Chapter 13: King

Cabel, one of my elite guards who was recently married, moves in our direction. "King," he says when he draws closer. His eyes remain down while his wife stops about ten feet behind him and stays there.

"How's married life, Cabel?" I don't look directly at his wife, just keep her in my peripheral vision. The last thing I want to do is kill Cabel if he attacks due to his recent mating. He's my size, but I have no doubt of the outcome if we battled and he wouldn't be walking away in one piece. His hair is dirty blond and he carries our signature blue eyes with a slightly rounder face than mine. I've placed him in charge of our food supply until his beast calms or we go back to war.

When we came to earth hundreds of years ago, my ancestors chose farming as a non-violent way for us to assimilate into the human population. Our own planet was destroyed because of our violent nature and those who survived knew they had to make changes. Farming was that change. We were a carnivorous animal and changing our diet to mostly fruits and vegetables helped tame our beasts. Many of the men think farming is now beneath them because our true natures have returned. I think we can be both. Yes, we could survive off animal protein, but humans cannot.

"Marriage is good for me," he answers with a quick glance behind him at his wife. He immediately moves the discussion to our crops. "We should have a high yield this harvest. More than enough to fill the storage bunkers for another year."

I look out over the fields of green vegetables for as far as my eyes can see. "We may be feeding additional humans soon."

"You planning to help the Federation?" I hear the rumble in his voice. It's how we all feel. Betraying us and killing Greystone was the worst possible thing the humans could do after we saved them.

"I haven't made up my mind. They sent Church's daughter to bargain."

He whistles. "I didn't know he had a daughter."

I continue examining the fields close to us. "She's not exactly a child, and she's most definitely her father's daughter she just doesn't know it. Boot is training her to fight. It gives me time before I make up my mind about the Federation."

"If you decide not to help the humans, you should keep her here. We owe it to Church."

I mull over his words. The Federation is doomed without our help. Marinah would survive if she stayed behind. "We do owe him, but that might not save his daughter."

His eyes meet mine for a split second. Not long enough for Beast to take offense, however. "He died for us and a debt is a debt," he says stubbornly. The thing about Cabel is that he will always have his say and then he will back me even if we're on opposite sides. Before he mated, he was my number two, now Beck is filling the number one and two positions while we wait for Cabel.

I rub two fingers across the scar on my cheek. "She'll be judged by her own actions. We have no idea if she can be trusted. The blood running through her veins will not save her if she intends to betray us." My words are firm and he doesn't argue even though I'm fully aware he doesn't agree with me. The man has been out of combat too long. "Are you training?" I ask when his squirrely attitude finally dawns on me. The tint of red that creeps up his neck is answer enough. "Do I need to remove you from this detail?" It's the last thing I want to do but he needs to keep his fighting edge.

"I'll train tonight."

"And tomorrow and each day after that. You also need to increase your meat intake." There is no room for misunderstanding in my voice. We need farmers, but our best warriors need to remain lethal. Our fathers, who were lifetime farmers, died when we first began helping humans in the war. They didn't remember what it was like to allow their beasts to rule and they had trouble killing. We won't go back to what we were. The new world needs fighting monsters and we will be at the top of the food chain. Mating causes problems and sometimes the women don't understand our volatile nature during the long process. If Cabel hasn't been eating meat or training, he's having trouble controlling himself, which isn't good, but I'll deal with it if it becomes a further problem. I change the subject. "How are the herds?

Shadow Warriors now require meat.

"We have three new calves as of this morning. We're expecting about twenty more. The chicks are producing better and the pigs are getting fat and lazy. A new litter of ten was born yesterday. All survived."

"I'll come by next week to inspect them."

"Maybe you should bring Church's daughter."

He said it low, but Beast didn't like his tone. My fist plows into his jaw with a satisfying crunch. His wife runs forward but Cabel rolls and places his hand out to stop her. "Stay back," he grumbles as he picks himself up from the dirt. His wife stops in her tracks and turns her angry expression on me. She's a feisty Cuban woman and her current attitude proves she might not be the brightest one.

"Lower your eyes, woman," Cabel reprimands harshly.

Her demeanor stays the same, though her gaze shies away. "He has no right to strike you," she says in stilted English.

"He had every right. Go back to the field and check on the group of children we left weeding the carrots."

"You will be eating those carrots and nothing else for a week," she replies before storming off.

Cabel gains his feet. "I meant no disrespect. I think we can coexist with humans. Showing them they're capable of rebuilding their world may not be a bad thing, but I will always defer to your judgment. I meant no disrespect," he repeats.

When I struck him, Beast whispered I should kill him. That's Beast. To him, everything can be solved with murder. I shake my head and pull him back with a few deep breaths, regaining my legendary control. "I may need to kill her. It will be a sure thing if I give her a guided tour of our supplies and harvest."

"Yes, sir."

"Go make peace with your woman. The last thing any of us need is another Maylin or you living off carrots."

He laughs and the mood shifts. Boot's wife, Maylin, is a handful. I walk back to my bike, where Beck waits with his stoic frown on full display. "Do you need me to kill Cabel?"

That's the problem with Beck. He's too much like Beast. For both of them the only way to solve a problem is by killing it. Beck needs to learn to knock a head sideways without death as a correlating factor. "No, and if you touch him without my consent, the human will have two trainers."

He replies with a grunt.

With a slight grimace, I can't help wondering how badly the first day for Boot is going.