Page 14

King

After another round of meditation, we figured out it was best to play along, or we would be at it all day. The smiles and deep relaxing breaths may or may not have fooled Marinah, but she let us off the hook. Nokita’s next words helped too.

“We have a submarine?” I said, narrowing my eyes as I tried to process the bombshell he’d just dropped.

“We may have a submarine,” he clarified, clearly uncomfortable under my scrutiny. “It’s not operational right now.”

He went on to explain, “Three systems need to work for it to function underwater properly: replenishing oxygen, releasing carbon dioxide, and removing the moisture we exhale. It’s complicated,” he added with a shrug, as if that summed everything up.

Marinah didn’t miss a beat. “How long will it take to make it operational?” she asked, cutting straight to the point.

“If it’s salvageable, two weeks,” he replied. “I’ll need parts.”

“Hmm. Are there any other toys you want to share?” she asked, her voice sharp enough to make Nokita visibly squirm.

It was rare to see someone else being grilled while I got to sit back and observe. I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall, enjoying the change of pace.

“We have a quad mini sub that’s seaworthy as soon as I fix the scrubber,” Nokita admitted reluctantly. “That should take a couple of days at most.”

“What about land vehicles?” Marinah fired back.

Nokita hesitated, then said, “We’ve got one hundred and twenty tanks in working condition. Most are Soviet models that were already here when we arrived. We also found a few older U.S. and British tanks from World War II. After we worked on them, a couple actually run.”

He shifted uncomfortably under her scrutiny before adding, “Oh, and there’s a Gatling gun we found in a scrap pile. It’s hand-crank and comes with ten thousand rounds of ammo if we can get it working. From what I’ve read, it breaks down constantly, but if we can keep it running, it’ll cause some serious damage. It also looks wicked and is a great psychological repellent.”

Marinah turned to Beck next. “Move every man, woman, and child inland to the citadel and surrounding buildings using the tunnels,” she commanded. “I’ll notify Landan at the main outpost. If he wants to fly his people here for safety, we’ll accommodate them.”

When we first took over the island, we’d built a network of tunnels to move people safely and unseen. Now, they’d become essential.

“If Landan brings all his people, we’ll be thin on supplies,” I pointed out.

Marinah turned her gaze on me, her eyes blazing, daring me to challenge her. “We will handle all their people if needed,” she said, leaving no room for argument.

She hadn’t wavered once since calling the meeting to order. Marinah wasn’t asking for advice or offering us options. This was Marinah the Nova, our alpha.

“We need a distraction,” she said, her gaze shifted to Labyrinth. “We must know where the Federation will attack first. They’ll stage off the Florida coast. If we locate them, we’ll attack from the air and buy ourselves some time.”

Her eyes lifted as if she’d already made her decision and turned to Nokita. “You have one week to get the large sub operational. One day for the small one. We need to confirm if their sub is in the vicinity, and the only way to do that is by seeing underwater. Make it happen. Cabel will handle the aircraft while you’re working on the subs.”

Cabel, who had been quietly waiting without speaking or drawing her attention, grunted in assent.

Marinah stood, her posture straight. “We don’t know how long we have before the Federation returns. You’ve been preparing for this moment since you arrived, and now it’s time to defend our home. We have firepower and we’re able to control hellhounds. The humans here have something to fight for, and Shadow Warriors are hungry for blood. This is our home, and no one is taking it from us.”

She paused, her eyes sweeping over the room. “I say we end this meeting with another round of meditation. I’ll walk us through it again.”

She closed her eyes, and we followed suit.

Five minutes later, the Warriors filed out of the room without a word. No one met my gaze while I stood by the door. If they had, we probably would’ve burst out laughing, and that would’ve put a very angry Nova Warrior in our path. It was a risk none of us were willing to take. Sometimes silence was the best strategy, especially when it came to Marinah.

I stretched my arms over my head and yawned.

