Page 1 of Princess (Marinah and the Apocalypse #5)

Marinah

My heart raced and sweat dampened my skin as I tried to get my breathing under control. The hellhounds came from all directions. I blew the whistle that should have kept them back, but it made no sound in my overly sensitive ears.

Protect the child! rang inside my head louder than a fire alarm.

The baby. Mine and King’s baby.

I heard his yell too: "Marinah, protect the baby!"

Where was King? I didn’t see him.

A hellhound rose up on its hind legs and raked its claws down the front of my body. I’d never seen one attack this way. They normally used their razor-sharp teeth followed by their claws to hold you in place as they savaged you.

Hellhounds were deceiving. Their monstrous form looked like something straight from hell.

They ran on four appendaged legs with wicked, curved claws at the end of each foot.

Their faces looked doglike with giant, sharp teeth made for tearing.

Their bodies were covered in a gray, leathered skin, and due to the lack of sex organs, it was impossible to tell a male from a female.

But we knew they weren’t hellhounds. They were human dead, bioengineered, accidentally or intentionally, through the use of genetically modified proteins found in formaldehyde.

They killed everything that crossed their path, or at least tried to.

The ramifications of hellhounds had reverberated around the world.

Their existence almost ended humanity. There were still so many damn unanswered questions.

Why did electromagnetic pulses signal the rise of hellhounds, and why did electronics attract them?

Why was there a small hint of intelligence in their beady eyes?

Were they zombies or something else entirely?

We didn’t have these answers, but we needed them.

I screamed when a hellhound bit my arm then went for my stomach. Its hot, putrid breath puffed into my nostrils. What the hell was happening?

Where was Ms. Beast, my Shadow Warrior form? She was a bigger monster than any hellhound. She always took over when I called her, but I couldn’t feel her inside me. I couldn’t feel my nova form either. They deserted me. I felt like the old Marinah with no power.

The baby.

That’s all that mattered. I had to protect him no matter the cost. Was he old enough to deliver safely?

The gestation for Shadow Warrior babies was three months shorter than for humans, but that was when the mother was human and the father a warrior.

I was the first shifting female in centuries.

I mated with King, the leader of the Shadow Warriors.

No, that wasn’t right. I was their leader now.

King and I were having a baby.

I fell on my knees and more hellhounds attacked. They grabbed my shoulders and arms, their bites hitting bone. My hands went to my stomach, trying to protect the life within, but there was nothing I could do.

I screamed but no sound broke from my throat. No pain. There should be pain as they ripped my stomach open. Warmth spread through my body, and a voice I had never heard before sounded in my head. "It’s okay, everything will be okay."

That was a lie. Nothing was okay.