THIS CAN’T BE happening. I won’t let it.
I bust through the doors of medical and rest Marinah on one of the beds. I don’t see Axel, so I administer the antidote myself.
“It won’t help, King,” Axel says from over my shoulder.
“It must,” I shout in frustration. I take Marinah’s hand and bring it to my cheek. “She’s my mate,” I implore my friend. “She can’t die. You need to cut the poison out.”
“King,” he says softly.
“No! Screw you. Do something to save her. You can.”
“I can’t.” He turns and leaves the room.
He’s left her to die.
I bury my face in her stomach and hold on. If I can hold her long enough, she can beat this. Her body shudders and her eyes open. She shouldn’t be, but she’s still conscious. “Hold on Marinah,” I tell her.
“It hurts. My body hurts,” she cries through gritted teeth.
I check her for more bites and find nothing but the one on her shoulder. I leave her for a minute and start opening drawers until I find a scalpel. If Axel won’t cut the poison out I will.
I pull straps up from the side of the bed and secure them around her. Marinah screams when I make the first slice and dig the knife in. It kills me to hear her suffer this way, but I can’t lose her. I work with single-minded purpose, refusing to look at anything but the pieces of her arm I’m removing. Blood is everywhere and Marinah’s breathing is labored.
“King,” Axel says. I glance over my shoulder and he’s staring at Marinah. I glance up from her arm. Her entire body starts convulsing but it’s odd. Her eyes have rolled back in her head and I swear there are muscles bulging under her skin.
“What is going on?” I ask stunned.
“Give me that scalpel and talk to her. It’s important you keep her as calm as possible.”
Beast decides it’s a good time to break a few ribs and make his displeasure known. I angrily pull him back. I take Marinah’s uninjured hand. “Marinah, baby. It’s okay.” It’s far from okay, but I’m not sure what I should say.
“Keep talking to her.”
A growl comes from deep in her chest and for a split second I think she’s becoming one of the hellhounds that did this. “What’s happening to her, Doc?”
He injects her with more of the antidote while I watch her body reshape itself.
Axel looks at me and smiles. “She’s one of us. Your mate is Shadow Warrior.”
Marinah sucks in air and screams as her body bursts apart and a Warrior replaces it.
“Tighten the straps,” Axel yells. We both begin tightening them. I’m in shock as I look at the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.
Beast knew.
Beast knew she was a Warrior and he knew she could kill us. Something inside me twists. There hasn’t been a female Shadow Warrior born since my people left the home planet. It seems impossible, but it’s happened.
Marinah passes out and the room goes completely quiet.
“How?” I ask keeping one hand tight on her arm.
“Remember the women who left in those first years. It’s written in our history. She must be a descendant of one of them. There’s no other explanation.”
“She can beat the poison, then?”
“I have no idea. As you know, I’ve never had a female Shadow Warrior patient.” He hooks up fluids and wraps her damaged arm. Her chest moves slowly up and down. “I’ll keep her sedated. New Warriors are volatile and I don’t want her killing one of us.”
He fusses around for about ten minutes before he leaves the room. I stare at Marinah the entire time. It’s not the Marinah I knew before. Her body is taller, her shoulders broader, her hands and feet have claws, and she’s the most amazing Warrior I’ve ever seen.
Sometime during the night, I fall asleep with my head on the corner of the bed.
“King?” Marinah cries out in fear, waking me. Her voice is muffled from her new elongated jaws. She’ll need to work on her speech. “What’s wrong with me?” she growls out.
“Marinah, you were bit by a hound. We’ve given you the antidote and you’ll be okay in a few hours.” If she were going to die, it would have happened by now. Before I fell asleep, Axel brought word that they recovered Boot’s body.
“Che?” she whispers.
“He’s safe.”
“Boot?”
I squeeze her hand. “No, I’m sorry.”
Tears run through the fine hairs that are newly grown on her face. “Am I turning into a hellhound?” she asks.
“No,” I laugh. “You’ve turned into a Shadow Warrior.”
It takes her a moment to figure it out for herself. “I couldn’t possibly be that ugly.”
My laughter fills the room.
Warrior coming 3/5/2019
Dear Reader,
Please don’t give the firing squad the order to shoot! I know, the book isn’t finished. I also know a few readers are screaming that this is only a way for the author to make more money. In part it’s true. The word count for Shadow and the second book Warrior are at 110k. My average book is 60k, so I had two choices: Charge $7.99 to pay for editing, cover, etc. or split the book in half and save my readers a penny. I went for the penny and please see the humor in that. I also couldn’t tell this story within my normal wordcount as you’ll see in WARRIOR. Here’s the good news. If you can’t wait two weeks for Warrior, it’s available on my website for $3.99. Here’s the link to my website: http://wickedstorytelling.com Click BUY DIRECT and you can download. The price is $3.99.
If you’d rather have the book purchased through the retailer for your eReader, Warrior will release at all locations on 3/5/2019
After you read Warrior, I’ll tell you how these books turned into reality. There’s quite the backstory on this endeavor and I can’t wait to share.
I want to thank my awesome Wicked Warrior Street Team for all their hard work on getting the word out for Shadow Warrior. You ladies are the bomb!
My editor Michelle Kowalski once again found all those inconsistencies that come up when building a new world and I can’t thank her enough. Sally H and Michelle V, you awesome ladies were a huge help on proof reading as always. It takes a team to build a book and we are a team.
My readers are the best and I’ll hold that up to any author out there. Thank you for taking a chance on this new series, there’s so much more in store. If you re-read Shadow, look for the hints I gave for Marinah being Shadow Warrior, they’re everywhere.
Peace, love, and joy,
Holly
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