Queen (A Genetically Modified Novel Book 4)

by Holly S. Roberts

  Federation soldiers continue pouring into the street. The third and fourth wave are more organized and come in firing. We take cover and allow our archers and snipers to do their damage.

  I’m breathing heavy and finally getting a chance to look for King. A high-pitched voice stops my search. “Take that, you big pile of Federation poop,” comes from my left. It’s Ruth. How did she get out of a locked metal cage?

  I lift my head and look toward the entrance of the side street that circles the citadel. A group of red stripes are a few feet from her, and I don’t think they know what to do. She’s facing them with the short sword I gave her. To make things worse, her sidekick has his own sword raised too. I manage to breathe when King jumps into the mix and the befuddled soldiers fly. I have little time to celebrate my mate saving the day when a huge mortar bomb goes off a few feet away. The wind is knocked out of me, and my head goes fuzzy as my brain tries to adjust to the impact. Dust is settling when I open my eyes, realize I’m still alive, and that another round of mortar artillery is heading in. Several Federation soldiers go down with the blast. At first, I think it’s a friendly fire mistake. Then another round hits and I realize the Federation is firing on their own people along with my Warriors. The soldiers close to me run for cover. What they run into are Shadow Warriors. Screams fill my ears as the young soldiers fall prey to us and their own people.

  My senses snap back and I’m able to understand up from down as a young female soldier runs past me. I grab her leg bringing her to the ground. She bounces off the cement but she’s still alive. I raise a clawed hand. Her horrified expression stops me.

  So young. Eighteen maybe. “Please,” she whispers. For some reason I hesitate. “I won’t fight anymore. I surrender,” she pleads.

  Even with the entreaty, she knows her death is imminent. Her entire body shakes. This is probably her first battle. Without giving it thought, I pull her closer, grab both her arms in one of my claws and bring my forearm down, snapping the bones of both wrists. While she’s screaming, I lift her and run toward where I last saw Ruth and Che. King is about eight feet in front of them, but the kids have their swords out to defend him. I would smile if it weren’t so pathetic.

  The look on King’s face is priceless when he sees me. “She asked for quarter,” I yell above the fighting. I dump her behind King and look at the kid’s faces as they watch the human squirm and gasp on the cement. “You want a job?” I ask them rhetorically because I’m not giving them an option. “Keep her safe and keep your heads down. You always bring firepower to a gunfight, not swords, so now you get to babysit the enemy. I want her in one piece.”

  “We couldn’t carry the big gun,” says Che.

  I don’t know why I even ask. “What big gun?”

  Che’s white teeth flash out of his dirty face. “The one Ruth used to blow a hole in the wall to rescue us. It was awesome.” His small fist slams into his opposite palm and then he flattens his fingers out while making the sound of an explosion. His and Ruth’s dusty bodies show exactly how awesome it was.

  “Someone locked us in,” Ruth says with a sneer.

  Their mothers will kill me. Another explosion goes off and it’s too close for comfort. “Keep her safe,” I yell and take off again.

  “You’re out of your Warrior mind,” King yells after me.

  I look over my shoulder and blow him a kiss as I run toward the soldiers with the mortar artillery. I feel a sting in my side but keep going. Several Shadow Warriors see me and come up from where they’ve taken cover to join the charge.

  From the corner of my eye, I see a Warrior go down from a rifle round to the head. It’s hard to explain the feeling inside me when he dies. A connection is broken. It’s like a piece of my heart is painfully cut out. Another sharp burn hits my shoulder. I’m ten feet from the soldiers when a mortar explosion takes out my radar again. A Shadow Warrior grunts.

  The world slows. Energy ignites inside me, activating Nova. A welcome ache shoots through me. It’s like waking up under warm sheets, stretching and popping your bones. It feels wonderful as I expand to my larger and deadlier self. A fog covers my eyes, making it hard to see clearly. I’m able to pick out each unique sound. I’m connected to some of the people around me. I know where they are, their weapons, their fear. It powers through my head.

