Page 23 of Princess (Marinah and the Apocalypse #5)

Marinah

Unable to get comfortable in bed that night, I tossed and turned as much as my stomach allowed.

A Shadow Warrior would die the following day.

My brain raced for some way out as fury filled my thoughts.

I couldn’t do anything to stop it. The only thing I was sure of was turning into a hellhound was worse than death.

I had given the order to kill our own man. A friend. One of us.

King’s eyes were closed, and I hoped he was sleeping. Due to my squirming, the little prince woke up and did somersaults. He was working towards an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics.

I turned slightly and checked on King again. He didn’t move, and his breathing remained even. If I stayed in the room, I would wake him. I carefully slipped from the bed and walked to one of my favorite courtyards. With a deep inhale, I let the scent of the ocean fill my lungs.

Tomorrow, I would be stoic in the face of what had to be done.

Right now, I needed to let go. The tears started.

After my Shadow Warrior form emerged, I seldom cried.

I was usually too busy for tears. Now that I was in charge, it happened even less, or at least it did until pregnancy hormones took over.

Tears disturbed King, and I tried to hide them when I could no longer hold back.

He always seemed to know. Maybe my red eyes gave me away.

His protective mode would go into overdrive, and when he wouldn’t let up, I became angry.

Anger was better than sadness in his book, and I was fairly sure he pissed me off on purpose.

I allowed the tears to run down my face without wiping them away. One day, we would have peace. Not everyone would survive until then. Losing Boot and Labyrinth was hard. Losing others would also be hard.

A small sound alerted me to King’s presence as he slipped into my private hiding spot. His arms went around me, and he pulled me as close as my large belly allowed. His shirt grew wet, and he didn’t seem to mind. My shoulders hitched, and he pulled me a bit tighter.

“I was trying to let you sleep,” I told him when I could finally talk.

“You shouldn’t do that,” he replied huskily.

I pulled back and wiped my eyes. “It’s the damned hormones. Sometimes I can’t control them.”

He smiled softly, and I knew he didn’t believe me.

I shrugged. “You needed sleep.”

“You need it more,” he said.

“His highness is restless.” I told him, and rubbed my hand over my stomach.

“Her highness is a night owl,” he responded.

I could hear the smile in his voice. I did need King awake. His presence grounded me. With a sigh, I took his hand and threaded my fingers through his, resting both our hands on my stomach.

“I think I can sleep now,” I said.

We walked to our room together. I had to be alert for whatever happened the following day. King held me close, and eventually I fell asleep without dreams.

The only thing good about the morning was the interaction with Mrs. Barnes.

She had not been released from her room to perform her work duty.

Alden, who had picked the short straw, was pacing before her door when I arrived with King, Axel, and Rodrigo, who wore leather straps on his chest like the rest of us.

He proudly said his mother and sister had made it for him.

I should have acted sooner to place him on the guard.

He had a cunning brain that quickly saw through problems in ways we didn’t.

He’d given us a small chance to get both our men back.

Axel carried a medical kit that held what he would inject into Lesley’s vein.

He’d spoken at length to Amy about her injection.

She told him the contents of the vial used on her had been pale pink.

There had been no side effects except extreme terror over what had been done to her.

Axel had used a drop of beet juice to get the slight pink coloration.

I had the pleasure of opening the door and entering the room first.

“You have some nerve,” Lesley spit out angrily. “You make me work and then take it away at a whim. Why are you here?” Her eyes widened when she noticed the men entering after me.

“We have a present,” I said. “It will go easier if you cooperate.”

Axel walked to a side table and rested the zippered pouch on it. He unzipped the top and pulled out the syringe, followed by a vial filled with tinted pale pink saline.

Lesley watched closely. Then she noticed the color and lost control.

“You bitch,” she screamed and ran straight at me. “You can’t do this.”

We’d rehearsed how this would go down. We wanted to know if Lesley knew about the injections. She’d answered our question. K-5 boiled inside me, and I could smell it from Axel and King too.

I grabbed Lesley’s arm, spun her, and grabbed the back of her neck with my other hand. King got hold of her hands, pulled them behind her, and pulled her backward until she sat slightly sideways on the bed.

She swung her legs up, but Rodrigo grabbed them and went to the floor to hold them down.

“I take it you’re going to fight?” I asked with a smile I didn’t feel.

She’d known about the hellhound drug and lied to us.

“Don’t do this,” she begged. Terror filled her eyes and tears rolled down her cheeks. These might be the first real tears.

“Don’t do what?” I asked innocently.

Axel came closer with the filled syringe, and Lesley started fighting again. I leaned forward, released my hold, and placed my knee against her chest, pushing her back. King restrained her arms above her head.

“You can’t do this,” she screamed.

“It will be over in a few seconds if you’ll simply relax. You know how this goes. One injection, and we’re done. At least for the foreseeable future.”

“Noooo.” This scream was so intense I wanted to cover my ears. I shouldn’t be getting enjoyment out of this, but she deserved the same nightmare she’d given others. Amy had been held down too. I had no sympathy for the president’s wife.

She tried to twist, but she couldn’t escape the piercing of her skin and the cool liquid that entered the vein at the bend of her arm. Her screams turned into sobs.

“What have you done?” she finally whispered.

“Your husband holds two of our men. One is being returned in exchange for you, and the other will receive the injection you were given. He will be killed shortly after and become one of the monsters you are so afraid of becoming yourself.”

We released her, and she curled into a ball, putting her back to us.

“During the exchange, we will have a sniper focused on you,” I continued. “If anything goes wrong, you will receive a bullet to the chest. It will tear you apart, but leave your head intact so you will become a monster. We also have something you don’t.”

She lifted her head slightly, and she looked at me.

“An antidote. It’s taken us months, and we have only a very small amount. If both our Warriors are returned, we will give you enough to reverse the effects.”

“I will see you and that demon inside you dead before this is over,” Lesley hissed in a voice filled with pure hatred.

Gone was the poor misunderstood woman she had been over the past few months. This was the real Lesley Barnes, wife to the president, scientist, and a monster in her own right. I resisted the urge to wrap my fingers around her throat and squeeze until she no longer breathed.

King lay a hand on my arm, and I gained back the control I was losing. Leslie wouldn’t help herself to save our Warrior.

“The handoff is in a few hours. Until then, you’ll remain here,” I said, somehow keeping the fury from my tone.

We left. Alden and Rodrigo stayed to guard her. We would take no chances.

The others waited in the argument room.

“She knew,” King said as soon as we’d taken our seats.

I looked at him. “She’s a scientist like her husband. The two of them are responsible for this. They will ultimately pay with their lives. That is a promise.”