Page 44 of Warrior

“Yes,” I replied with a nod.“Their only operational plane.They have another they’re working on, but it won’t be ready for a few months.”I leaned closer to him and lowered my voice.“They sent food with me as a sign of good faith.They don’t share the good food with their people, though.Only King and his private guard get the good stuff.It was disheartening to see.”

This wasn’t something King and I had discussed, but I wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass without taking a jab at the Federation’s hypocrisy.Their leaders hoarded the best food while the rest were stuck eating endless disgusting gruel.

My words landed as I intended, and I felt a small swell of satisfaction when I caught the almost imperceptible grimace on the president’s face.If I hadn’t been watching him so closely, I might have missed it.

Even though I now believed King’s assessment of my government, the realization stung.Everything I’d been taught to trust and value had been a lie.These men weren’t my friends, and I wasn’t theirs.

I placed a hand on my chest, subtly covering a bit of exposed cleavage.

“President Barnes,” I said, softening my voice, “I’ve had a long few months, and I haven’t slept well since leaving home.I need to eat and see if I can relieve this headache along with the shower to feel clean again.”

To drive my point home, I slid my hand slowly from my neck to my forehead.

His eyes followed the movement like a moth drawn to a flame, and he licked his thin lips.Disgust churned in my stomach, but I held onto my needy expression.

“Yes, of course, Ms.Church,” he replied, his voice overly polite.“We’ve arranged new quarters for you with added privacy.I think you’ll find them to your liking.”He turned his head and motioned to Daniels.“Officer Daniels, see Ms.Church to her room.”

It worked.I’d managed to escape for now, but I knew the reprieve was temporary.

Tomorrow, I’d be back in the hot seat, and the information I’d offer was far from what the president would be hoping for.

I stood and wobbled slightly, playing the bimbo klutz to perfection.

The president grabbed my arm to steady me.“It’s good to have you back, Ms.Church.Rest and prepare for tomorrow.It will be a very long day.”

“The Shadow Warriors, Mr.President?I’ll need to see their leader tomorrow and assure him we’re keeping our word and that they are in no danger.I’d do it now, but I’m just too tired.”

His jaw tightened.“You won’t need to worry about the Shadow Warriors, Ms.Church.We have people in place to deal with them, and they’ll be treated accordingly.You have my word on it.”

Accordingly.Yeah, right.

His word?A complete lie.

“Thank you so much,” I said, forcing a sweet smile.“After I’m clean and catch up on sleep, I’ll be an entirely different person.”

His eyes drifted back to my chest.“I wouldn’t want you to change too much, Ms.Church.”

Obviously when it came to vermin versus breasts, he wasn’t as picky.I wondered what he’d think of my hairy breasts in beast form.

Chapter Fourteen

King

Three planes and three hundred additional Warriors took off on schedule.Beck was on one plane, Nokita on the second, and I led the third.We had different destinations.My plane was delivering me and my men closest to Washington, though still about three hundred miles away.Beck was landing near the northwestern Canadian border, and Nokita would be in the Florida Panhandle.Our mission was to gather information on the human population as we moved closer to Washington.

Falling asleep the first night without Marinah was damned near impossible.Beast wouldn’t settle down and most likely needed a run, but I wanted sleep.We had found an old barn that some of us were using.Others were sleeping outside under mounds of hay to keep warm.

The days were mild, but the nights were bitterly cold.After living in Cuba with its wonderful year-round temperatures, I wasn’t used to this kind of chill.Cold simply was no longer in my vocabulary, or so I told myself.

My worry over Marinah didn’t help my restlessness.If our plan went accordingly, she would prevail quickly, and we would return to the island sooner rather than later.Labyrinth would do everything he could to keep her safe.And she was no lightweight but asking this of her so soon after coming into her Warrior form was unfair.

She’d discovered in our history texts that there had been other female Warriors with her unique ability to control their beasts shortly after their first transformations.Yet still, Marinah was special.I often dwelled on the reason the females left the first colony so soon after landing on Earth.They didn’t agree with the men.Those same men had destroyed the home planet.When they refused to concede to the women’s demands for peace amongst themselves and humans, they had no alternative but to leave.

Compared to male Shadow Warriors, we had little information about the women, but maybe someday, if we could trace Marinah’s mother’s roots and possibly discover more texts written by them, we would know more.Their departure had a huge effect on the men they left behind.It was the catalyst that transformed them from killers into good-natured, hard-working farmers.Maybe it would explain why some of us never fit in with our fathers, who denied their Warrior side and spent most of their lives living as human.

Marinah had changed the way I thought about humans.Even before I knew she was a Warrior, she proved there were good people in the world.Her father had shown me the same truth, and I realized how much I needed a reminder of his lessons.Marinah assured me there were more like her, and I hoped she was right.We needed to find a balance and join our forces again.After so many years of war, I yearned for peace.There had to be a middle ground.

The unknown pieces of the Federation gnawed at me too.They had tried to kill me and Marinah, and then out of the blue requested her return.Why?That question burned inside me even more than thoughts of the past.

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