“You’re feeling relaxed because of the meditation,” Marinah said, coming up behind me and placing a hand on my back.

“I think you’re right,” I replied, managing to keep a straight face.

“I’d like to check on our hellhounds and thought you could go with me,” she added.

Marinah hated visiting the captured hellhounds. I turned to her. “What brought this on?” I asked, genuinely surprised.

“I’m queen. How dare you question me,” Marinah said, her tone filled with something I couldn’t name.

“I don’t like the look in your eyes,” I replied, narrowing mine suspiciously.

She angled her hip and leaned against the edge of the table. “I don’t like looking at hellhounds, so I guess we’re even.”

Two captured hellhounds had once been kept in a locked facility inside the citadel. Now, with over two hundred of them, we’d had to find a way to keep them contained and ensure the safety of the humans on the island.

Since the toxin from a hellhound bite or scratch killed humans within a short time, hellhounds escaping was our greatest fear. Shadow Warriors injected themselves regularly with medication to combat the toxin, but we hadn’t been able to find a cure for humans. That meant taking no chances.

The solution came in the form of an old prison west of the citadel. We reinforced the concrete floors with steel to prevent the hellhounds from burrowing out, and the locked cells kept them securely contained. The old prison yard gave us a safe place to practice using the whistles to control them.

While Marinah was on Love Island, I’d placed Elright, one of our elite sniper shooters, in charge of the facility. The hellhounds had been under Knet’s supervision until his betrayal. The fury over what he’d done still gnawed at me.

Kill, my Beast growled inside me.

I wholeheartedly agreed.

At the hellhound facility, Marinah had Elright bring out a small group of the creatures. She pulled a special whistle from her pocket and blew into it. Instantly, the hellhounds in their specially constructed pen turned their attention to her, snarling and swiping at the barrier separating them from us.

She blew two short bursts into the whistle, and as if controlled by a single mind, the hellhounds moved as one unit to the left.

“Elright, bring out the reserve whistles,” Marinah commanded.

Elright did as she said. I wasn’t sure what Marinah was planning but held my thoughts. After Elright returned with the whistles, Marinah turned to the Shadow Warriors standing at attention. “Hand over the whistles you’re carrying,” she ordered.

The five men, who worked daily as hellhound controllers, didn’t hesitate. They quickly handed their whistles to her. My focus stayed on Marinah and her strange request, not the Warriors. She handed Elright the whistles she’d collected and instructed him to distribute the reserve ones he’d brought.

Walking toward the pen, Marinah leapt over the fencing with ease, clearing the barbed wire. She landed squarely in the middle of the hellhounds. With a sharp blast of her whistle, she directed the snarling creatures to move as she wanted.

We’d all practiced this before, so I couldn’t figure out what she was trying to prove. Still, I kept quiet.

Marinah jumped from the pen and turned to the five Warriors assembled before her. “I want each of you to do what I just did. One at a time,” she said.

“Why?” Campbell, a notoriously churlish Warrior, asked, his tone laced with defiance, which surprised me. We didn’t question our alpha.

The other Warriors shot sideways glances at him, their expressions a mix of shock and disbelief. My beast surged to the forefront of my mind, ready to act, but Marinah beat me to it. Dressed in her Warrior gear, designed for quick shifts, she didn’t even bother transforming. Instead, she strode up to Campbell like she didn’t have a care in the world.

With one swift motion, she grabbed him by the throat and hurled him over the pen’s fencing and into the cage. He hit the ground hard, landing on his side.

The look of wild terror in his eyes was almost pitiful as he scrambled to his feet. The hellhounds turned toward him, their snarls growing louder. Campbell screamed, dropping the whistle Elright had handed him, and leaped from the pen.

I had no idea what Marinah was doing, but she didn’t hesitate. Her human form melted away as Nova erupted from within her.

The transformation was explosive. Massive teeth that rivaled our beast’s gleamed as her claws extended, sharp enough to tear through steel like tissue paper. Her wild, glowing eyes locked onto Campbell, who didn’t even have time to scream.