  Kill, whispers Ms. Beast.

  I don’t recognize the horrific roar that comes from my throat. The people around me freeze. I shake my massive head and know they will die. A Shadow Warrior runs into my line of sight. No. I turn and find the enemy.

  Nova takes over completely.

  It could be hours or minutes when I become aware of the noises around me. Moans, groans, cries. I hear them but they don’t compute.

  “Marinah,” King says from somewhere far away. “Marinah,” he repeats somewhat more insistent.

  “Kingth?”

  “I’m here, baby.”

  “Dith we win”

  “Yes, we won.”

  Wet stickiness runs down my face. I don’t think it’s sweat. I glance at my hands and see massive clawed appendages covered in blood. They don’t seem to work correctly as I slowly tighten and release them. My lisping voice finally makes sense, and I run my big fat tongue over my huge sharp fangs, licking at blood crusted on my lips. I move my head so I’m looking down when King grunts. I’m tall, I think to myself and giggle though it sounds more like a dog tossing its cookies.

  King’s expression goes from weird to weirder. He’s covered in blood and I want to lick him. Odd. I glance around at the scattered Federation bodies, some moving, others still. The amount of blood and gore make it hard to tell where one limb starts and another begins. It takes me a moment to realize most of the limbs are not attached to bodies. Was I trying to eat them?

  Ms. Beast screams inside me, and a terrible pain spreads throughout my body. The world goes dark.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  King

  I pace outside Axel’s office while he treats Marinah. He kicked me out and blocked the door an hour ago.

  Mate, Beast rumbles.

  I glance at the door in anger, deciding if I should break it down or not. I’m sitting in the infirmary while medical teams work on Warriors and islanders. I should care but my focus is Marinah.

  Earlier, when the fighting stopped, Marinah held her Nova form and didn’t revert to her Beast. I approached her slowly. It took a few minutes before she stopped ripping the soldiers apart. I saw when awareness entered her eyes. She had no idea what she’d done. A moment later, she toppled over. I thought she would change form, but it never happened. There was so much blood from the soldiers she killed, it took a few minutes to figure out she’d been shot. I rushed her to Axel’s infirmary. Before throwing me from the room, he found two bullet wounds, one in her shoulder, one in her side, and an additional knife puncture in her other side.

  I came away from the fight with a knife slash to the arm and two angry kids. Leaving them with another Warrior was all I could do when the mate bond pulled on me. I told the Warrior to sit on them if needed and his life depended on the children staying alive. I could have cared less about the Federation soldier groaning on the ground.

  I made it to Marinah’s side in time to see the last of the Federation soldiers die. She systematically wiped out an entire unit with brutal efficiency, and the soldiers didn’t know what hit them. Once she passed out, I brought her here.

  Beck is in charge of rounding up prisoners. We were able to disable one U.S. ship in the bay, and Nokita is handling salvage. The Federation transferred their personnel from the ship before they left our coast. I’m relieved. Slaughtering mass amounts of people or somehow imprisoning them is not something we want to handle. The soldiers on the island who weren’t killed will be a big enough headache. We also got lucky with another ship as they left our waters and sank it. We also have fifty new Jeeps with mounted artillery along with the smaller Federation boats.

  They didn’t use plane
s, but they’ll learn from that mistake. I can’t help wondering if this initial strike was a test. One way or another the Federation is coming for us, and we need to end this before they figure out a way around our defenses. There are too many unknowns, and it’s a dangerous position for us to be in.

  I glance at the door, wondering what’s taking so long.

  “Is she alive?” asks Che.

  Che stands at the door of the infirmary with Ruth behind him. “I thought I told you both to stay put,” I say warily. “Are you capable of obeying an order?” I’m being unfair; they’re young. I’m worried about Marinah.

