Page 25

King

Marinah handled it better than I expected. She refused to mention a word about her Nova or being Queen. Like I said, better than expected. Before we came here, Beck asked if she understood what had happened. He laughed when I asked if he was planning to tell her. His exact words were, “Throw me in a pit of hellhounds first.”

Wise man.

We held our own service for Ryan as we watched the sun go down during our second night on the island. I told her stories of Ryan when we fought for the Federation that made her laugh and then cry in my arms. I wiped her tears and then gave her time alone. When she returned to the cabin, I held her until she fell asleep.

We had four incredible days of bliss before she decided to voice her concerns about being Nova. We were in bed in the early afternoon, enjoying some uninterrupted adult time. Her head rested on my chest, her body half on mine, when she said, “I can’t be a leader. I’ve just commanded my first unit. Leaders need experience.”

“They do,” I agreed.

“How the heck do I gain experience? No, wait. I don’t want that kind of experience. They’re your men, King. Don’t do this to me. You can’t.” Her fingers dug into my hip.

I spoke very softly, telling her the truth. “They’re your men now.”

Her agitation reached a new level, and she sat up. “It won’t work.” She slammed her fists on the bed beside me. I fought the urge to smile. Now wasn’t the time. “You can’t possibly feel good about this. You’re the leader of the Shadow Warriors, and I can’t take that away from you.”

“Was,” I corrected.

“How can you not hate me?”

I reached out and placed my finger on the tip of her nose. “You’re my mate. I could never hate you.”

“But I’m a Nova Warrior, and according to your ridiculous books from a time when the men on your planet destroyed everything, I’m just supposed to take over?”

“It’s already happened. The men accepted you as their leader.”

She growled, a low, deep sound rising from her chest.

I sat partway up, lifted her onto my lap, and leaned back against the headboard. “I knew you were special from the first moment you shifted. No,” I hesitated a moment, “It was even before that. You haunted my dreams since you fell down those stairs and landed at my feet. I love you for who you are, every inch of you, human, Warrior, and Nova. My uncle chose me as the next leader because I was the strongest. He was never easy on me, and I did everything I could to live up to his standards.” I rested my head against hers and inhaled the fear radiating off her. “If Greystone had an inkling you existed, he wouldn’t have looked twice at me. From the beginning, I trained you to be a leader. The men on my guard earned their positions. You? You demanded it.”

“No.” She shook her head.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“No,” she said again, her voice more adamant. “I can’t lead thousands of Shadow Warriors. I can’t strategize, nor do I understand war like you do. It won’t work. The men will never respect me as their leader.”

She was the most stubborn woman on the planet. I knew this would be hard, but I didn’t expect to be talking to a brick wall. “Did your squad have trouble obeying your orders?”

“No,” she said, her frustration clear. “They did exactly what I asked.”

I fought the urge to smile again. Asked was a misnomer. With Marinah, there hadn’t been any asking involved.

“The men recognized you as their leader. No hesitation. No Shadow Warrior in our history has worked as hard as you or come so far in such a short amount of time. You’re the only one who doubts your abilities.”

“King.” She leaned up and placed her palms against my jaws, her gaze locking onto mine. “You are the King of the Shadow Warriors. It’s who you are.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I conveyed what I truly felt. “Not anymore.”

∞∞∞

Marinah

W e spent three weeks on the island. Missing Ryan’s funeral was hard. My heart ached every time I thought about him. I would visit his family after we returned.

Missy and Beck came for us and we reluctantly headed back to the main island. Ruth came with them, but she wasn’t speaking to me. She sat at the end of the boat, pouting with her arms crossed and wearing a do not mess with me look on her face. Someone had promised her training, and that someone was me. I didn’t say a word to her.

Beck nodded my way, his head slightly down, and I swore he looked nervous. I hated it and needed something to occupy my mind. King and Beck started talking in low tones about the whistles, but selfishly, I didn’t care about them right now.

“How are the wounded?” I asked Missy.

“They’re up and moving about, even Garret. He’s living with Axel, and he’s in medical training. Axel wants to kill him for overexerting himself, but Garret is strong and obeys the doctor about as well as you do.”

“That bad, huh?” Then something occurred to me. “Is Maylin losing her job?” I asked, concerned.

“No, she’s helping train Garret, and he helps her with the baby, who just started crawling. Baby Boot is under everyone’s feet, and Garret has been a godsend.” She lowered her voice at the end and peeked over at Beck. He didn’t hear her, and she sighed in relief. I got it. If I said what she did, King would’ve been doing his snappy growl thing.

Being around someone who understood the difficulties of Beast mating rage was nice. “Baby Boot will be as bad as Che in no time.”

“Yes,” she agreed with a small laugh. “He’s already a handful.”

I decided to get a little nosier. “How are Maylin and Nokita getting along?”

She rolled her eyes. “For the most part, better. Nokita has made his intentions clear to the entire island, and he’s patiently waiting for Maylin to figure out she can’t live without him. Maylin still drags her feet, but she’s mellower, if that makes sense.”

I had no idea what “mellow” meant in this circumstance, but I nodded anyway. I’d never been accused of being mellow. “Any word from the outposts?”

“Landan’s doing good as governor,” Ruth said, butting into our conversation.

