Page 16

Marinah

“All we can do is wait,” Axel said, after the transfusion. “We’ll know if he’ll survive in the next day or so. I’ll take a look at the prisoner’s arm.”

If the transfusion worked, the prisoner had saved Garret’s life. I kept my eyes on Garret. A few minutes later, I heard a snap and the prisoner groaned.

I leaned back against the short wall that bordered the roof, my eyes turned to the prisoner. He had wild green eyes, too large for his gaunt, filthy face. With his broken arm and the way Beck had hobbled him, he wasn’t much of a threat. His clothes were ragged, and his skin was caked with grime, leaving little trace of its original color. The swelling on his forehead, a gift from a boot to the head when he’d pulled a gun on Beck and Labyrinth, added to his pitiful appearance.

He stared at me, a strange light in his gaze. “Pretty butterfly,” he finally said, in a hoarse, singsong voice.

King kicked the man in the thigh. “Shut up,” he growled.

My mate wasn’t handling things well. Smythe’s escape and my shifting to human had sent him into full-on royal highness mope mode. The men liked to accuse me of throwing tantrums, but my fits had nothing on King’s when he decided to dive headfirst into a king-sized funk.

Walking a deliberate wide berth around the prisoner, I circled toward him. “I’m heading to check out the lower floors,” I said. “Wanna come?”

It was the best olive branch I had to offer, but when he turned to look at me, I instantly regretted it. His eyes were dark and unreadable, the kind of look that warned me to tread carefully.

“I’ll keep watch,” he said.

The clipped tone told me everything I needed to know. He then turned his back, his shoulders as stiff as a board.

Alrighty then.

I decided on a methodical search, starting on the floor directly below us. Our island was well-equipped, but every now and then, we came across something we couldn’t get back home. The process was slow, and I had no problem taking my time and giving King a chance to unwind. I righted desks and opened drawers to sift through their contents. Most of it was office supplies, paperclips, pens, and other useless remnants of the old world.

Then, tucked into one of the drawers, I found an old-fashioned rag doll sealed in its original package. It looked like a collectible from before the world went sideways. It was worthless now, but maybe a certain young girl would appreciate it. That was if she had any childlike innocence left in her at all.

Further digging unearthed two pocketknives. Ruth might not care for the doll, but she and Che would love the knives. They already carried sharp military blades on their hips, but these folding ones were perfect for stuffing in their pockets as backups.

I kept searching, gathering a few other small trinkets to bring back for friends. Eventually, I stumbled across something that made me think of King. A faint smile tugged at the corner of my mouth as I tucked it into my pack.

The search took a few hours, but it felt good to be doing something useful instead of standing around watching my mate sulk. My backpack was nearly full by the time I finished, and the extra space left by my destroyed boots came in handy.

It was midday when I returned to the roof. King and Beck were gone. Axel was napping beside Garret. The prisoner sat against the short wall, his eyes closed, head tilted back. Labyrinth had taken King’s position as watch, his posture as rigid as King’s had been.

“Boys checking out other parts of the city?” I asked casually.

Labyrinth always seemed carved in stone, but he had no problem, at least in the past, answering my questions. He kept his head turned away and nodded. I already knew I was in deep shit, and this wasn’t helping.

“I found somethings for Ruth, Che, and even Maylin,” I said.

It finally got his attention, and he turned to me, his gaze fixing on mine for a brief three seconds. He blinked once, slow and deliberate, before looking away again. Damn those eyes. He needed a good woman who would melt beneath them.

“It’s not much,” I added, “I wanted to thank Maylin for the boots I destroyed.”

He didn’t seem to hear me. Instead, his focus remained on the city. I was getting nowhere.

“What’s the prisoner been up to?” I tried again.

“Singing with the ladybugs,” the prisoner himself called out from a few feet away.

“He’s nuts,” Labyrinth mumbled. “We think he’s been living in the city since the bombs. Sometimes he’s mentally here, and sometimes he isn’t, if you get what I mean.”

I looked into the prisoner’s unsettling eyes, and he grinned at me, revealing blackened teeth.

“Should we let him go?” I asked.

“He tried to kill us.”

I counted to ten to keep my temper in check. When I was sure I could speak without grinding the words out, I tried again. “He’s been attacked by the government, and he’s still alive. He didn’t manage that by being nice. And I can’t believe I have to remind you that he didn’t pull the trigger. We need to know more about him.”

Labyrinth ignored me, of course, and started a conversation of his own. One I didn’t like.

“You need to fix things with King.”

Wow. I do, do I? “I wouldn’t change going after Garret, so I don’t think an apology will work.”

He finally turned to face me, locking his eyes on mine. Ms. Beast grumbled. Quiet , I told her. Labyrinth inhaled, and I knew whatever he said, I most likely wouldn’t appreciate.

“You’re the first female Warrior in generations. The women even took the female children with them.” He paused. “There is nothing we can do to change that history. No Warrior has mated with our own kind since the women left.” Another pause. “We know how special you truly are. If King held a vote, you’d be locked in a padded room eating bonbons.”

“Try it,” I fumed.