  Ruth’s face goes red, and Che’s lips tremble, making me feel worse. What a big bad beast I am. I can even scare children. Without saying another word, I march to Axel’s door and slam my fist into it. Two small kids walk up beside me.

  Ruth’s head cocks in my direction, her hand on the butt of a gun resting in a holster on her hip. “You want me to shoot it down?” she asks.

  I should run. I continue ignoring her and hammer the door again. A very tired Axel finally opens it. “If you could have given me two additional minutes, I was letting you in.”

  I shove past him and stride to Marinah who is sitting up, though hunched over, on the examination table. She’s my Marinah again. The only reminder of her Nova is the stretched leather that hangs from her shoulders. I pull her into my chest, but she doesn’t lift her arms.

  “You okay, baby?” I ask carefully.

  She shudders against me and sinks further into my body. I’m still in Warrior form and carefully run my hand over her back. My claws encounter the edge of a bandage and I pull back, gently raising her face so I’m looking into her eyes. They’re desolate.

  “What is it?” I ask softly.

  She turns her head away. “Something is going on inside me. Ms. Beast is acting strange. My Nova acted strange.”

  I glance at Axel over Marinah’s head.

  He shrugs. “She started mumbling about something being wrong before she completely woke up. I don’t know what it means. I’ve removed the bullets, stitched the knife wound, and cleaned the road rash. I’m unsure what to do now.” He looks at my arm. “You need stitches.”

  I grunt.

  Marinah is watching us, saying nothing. This should be the doctor’s first clue that something is terribly wrong.

  She takes my hand and offers a short smile. “Sit here and let him stitch you up.” She points at the empty space on the examination table beside her.

  I look around and see a more comfortable chair in the corner. I lift Marinah and carry her there. Two small heads peer around the corner of the door. I give them my Beast stare, and they quickly back out. I’m too weary to deal with them right now.

  Axel pushes a tray on wheels over to me and disinfects my shoulder. Marinah lies in my arms quietly, her head pressed into my shoulder. Axel does his job and when he’s finished, I stand and carry her to our room. Post battle work can wait.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Marinah

  We’ve been lying in bed for an hour, King’s warm arms wrapped tightly around me. He hasn’t asked questions except wanting to know if I needed anything. I’m using this quiet time to meditate.

  In my mind, I take Bertha apart and put her back together with fine-tuned precision. I can feel the parts in my hands as I go through the movements. I inhale deeply, allowing my mind to drift. I’m taken immediately to what happened earlier.

  My body went Nova without conscious thought. This doesn’t surprise me. She comes out to play when she’s needed. I don’t know how to explain what happened after the killing stopped. I remember what felt like a kick to my gut knocking the wind out of me. Before I could grasp what was happening, searing pain filled my insides and Ms. Beast screamed.

  I push the memory of the pain aside and search deeper. My brain flashes. Ms. Beast stares back at me. She growls.

  There’s something in her mouth. It drops at my feet and the pages flutter open. It’s my grandmother’s journal.

  “How you doing, baby?” King whispers in my ear, startling me.

  “I was meditating,” I grumble into his shoulder.

  He pushes hair off my face and smiles. “You must be feeling better. “What do you remember?”

  “Death. I think I might have eaten someone.”

  He gives me a small squeeze. “You didn’t like their limbs attached, but you didn’t eat anyone, I promise.”

  “Eating people would be bad.”

  “There are worse things.”

  “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  I barely have time to make it to the bathroom before I upchuck the contents of my stomach. When the first violent round stops, I have about two minutes before another begins.

  King holds my hair. “I’m taking you back to Axel.”

  I don’t reply because I’m too busy keeping my guts inside my body. “I need to read my grandmother’s journal.”

  “There’s something wrong and your grandmother’s journal won’t fix it.”

  He’s such a stubborn man.

  I’m finally able to walk back to the bed with King’s assistance. He leaves the room once I’m settled and says he’s bringing Axel to me. I open my grandmother’s journal and do something I haven’t done yet; I ruffle through pages, turning them until I see the home planet’s word for Nova. I pull out the alien dictionary and begin deciphering.

