Page 18 of Shadow (Marinah and the Apocalypse #1)

King

I watched her sleep. Her soft snoring started within minutes. It was oddly comforting, a sound that had no place in my life, and yet I lingered. I couldn’t help but smile. If I was lucky, she would remember every word tomorrow.

I decided to try something I had been curious about since discovering Beast’s volatile reaction to her. While she was out cold, I allowed him to come to the forefront, carefully balancing his presence without fully transforming. It was a delicate process, but my inquisitiveness got the better of me.

Beast leaned forward, his instincts driving us closer, and sniffed her bare leg. He didn’t touch her. Not yet.

Kill the woman.

The thought slammed into my mind with primal clarity.

Why? I demanded.

Dangerous.

Slowly, deliberately, I extended my hand and let my fingers brush against her leg. A growl rumbled deep in my chest as Beast reacted.

Dangerous how? I pressed.

Deadly.

I frowned, trying to overcome my skepticism. Her clumsy, awkward demeanor didn’t exactly scream deadly. But Beast was rarely wrong about these things. His instincts were sharper than mine could ever be.

Without warning, Beast leaned closer and licked her leg where I had touched it. The act startled me, because it was beyond my control, unexpected, and because I tasted her too.

Her skin was wild and untamed, a flavor unlike anything I had experienced before. I had been with women, but none had tasted like this.

The thought crept into my mind. What if she wasn’t entirely human?

This world held more paranormal mysteries than we understood, with hellhounds and Shadow Warriors proving humans were not the one and only.

My nose inched upward, tracing the line of her skin, but I stopped abruptly.

Her scent shifted, unmistakably female, and it flooded my senses, obliterating everything else.

Even Beast noticed, and I felt the surge of oxytocin and dopamine hit me like a drug.

Beast wanted her then, in the most primal way possible. His lack of morality, his inability to care that she was unconscious, sent alarms blaring in my mind.

I stood abruptly, pushing him back with more force than I had ever needed before. The room felt suffocatingly small. Beast needed freedom and space to vent his violent instincts. Staying here would only make it worse.

I strode to the door. The guards snapped to attention, stepping aside as I passed.

“Guard this room closely,” I growled, my voice harsher than intended.

The hallways blurred as I made my way to the closest exit. At some point, Beck fell into step beside me. I was seconds away from shifting, the pull of the Beast too strong to ignore.

“I need to run,” I told him.

“So do I,” he replied without hesitation.

The faint echo of footsteps drew my attention behind us. Labyrinth and Nokita were closing in, their eagerness evident. I didn’t need to ask how they knew. I was sure my Beast called theirs.

Without breaking stride, I jerked my shirt over my head and dropped it on the ground. The others were already shirtless. Boots were kicked off as we moved, sending footwear flying in every direction.

I was thankful none of us had worn our leather gear that night; shifting was faster without it. The transformation began the moment we stepped through the outside doorway. Bones cracked and reshaped, skin stretched, fur sprouted, and claws extended. Within seconds, we were fully shifted, our primal side in command, our human side letting him rule.

“Hunt,” Beast growled, his voice guttural.

Cuba wasn’t known for its large game, but there was one kind of prey here we could hunt, and Beast knew it well.

I let him take over completely.

To clear our minds and sharpen our instincts, we ran.

The moonlight reflected off our monstrous forms as we barreled through the underbrush, paws pounding against the earth. The scent of salt and vegetation filled the air.

Within an hour, we were all ready to combine our Beast with human and become even more deadly.

The hunt began.

We weren’t chasing just anything. We were searching for something different. Prey that fought back.

Another hour passed before we came across a burned-out area I remembered from earlier explorations. The large crater-like depression in the earth caught my attention immediately. I walked to its center, my claws scraping the charred ground.

“The trail we’ve been looking for,” I said.

“More than two,” Labyrinth observed, his nostrils flaring as he scented the air.

“Maybe one for each of us,” Nokita added, his tone laced with anticipation.

“Nothing stupid,” I warned. We were unarmed, relying only on our claws and teeth.

It took twenty minutes to run them down. Five of them emerged from the shadows like heralds of death. Hellhounds.

These were the newer species. From what we’d recently learned, they came out of the ground and instinctively sought others of their kind. Unlike the chaotic packs we had encountered before arriving in Cuba, these creatures moved with a strange cohesion. They weren’t attacking us yet, which was disconcerting. It was another clue that pointed to the possibility of higher intelligence.

The hellhounds we had battled before were like herds with no clear leaders, relying solely on sheer numbers to overwhelm and destroy. They held a small amount of intelligence, but nothing like this new breed. These were the older dead, and they seemed connected in ways we didn’t yet understand. We circled them, testing their movements, gauging their reactions. We needed answers, but the truth was, we had no way to confirm our theories. Not yet.

A sharp pop in my rib reminded me to stop overthinking. It was Beast’s not-so-subtle way of telling me to back off. I relinquished control and let him take the lead. It was time to kill the enemy.

Beast targeted the largest of the five, crouching low before striking. His claws ripped into the creature’s hip socket. It was a precise, brutal attack. He moved out of range in the blink of an eye, avoiding the snapping jaws and lethal claws. Spitting out chunks of gristle, Beast growled low, the taste of decay fueling his fury. The hellhound roared, spinning around with unnerving speed to face us. The larger one charged, but Beast leaped effortlessly over its head, landing a few feet behind. With calculated precision, he dove forward, tearing another chunk of rotted flesh from its side before veering away.

