Page 32 of Shadow

I knew what he was really asking. Should he call Axel?

When teenagers or newly mated warriors lost control, we had a drug that knocked them out cold. Axel was the gatekeeper of our supply, and only he and I knew its precise chemical formula. The ingredient list was hidden securely, a contingencyin case we were both gone. The drug forced unconsciousness for hours, but it was a temporary solution at best.

In the end, every warrior had to learn to master their beast.

The lessons from our ancestors weighed heavily on us. On our home planet, we had fought until we annihilated millions of our kind, leaving only a fraction to flee. That long journey had saved us, but the scars remained.

Control was a necessity, though it was far from absolute.

“You need to send her back to her people,” Beck said, breaking the silence.

I raised a hand to stop him, already feeling Beast stir at the suggestion. “She can’t go back,” I said through my teeth. “There’s something off about her, and Beast knows it. What do you feel when she’s around?”

Beck narrowed his eyes, thinking. He was gruff by nature, but his control over his beast was solid. When he wasn’t complaining, his advice was usually helpful.

“Fear,” he admitted. “Most of the time, anyway. But earlier? It was anger, without the fear.”

He lowered himself to the floor beside me, his movements cautious to avoid triggering Beast further. This wasn’t the first time we had handled an out-of-control warrior together.

I stretched my legs out in front of me, knees bent slightly, focusing on keeping my breathing even. “Something’s wrong. We need time to figure it out. Beast wants her dead, which is usual for him. But it doesn’t stop there. He gets jealous if anyone else is near her, and then he wants them dead too. It’s not mating. I don’t know what the hell it is.”

Beck breathed slowly, his calm rhythm coaxing me to match it. Slowly, our heart rates began to synchronize, the tension between us easing. After a few minutes, he spoke.

“Has this happened before?”

“No,” I replied flatly. “And it shouldn’t be happening now.”

“Then kill her.”

He said it simply, but I knew he didn’t mean it. Beck had cared about Marinah’s father and mourned his death. No matter what he had said in the meeting, he had a need to protect her, and that flicker of sentiment set Beast off again. Beast didn’t just want Marinah dead. He wanted the satisfaction of doing it himself.

I glanced at Beck, who was studying the floor as if it held the answers we needed. I let out a long, slow breath, then inhaled, feeling my control return piece by piece.

“We need to make a deal with the humans. Killing her won’t make that easier.”

Beck rubbed the scruff on his jaw, a familiar tell that he was deep in thought. “Do you think Beast wants to kill her because she’s spying on us?”

I snorted. “She admitted to spying without even considering the consequences. She seems sincere, and my human side believes her. It’s Beast who senses something else. Maybe the Federation has bigger plans, and she’s using the spy angle to distract us.”

“Hmm,” Beck murmured, his brow furrowing. “We knew before she came that the government would ask her to gather intel. If we let the hounds wipe out the humans in the U.S. and stay out of it, it could solve one of our biggest problems.”

I rubbed my temple, frustration building. “We’ve been through this. The hellhounds won’t stop at humans. They won’t stop at all. If we can’t find a way to work with the Federation, this island will be next. We don’t have a spaceship to escape like our ancestors did, and we are responsible for the humans here. The metals we need don’t exist on this planet, and we’ll never build arocket strong enough without it.” My voice dropped into a growl as I muttered, “We fight beside our enemy, or we die.”

Beck nodded grimly. “We fight,” he echoed, his gaze lifting to meet mine for a brief moment. Then, with a flicker of dry humor, he added, “Try not to kill her.”

Chapter Thirteen

Marinah

King’s beast side had slithered beneath his skin like a living thing which, I guess, it was. I wanted to run and hide. The other part of me had been morbidly fascinated, even as I felt my life dangling by a thread. King had appeared more animal than human, savage and barely contained.

My father had once spoken of Greystone’s mastery over his animal side, praising his unparalleled control. Until I had seen King unravel, I hadn’t understood what my father meant. My father had respected Greystone deeply; I couldn’t imagine him feeling the same about King. It baffled me that someone like him could lead the Shadow Warriors.

The man who had stalked me back to my room had introduced himself as Beck, or at least, I thought that’s what he said. His irritation at the task had been painfully obvious. Every question I asked was met with a dismissive grunt.

Now, I was essentially a prisoner in my room again. Two different guards stood watch outside, ensuring I couldn’t leave or do anything remotely productive. With the nap I had taken earlier, sleep wasn’t an option. I tried to stretch the tension from my overtaxed muscles, but the effort only reminded me how drained I was. The thought of a cool swim in the pool one floorbelow was almost cruel. It was out of reach, like everything else here.

With nothing better to occupy myself, I rifled through the room’s drawers. Most were empty. The few that weren’t held only the essentials. The closet, which I had gone through before, had a small selection of clothes; jeans and T-shirts, all in my size. I hadn’t worn jeans in years. The T-shirts were cheesy, emblazoned with slogans likeBike Cuba.They seemed more like souvenirs than practical clothing, but I wasn’t really complaining.

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