Page 37 of Shadow

So why was I resisting him this time?

Females were a mystery to us. A rarity we had lost.

Since we came to Earth, there hadn’t been a single female birth among Shadow Warriors. When we mated with human women, the children were always male. Something in our biology shifted after we arrived here, ensuring that only boys would be born to our kind when mating outside our species.

My ancestors’ ship was one of two out of twenty that made it to Earth. What happened to the others remained a mystery.

My great-great-grandfather left with two hundred adults and one hundred children. By the time they reached this planet, only half had survived.

They had tried to settle on another world that seemed hospitable, but it ended in tragedy, leaving the males alive while killing all but a handful of women. By the time they landed here, the number of men exceeded the women ten to one.

Our history was meticulously recorded, stored in the volumes each ship carried. These texts told of a time before Earth, before the Great Exodus.

On our home planet, few women carried the gene that produced K-5, the substance that allowed us to shift. Those who did were extraordinary warriors whose strength rivaled our own.

Only one in a hundred women possessed the gene, and those who did were revered. We eventually lost all our women, which meant no female children. When we mated with human women, they gave birth to strong boys. Boys who grew into beasts.

In some ways, that made our transition to Earth easier. Even among the conflicts and divisions of our past, women were sacred. As the bearers of life, they were protected above all else.

We honored that legacy, even as we adapted to a world that no longer offered the same balance.

But Marinah… she was different.

And I couldn’t shake the feeling that she might hold answers to questions I had been afraid to ask. That was why I insisted on a female liaison officer from the Federation. A woman would have been easier to protect.

Or so I thought.

Marinah, however, was proving to be a challenge and I needed to understand what drove Beast to the brink whenever other men were near her.

When Boot slung her over his shoulder, Beast didn’t object. It was the first time one of the men touched her in my presence without triggering his anger. But later, when they were laughing together, Beast exploded.

Why?

“You seem deep in thought,” Marinah interrupted, her voice pulling me back. “Dare I hope you are reconsidering how long you plan to keep me here? Trust isn’t built overnight, and we don’t know how much time we have before the hellhounds return.”

I glanced at her, noting the stubborn set of her jaw. It reminded me of her father.

“For us to help you, certain conditions must be met before I share anything. Once our secrets are revealed, I can’t guarantee they won’t be used against us.”

She nodded, her eyes holding a stubborn glint. “The Federation has its own secrets that could leave us vulnerable if you decided to turn on us. That’s what worried them before you gained this island.”

Maybe we were finally reaching the root of the issue.

“The Federation actually believed we’d attack them?” I asked, incredulously.

Her face gave her away.

Of course, they did.

Her government’s paranoia was staggering. All we’d ever wanted was safety and peace for our people. If the Federation left us alone, we’d do the same.

I waved a hand to cut off whatever prepackaged response she was about to deliver.

“Did your president agree to you sharinganysecrets at all?”

She shrugged, and I caught a flicker of irritation. “My president gave me full permission to say or doanythingthat might convince you to help us again.”

My eyebrows lifted. “Anything?”

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