Nova lunged.

The men instinctively gave her space. Marinah grabbed Campbell’s legs, yanked them out from under him, and spun him around her body like a rag doll. Then she slammed him into the ground with a force that made the ground tremble. He screamed, and his Beast broke free in a desperate attempt to save himself.

As I watched, the pieces clicked into place. Something was wrong with the whistles Elright had handed out, and Marinah had known they were defective. Campbell had known too. He was in league with Knet.

Campbell’s Beast was no match for Marinah. She toyed with him, taunting him with her power. She lunged for his shoulder and wrenched it out of its socket like it was nothing. Methodically, she moved to his other shoulder and dislocated it as well. Then came the humerus bones in both arms, snapping them like dry twigs.

His legs were next. The grotesque sounds that came from his throat were horrific, but Marinah wasn’t finished. She moved on to the smaller bones, breaking them one by one with precise, deliberate force.

“Should we stop her?” Elright asked, hesitantly.

I glanced at him, keeping one eye on Marinah. “If you want your arms and legs broken, go for it,” I replied, chewing on a piece of straw and thoroughly enjoying the bloodbath in front of me. Marinah was giving me some excellent ideas for when I finally got my hands on Knet.

Elright shrugged, his expression dark. “Traitors deserve what they get.” He’d figured it out too.

Marinah’s control over her Nova form was always tenuous, so it surprised me she didn’t finish Campbell off quickly. There had to be a reason. Once she was satisfied that Campbell was incapable of crawling away, she turned her massive head toward me and spoke, her voice a guttural roar.

“Question himth before I eath him,” she snarled, her teeth bared and dripping with blood.

Oh, honey, that’s impressive, I thought, hiding my admiration behind a neutral expression. Slowly, I walked toward my mate, using my foot to flip Campbell onto his back.

“You have something to say?” I asked, my voice laced with menace.

“Fuck you,” he spat, blood and broken fangs spewing from his mouth as he writhed on the ground.

I dropped to my haunches, grabbed his braids to still him, and leaned in close, letting the heat of my breath wash over his face. My fingers circled his throat with a very human hand, squeezing just enough to make him squirm.

“The only deal I’ll make is a quick death,” I promised. “Marinah won’t be as kind. She’ll tear you limb from limb while you’re still alive. And when you can no longer scream, she’ll slowly pull out your intestines and eat them. The decision is yours, and you’ve got two seconds to make it.”

Truthfully, I wasn’t sure if Marinah would eat his intestines, but at this point, I wouldn’t put anything past her. I was still amazed she had controlled her Nova form so well.

The Warrior’s wide eyes darted to Marinah and back to me. His tongue flicked out, licking his bloody lips. “They’re attacking in forty-eight hours,” he spat, his voice thick with pain and fear. “And there’s nothing you can do to stop it.” His gaze shifted back to Marinah, and his lips curled in a sneer. “No woman will ever lead me.”

I rose to my feet, placing my boot squarely on his face. With a sharp, deliberate strike, I dislocated his jaw. More fangs flew free, accompanied by a mouthful of blood. His eyes snapped to mine, wide with panic, but I didn’t stop. My foot came down again, harder this time, crushing his face beneath it.

I’d promised him a quick death. I never said it would be painless.

“Comth on, baby,” Marinah called from behind me.

I turned to see her standing there, her massive hand extended toward me, making mine look like a child’s in comparison. With a final kick to Campbell’s ruined skull, I stepped away and joined her.

The men’s faces held a mix of admiration and awe.

“Check every whistle we have,” I told the men. “Destroy the ones that are defective and create as many as are needed to replace the bad ones.”

We walked to our motorcycles, straddling the seats like we owned the world.

“You’re controlling your Nova,” I said, stating the obvious.

“Idth called medithation,” she replied with what may have been a smile, her voice still carrying that guttural edge of her Nova form.