Page 28 of Shadow (Marinah and the Apocalypse #1)

King

I wouldn’t let this happen. By will alone, I would keep her alive.

I crashed through the doors of the medical bay, cradling Marinah in my arms. The urgency pounding in my chest didn’t allow anything but action. I laid her on one of the beds and roared for Axel. He didn’t come.

I grabbed the antidote myself, my hands steady despite the storm raging inside me.

“It won’t help, King,” Axel’s voice came from behind me.

“It must!” I roared, injecting the antidote into Marinah’s bloodstream. I took her hand and pressed it to my cheek, desperate for a sign of life. “She’s my mate,” I said, my voice cracking. “She can’t die. You need to cut the poison out!”

“King,” Axel said softly.

“No! Fuck you! Do something! Save her, you fucking prick. You can! ”

“I can’t,” he said simply, his head dropping as he turned to leave.

He was leaving her to die.

The despair hit me like a hammer. I buried my face against Marinah’s trembling body, holding her because I refused to let go.

“Hold on, Marinah,” I whispered.

Her body jerked, and her eyes fluttered open. The pain in her gaze was unbearable to see.

“It hurts. My body hurts,” she cried, her voice trembling.

I searched for more bites but found nothing besides the one on her arm. My mind raced. Axel might have given up, but I wouldn’t. I scoured the drawers, throwing medical supplies aside until I found a scalpel.

If Axel wouldn’t cut the poison out, I would.

I pulled up the straps on the bed and secured them around her limbs. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

Marinah screamed when I made the first incision. The sound tore through me, but I pushed forward, digging into the wound ruthlessly. Blood pooled on the table and splattered onto my hands. Marinah’s breaths grew shallower, her cries interspersed with gasps for air.

Somewhere inside, I knew this was futile, that I was placing her in more pain before she died, but I couldn’t simply watch and do nothing. My world centered around her. How could I have been this stupid? The moment she fell at my feet, I knew there was something special about her. She was Church’s daughter, for God’s sake. I never gave an inch. I terrified her and allowed her to be placed in a hot room that almost killed her.

The desperation I felt was unraveling me as I continued slicing into her flesh.

She could have loved me.

I couldn’t take it.

“King,” Axel said, his voice coming from behind me.

I had to stop.

But I couldn’t.

“No,” I moaned as the hopelessness settled in.

“King, look at her!”

I tore my attention from her arm. Marinah’s body began convulsing violently, but there was something unnatural about it. Her muscles rippled and bulged beneath her skin, as though something primal was breaking free.

Her head jerked back, and her eyes rolled upward, exposing only the whites. A guttural sound escaped her throat.

A sound that didn’t belong to a human.

“What’s happening?” I demanded desperately.

Axel stepped forward cautiously, his face pale. “I don’t know,” he admitted, his eyes locked on Marinah. “But this... it’s not the poison. It’s something else.”

Marinah’s body arched off the table, the straps straining to hold her down. Her skin glowed faintly, the light pulsing with each shudder. Beast stirred within me, uneasy, his growl reverberating in my chest.

“Marinah?” I whispered, afraid to breathe.

Her convulsions stopped as suddenly as they had started, leaving the room in eerie silence.

For a moment, I thought it was over, that she was gone.

Then her eyes snapped open.

They were glowing, feral, with something entirely new.

“King,” she whispered, her voice layered with something not her own.

She was transforming.

But into what, I had no idea.

“What’s happening?” I asked again, stunned, trying to catch my brain up with what I was seeing.

Axel’s eyes burned as he reached for the scalpel in my hand. “Give me that and keep talking to her. You need to keep her as calm as possible.”

Beast chose that moment to make his displeasure known, slamming against my ribs with enough force to leave me wincing. I gritted my teeth and shoved him back into place, a new terror mounting. I grasped Marinah’s uninjured hand, holding it tightly in mine.

“Marinah, baby, it’s going to be okay,” I murmured. The words felt like a lie, but I didn’t know what else to say.

“Don’t stop,” Axel urged. “Keep talking to her.”