He ignored my challenge. “King is making you as militarily strong as the rest of us. But he knows what you mean for our race. He cannot stand by and let you risk your life needlessly. I would give anything to find a Warrior female, but we have no idea if another exists. The child you create is the Shadow Warrior future.”

For a man of few words, he seemed to be on a roll. His entire speech danced around the topic of mine and King’s relationship. It didn’t seem to matter how we felt. I had a job to do for the Shadow Warrior race, and that was that. Argh, I needed something heavy to brain Labyrinth with.

I counted to ten again. “Each day we wake up, we risk our lives,” I said with frustration lacing each word. This stubborn Neanderthal was driving me to the brink. “I will not stand back and let everyone else face danger while I do nothing.”

“That’s the problem,” Labyrinth said. “King has never kept you from danger. He wants you to make military decisions and to stop thinking with your human brain.”

“Oh, and I should be thankful for that?” I shot back. “I’m either a Shadow Warrior, or I’m not.”

“The butterfly leaves its cocoon, but it’s more defenseless,” the prisoner chimed in from his spot on the roof.

I rolled my eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn’t fall out of my head.

Labyrinth smirked, clearly amused. “You aren’t defenseless, but you are rash, and one of these days, you’ll get someone killed. We pray it’s not you who dies.”

So, they’d been talking about me. Big surprise. “Thaaanks,” I said, my voice dripping sarcasm.

Labyrinth turned his eyes back to me. “You have no idea what an anomaly you are. We’re all stepping carefully around you and King. He’s volatile when you’re not around, and vice versa. And when the two of you are together? Add in the mating rage, and we’re running for cover. This hasn’t been easy for anyone.”

Oh boy. Tell me how you really feel. “So, what you’re saying is, I’m bad for King,” I said, daring him to agree.

He didn’t hesitate. Instead, he stood and took a step in my direction, looming over me, his eyes locked onto mine in a silent challenge.

Ms. Beast went on high alert. Kill .

Labyrinth looked me up and down, really looked, his gaze assessing every inch of me. “You’re a miracle,” he said finally.

I studied his amazing eyes, trying to read his expression. Beast forms made that difficult, but his tone left no room for doubt.

“I don’t feel like a miracle,” I admitted, speaking quieter now.

He shook his head slowly. “That’s because you haven’t fully accepted who and what you are.”

I looked away, unable to meet his gaze. He was right, and we both knew it. “I don’t know how to be a Shadow Warrior,” I said softly.

When I glanced over, Labyrinth tipped his head back, his jaw lifting as a laugh erupted from deep in his chest. Not a small laugh, oh no, it was the kind that came straight from his diaphragm.

It’s great to be laughed at. NOT.

It took him a solid minute to get himself under control, and I’ll admit, I briefly hoped he’d try to wipe a tear and accidentally gouge an eye out. No such luck.

His next words hit me harder than I expected. “We lived for so long hiding who we were. None of us knew how to be Shadow Warriors, except for Graystone, King’s uncle. We’re still learning, and now it’s sometimes hard to remember we were once farmers. Back then, a bad day was broken equipment.” He shifted his rifle off his shoulder and cradled it in his arms, leaning back against the wall. “It’s your job to teach us to be Shadow Warriors.” The last sentence didn’t contain a smile. He was completely serious.

“What could I possibly teach you?” I asked, confused.

He shook his head slightly; a frustrated gesture that told me I wasn’t getting the point. “The female Warriors left the men because of our violence. Now we have you, and the last thing any of us wants is for you to leave. You’re a Warrior, and you’re more human than the rest of us. That’s what you have to teach us. We’re men, and it’s not something we can change easily.”

“But we need Warriors,” I argued, still not following him.

“Yes, we need Warriors,” he stated. “You. Are. A. Warrior. Get it through your head. You’ll never be exactly like us because you aren’t. You’re female. In the animal kingdom, many females are deadlier than their male counterparts. Our race was no different. The difference was the women carried compassion. They thought differently, and that’s not a bad thing.”

He paused, his voice softening as he continued. “King weighs the good and the bad and decides what’s best for the majority. You think differently. You think in closer bonds. You went after Garret, and we wouldn’t have risked this mission for him. We’d already written him off.” He shrugged. “You got caught because we decided to retrieve his body and take it back with us.”

His eyes shifted to Axel, who was resting beside Garret.

“You’re saying I’m a Warrior, and I’m not a Warrior,” I said, even more frustrated now.

“No.” Labyrinth’s tone was firm, but not unkind. “I’m saying you’re like no Warrior we’ve ever seen. Instead of trying to be us, be yourself. You came to us for a reason, and the last thing we need is for you to be just like us.”

Now it was my turn to laugh, though it came out bitter. “You have no idea what I was really like before becoming a Shadow Warrior. I didn’t have a brave bone in my body.”

He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “You saved Che at the expense of your own life, and you thought you were only human when you did it. How many hellhounds did the poor little scared girl face down?” He didn’t even give me the chance to answer. “Those aren’t the actions of a coward. Get over yourself.”

It sounded so simple when he said it. I just wasn’t sure how to do what he wanted and most likely what I needed.