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 grumbling at the sight of her and heating my blood with K-5 before I can push it back. It’s a constant battle of wills that I’m coming to accept. The longer she’s here each evening, the more he tends to calm down. When that happens, I drown in need that I can’t explain.
Her dark eyes look first at the food, which she’s always enamored with, and then snap in my direction. “Don’t look so jolly,” she grumbles most likely because of the smirk I’m wearing. “If I could get out of this chair, I can probably kick your butt.” Her hands shake when she grabs a roll. I push the plate of butter closer because I’m an accommodating guy.
“Boot tells me you’re training hard.” I don’t mention that her muscle definition is better and she walks with more confidence.
“Boot’s a liar. I half-ass it every day.”
Boot wouldn’t lie to me. “You’ve been training for a month. It surprises me you’ve kept at it.” Her eyes sizzle when she looks up again and Beast grumbles at the challenge. I ignore him. “I’m thinking about taking a day off tomorrow and touring the island.” The longing in her eyes matches the small sigh she lets out and I wish the look was for something other than leaving the citadel.
I’ve seen desire in her eyes and we’ve made it a game of sorts. Small sexual innuendoes here and there, but we keep it in check for the most part, both ignoring whatever it is that attracts us.
She shrugs noncommittally, not fooling me in the least. “As your prisoner, mentioning new surroundings is cruel and unusual punishment.”
I lift a brow. She’s in a sour mood this evening, which is why I’m making the offer. “You are included in my escape plan. You seem to think life for the rest of us is fun and games.” I’m pushing her buttons now and enjoying the change of emotions on her face, which switch from pouting, to intrigue, to disgruntled.
“Should I beg for you to take me with you?” she asks with a snip in her voice.
“If you like.”
All the fire she holds inside comes to rest on me, causing searing energy to fire through my veins. It’s times like this I want to punch Beast in the gut and tell him he will like this woman and stop with his antics.
She takes a deep breath and slowly exhales. “You’re needling me on purpose.”
The grin I’ve been holding back escapes with the nod of my head. “I am.”
Her expression changes again and sadness replaces the spark of humor. “The Federation thinks I’m dead.”
This week, for the first time, she hasn’t asked about returning home and it’s perplexing. “They know you’re alive,” I tell her truthfully.
“Nice of you.”
I don’t bother answering. It is nice of me. Her government cares nothing for her. They’ve made that clear. They haven’t once asked to speak with her. Or I should say message with her as we communicate using Morse code. They ask no questions about her well-being and I don’t think they would blink if we had killed her when she first arrived. Why they sent her to begin with makes no sense and especially why they gave her the secretary of defense title.
I’ll discover the answers eventually. I’m just beginning to come to terms with the fact that Marinah really doesn’t have those answers.
We attempt to leave early the next morning.
“I’m not riding on that thing,” Marinah says while staring in horror at the vintage Russian 2-stroke twin.
It’s a work of beauty. “I’m not asking you to drive it, just hop on the back,” I grumble because leave it to a woman to take the fun out of riding along the coast in the open air.
She crosses her arms and widens her stance reminding me of Beck’s peevishness. “I’ll eat pavement. And what about my hair? It will be in my face the entire time. And what about helmets?” she looks around like maybe they’re hiding in a bush.
I stand up from adjusting the choke, which I noticed was off yesterday, and cross my arms mimicking her stance so she knows I’m not playing this game. “You want to run back to your room with your tail between your legs be my guest. If you’d like to secure your hair so you can see during the ride, I’m sure we can find something.” I’m doing my best to stay civil. Beast is doing his best to crack a few ribs. He needs to learn a different way to show his displeasure, because this is getting old.
She looks at the bike and I see the longing in her eyes from last night.
“Scared?” I challenge.
Her gaze meets mine and Beast grumbles a little louder inside me. “Terrified.”
I smile but I don’t think it’s comforting. “You only live once.”
“You don’t have helmets, do you?”
“Nope.”
“Will you promise me a quick death?” She lifts her hand to her mouth and chews on a fingernail.
“If it comes to that, yes.”
