Page 12

King

We’d had too many meetings over the past three days, and it was driving me insane. Marinah had been bombarded with entirely too much information, piled on top of the stress of returning to the Federation. She was on edge, and that was never a good thing for a new Warrior.

“That’s it,” I said to the men sitting around the table. Taking Marinah’s hand, I kissed the backs of her fingers. “We’re done.”

“But we need more preparation for when they interrogate her,” Beck argued as Marinah and I turned to leave.

I glanced over my shoulder. “If worse comes to worst, her beast will eat them. Enough!” With that, I led Marinah out of the room.

She laughed, and it made me smile.

“It must be nice to be king,” she teased.

I cocked an eyebrow as I glanced at her smiling face. “Says my queen.”

She swung our joined hands like a playful child. “That has a nice ring to it.”

“You’re a liar. If one of them called you queen, you’d take their head off.”

Her laughter rang out again, sending a buzz across my skin. She’d been sad whenever she wasn’t with Maylin and the new baby, and I knew it was because she was leaving the island. Leaving me. My beast had been sulking in doom and gloom ever since we started preparing for her departure.

The worry nearly ate me alive. I’d done an excellent job of keeping it to myself, but it killed me to send her into enemy territory alone.

We turned the corner and reached the stairs leading to the underground pool.

“I can’t handle another lesson about hellhounds,” Marinah said, giving my hand a small tug to stop me. “Could we go back to our room?”

“I was thinking a long, relaxing swim,” I replied.

She shook her head. “I don’t have my suit.”

“No suit is required for this swim.”

Her eyes darkened, her voice turning husky. “I’m all about a lack of requirements.”

The water was a little on the cold side, which felt perfect after the warmth of the upper floor. Marinah tossed her clothes aside and dove in before I even had my shoes off.

“Slowpoke,” she taunted, laughing when I struggled with my stuck shoe, hopping around like a fool.

“Ha ha,” I growled, shooting her a mock glare once I finally wrestled the damned thing off. I made quick work of the second one and tossed it aside. My clothes

∞∞∞

followed in a pile, and I dove in, heading straight for my sassy mate.

She shrieked when I grabbed her legs and pulled her under. She came up sputtering water, laughing like we didn’t have the weight of the world on our shoulders. This, just being together, was what we hadn’t had time for. We’d had six weeks at the ocean house, but it wasn’t nearly enough. We hadn’t truly been mated then.

A splash of water hit my face, and I grinned. The fight was on. We both knew how it would end. Our bodies were too primed for each other for this to stay innocent. But for now, it was pure fun, just a chance to shake off the constant thoughts of the Federation and our looming separation.

I dove under and yanked Marinah down with me. She surfaced, sputtering again, her wet braids stuck to her face.

“You don’t fight fair,” she challenged, a little whine in her voice.

I laughed and lifted her out of the water, her hands instinctively gripping my shoulders. Her head was now a foot above mine.

“What if we don’t fight?” I asked, lowering her until our lips were almost touching. I pulled back slightly.

“Your idea’s better,” she groaned when my attention shifted to her breasts.

“My ideas are always better,” I murmured, lifting my head to capture a kiss that would burn.

Playtime was over.

∞∞∞

The plane was loaded with the items Marinah would be presenting to the Federation as a show of good faith. Fresh produce, specifically set aside for their leaders, made her scowl. I couldn’t blame her. It was a calculated move. We needed enough time to get into position while she dealt with the Federation.

We had no idea how the Warriors I was sending with her would be treated. They carried their own supplies, including enough jerky to meet their protein needs for three months. Marinah had her own stash of jerky, along with our special knockout drug and antidote for hellhound wounds. The drugs were hidden in a custom-made inner lining of her bag. Small and discreet, the ampoules were modeled after battlefield morphine doses, easy to conceal unless someone decided to look too closely. Each Warrior carried their own supply.

“Remember,” Beck said sharply to Marinah. “Give as little information as possible. Don’t be overly friendly with our Warriors.”

My beast growled at his tone, but Beck ignored me.

“The Warriors know their job,” he continued, “and they’ll wait until you give them different orders or hear from me or King.”

“Beck,” I said, dragging out his name in warning. “She knows her job. Back the fuck off.”

Marinah smirked and rolled her eyes before responding in a sing-song voice. “I’m good, Beck. Thanks for the reminder.” She paused dramatically. “It’s only the plane ride that has me worried. If we crash, I might survive just to get eaten by sharks or hellhounds in the water.”

Beck grumbled under his breath and finally walked off.

I pulled her aside, needing a moment of privacy before her plane left. In another hour, I’d be taking off with a group of Warriors, along with two more planes, each carrying an additional one hundred men. We’d be landing far from Washington, staying out of sight until it was time to act. What that action would be depended entirely on Marinah’s recommendation.

Her assignment was clear: Unravel the truth hidden beneath the Federation’s lies.

“Are you going to kiss me or just stand there looking fierce?” Marinah asked, giving a playful tug on one of my braids.

“Fierce, huh?” I teased. I carried so much dread over sending her without me, and it took everything I had to keep our goodbye light.

“Just kiss me.” She didn’t wait for me to move, tugging harder this time and pulling me in for a kiss. I didn’t want to let her go.

No, Beast whispered inside me.

I agreed.

Her lips were warm and inviting, her movements bold. She nipped and sucked, her tongue tangling with mine, spreading her wild, tangy flavor through me. Her hands slid under the straps at my back, her nails raking my skin. Every touch, every taste, burned inside my veins.

“Don’t forget me,” she whispered, her dreamy eyes making me forget to breathe.

“Never.”

“It’s time,” she added softly.

“Never,” I repeated, refusing to let her go.

We kissed again, slower this time, as if we could stretch the moment into forever. I didn’t pull away until Labyrinth cleared his throat, signaling it was time for Marinah to board.

She was the last to get on the plane. My Warriors had been prepped to follow Marinah’s lead if it became necessary. If that time arrived, they’d follow her without question. If she took control, it would be as a Warrior, and the men, even the ones who grumbled, would understand. They might not like that they hadn’t known our secret, but they’d accept her for the miracle she was. Until then, they were to obey Labyrinth.

For her safety and the success of our plan, the longer we kept the secret hidden, the better. To help her prepare, we’d woken before dawn and left the citadel to run for hours in beast form. Anger and stress still triggered her transformation, and once she was on Federation soil, she’d need to keep herself under control. There could be no mistakes.

I had an unsettled feeling about the entire plan, but we didn’t have a better one.

I didn’t board the plane with her. My being in close proximity to her and so many Warriors wasn’t a risk we could take. Not now. She wore the same clothes she’d arrived in. I could care less about the clothing, but they made her uncomfortable, and it pissed me off that the Federation had used sexual enticement to get me to fall in line in the first place. Beast and I were in full agreement that I needed to wrap my fingers around the throat of whoever came up with that stupid plan.

After one last kiss, she turned and walked up the steps. I stood there watching as the plane taxied down the runway and lifted into the sky. I stared until it disappeared from view, no longer even a speck in the distance.

Marinah was gone.