Page 63 of Shadow

Her voice lowered slightly, tinged with bitterness. “Of course, I’m the only one who no longer holds that status now that my father is dead. Honestly, I don’t think they expected meto survive five minutes after I arrived here. The only thing I’ve ever done as Secretary of Defense was board that plane to meet you. If I go home, even if I somehow manage to secure a peace treaty, I’ll probably be demoted. And I doubt I’d be reassigned to my old analytics job.”

Her honesty always caught me off guard. It was raw and unflinching, just like her father’s had been.

“What will your new job be?” I asked, dreading the answer.

She didn’t hesitate. “Red stripe.”

The words hit me like a gut punch. I knew all too well what the red stripe system entailed. The hellhounds slaughtered indiscriminately, and the Federation used red stripes as decoys to keep the beasts occupied while the military took out as many as possible. The death toll was always catastrophic. Once the “killing supply” ran out, the military sent in their best. The hounds that escaped disappeared, usually burrowing underground until they emerged again to wreak havoc.

I had never liked the Federation’s system, and neither had Marinah’s father.

Most red stripes were brainwashed to believe it was their duty to die for their country. It was a twisted sacrifice wrapped in patriotism.

Marinah wouldn’t last a day.

“Is there some kind of special Kool-Aid you drink before signing up for that duty?” I asked, my tone sharp enough to cut.

Her laughter surprised me. It was genuine despite the topic. “It’s called giving up, if you must know,” she said. “A lot of our young people put in for red stripe duty. The powers that be think of it as an honorary sacrifice, but it isn’t, not really. Living in constant fear wears you down. Sometimes, it feels easier to go out knowing you’ve been useful.”

Her gaze drifted away, fixing on the water. The breeze caught her scarf, and for a moment, the meaning of her words lingered between us.

I couldn’t wrap my head around her thinking. My Warriors and I would fight to the death if necessary, but we wouldn’t sacrifice ourselves recklessly.Forward or diemight be our motto, but we tempered it with strategy. The most critical part of any fight was surviving to face the next one, even if it meant retreat.

Humans, though, confused me endlessly.

“Here,” I said, handing her a sandwich. “I hope you don’t mind chicken.”

She smiled as she took it, her fingers brushing mine. The spark of awareness that flashed between us was as familiar as it was unacknowledged. We had both become experts at ignoring it.

“You have no idea how good meat tastes to me now,” she said, biting into the sandwich with enthusiasm. Her eyes closed briefly as she sighed, savoring the flavor. “I’m craving it morning, noon, and night.”

I smirked. “Shadow Warriors are omnivores with a heavy dose of carnivorous. When we don’t get the right kind of protein, we get cranky.”

She paused mid-chew and raised an eyebrow. “Cranky?” A small smile tugged at her lips. “Noted. I’ll make meat a priority if you’re willing to fight with us.”

And just like that, she deftly steered the conversation back to negotiations. The cat-and-mouse game began again.

“And since we’re negotiating,” she continued, her tone calculated, “what else would you like?”

I decided to play along this time, matching her measured tone. “We want an embassy, run by our people, near your capital.”

Her eyes widened slightly, betraying her surprise at my willingness to engage. “I don’t think that would be a problem,” she said after a moment. “I’m sure you could’ve negotiated that before taking over the island.”

The unhappy grunt that escaped me wasn’t planned. “We didn’t come to Cuba as a bargain. We came to avoid annihilating humans altogether. Negotiating wasn’t exactly on our to-do list.” I paused, meeting her gaze evenly. “We have no interest in taking over your country. What we want is to ensure our own survival. And to do that, we have to find a way to work with the Federation.”

The wind carried the sound of the ocean between us, but her expression said she was considering my words carefully. I allowed the silence to stretch, content to let her make the next move.

Her body tensed slightly, a subtle shift she was probably unaware of. “I have the liberty to offer you pretty much anything you ask for,” she said, matter-of-factly but tinged with something deeper. “I’m probably not supposed to tell you that, but I think you should shoot for the moon and see where it gets you.”

“You sound like your father,” I replied.

Her fingers stopped fidgeting with the loose thread on the blanket, and she looked up, meeting my gaze. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” she said softly, a flicker of something vulnerable in her expression before she glanced away.

Beast grumbled low in my chest, a constant reminder of his unresolved unease with her. Whatever his issue was, it was going beyond irritating and crossing the line intopissing me off.

We finished our sandwiches in silence, washing them down with the water I’d brought. When I stood, Marinah rose aswell, grabbing the blanket to shake out the sand. Her foot caught in the fabric, and she stumbled forward, straight into my arms.

If she hadn’t tried to pull away so quickly, I might have thought she planned it. My arms tightened around her instinctively, pulling her closer. The scent of her sun-warmed hair filled my senses, igniting something in me I didn’t fully understand.

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