She climbs on the back after me. I secure her hands around my waist and we take off with a loud rumble from the old engine. I glance over my shoulder and give Beck a nod. He isn’t happy I’m taking her out alone, or that I went out alone a few weeks ago. My Warriors are finding more hellhounds each night and we’ve all been on edge. They seem to be heading toward the southern coast. Instead of killing, we want to track them and discover where they’re heading and why.
Today is about freedom, though. Beast doesn’t mind having Marinah’s arms wrapped around our waist even though he grumbles. I receive a nice inner punch in the stomach for that thought. I pull back on the throttle and pick up speed.
Marinah’s face is buried in my back with whispered prayers breathing in my ear. With an all-out laugh, I push the bike faster and we roar down the city streets headed for the highway. Within thirty minutes, her fear momentarily forgotten, she’s peeling the hair off her face and looking around. She continues to grip me tightly, but at least she seems to be enjoying herself.
I’m hoping that with this ride and the nice lunch I have packed in the saddlebags I’ll be able to figure out a little more about the mysterious Ms. Church. I also want to explore the issues with Beast and try to understand why he has such an aversion to her.
For now, I have a beautiful woman on the back of my bike and I plan to enjoy the moment. Yeah, I’m getting soft. This reminds me of the younger me, the one who dreamed of living a normal life, raising a family, and working the farm. Greystone was never a farmer, but early on I discovered it was in my blood and the earth cooled my beast blood like nothing else. Our Shadow Warrior ancestors knew what they were doing when they chose farming as a way to live among humans.
The sun is hot on my head, the wind warms my face, and my braids are wrapped around the woman behind me. After an hour, I pull over. “Stay on,” I tell Marinah as I leave the engine running, grab a long piece of blue silk from the saddlebag, and hand it to her. “For your hair,” I say as I gather my braids in an elastic band I always carry.
“You’ve had this the entire time?” she 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 from the saddlebags instead and hand Marinah the small blanket I brought along with a pair of shorts she had me stow away before we left. I ignore the sounds of clothes rustling after turning my back and giving her privacy to change. “Come on,” I say after she hands me her jeans. “We have a hike, but it’s worth it.”
She gives me a skeptical look as she gazes around the area. Cliffs decorate the landscape on the right side of the road, the ocean cresting about a hundred yards down. There’s a trail that’s hard to see if you don’t know it’s there. I begin walking and she follows until we meet the steep decline.
“You seem to have trouble remembering I’m not exactly a gazelle when it comes to navigating down anything.”
I turn and place my arm out. “Boot says your balance is improving daily. Take my hand and I won’t let you fall.”
She places her fingers in mine and Beast jumps. It’s an odd reaction when we touch, and I’ve spoken to Axel about it. He thinks Marinah challenges Beast for some reason, which is stranger still.
Boot gives me daily updates on Marinah’s progress and he’s impressed. He actually thinks she could defend herself if needed and he’s confident she’ll at least fight back and not wait to be slaughtered. They’ve moved onto working on kickboxing and endurance. He thinks she should begin training with weapons, but I have my doubts. Picturing Marinah with a sharp object in her hands when she falls is not a pretty thought.
Her progress with Boot shows on the way down through the cliffs when she doesn’t so much as stumble. The closer we get to the ocean the louder the sound of crashing waves and seagulls. There’s a cove around the next outcropping of rock that we’re heading for and it should give us a bit of shade and a nice view.
“Wow, this place is amazing,” Marinah says after we wade through about six inches of water and make it around the rocks.
“I found it during one of my many explorations around the island.”
“So,” she says after we have the blanket set up and we’re relaxing, “what’s this about?”
I place my hand over my heart and wink. “You wound me.” Her laughter sends a jolt through my insides. Beast remains quiet and I enjoy the view of Marinah, not our surroundings.
“You haven’t told me you’ll kill me in at least a week. Bringing me to a desolate hideaway doesn’t exactly reassure me.”
I rest back on my forearms with sand under my left hand. The light makes her hair more of a golden brown, the slight breeze ruffling a few wisps not caught up in the scarf. “Tell me about your job before you became defense secretary,” I say because I refuse to answer her ridiculousness.
