Page 56 of Beast

I turned and gave her my full, hard-eyed attention.“I will answer this question once and only once.In this gym, my word is law.I won’t be questioned about what I tell you to do.If you don’t like it, there’s the door.If you’re unclear on something, you have permission to ask respectfully.Anything else will earn you punishment.”Her attitude deflated a little under my gaze.“As for the sword, mine is against the wall.A warrior never goes anywhere without her sword.If someone needs saving, we need our weapons close at hand.”

Her eyes began to shine with excitement.She’d never be a Shadow Warrior, but our new world needed humans who could fight.Ruth would be a soldier by the time I finished training her.

We started the session, and I used the same techniques that had been used on me back when I struggled with simple things like keeping my balance.Ruth turned out to be a great student and soaked up the attention.I’d expected complaints, but to my surprise, there were few.When she did complain, I dealt with it using a sharp look and a set of pushups.

When we finished, I went over the warmup she’d be doing before I entered the gym each day.“You will do these, unless something comes up that I can’t get out of, I will meet you in the gym at six in the morning.You’ll arrive earlier and be ready to start the moment I walk through the door.If I’m more than thirty minutes late, you’ll know I have something more important to attend to, and you can leave.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she said.

“Good job today.Next week, we’ll start working with weapons.”

Her eyes lit up again.“Will you teach me to shoot?”

“Eventually,” I said with a small smile.

I walked over to the bag I’d brought in and handed it to her.“I found this for you.It’s not much, and you’re probably too old for it, but I wanted to bring you something special since we had to delay your training.”

She didn’t even know what was in the bag, but the look in her eyes told me I’d done good.She opened it slowly, like it might break.When she pulled the doll out, her eyes went huge.One moment she was holding the doll, and the next her arms were wrapped around me, and she was crying.

I held her close.“At least tell me you like it.”

“I love it so much,” she said, her muffled words pressed against my stomach.After one last squeeze, she ran from the room, the doll clenched tightly in her arms.

She was still a child who had to deal with adult matters because it was the world we lived in.I was glad I went with my gut and brought the doll.

By hiding out to avoid what came next, I had killed as much time as I possibly could.It was time to find King and face the music.My life sucked so badly right now.

Chapter Twenty-Six

King

Marinah’s avoidance didn’t bother me.She needed time to think through her new responsibilities.What she didn’t understand was that she was a leader, and she was strong enough to command the Shadow Warriors.I remembered my own doubts in the beginning.They ate me alive.The difference was that Marinah had me at her side.I wouldn’t let her flounder.

Labyrinth began testing the whistles after I passed along Marinah’s orders.I informed my guard that Marinah didn’t have any meetings or training planned for the day.

“You told her who she is?”Beck asked.

“She took it as well as expected.”

“That bad?”

“It could have been worse.”Then again, so could the earthquake that took down San Francisco in 1906 but I kept that piece of wisdom to myself.

“You want us twiddling our thumbs?”Labyrinth asked.

The man was a lummox, and I doubted thumb-twiddling was even in his skill set.“Until we have our orders, go for it.”

He nodded, lifted his massive hands, and twiddled those monstrous thumbs.That’s when Marinah walked into the conference room.The men immediately came to attention, and it hit me.I needed to stop calling them my guard.These men belonged to Marinah now.

She gave the men a little finger wave and walked to her usual seat, which was not at the head of the table.She shot the empty chair a scowl for good measure, and thankfully, no one snickered.

“Is this an official meeting?”I asked sincerely, keeping my voice as even as possible.

She ground her teeth hard enough to break them before answering.“Do cows fly?Of course, this is an official meeting.Everyone’s here.”

Someone’s workout might not have gone too well.There was no way I would point out that Axel was missing.

We took out our knives and jammed them into the wood.She gave us an evil glare, then sat.We followed her example.I didn’t take the head seat either.If Marinah wasn’t sitting there, it would remain empty.She glared at me, then finally placed her arms on the table, lifted her hands, and sank her head into them.

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