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Chapter 81: Marinah

Author: Holly S. Roberts
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56
With the island's reduction in hellhounds, mice and other small rodents are more abundant. The hounds killed everything living they could sink their teeth into, causing a huge reduction in our small animal inhabitants. Now that's changing again, and the eco system is improving. In our new turbulent world, we have no idea how long this will last, and we're taking advantage as best we can. Our food production has doubled, and we're hoping to have a good crop for long-term storage after harvest.

I turn my head at a noise about a hundred yards away that doesn't fit the nightlife. The area in question is too dense to see into, but I figure the sound of ringing metal is a clue and the dynamic duo are near. From the corner of my eye, I catch King adjusting his leather straps. Before I object, he shifts.

"You did that on purpose when I wasn't looking," I whisper. King doesn't control his Beast form in the first hour or so after shifting, and it's usually me that uses my Beast for
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  • Shifter King   Chapter 82: Marinah

    "Che, come now," he commands and takes off jogging at a slow pace so Che can keep up. Running the child into the ground will be a good start to his coming punishment. Che takes a last look at me before deciding his only chance to continue living is with King. When the noise of their departure fades to small animals and crickets, I drop Ruth on her head a few inches from the ground. She tumbles into a scrambled mix of arms, legs, and curses that shouldn't come from the mouth of a ten-year-old. I casually step forward, my boot landing on her hair. She beats at my leg which I barely feel. "This is how easy you are to kill. For some reason you don't get that. I could easily kick your head in, and there's nothing you can do." I place my hand on the sword strapped at my hip. It was a gift from King, designed after a sixteenth century German Mortuary Sword-double-edged, thirty-six inches, with two fullers to reduce the weight when I carry it in human form. It's long enough to remove th

  • Shifter King   Chapter 83: King

    Marinah can handle the Hellspawn, I tell myself as I march Che through the citadel to his temporary room while his mother is away. The room is beside the one I share with Marinah. His close proximity hasn't helped our sex life, but then again, nothing has helped our sex life in months. I snuck in and joined her in the shower two days ago for a few stolen minutes. Even then, we were interrupted. I'm about to lose my mind, and the guttersnipe I have by the ear isn't helping matters. "If you leave the room again, you're dealing with Marinah, and I promise not to save you." "Will she hurt Ruth?" His lips quiver and his small head tilts to the side, big eyes blinking with just enough moisture this may not be an act. Just great. I would hope she'd knock some sense into the girl, but I doubt that's what's happening. The image in my head is a catfight with no clear winner until one of them is dead. "Ruth will get what she deserves, and so will you." Someone just add heartl

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    Beck throws himself into a chair with a huff. "They're having an all-out war about it now. It was too dangerous to hang around, so I came here to hide until the fireworks and nuclear explosions settle. I had no idea children were this difficult." I fight a smile. Beck's instant family is something no one saw coming. Missy shot Beck from the sky when he was parachuting into U.S. Territory. After Beck survived the shot and the rough landing, Ruth fought with her mom to be the one to shoot him again. I'm thankful Missy has a backbone and refused her psychopath child. Lips firm, I don't even blink. "That child could single-handedly take out the hellhound population, and you know it. If the hellhounds hadn't started leaving the island before Ruth arrived, I would swear they were running from her." Beck swipes his hand over his face and rests against the chair's back with his eyes covered. "She has no idea she's a child." "She stopped being a child the day her fat

  • Shifter King   Chapter 85: Marinah

    The argument room, as I've dubbed it, is full of King's personal guards. These men are his leaders for good reason. All are deadly fighting machines and have proved their loyalty. Cabel, who married an island woman a year ago, is back as one of King's guards. It's nice to see him at the table. He doesn't smile or acknowledge me and even knowing why, it frustrates me. At least it does until a woman looks in King's direction. Then I understand completely. That doesn't mean I need to like it. Cabel has his mating rage under control and just in time. We need him. "Update," King barks into the room as soon as he takes his seat at the head of the table. Beck gives us what he has. "Two survivors. They managed to hide and watch what happened. It started a few days earlier with a message from the Federation ordering all able-bodied men and women to report to the Federation immediately as red stripes." His voice drops, and I hear the fury in each word. Red stripes are the Federati

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    I swipe the hair from my eyes and get to work on the bags. Once I've checked them, I head to find Alden. He's in the armory with Cabel and Nokita discussing the firepower they're taking and what's staying behind. Guns are something else we've been working on or more accurately, providing enough ammo. We've now stockpiled thousands of rounds so we have guns with actual bullets. Swords are still better for hellhounds, but we need the guns for our human enemies. I walk to a long rack of AKs and take one down. It's the rifle I've been working with and surprise, surprise, I'm actually slightly better than a decent shot. When my claws don't get in the way, I have the best record for distance target shooting to the consternation of King's men. I caress the rifle. For a woman afraid of guns such a short time ago, I've found a friend. Some of the men name their rifles. I've given this some thought and the name "Bertha" runs through my head again. If you have a name like Bertha, I think m

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    The bike purrs beneath me. I've been working on it for the past month. There isn't a true farmboy out there who doesn't love to tear into an engine, and I'm no exception. One of the island men has been helping me when I run into trouble. Now, this baby purrs with power. I take the winding turns with Beck on my tail. Even with a mate and child, he takes his bodyguard duties seriously. Not that I didn't try to get away without him, he's just caught on to my disappearing acts and is prepared. Axel's schedule shows him at the southern end of the island for a week. It's where we're headed. I could have used the Morse Code machine, but we like keeping it for emergencies. The small electronic pulse it gives out attracts hellhounds. We use the machine for communication with the U.S. and little else. The road winds even tighter once we're out of the city. Beck curses when he takes a bug in the mouth, and I laugh as he spits into the wind. The stars and moon light the night,

  • Shifter King   Chapter 88: Marinah

    Pain pounds through my head like a team of horses trying to break loose. Since becoming a Warrior, I've suffered few aches. Getting my butt kicked while training doesn't count. This current pounding is making me grumpier than usual. I helped Nokita with the dispatch to the outlying villages. Then helped drive most of the supplies to the runway. We have a team in place loading them now. I finally enter our bedroom at almost four in the morning. I rub my eyes and glance at the bed longingly. I need a shower, but the bed looks better. I yawn and head to the bathroom, hoping water will alleviate the headache. I've just stepped into the shower when the bathroom door opens. A minute later, King steps inside and pulls me close. "You okay?" he asks against the top of my head since my forehead found a great resting place against his chest. "Headache." He tips my head back and searches my eyes. "You need sleep." I yawn again. "I really do." "I'll make it

  • Shifter King   Chapter 89: King

    We land in the northern part of Arizona where a large settlement of people banded together and made their home after the hellhound invasion. The village founders were smart and took their stand in high desert with good planting seasons and enough water coming from several lakes in the region. It's also much cooler than Southern Arizona. This is where Beck first found Missy and Ruth. Or, to be more accurate, they found him. That connection gave us much needed intel about the Federation. We now know they've been corrupt since The Federation's inception and they've commandeered soldiers using "join or die" tactics. We know they are using hellhounds for their own agenda, whatever that agenda may be. Maybe the destruction of the world is their goal, and things are going exactly as planned. Before the hellhound invasion, the U.S. government was in the worst turmoil the nation had seen since the civil war. That corrupt government led to the current one. I step outside the plane

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    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

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    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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