She rolls on the blanket until she’s facing me. “I had the job up until the day I became defense secretary. It was unimportant really. We compiled information and forecasted success ratios. Most of it had to do with the number of people we believe are alive. Four of us handled a job easily done by one. We are all children of someone important, though I’m the only one who no longer holds that status now that my father is dead. The job was a way to make us feel semi-useful even though we knew the truth. Honestly, I don’t think they thought I would survive five minutes after my arrival here. The only thing I’ve ever done as defense secretary was fly on that plane to meet you. If I go home, there’s a good chance I’ll be demoted even if I gain a peace treaty. I seriously doubt that I’ll go back to my analytics job.”
Her honesty always amazes me. Her father was like that too. “What will your new job be?”
She doesn’t hesitate. “Red stripe.”
I’m well aware of their red stripe system. The hellhounds slaughter in mass and the Federation needs enough fodder to keep the hounds occupied while the military wipes out as many as possible. There’s always a high death toll. As soon as the “killing supply” runs out, the hounds burrow beneath the ground again. The red stripes are brainwashed to think their job is to die for the Federation. Marinah would never stand a chance.
“Is there a special Kool-Aid you drink before you take on that duty?”
Her laughter peels through the wind. “It’s called giving up if you must know. Many of our young people put in for red stripes. Living in fear is tiring and sometimes it’s better to go out knowing you’ve been useful.” She looks away again and stares pensively at the water.
I can’t comprehend her thinking. My warriors and I will fight to the death, but we won’t sacrifice ourselves needlessly. Forward or die might be our motto, but we’re smart about it and the most important thing we can do is live to fight another day, even if it means retreat. I’ll never understand humans. “Here,” I say as I hand her a sandwich. “I hope you don’t mind chicken.”
She smiles and takes it, brushing my hand with hers and sending sparks of awareness between us. Which, after many evenings of practice, we both ignore. “You have no idea how good meat tastes after so long without it. I’m craving it morning, noon, and night.” She bites into the sandwich and sighs as she chews.
“Having very little meat was hard for us when we fought. Shadow Warriors are carnivorous and we get cranky when we don’t get the right type of protein.”
She finishes chewing. “Cranky?” She smiles at that. “I’ll make meat a priority if you’re willing to fight with us. And since we’re negotiating, what else would you like?”
She’s wiggled her political position into the conversation once more. We’re back to the cat and mouse games. I decide to play this time. “We want an embassy run by our own people near your capital.”
Her eyes grow a little larger at my willingness to negotiate. “I don’t think it would be a problem. I’m sure you could have negotiated that before you took over the island.”
I can’t help the unhappy grunt that fills my throat. “We came here to keep ourselves from annihilating humans. Taking time out to do more than leave was not in the forefront of our minds. We have no interest in taking over your country. We do, however, have an interest in our own well-being and to do that we must find a way to work with the Federation.”
Her body tenses slightly and I doubt she’s aware of it. “I have the liberty of offering pretty much anything you ask for. I’m probably not to tell you that, but I think you should shoot for the moon and see where it gets you.”
“You sound like your father.”
She looks up from the blanket thread that’s held her attention and looks into my eyes. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” She looks away and Beast grumbles. She can’t win when it comes to Beast and whatever it is going on with him has my patience running thin.
We finish the remainder of our sandwiches and drink the water I brought. Marinah stands up after I do and grabs the blanket to shake out the sand. One of her feet catches in the material and she falls into my arms. If she didn’t try to jump away so quickly, I would think she planned it. My arms tighten around her and I bring her closer, smelling her sun-warmed hair.
“You can let me go now, I’m fine,” she mumbles against my chest.
“Do you ever wonder what it would be like if you stayed here?” I have no idea why I’m asking.
She raises her head and looks deeply into my eyes. “I wish I could.”
I lower my head and she tips hers up meeting me in the middle as our lips touch. I want to ravage her mouth. I want to lay her back on the blanket and take over her body. I don’t. Her taste consumes me and I drink from her soul, fighting the conflict of emotions she kindles.
The women who come to me on the island aren’t interested in romance. They want safety and security. It doesn’t include standing at the edge of the ocean and kissing and maybe that’s why they’ve never satisfied me. My parents were in love and had a solid marriage. I’ve always wanted the gentle teasing, frequent stolen moments when they thought I wasn’t aware of them, and a special woman to share it all with. The war changed that, or so I thought. With Marinah, I want to explore the possibility.
