Page 31 of Warrior

I glanced back at him and realized, belatedly, that I’d forgotten about the mating frenzy.

“My bad,” I said sheepishly, taking a step back.Turning to King, I placed a quick kiss on his cheek before sitting down again.

“Why would the Federation mess with a satellite when they know the consequences?”I asked, directing my question to King this time.

Radio, microwaves, infrared, gamma rays, and ultraviolet waves all attracted hellhounds.Only an idiot would use any of those.

“The Federation’s goal,” King explained carefully, “is to control the world.They don’t care about individual people.They’ve been experimenting with ways to keep their signals undetectable, but our guess is they’ve failed.It’s why the hellhounds are heading to the U.S.The Federation attracted them with their stupid games.”

“It’s not like there’s much world to control,” I said sharply, not wanting to think worse of my government.

“They’ve convinced you that other countries in the world were wiped out, but it’s not true,” King replied.“We’ve had communications from Australia, the UK, and parts of Russia.The U.S.isn’t the only country in this hemisphere either.There are decent-sized populations in Canada and Mexico.”

I stared at King, stunned.I tried to wrap my head around it.Months ago, to my horror, he’d explained how the hellhounds originated.Then he told me the Federation had tried to kill him numerous times.Their evil nature was slowly sinking in, and it was becoming harder and harder to deny it.

The Federation enticing hellhounds to the U.S.made my stomach churn.This meant my entire analytics job had been a lie, starting with the information they’d fed me from the beginning.

I shook my head.It wasn’t quite denial, but I was seriously struggling.

King wasn’t finished.“The Federation turned the U.S.into what communist Cuba was before the war.They controlled everything from what you ate to what you read with spoon-fed lies from the very beginning.They’ve brainwashed the surviving humans under their authority by using fear to control them.Fear of hellhounds, fear of other humans not under their fist, and fear of Shadow Warriors.”His irises darkened, and his gaze pressed down on me.“It’s all a lie, Marinah.”

I closed my eyes, struggling to calm the raging storm building within me.King had no reason to lie.I was one of them now, one of the Shadow Warriors.I’d had doubts about my analytics job but was too afraid to confide in anyone.Everything King told me only substantiated those doubts.The world I thought I knew crumbled a little more under the weight of the truth.

When I opened my eyes, King was sitting in silence, giving me the space to sort through my spiraling thoughts.

“They really tried to kill you?”I asked.

“Yes,” he said simply.“And they tried to kill you.”

“What do I do?”The question felt enormous, and the new me, the Warrior, hated that I even asked.Shadow Warrior.Kill enemy.Thanks, Ms.Obvious.

My beast gave a small, pointed grumble and jabbed at my kidneys to punctuate her opinion.

“You answer their questions correctly, make them think you’re on their side, and then you return,” Beck said.

I looked at King.The same answer was in his eyes.

“Without you?”I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

“Yes.”

A wave of fury hit so hard I almost fell from my chair.“No.”The word forced through the red fog filling my vision.

“I’ll meet you at the citadel,” Beck told King.

His voice had grown distant.It was the last thing I heard before Ms.Beast surged forward, taking over.

“You need to run, Marinah,” King said, but I didn’t wait for him.

I bolted from the room, charging toward the shore, needing to put miles between me and the pain I felt.

My country’s corruption was too much to ignore, but I’d never seen proof.In so many ways, King had tried to show me, and I hid from the truth, not wanting to believe my country could be so malicious.I was a fool.I needed to listen to King with an open mind and see it for myself.

And now, I had to return there without my mate.

If they discovered I was a Shadow Warrior, they’d kill me.Or worse, study me like a lab rat.The thought sent a shiver down my spine.

I didn’t know if I could do it.

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