Page 23

Marinah

King placed his arm around my shoulder. It didn’t feel right. He gave me a small tug and led me toward the outpost.

“None of the humans in the outpost died,” he said. “Ruth and Missy are safe.”

My thoughts went to Ryan. He took my place and died because of it. If I had gone, he would be alive. His death would haunt me forever.

King dealt with this each time a Warrior under his command died. He took each death personally. I felt it now. The pain clawed at my insides. How would I live with this?

We finally walked through the outpost gates, Ruth spotted me and started running.

Two feet away, she came to a dead stop. “You’re… huge. And bloody. Cool.”

From beautiful to huge. This wasn’t sitting well with me.

“Yeah,” I said. “I think I’m a lot bigger.”

“Are you meaner?” she asked seriously.

Oh, this child. “I hope not.”

Her lips curved downward, and her eyes turned stubborn. “Then it’s not that cool.”

Nokita came closer. “She stabbed the general with her claws until there was nothing left of his face, and then she sliced off his head with a single claw,” he said, clearly not worried about how much he wasn’t helping.

“You did?” Ruth asked, wide-eyed.

I turned my gaze to Nokita and hoped the fire burning in my eyes conveyed that he needed to shut up.

“I did,” I said, turning back to Ruth, refusing to lie because she would hear the truth again from others.

“Okay, that’s cool then.” She nodded like I needed her approval to be cool. She scuffed her boot into the dirt and looked up at me hopefully. “I didn’t get to kill a single hellhound. Maybe we can find some on the island.”

King stepped in to help. “Marinah’s coming with me for now, Ruth. We need some adult time.”

She rolled her eyes. “When we’re in training, no one gets to interrupt us, even for adult time, because I know what that means, and it’s gross.”

“We’ll do our best,” King said with a straight face.

He earned an evil glare from Ruth but turned away without understanding that she was armed. I glared at her when her hand went to the sword.

“If you do, I will end you.” My voice was much lower now, and it carried more weight.

Her hand slid down to her side. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

It was my turn to give her my back. King’s arm went around my shoulder again. Weariness crept in, and I could feel the exhaustion throughout my body. It felt weird to be taller than King, and I didn’t like it. This messed up our hugability.

My brain turned to the passage from the book that mentioned Nova Warriors. If I remembered what it said, I could choose between this size and my usual one. I closed my eyes and silently mouthed the words, “Make me smaller.” Nothing happened. Figuring out how this worked could be interesting. I remember the shifting rage when I went from human to Warrior. I wasn’t sure if that’s when it happened or if it was after I laid hands on Smythe, which I now remembered. Even so, my brain was mush.

King led us inside Missy’s place, and I spotted Garret sitting up against the couch with cushions behind his back. He looked pale, but at least he was upright, and they’d made it back to the outpost. Relief swept through me.

“Axel is helping the injured,” Garret said wearily. He glanced between me and King, his head tilting upward as his eyes met mine. “Something I should know?” he asked.

King grumbled, clearly annoyed. I elbowed him, having no idea until then that I wasn’t just larger, I was more powerful. King’s grumble turned into a startled grunt.

“I’ll explain later,” I told Garret. “King needs to speak with me.”

Garret wisely said nothing, and King led me away. He opened the door to the room next to Ruth’s. It was a bathroom. He turned on the shower. They didn’t have hot water unless it was heated for a bath.

“The blood needs to come off you first,” he said.

I stared at the water and shivered. “It’s too cold,” I whined, though it didn’t sound like my normal whine.

The corners of his mouth tilted upward. “Sissy.”

When it came to cold water, I sure as hell was. But I did need to get the blood off. King shifted, and this time when I tried, I slid easily into my human form. We quickly undressed. King stepped into the tub beneath the spray and grabbed my arm, pulling me in with him.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“No,” I admitted, thinking of Ryan and not the cold water streaming over us.

“You did what had to be done. Ryan’s death isn’t on you,” he said, understanding it wasn’t my new form that filled my head.

“When you lose a Warrior and you say that to yourself, does it work?”

“No,” he admitted. “It hurts, and I fucking hate it.”

He did understand. I didn’t want to be put in charge again because the hole in the pit of my stomach hurt too badly. “I remember killing Smythe,” I said to change the subject and keep from crying. “It’s still a little hazy, but it was definitely Smythe.”

“You’ll need to practice becoming Nova and see how badly the rage affects you after you shift. It might be harder to control than your beast form.”

“You’re right. I’m not even sure when it happened, but I haven’t felt that amount of rage since I first shifted.”

“Welcome to our world, baby.” He gave me a gentle smile.

I stuck out my tongue, but King caught me off guard, kissing me before I could pull it back. His lips moved over mine, massaging softly, while his tongue explored with gentle insistence. His calloused hands ran over my skin, as if reassuring himself I was okay. I did the same, feeling every perfect muscle beneath his flesh. He grabbed a bar of soap and washed me first, and then I returned the favor.

After we were completely clean of blood and gore, King shut the water off and pulled me back into his arms. His scent and taste filled me, sending sparks from my toes to my ears. His chest warmed me, and I no longer thought about the cold. Even off the island, I was home.

∞∞∞

We left two days later. I had worried we might lose Axel if he decided to stay with Garret, but it turned out to be the other way around. The settlement lost their governor, and they elected Landan to take Garret’s place. We also brought Cosway and her five kittens, or "kiddies," as everyone called them now. Ruth and Missy were adopting one, and I was hoping to talk King into taking the calico. I just hadn’t worked up the courage to ask.

Ruth was impossible the entire plane ride, and I knew training her would have to become a priority. If I didn’t, the kid was going to drive everyone crazy, and there was a big chance we would have mutiny on the island.

My thoughts kept going back to Ryan, and sadness overpowered me. When King saw my expression, he grabbed my hand and squeezed without saying anything. I stepped from the plane, my feet dragging as I thought of Ryan’s funeral.

“Marinah! Marinah!” Che yelled and threw himself into my arms.

My heart warmed. I glanced over his head at Maylin, but she wasn’t looking at us. Her focus was on Nokita. We were all stunned when he walked over, lifted Maylin into his arms, twirled her around, and kissed her.

And what a kiss it was. Maylin was visibly flustered when he set her back on her feet. Her cheeks turned red as she placed her hand on his arm, and then they walked away together.

“So gross. I’ll never do that kissy stuff,” Ruth muttered.

Honestly, I wanted nothing more than to do that kissy stuff with King. Somehow, some way, we would find time to be alone. Between the whistles we’d confiscated, the injured, and Ryan’s funeral, finding time alone would be nearly impossible but we had to.

“I’ll see you in our room,” King whispered in my ear after Che released me.

I talked to Che for five minutes before a Warrior called me over to ask a question I could actually answer without King’s guidance, and we began unpacking the plane. When I finally made it to the room, King wasn’t there. I took a long hot shower, hoping he’d join me, but it didn’t happen. I ended up falling asleep, consumed with thoughts of Ryan.