Page 58 of Beast

Her fingers splayed on the table, likely to keep from forming fists.I held back a smile, enjoying the rare sight of someone else handling this kind of crap.“If we do it your way, we might as well kill all the humans and take over the fucking world.Wait.If we did that, we’d have no one left to control.”She added an exaggerated eye roll for effect, then turned to Nokita.“Next.”

Nokita looked at me and winked.Marinah was doing exactly what she claimed she couldn’t, and she didn’t even realize it.

“There are two hundred Warriors at the outposts,” he said.“We need to make plans to switch them monthly.”

“Good.”Marinah smiled, looking like she was getting the hang of things.I stopped myself from rolling my eyes.“You’re in charge of that,” she added.

She took another deep breath and glanced around the table.“Where’s Axel?”

“He’s testing something with the whistles,” Beck grunted.“He says as soon as he has more information, you’ll be the first to know.”

The queen didn’t like that, and her eyes became small pinpoints of fire.“He will be at tomorrow’s meeting.Eight sharp.He will give me an update then.See to it because I thought the whistles were Labyrinth’s duty.”She shot an evil look at the man in question then stretched her arms above her head like we’d been in a meeting for hours instead of thirty minutes.“Is there anything else we need to cover?”she asked with a yawn.

Four sets of eyes stared back at her in silence.

“Alrighty then.Meeting over.”She jumped up like her seat was on fire and flew out of the room.

“This will take a bit of getting used to,” Beck said after the door closed.

I stared at the door.“She’ll get the hang of it.She’s fighting it now.I had rage on my side when I took over, which made it easier.”

Beck grinned.“Oh, she’s got plenty of rage.We’re just glad you’ll be the one getting the brunt of it.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Marinah

They were laughing at me, and I couldn’t blame them.

I could not lead thousands of men, scratch that, Shadow Warriors.I had no idea what I was doing.The entire meeting replayed in my head.They were like children, and I couldn’t believe I was supposed to point them in a direction and tell them what to do.

Stupid.

And King had been doing this for years.

Nokita had offhandedly mentioned Cosway as I left the room, and it reminded me I needed to check on her.I started my search and eventually gave up and asked one of the door guards.He pointed me to the outside courtyard, where I found her playing with the kittens.

“Pretty butterfly,” she said when she noticed me.

She was a pretty butterfly herself now.Soap, water, and good food had transformed her.She looked younger, and someone had even worked on her teeth.I guessed her to be in her mid-twenties.“Hi, Cosway.Do you mind if I join you and play with the kittens?”

She pushed the calico in my direction, and I caught him before he could scamper off.“He likes the pretty butterfly.”

“I like him,” I said, cradling the little guy in my arms.He started purring the moment I scratched his soft, round belly.

“You keep him.He is yours,” she said simply.

It was more than I’d heard her say since we found her.“King might not agree with you.I don’t think he likes cats.”

She snapped her fingers, her expression turning serious.“King no say.”

I thought about it.“You know what?You’re right.Yes, I want this little,” I tipped the precious bundle over to adjust my hold, “girl.Are you sure you don’t mind?”

I should have realized the kitten was a girl since calicos usually were.I guessed I’d been around too many men lately; everything defaulted to male.It would be nice to have another female in my life.

“Pretty butterfly needs kiddie,” she said with conviction.

I lifted the little gal and stared into her blue eyes.“You need a name.I’ll think about it, and when I come for you, I’ll have something that works.”

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