Page 7 of Beast

I closed the door and walked away after Che stepped inside.The loss of Boot rolled over me, landing like a punch in the gut.On top of that, I worried about Marinah constantly.Just when I thought we were making progress, she’d act impulsively and terrify me all over again.She’d come so far, but handling her required a delicate balance of compassion, resolve, and aggravation.She was quite good at pushing my buttons.Not just mine, but everyone’s.Strike that.She lived for it.

In a way, she was like Ruth.Being a Shadow Warrior didn’t make her invincible, and I did my best to remind myself of the patience Greystone showed when he trained me as a teenager.It had to have been worse.Still, Marinah was so much stronger than she realized.She just didn’t know how to harness that strength, to focus it.Instead, she let her past mistakes dictate her actions, carrying the weight of her own self-doubt.She hated the idea of anyone thinking she was weak.We don’t.That weight was all hers.

The thought of her reckless behavior, such as nearly severing her fingers, sent an involuntary surge of K-5 through my system, my muscles tightening with the rush.I hadn’t been able to show my frustration because it only made matters worse.The surge increased.

“King?”Nokita’s voice called from the end of the hall.

I growled low, launching myself at him without thought.He took the hit, crashing to the floor.Nokita was smart enough to stay down as I turned and stormed off, stomping into my bedroom and slamming the door behind me.If he had any sense, he wouldn’t follow.

My body began to shift, melding back into human form as I took a long, deep breath, forcing my human side to take over.The first year of mating was volatile enough under normal circumstances.If the world weren’t falling apart, Marinah and I would have been closed off from everyone, left alone for a year to let our hormones settle.But as things stood, we didn’t have that luxury.

I peeled off my filthy pants and leather harness before stepping into the shower, letting the water wash away some of my anger.It took a good twenty minutes to calm myself.After getting out, I ordered food from the kitchen.Marinah would be hungry when she returned.

An hour later, I was still tapping my foot when she walked into the room, looking as exhausted as I’d expected.We’d been burning the candle at both ends, and the toll showed.

I stood and pulled her into my arms.“I’m guessing the hel—” I corrected myself, “Ruth is still in one piece?”

“Go ahead, call her Hellspawn.That’s what she is,” Marinah said, a soft growl edging her words as she pressed against me.“She’s also my new student, and I’ll be putting her through her paces just like Boot did with me.”

I breathed into her hair, the tension in my body and mind easing as Marinah’s presence mellowed the savage beast.“I doubt her mother will like that,” I murmured.Ruth might be the Hellspawn, but Missy, her mother, was the one who’d spawned her.The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

Marinah kept her head against my chest, her shoulders lifting slightly in a shrug.“Ruth’s first assignment is to get her mother’s permission.That poor woman doesn’t stand a chance.Ruth manipulated me until she got exactly what she wanted, and I’m sure Che was in on it too.”

“You don’t have time to train her,” I said.

Her body stiffened at my authoritative tone, but I didn’t let her go.Sparks were probably flying from her eyes.Thankfully, she didn’t pull away.“I don’t have time to chase her around the island, either,” she shot back.“And she endangers Che, which I can’t allow.She’ll be too tired to move, much less chase hellhounds, when I’m through with her.The entire island will thank me.”

I still couldn’t see how this was going to work, but I knew it wasn’t the time to argue.I leaned back and met her fiery gaze, forcing myself to refocus.“Dinner is on the way, and you need to shower.Che is in his room for the night.I’ve had food sent to him, and it’ll give him some time to think about the trouble he’s caused.”

“I’ll deal with Che later,” she said, already heading to the bathroom.She tossed her clothes onto the floor as she walked, a clear sign of how exhausted she was.I caught a fleeting glimpse of a very naked Marinah before the door shut behind her.I groaned.Beast groaned.When it came to mating, we were in perfect agreement.

I shook my head.Training Ruth wouldn’t help matters.Marinah had too much on her plate already, and this could push her over the edge.

A knock at the door snapped me from my thoughts.“Enter,” I called, bracing myself for whatever came next.

The heavy wooden door slammed against the wall as Beck barreled into the room.I didn’t need to guess why he was here.

“The last thing that child needs are lessons in killing hellhounds,” he snapped.“She isn’t a Warrior and has no business being anywhere near those monsters.Why would your mate even suggest such a thing?”

I shoved aside my lingering sexual frustration and the fleeting plans I’d had to join Marinah in the shower and gave Beck my full attention.“I take it Ruth talked Missy into allowing her to train with Marinah?”

Beck huffed loudly and threw himself into a chair.“They’re having an all-out war about it right now.It was too dangerous to hang around, so I came here to hide until the fireworks and nuclear explosions settle.I had no idea kids were this difficult.”

I fought back a smile.Beck’s sudden leap into family life wasn’t something anyone had seen coming.Missy had shot him out of the sky when he was parachuting into U.S.territory.After he survived both the shot and the rough landing, Ruth had tried to convince her mom to give Ruth the gun and let her shoot him again.Thankfully, Missy had a backbone and refused her little psychopath of a child.

Keeping my expression neutral, I said, “That kid could single-handedly take out the entire hellhound population, and you know it.If the hellhounds hadn’t already started leaving the island before Ruth arrived, I’d swear they were running from her now.”

Beck swiped his hand over his face, leaning back in the chair and covering his eyes.“She has no idea she’s just a kid.”

“She stopped being a child the day her father died,” I said evenly.“Same as the rest of us.When this whole thing started, children were the largest casualties.The ones who learned to fight are the lucky ones.And if they were very lucky, they survived.”

The next part of what I needed to say wasn’t easy, mostly because I was nowhere near sold on the idea myself.“The Hellspawn needs constant supervision, rules she’ll actually follow, and something to keep her out of trouble.This might be the perfect solution.”

Beck pulled his hands from his face, staring at me with undisguised horror.Beast grumbled low in my chest, but I calmed him with an internal nudge.Fifteen seconds passed, entirely too long before Beck grunted and looked away, clearly unsettled.

The sound of the water shutting off caught my attention, and I glanced toward the bathroom door.“My mate will be out of the shower shortly,” I said evenly, “and if she’s naked, chances are good I’ll kill you.”

Beck shot out of the chair like it had caught fire.He was dealing with his own mating rage, and public interactions weren’t doing him any favors.As my second, his volatile energy only added fuel to my already unstable mood.“I think I’ll go for a swim,” he muttered, throwing open the door and stalking out.

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