you misunderstand my order?"

"No, alpha. My wife is the problem. She does poorly at following direction."

Most do and Boot's wife is one of the worst offenders. "Where is the woman?"

"The American?"

Boot isn't my brightest soldier, though he is one of the gentlest, which is why we prearranged for him to handle the woman when I wasn't around. "Yes, the woman," I say with more patience than I feel.

"The green room."

Before he blinks, my left hand wraps around his throat and I lift him from the chair. "You left her in the green room?"

He manages to blubber "Yes" before I toss him through the air and he slams against the wall with a loud thud. If Marinah is dead, Boot's new child will be fatherless. "Beck," I yell into the large entry room as I pass through. I don't take time to look around. Word will spread that I called for him if his overly sensitive ears don't pick it up. I lengthen my stride and head to the green room. When I get there, I push back the outer latch and throw open the door.

She's lying on the floor. Her chest rises and falls but she's unresponsive when I slide my hand over her hot cheeks and move sweat-drenched hair from her face.

"King," Beck's winded voice sounds behind me.

My plan was to cuss him out and maybe knock him around a bit for not overseeing Boot's duty to keep the woman safe. I resist. "Send a guard for Axel and tell him to bring IV equipment to the pool." I gather her limp body into my arms and turn. Beck hasn't moved.

His face is as angry as usual. His mistake is blocking the door. "You can't keep her."

My rage almost overflows. Kill him, Beast whispers in my mind. This isn't good. Beck is no threat to our world. "Farris Church is her father."

The stunned look on Beck's face is all I need. He steps aside and I barrel past him. I carry her back through the hall and then down the stairs to the underground aquatics room. We seldom use this pool because there's a better one at the main compound. This is strictly a lap pool. Before the Cuban dictator's death and his army's destruction, the multi-million-dollar citadel belonged to one of his generals. Tyranny at its finest.

I step into the pool and place Marinah on the first step in order to remove my weapons. I take the entire halter off along with my waist belt. The water on this step is only two inches deep, but it worries me that she hasn't moved yet even with the cool water touching her skin. Even with my limited medical knowledge, I know this isn't good. After tossing the belts and weapons on the pool deck, I cradle her again and wade into the water until it reaches her neck.

During the day, sunlight streams through small windows high above the pool. It's fully dark now, so the room is black. My eyesight is far superior to a human's during day or night, so I don't have a problem seeing in the darkness of the room. Marinah moves her head and groans without opening her eyes. I hear Axel and Beck talking as they approach.

"How is his beast reacting?" Axel asks Beck.

"I'm protective of the woman, Beast is not," I respond with obvious annoyance. I carry Marinah to the side of the pool where Axel rests his bag. He removes what he needs, pulls her arm from the water, and puts his fingers to her wrist. "Her pulse rate is sixty-two, which is borderline problematic," he says after a few moments. "You've cooled her body temperature, which is good. Fluids should bring her around. My guess is she hasn't slept in the past few days or been properly hydrated. Placing her in a hot stuffy room for hours didn't help." His tone is accusatory.

I do everything I can to bite my tongue, and still a growl breaks through. Axel grabs my wrist and finds my pulse. If I jerk my arm away, Marinah could slip under water and the doctor knows it.

"Hmm," he mutters.

I don't ask if that's good or bad because I really don't care. He releases my wrist and starts an IV for Marinah. She groans and tries to pull her hand away when he slips the needle into her vein. Beck kneels and takes hold of her fingers. My growl is louder this time.

"What the hell is wrong with you, King?" Beck meets my eyes long enough for Beast to notice. He drops his gaze before it turns into a huge problem.

I inhale deeply to bring the flood of dopamine to a level where I can think straight. "Don't know. I tasted Secretary Church in her blood and things got interesting."

Farris Church saved my life along with Beck and Nokita at the cost of his own. We were in a trench under heavy attack and it was apparent we were going to die. Church ran out of the trench and drew the hellhounds away from us. He acted before I could stop him. With most humans, it was always the other way around. They expected us to die for them.

The Shadow Warriors have great respect for Church. Still doesn't explain why his daughter affects me so strangely. Beast is not happy with Church's daughter and it's more than his normal dislike of humans. I'm conflicted to say the least. I will, however, give Marinah a chance to prove her worth.

She shifts in my arms and I pull her a little closer. Her limbs stiffen and I know she's awake. "You're safe," I tell her. "You're in a pool and it's dark in here because there are no lights. You have fluids going into your arm through an IV line. I have you in the pool to cool your body temperature." My voice echoes in the large room. Ever so slowly, her eyes open and I watch as she glances around the room trying to see.

Axel hands the saline bag to Beck. "Fifteen minutes for the fluids. It's best she stays in the water while they're administered so her body continues to cool." He places items back in his medical bag and stands. "I'll come by tomorrow to check on her. No more hot rooms, lots of fluids, and plenty of rest," he instructs.

Beck and I remain quiet. Beck is rarely silent, so I know he's deciphering his feelings about Marinah being Church's daughter.

I study her while I have the chance. Her dark frizzy hair is unruly, her cheekbones high, and her chin almost pointed. She's thin, which doesn't surprise me because I've eaten the Federation's rations before too. I find her attractive, which is strange because she's far from my type. I enjoy a woman with meat on her bones and who is definitely shorter in stature, a little more vulnerable. The longer I watch her the more Beast protests inside me.

Marinah doesn't say a word until after Axel removes the needle and I carry her from the pool. "Please put me down," she says in a crackly voice very different from her earlier one.

"No," I answer simply.

"I'm heavy."

"Don't insult me," I growl. "I can easily carry five of you without breaking a sweat." I stride quickly through the never-ending hallways dripping water the entire way. Beck collects my weapons and follows. I head to my temporary quarters and bark commands for food and water at the guards stationed outside my suite. We have a nice room set aside for Miss Church with clothing and essentials. I hadn't expected to bring her in my room, though, so at this point I'm improvising. I take her straight to the bathroom and lower her legs until her feet touch the floor. I flip on the light and she flinches against their brightness. She's shaky and unsurprisingly grabs the counter instead of me.

"Take a shower and I'll bring you the clothing we have available for you."

She turns away and glances into the mirror. She gasps and covers her breasts. The wet shirt she's wearing is now see-through but her bra covers more than a bathing suit, so I don't understand why she bothers trying to hide herself from me. She squints into the mirror and her dark, annoyed eyes lift to meet mine through the reflection. "I would suggest, unless you want my eye contact to start a major incident, that you leave the room," she grinds out.

Her stare immediately ruffles Beast's feathers. I'm King, the leader of the Shadow Warriors, I do not retreat. Two steps backward and I close the door as quickly as possible.