She tastes like a mixture of sunshine and longing. Beast’s power sparks but he isn’t breaking ribs or causing pain. He’s tasting her and soaking in everything unique about her. The innocence, her almost non-existent clumsiness now, and her strength.
When we break apart, her eyes hold a question before she verbalizes it. “Why did you request a woman?”
I twirl a piece of her hair between my thumb and forefinger. “To keep Beast from killing the emissary.”
“I thought Beast didn’t like me.”
I glance over her head at the ocean. “I think Beast protests too much, he’s just not sure what to do with you.”
“You don’t plan to kill me, do you?”
I look down and capture her eyes. “I don’t think so.” I grin slowly. “I’m like Beast and haven’t figured out what I should do with you.”
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 know making personal plans for the future is a recipe for disaster and keep it to myself. We hastily gather the blanket and bag and begin the hike out. Neither of us has anything to say and we stay in our own thoughts.
During the steepest part of the climb I have Marinah hold my belt. She’s winded when we reach the top, but her training has paid off and she never grumbled about the exertion. My gaze sweeps the area, a strange feeling in my gut. The bike hasn’t moved but for some reason it feels like it’s been disturbed. Beast rumbles inside me as I take a second look around and I hold up my hand when Marinah tries to say something.
“We need to get out of here,” I say with urgency.
“Okay,” she replies and follows me to the bike. I quickly stow the bag and blanket and swing my leg over the seat. Marinah swiftly settles behind me and I start the engine. The sharp pop of gunfire sounds and a bullet takes me in the shoulder, maybe catching my lung. It feels like someone hit me in the chest with a bat.
“Hold on,” I say as I rev the bike and turn us away from the gunshot. There’s another pop, but thankfully this one misses. I don’t take the road because we’re sitting ducks if I do. I head the bike in the direction of the cliffs.
“You’re hit, there’s blood everywhere,” Marinah cries when we hit a rock, swerve, continuing downhill.
“I’m getting us out of here, don’t let go,” I shout. There’s no time to worry about my shoulder. Beast absorbs the pain and tries shooting K-5 into my system so I’ll shift. I need a clear head right now and fight him. Beast grumbles, but he also understands. I keep my legs out and push us off rocks while I try to find placement for the tires. We fly over the last large boulder and hit sand, which slows the wheels. I need to keep us closer to the cliffs, where the dry sand is more treacherous and they can’t pinpoint our location from above us.
“Keep your feet up,” I caution as the bike loses traction and I forcefully keep us upright while picking up more speed.
Marinah’s worried voice sounds close to my ear. “We need to use the scarf to slow the bleeding.” She put the scarf back on her hair before we started the climb.
“We’ll have more bullet holes if I don’t get us out of here.” She doesn’t say anything more as we put distance between us and whoever shot me. We hug the cliffs for about thirty minutes before I move out of their safety, hitting the wetter sand and gaining additional speed. I’m dizzy and there’s a whooshing sound growing louder in my head. I need to shift but doing so will endanger Marinah.
I head back to looser sand and steer the bike to an outcropping of trees that juts from the cliffs. “I’ll turn on the bike’s beacon and my team will pick it up. We’re stashing the bike here and traveling up to see if we can find a place in the rocks to hunker down until my men arrive.” I don’t remind her the beacon could attract hellhounds. We’ll worry about guns first.
Pushing the bike, Marinah helps me get it as far into the bushes as we can. “What about the tire tracks?” she asks once we have it buried in the tree line.
“Not much we can do about it. They won’t be able to track us in the rocks and it’s the best we have right now.” I do everything I can to keep the pain from my voice.
“They?”
“Him, her, they. I have no idea.”
I take the saddlebags and we head uphill. “I can carry those,” Marinah says and tries to grab one.
“Stay upright and don’t fall. I have the bags.”
We make the climb in near silence after that. About a hundred yards from the bike we find a small cave that fits the bags and us with a little extra room. The sun will be going down in an hour and we’ll be safer when we’re in the dark.
“Marinah,” I say, looking at her while she fearfully watches the trail behind us. When her gaze meets mine, I see defeat in her expression, which won’t do. “We’re safe here, but I need to shift. I’m losing too much blood.”