My eyes snapped to hers. “You’re on guard duty. If your focus is on us, you aren’t doing your job. Expect a punishment.”

“What for?” she immediately shot back, her face going as red as her hair.

“Disrespect. I’ve been proud of you for sitting quietly and watching out for our safety. Now that’s ruined.”

She stomped her foot for maximum effect, shaking the entire boat. “I wasn’t looking out for your safety. I just wasn’t speaking to you.” She folded her arms in triumph.

She had no idea who she was up against. “Good. I like that even more. Add guard duty to your pout and get back to it.”

“Hmph.”

I turned away and addressed Missy again. She had watched the exchange closely. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” she muttered, much like she had when I gave Ruth the sword.

I went back to ignoring Ruth’s pouting and moved on. “Has the Federation made additional threats against the outposts?”

Missy shook her head. “Silence. No communication or sightings.”

I didn’t share my thoughts on the situation. This was a test. The Federation wanted mass casualties of Shadow Warriors and humans. I was sure Smythe wasn’t intended to die, but I knew that wouldn’t slow President Barnes. He had more planned for us.

Missy and I talked about other things, like the gardens and food production, after that. Ruth didn’t say another word. When we made it back to the citadel, she quickly walked away.

“Hey,” I called from behind her. “Grab your sword and have your butt in the gym in ten minutes.”

Her eyes lit up for a moment, then she remembered she was mad at me and stomped off. This should be fun. I headed to my room to change, with King on my heels.

“You’re starting with Ruth already?” he asked as I tore out of my clothes. I planned to be five minutes late so Ruth would be waiting for me. Today would set the tone for what I had planned, and she’d learn exactly who was in charge.

“She’ll have Sundays off but otherwise will train with me daily. I’ll give her enough to work on that she stays out of our hair,” I said, yanking my shirt over my head.

“And your other duties?”

That was something I refused to discuss. “If you need me in a meeting, let me know.” I pulled on new socks and slipped into my old workout shoes. For a moment, the loss of my Doc Martens hit hard. I had loved those boots, but saving Garret had been more important. I knew both he and Axel agreed.

“If you don’t schedule a meeting, there won’t be one,” King said, in a maddeningly calm voice.

I blew out a frustrated huff of air, glad I was heading to the gym to release some of the stress. After three weeks with my mate, it shouldn’t have been this way, and I wasn’t happy about it. I tried so hard not to give in to King’s manipulations, but it was impossible.

“We need to figure out the frequency of the whistles. The sooner we can duplicate them, the better.”

“Would you like me to get someone working on the whistles?” he asked patiently.

With a low growl, I walked to the door. “Do what you think best.” I stepped out, not missing the laughter behind me. He was pushing, and he knew it. I was not the leader of the Shadow Warriors.

When I walked into the gym, Ruth was sitting and waiting for me.

“Get your butt off the floor,” I said sharply. “I expect you to be warmed up before I enter the gym. Place your sword against the wall. You won’t be needing it today.”

“Then why did you have me bring it?” she demanded defiantly.

I turned and gave her my full, hard-eyed attention. “I will answer this question once and only once. In this gym, my word is law. I won’t be questioned about what I tell you to do. If you don’t like it, there’s the door. If you’re unclear on something, you have permission to ask respectfully. Anything else will earn you punishment.” Her attitude deflated a little under my gaze. “As for the sword, mine is against the wall. A warrior never goes anywhere without her sword. If someone needs saving, we need our weapons close at hand.”

Her eyes began to shine with excitement. She’d never be a Shadow Warrior, but our new world needed humans who could fight. Ruth would be a soldier by the time I finished training her.

We started the session, and I used the same techniques that had been used on me back when I struggled with simple things like keeping my balance. Ruth turned out to be a great student and soaked up the attention. I’d expected complaints, but to my surprise, there were few. When she did complain, I dealt with it using a sharp look and a set of pushups.

When we finished, I went over the warmup she’d be doing before I entered the gym each day. “You will do these, unless something comes up that I can’t get out of, I will meet you in the gym at six in the morning. You’ll arrive earlier and be ready to start the moment I walk through the door. If I’m more than thirty minutes late, you’ll know I have something more important to attend to, and you can leave.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she said.

“Good job today. Next week, we’ll start working with weapons.”

Her eyes lit up again. “Will you teach me to shoot?”

“Eventually,” I said with a small smile.

I walked over to the bag I’d brought in and handed it to her. “I found this for you. It’s not much, and you’re probably too old for it, but I wanted to bring you something special since we had to delay your training.”

She didn’t even know what was in the bag, but the look in her eyes told me I’d done good. She opened it slowly, like it might break. When she pulled the doll out, her eyes went huge. One moment she was holding the doll, and the next her arms were wrapped around me, and she was crying.

I held her close. “At least tell me you like it.”

“I love it so much,” she said, her muffled words pressed against my stomach. After one last squeeze, she ran from the room, the doll clenched tightly in her arms.

She was still a child who had to deal with adult matters because it was the world we lived in. I was glad I went with my gut and brought the doll.

By hiding out to avoid what came next, I had killed as much time as I possibly could. It was time to find King and face the music. My life sucked so badly right now.