A low, deep growl rumbled from Marinah’s chest.

For a terrifying moment, I thought she was becoming one of the hellhounds that had bitten her.

“Doc, what the hell is going on?” I demanded again.

Axel didn’t answer immediately, injecting her with another dose of the antidote.

I watched, helpless, as Marinah’s body began to shift and reshape itself.

Then Axel looked up, his face breaking into an incredulous smile. “She’s one of us, King. Marinah is a Shadow Warrior.”

Before I could fully process his words, she let out a piercing scream. Her body contorted, bursting apart with a surge of energy. In its place, a Warrior emerged.

“Loosen the straps!” Axel shouted.

My heart pounded as I recognized the creature before me.

My Marinah was a Shadow Warrior.

She was powerful and breathtakingly beautiful.

I loosened the straps.

Dangerous, Beast said from deep inside me.

He knew.

He had known she was something more. He had known she was dangerous.

And now, his reaction to her made sense.

There hadn’t been a female Shadow Warrior born since our people had left the home planet. It defied everything we knew, yet here she was.

A miracle.

Her body slumped, and she went completely still. The room fell into silence, save for the sound of her labored breathing.

“How is this possible?” I asked, my grip on her arm tightening.

Axel’s voice was thoughtful as he hooked up fluids and began wrapping her injured arm. “Remember the women who left in the early years after we arrived here? It’s in our history. She must be a descendant of one of them. It’s the only explanation.”

“She can beat the poison, then?”

Axel’s expression turned grim. “I don’t know. As you’re well aware, I’ve never treated a female Shadow Warrior before.”

He checked her vitals and grabbed an IV needle, sticking it into a vein. “I’ll keep her sedated overnight,” he continued. “New Warriors are volatile. We can’t risk her waking up and killing one of us.”

I glanced down at Marinah, her transformed body still radiating strength even in unconsciousness.

She was unlike anything I had ever seen.

She was an amazing miracle.

And she was mine.

Axel busied himself around the room. Marinah didn’t move over the next ten minutes.

“I’m going to step outside and check on a few things,” Axel said before leaving the room.

The silence ticked by, but I hardly noticed. My eyes remained fixed on Marinah, studying every detail.

She was taller, her shoulders broader, and her hands and feet were tipped with sharp claws. Her form radiated power, yet she retained a grace that made her the most extraordinary Warrior I had ever seen, and I couldn’t stop looking at her.

Axel came in and out of the room during the night, and eventually, exhaustion took over. I fell asleep on a chair I pulled over, my head resting on the corner of the bed.

“King?” Marinah’s voice woke me, a cry of fear that had me bolting upright.

Her voice was rough, muffled by the shape of her new elongated jaws. Speech would take practice, but she managed to get the words out.

“What’s wrong with me?” she growled.

“Marinah,” I said gently, moving closer. “You were bitten by a hellhound. We gave you the antidote, and you’ll be okay in a few hours.”

I didn’t tell her how close it had been, how narrowly she had avoided death. But the fact that she was awake now, speaking, meant the danger had passed.

Before I had fallen asleep, Axel had brought news: Boot didn’t survive.

“Che?” she whispered, her voice trembling.

“He’s safe,” I assured her. “You saved his life. I’m so proud of you, and I’m extremely angry too.”

She didn’t bother defending herself. “Boot?” she asked.

I squeezed her hand, my chest tightening. “I’m sorry, Marinah. He didn’t make it.”

Tears welled in her eyes and slipped down her face, catching in the fine hairs that now covered her skin. Her sorrow was palpable, but then her gaze sharpened, and she asked, “Am I turning into a hellhound?”

The question surprised me, even though I had wondered the same thing.

I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. “No,” I said, my voice filled with relief and amusement. “You’ve turned into a Shadow Warrior. ”

It took her a moment to process the words. Her eyes narrowed as she looked down at her transformed body. Then, with a wry expression, she muttered, “I couldn’t possibly be that ugly.”

Her humor caught me off guard, and I laughed louder than I had in my entire life, the sound filling the room.

Warrior up next…