I suddenly registered the impact from another hound. Its massive body slammed into me, throwing Beast off balance. Jaws snapped inches from my face, and claws swiped just shy of connecting. Beast pivoted, dodging the poisonous talons. Now there were two. Beast’s fury rose. Two hellhounds? Even better. The new arrival was smaller but dangerously quick, darting around with agile movements. My human mind observed something chilling as I dodged and struck while keeping an eye on my men at the same time. The two hounds I was battling were working together, their attack coordinated and deliberate, almost as if choreographed.

They closed in on either side, attacking as one unit. Beast barely avoided their combined assault, jumping away at the last possible second. The two hounds regrouped, spreading out. They were communicating. How? Beast’s muscles coiled. The hellhounds took two steps forward, waiting, as if anticipating our next move. Beast didn’t hesitate. He raised our arms and charged, colliding with both creatures in a powerful, bone-shaking impact. The force carried them back several feet, but Beast wasn’t done. Using the momentum, he swung my arms down, smashing their heads together with a sickening crack.

The move bought us a precious few seconds, enough to reassess as the hounds shook off the blow. Their dark, calculating gazes stayed locked on us. Beast growled deep in his chest, the roar building until it filled the night, daring them to make the next move. The hounds spread apart again, flanking us. Their intelligence, their strategy, was undeniable now. This fight was far from over.

They might have gained intelligence, but Beast was no novice. He had been honed by years of battle, and his instincts were as sharp as razors. Our bodies were engineered for killing, and bloodlust fueled our every move. Beast’s claws lashed out, tearing a deep, jagged path across one hellhound’s throat and chest. It wasn’t a fatal blow, but the creature staggered, stumbling to the side. The second hound circled protectively, positioning itself between us and its injured companion. A low growl rumbled from Beast, vibrating through our chest and into the ground beneath us. I charged without hesitation, meeting the hound head-on.

The collision was brutal, and the hellhound crashed to the ground beneath us. Beast clamped his crushing jaws around its neck, the force splintering bone. But before he could finish the kill, the other hound leaped onto my back, its snapping jaws sinking into my shoulder. White-hot pain erupted as the venom coursed through my body. Beast’s fury burned brighter.

Twisting savagely, Beast tore the first hound’s head clean off, the sound of ripping flesh and cracking vertebrae filling the air. Blood sprayed, but there was no time to savor the victory. With one fluid motion, my claws drove deep into the belly of the second hound, intent on finishing the fight. Suddenly, Beck barreled into view. He grabbed the thrashing hellhound and, with a savage strike, drove his claws through its neck. The head ripped away in a spray of dark ichor. With the beast dispatched, Beck tossed the lifeless body aside.

I rolled off the ground and scrambled to my feet, adrenaline coursing through me. The other Warriors stood frozen; their eyes locked on my Beast.

“You said to do nothing stupid!” Labyrinth bellowed finally, his voice cutting through the aftermath.

I took two unsteady steps, the venom burning through my veins like acid. My knees buckled, and I dropped heavily to the ground.

Beast roared inside, enraged that we didn’t finish the second hound ourselves. I clenched my fists, furious at his recklessness.

“Get me to Axel,” I gritted out.

I was vaguely aware of being carried after that. I stayed in Beast form because he was stronger, better equipped to resist the poison coursing through me. The pain radiated through every limb, rendering them useless, and I couldn’t fight it. The men carrying me remained silent as they rushed back to the citadel as if I weighed nothing.

The sounds of the jungle faded into the steady scrape of claws on cobblestones. The change in terrain barely registered before the citadel’s familiar walls rose around us. They didn’t pause, taking me directly to the medical bay while one of the Warriors broke off to fetch the doctor from his apartment upstairs.

Beast tried to purge the poison, and a sharp wave of nausea overtook me. Vomit burned up my throat, forcing my jaws open. A firm hand grabbed the back of my head, tilting it downward to keep the mess contained as the first wave spewed out.

They laid me on a medical bed, their hands steady despite my dead weight. Beck didn’t wait for Axel to arrive. He administered the first injection himself. The venom from the hellhound’s bite traveled fast. Too fast. If it had been a claw swipe instead of a bite, the poison wouldn’t have hit so hard.

The nausea returned in force, and the room began to spin.

Axel’s familiar voice cut through the haze. “I see you had all the fun without me and typically got yourselves into trouble.”

“Took out five,” Nokita rumbled, his massive jaws twisting his words into a guttural snarl. “King can claim two.”

“One,” Beck snapped. “Had to save his sorry ass from the second one.”

Axel ignored the banter, his sharp gaze landing on me as he approached.

“First,” he clicked up one finger. “Did it occur to any of you idiots to take anti-venom with you? It’s extremely new and still in the experimental stage. I’ve told you again and again that it must be administered quickly. Second,” he didn’t wait for them to reply and snapped up another finger. “Did you give him anything for the pain?”

“No, we enjoy watching our damn leader suffer,” Beck grumbled, his tone filled with sarcasm.

“No,” I snapped, focusing on the words, the pain, and cutting through Axel’s mommy issues. “Beck knows I despise painkillers.”

Through the red haze clouding my vision, I caught Axel’s grin.

“Sucks for you,” he said gleefully. “You’re in my domain now, and my rules apply, not yours.”

I could have fought him on it, but I’d have lost. I barely registered the prick of the needle as it slid into my arm. The churning inside me as the poison traveled through my veins like fire, and Beast’s incessant snarls overshadowed everything.

Finally, the heavy pull of the narcotics seeped into my body, coaxing me into surrender. Beast fought it, his resistance dragging me into an exhausting mental tug-of-war. It took every ounce of willpower I had to pull him back.

The effort was too much, and blackness rushed in, swallowing us both before the battle was settled.