She stares at me for a moment, grappling with what I’m saying. “Then shift. Do whatever it takes.”
She doesn’t understand and I need to spell it out for her. “There’s a chance Beast will break away from me. He has a problem with you and he’s hard to control immediately after I shift.” I’m telling her more than we’ve ever admitted to humans because I have no choice.
“What do I need to do?”
It’s her father’s no-nonsense, just do whatever it takes approach. “Don’t look into my eyes even if I speak to you. Don’t move suddenly or run if you’re frightened. It takes time for me to gain full control.” I don’t tell her that if I run it helps the chemicals level in my system faster. I don’t have the luxury of running right now. The amount of pain I’m in should help, but really, I’m unsure if I can control Beast. If the person after us arrives, there’s little I can do in my current state, whereas Beast can handle just about anything so there’s really not much else I can do.
“Find a comfortable spot and stay as still as you can.” I grab a knife from the saddlebag and use it to cut away my shirt.
“Should we take the bullet out first?” she asks with concern.
“No, shifting will help and the bullet will push its way out within a few hours. Nothing major was damaged and I’d be in worse shape if it nicked my lung. It’s blood loss I’m worried about right now. Stay still and quiet,” I tell her as I allow the K-5 to flood my system. I was hoping to see how the new secretary of defense handled Shadow Warriors in their beast state, but this was not how I planned to do it.
Bones crunch and pain shoots through my head as my skull reforms. My teeth extend at the same time my arms and legs reshape—larger, more powerful. The bullet causes excruciating pain as the muscles twist around it trying to expel the foreign object lodged in the bone. A low growl rumbles through my chest as the transformation progresses slower than usual. Once I’m on the other side, the colors around me are more vivid, my hearing more pronounced, and a noise far above our cave makes me move quickly to the entrance.
You cannot fight them yet, I tell Beast. Must protect woman. Rest.
The sound of rustling bushes and loose rock fades as the search party moves on. There is more than one. I want to kill. Must kill. Stay safe. Woman.
Beast’s eyes go to the woman and she immediately looks down. Woman must die.
No. Protect woman.
Beast is in control. He squats and looks back outside but turns suddenly at a sound from inside the cave.
“We need to stop the bleeding. I’m using the scarf and wrapping it around the wound. Bite my head off if you need to.”
The stupid woman didn’t listen to what I told her. Beast’s growl and the tightening of his body shows his intent to leap the few feet separating us and…
She removes the scarf from her hair and walks closer. Beast’s snout goes into the air and he sniffs.
“I’m not going to hurt you if I can help it. I just need to stop the blood, which should help you feel better.”
She steps to the side and my claws wrap around her upper thigh. Soft skin. Beast dips his head and inhales her unique scent—wild, sweet, dangerous. The woman’s fingers trail across skin as she wraps the scarf. Pain. Kill. No, I push against his idiocy.
“There,” she says. “I’ll just go back to my corner and be still while you adjust or whatever it is you need to do.”
“No,” Beast grumbles and pulls her leg closer. Marinah sits down and leans into Beast’s side. He relinquishes a lung full of air and slowly relaxes. Safe. Woman safe.
She pats Beast’s chest at his rumble. “You’re not as scary as I thought you would be.” She turns her head slightly and rubs her cheek against Beast. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say you’re a big baby, but you need to understand I probably couldn’t hurt you if I tried.”
Stupid woman.
“My, what big teeth you have,” Marinah says with a laugh. Beast’s answering rumble as he pulls her closer is actually part laugh.
What the heck is going on with him? He wants her dead and now he’s cuddling?
Beast’s hand moves around her leg and positions her so the top of her head is under his snout. His clawed fingers move around her shoulder and cup her…
“Stop that. Behave yourself,” Marinah says and slaps Beast’s hand, which was circling her breast.
Beast roars in her ear at the contact and Marinah moves as far away as she can and lifts her fist. “You’re making too much noise. Quiet down or it will be more than a tap next time and I’ll aim for your big nose.”
Beast does the last thing I expect. He leans back against the wall and circles Marinah’s shoulder again bringing her with him.