“Be at peace, my friend,” I said quietly.
“No,” Marinah demanded.Labyrinth’s gaze remained on hers, and his massive jaws opened.“If you have a boy, name him after me.”
The light in his eyes faded.
Marinah made a low sound that sent chills across my skin.She gathered him in her arms and made the sound again.Even in her grief, she knew she couldn’t alert Federation soldiers.
In the distance, I heard the plane’s engines and exhaled in relief.
I had to get Marinah back to the island.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Marinah
Ms.Beast paced inside me, her feet stomping angrily across Nova’s intestines.Protect, she whispered over and over, her voice a constant pressure in my mind.I sat at the back of the plane, holding tightly to Labyrinth.Somehow, he was meshed with the baby inside my brain.I had to get Labyrinth to Axel.Axel would fix him.He had to.
For a brief moment, I tried shifting back to human form.The pain was unbearable, and it simply wouldn’t happen.Keeping Labyrinth safe was more important than my discomfort.My mate checked on me often, and I bared my teeth at him.I couldn’t sleep.Internally, I begged Labyrinth to hold on and glared at the men when they looked at me.I disregarded the sadness in their eyes.They knew nothing.
When we landed on the island airfield, a vehicle waited.Carefully, I stood with Labyrinth, cradling him as I carried him to the Jeep.Even during the drive to the citadel, I didn’t let him go, keeping his limp body on my lap.
My thoughts were fragmented.Nova was in control, and I finally understood something I hadn’t before.She wasn’t just about rage and destruction.She was part of me—a side that had always been there.
Protect,Ms.Beast whispered again.
I carried Labyrinth into the citadel, taking him straight to the infirmary.Axel looked up from a young man he was treating as I entered.Gently, I rolled Labyrinth onto one of the beds, but his body didn’t land right.He was stiff, too stiff.Axel walked over; concern etched on his face.
“Fixth,” I said, the word slurred between my fangs.
Axel hesitated, glancing over my shoulder.I turned and saw my mate standing there, no expression on his face.
“Fixth,” I demanded again, louder this time.All eyes in the room were now on me.
“Marinah,” Axel said with so much sorrow.“I can’t fix him.”
The words snapped something inside me.My hand shot out, claws curling inward just in time, and I struck Axel in the chest with my fist.He flew back several feet, crashing into a tray of supplies.
I stepped toward him, rage boiling beneath my skin, but my mate’s hand landed firmly on my shoulder.“He’s gone, Marinah,” he said gently, but it didn’t quite break through the haze.
“No.Fixth!”I roared, my voice shaking the room.
“Give her something,” my mate snapped at Axel as he struggled to stand.
“I can’t,” Axel said, his voice filled with regret.
“If you don’t, I’ll send you across the room again, and this time you won’t get up so fast,” King yelled, his anger no longer contained.
I turned to look at Labyrinth on the bed, and his lifeless form blurred in my vision.My head spun, and my knees buckled.I thought I felt my mate catch me, but I couldn’t be sure.Everything went dark.
∞∞∞
A nightmare jolted me awake.
I was in our room, disoriented for a moment.Then my thoughts went to King.Rolling over, I saw him sitting beside the bed in a chair he’d pulled close.His blue eyes were dark, simmering with anger, and they suggested terrible things.I lifted my hands.I had human fingers, no claws.My gaze flicked back to King.
“You said nothing,” he said with accusation.
“Axel told you,” I replied evenly.
