Page 3

King

Landan said a few words as we walked away from the cabin, but his voice trailed off when he realized I wasn’t paying attention. He’d quickly learned the nuances of dealing with Shadow Warriors and made his escape with a muttered excuse about checking on things, whatever that meant.

My Beast had fully accepted Marinah as Alpha. Unfortunately, there were two parts of a whole inside this body, and I personally wanted to bite her head off for dismissing me so abruptly. I no longer harbored any delusions about who could kill whom. Marinah took her training seriously, and every Shadow Warrior had seen her transform into a deadly fighting machine, even without shifting into Nova form.

She’d been working on her Nova transformation too. Her control wasn’t great yet, and pulling Nova forward took a lot out of her. If she was angry, the transformation came easier, which only frustrated her more. Marinah wanted absolute control over every facet of her Warrior abilities, and I had no doubt she’d achieve it. Eventually.

Mate , Beast grumbled.

I wanted to kick him, or better yet, rip his throat out.

You worthless bowl of jelly, I snapped back. She dismissed you.

Technically not true. She dismissed us both, but I wasn’t in the mood to placate Beast.

He growled for good measure, trying to prove he wasn’t the sissy he actually was when it came to Marinah. My Beast turned into a wishy-washy idiot the moment she was around.

With a mental shake, I made my way over to the Warriors who had come with us. They lounged under a large awning, their apparent nonchalance not fooling me for a second. They were hyperaware of everything happening around us. A team of them patrolled the perimeter, silently circling the encampment and watching our backs.

Not that the “encampment” was really a camp anymore. Under Landan’s leadership as governor, the place was thriving.

Before we left today, I needed to finalize our trade agreement. Our harvest this season had been exceptional, and we had food to spare if the outposts needed it. We wouldn’t let them starve, but there were things we needed too, and trade had to be mutual.

The so-called “delicacy” of a thousand cases of Spam didn’t sit well with me, but that had been Landan’s first offer. Even Beast shuddered at the thought.

“Did you see her?” Labyrinth asked from my left.

Slowly, I turned to face him. At least his eyes stayed lowered. I’d hate to remove his head from his shoulders, and in my current mood, that would’ve been far too easy. The Warriors could meet my eyes now, but the habit was hard to break, and when I was angry, like now, my ability to contain my rage was harder.

“I saw her.”

His lips curved the slightest bit. “Young, old, ugly?”

The question startled me, though it shouldn’t have. I’d found the only female Shadow Warrior, or so we’d thought. Now, we knew there were more. Marinah’s reaction to the woman told me everything I needed to know. I hadn’t felt the woman’s essence, but Marinah did.

“Shadow,” I said, giving him the real answer he was after.

His eyes grew thoughtful, and he adjusted the question. “Young, ugly?”

My lips twitched, even though I didn’t want them to. “Would it matter if she looked like a hyena with crossed eyes?”

Now he smiled and briefly met my gaze before wisely shifting his eyes away. “No, it wouldn’t. If she’s Shadow and single, I’m in line.”

“You think there’ll be a line?”

“You’ve got Marinah. All the men want a Nova.”

I glanced toward the cabin where Marinah was handling her Alpha responsibilities. “You don’t want a Nova,” I muttered.

“Your Beast grumbling?”

I turned and walked away, intending to do my own reconnaissance. Over my shoulder, I grumbled back, “Not at all, and that’s the problem.”

No laughter followed my admission. The men knew Marinah might be their boss, but they also knew I was still fully capable of killing them.

Mate .

Oh, shut up!

Marinah left the cabin and walked in my direction.

“We’re leaving,” she all but shouted.

We were in the air twenty minutes later, and I hadn’t been given a chance to bargain with Landan. I was disgruntled, and she didn’t speak the entire ride. I calmed about halfway back to the island and settled by placing my hand on her thigh. She didn’t object, so I left it there.

Until now, letting her take the lead had been easier than I would have dreamt it. My Beast had a lot to do with it. Her ordering me from the cabin and now not telling me what was going on was pushing things. I wisely kept these thoughts to myself and allowed her the mental space she obviously needed.