  By the time Axel arrives, I’m feeling better and I’ve moved to the table to make writing easier. I scribble directly above my grandmother’s words and read each sentence as soon as it’s transcribed.

  Axel takes my vitals, and I keep working. He says something to King and leaves. I have no idea how much time passes when food arrives. I eat everything and send King to the kitchen for more.

  I eat, read, and translate. King tries to talk to me, and I wave him away. I have no idea the time and lift my head off my arms, realizing I fell asleep. King’s no longer in the room, and the dishes from our meal are gone. It feels like it’s late. I walk to the bed and fall into it.

  ∞∞∞

  I wake up in the warm cushion of King’s arms. He’s awake and staring at me.

  “How is the soldier?” I ask groggily.

  He knows who I mean. “She survived. Axel performed surgery on one wrist and put both in casts. What do you plan on doing with her?”

  My heart is heavy. “I’m not sure.” I roll so I’m facing King. “I couldn’t kill her. Even Ms. Beast couldn’t do it.”

  “Hmm.”

  He almost has me smiling, but then I remember the pain of losing our men. “How many of our people died?”

  “Your people. Seven Warriors, no humans.”

  I ache at the news. “Who?”

  King recites the names. It hurts. Two of them have families. One just became a new father. I sit up partially. “The men need us. What are we doing in here?”

  King locks his arms around me again and pulls me back into bed. “You can read your grandmother’s journal, but you are not leaving this room until you’re healed. It’s not up for discussion.”

  I want to argue. His hard, calculating eyes tell me I won’t win. “The men need to see me,” I try one last time.

  His expression doesn’t change. “The men know you’re injured. They also know you saved us. They will not think less of you because you need to recover.”

  I stop arguing with a loud huff.

  King smiles. “You won’t feel as grumpy after you eat.”

  Like with Ruth, I need to pick my battles. This one will only exhaust me, and I’ll still lose. I can’t believe I’m allowing him to alpha me.

  ∞∞∞

  I’m a good little queen until the next day. King left early ordering me not to leave the room until after lunch. Sticking out my tongue had no effect though it did earn me another swift kiss. I took a long shower to relieve my sore muscles and cleaned the tray of food that was delivered at breakfast and again at lunch. In betwe
en those times, I deciphered the journal.

  Finally, I fasten my gear and leave the room. My first stop is the armory where I have punishments to dole out.

  Che and Ruth are in the middle of the wall remodel when I arrive. Ruth barks out orders like a drill sergeant. “If it was this easy to blast through, you need better materials. We need steel in these walls, or it will only happen again.” The Warriors ignore her.

  If they bite her head off, I’ll think of a lenient punishment. One of the men notices me and stops working. The others turn. Their expressions all request the same thing. “Save us!”

  “Ruth, Che, come with me.” I don’t wait for them to follow. They need their butts chewed, but it won’t happen in front of the Warriors, although I have a suspicion the men would enjoy it.

  I take them down the hall into one of our meeting rooms.

  Che wraps his arms around my leg when he catches up. I place my hand on his back and rub his head with the other while taking a deep breath, thankful these two monsters survived.

  “You don’t look so good,” says Ruth with a squint in her eyes as she takes inspection, her eyes traveling from my boots to the top of my head.

  “I don’t feel that good either so be nice to me, please.” No, that didn’t sound whiny at all.

  She crosses her arms and taps her foot.

  “What?” I ask sharply.

  “Do I get a hug?”

  I pull her into my arms breathing in their young scent. I love these two brats. I release them after thirty seconds and point to the chairs. “Sit.”

  Ruth saves her harassment until after we’re seated. “Uh-oh, we’re in trouble, aren’t we?” She wraps her arms around herself and gives an exaggerated shudder. It would be satisfying to smack the cocky out of her.