Page 49 of The Monster's Desire

My beast perks up. He likes the idea of hunting the little witch, especially of watching her when she’s unaware.

“How is this possible?” River says.

All four of our eyes fly to Milania.

“That’s going to be a problem.” Knight raises his eyebrows at Wraith.

The reaper still cradles Nadia to his chest, but he raises a hand, snapping. Everything in the room freezes, except for the four of us and, possibly, Nadia. It’s impossible to tell with her passed out.

“Holding time is going to drain me faster than I want to leave her.” Wraith sighs heavily.

“What the fuck?” Echo studies the very still Milania. “Did you do this?”

“Do what?” I move closer, checking her out with renewed interest, since everyone seems concerned.

“Does it not bother you being butt-ass naked, with your cock swinging?” Knight snorts, swiping a hand over his face.

“No,” I say simply. My nose twitches as I approach, but it’s the elongation of Milania’s face and the pointed ears that have me staggering back a step. “She was human.”

“Yes, well, now she’s not.” Wraith shrugs.

“How is that possible?” Echo leans over, sniffing her. “She smells full-blooded.”

“Yes,” Wraith agrees.

“How?” I snarl, spinning to face him.

“That is distracting,” Wraith says to Knight, but he nods to my nude form.

Shifters are completely confident in our bodies.

“Every group needs one barbarian.” Knight laughs, gesturing at me. “He’s also vicious asfuckin beast form. So there’s that.”

“Thank you.” I give him a nod of appreciation.

“Jesus Christ, I’m surrounded by idiots,” Echo mutters. “Answer the question of how that human woman is now a fae female.”

“It wasn’t either of us, but I think you know that.” Knight raises his eyebrows.

I glare at him. I know nothing of the sort.

The infuriating asshole shrugs.

“Blood witches are rare.” Wraith nuzzles his cheek to the top of Nadia’s head. “They’re often the mouthpiece for the gods, or possibly evolution, depending on how you choose to view it.” He shrugs. “Who knows why. It’s a myth that they’re all inherently bad or drawn to dark magic. What is blood but a conduit of life?”

“Stop talking in riddles!” Echo snarls, spinning in a circle with his hands behind his head.

“I was trying to be plain. Omegas died out of the monster community in the human realm many hundreds of years ago. Did no one correlate that to the mass extermination of blood witches?” Wraith glances between me and Echo. “Really? It’s a widely known theory in Hell.”

“Gods,” I mutter.

“If they exist, I’d assume they’re very pissed at their creations for upsetting the balance of nature. Nadia isn’t the only blood witch in existence, but she is one of several hundred that have started popping up within the last few decades.” Wraith gives her a fond smile. “Fertility witches can’t activate dormant omega genes, especially since they’ve been watered down for multiple generations, but blood witches can.”

“You’re saying Milania had dormant fae DNA?” Echo asks.

“I’d imagine so. Otherwise, I don’t see how that transformation could have been successful,” Wraith says.

“They did immediately claim her as their mate.” I eye River and Brant. They fell in love the moment they scented her. I attributed it to loneliness, but perhaps they picked up on something the rest of us missed.

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