Page 1 of Sinful Shifters

Chapter1

Rina

"Fern." There's a purr in his voice that sets my teeth on edge. "Oh, my darling, my beautiful baby girl... finally, we get a second chance."

I scramble away from him, looking around frantically for the guys. My ears are still ringing, and there's a white film blocking my vision.

There's so much magic in the air that I can smell it, can nearly even taste it, like a powdery chemical on the tip of my tongue. It's acrid and strange, settling in my stomach like a bitter drug.

"Don't by frightened, my darling." Kneeling next to me in the rubble, the Second Alpha puts his hand on my arm, his touch cloying and invasive. "This will all be over soon. You're safe, you'll see."

When the bomb went off, I fell backwards and put my hands out to catch myself. Leaning back on them, I try to move away from the Second Alpha as much as possible, uncertain what's behind me.

I feel a sharpness beneath my palm. Prodding with my fingers, I discover it's a sliver of brick.

The sharp edge could be useful.

I palm it, staring up into the face of a madman, my heart hammering. He has a feral look to him, dirty blond hair clumping around his head, his lips parted and his eyes wide. The clothes he's wearing seem too tight and too loose at the same time, and he smells strange, like wet algae and dying things.

Someone just tugged him from the wellspring seconds ago and shoved him out onto this earth, madness and all.

The scars he left across my chest burn in his presence. A reminder of my rejection, which was so devastating it nearly killed me.

Yet here he is, acting like he knows and loves me.

"My darling, my sweetness..." His eyes roam my body head to toe. "How much I love this new form you've taken. I can't wait to discover its differences and similarities to the Fern that I once loved."

"You rejected me."

"On accident," he says, sounding affronted. "I thought you were an imposter. I didn't realize your soul—no matter. You'll understand soon."

I grip the sliver of brick tightly, wondering if I can stab him in the throat hard enough and fast enough to get away.

The ringing in my ears dies down, and I hear a distant, familiar voice. "Caterina! Sweetness, are you ok—"

Everett.

I part my lips—

The Second Alpha clamps his dirt-crusted fingers around my arm and tugs me away before I can respond.

Tugsme, in the blink of an eye, so far away that I feel dizzy. The landscape has shifted around us, and I smell sulphur in the air. Turning my head, I breathe through my nose, fighting the urge to vomit. I feel like I've been shoved off a cliff.

"Teleportation spell." He drops a glass jar on the grass beneath us, and it crumbles into dust. "Little thing William gave me. I was supposed to use it to take the pack alpha to him, but well... we both know that we won't be able to wait to tear our clothes off, Fern."

Bile rises in my throat, sharp and acidic. "Don't call me that." I look up into his pale green eyes, stomach churning, my hand tightening on the sliver of brick. "That isn't my name."

He frowns, brows drawing together, his mouth turning down at the corners. "Fern, darling. It's me, Klaus, your beloved. I know it's been centuries, but surely you recognize me—I'm the same, even if you look different."

Reaching out, he puts his hands on my cheeks, bringing his body closer to mine. I curl away, looking at the pulse in his neck, wondering where the guys are, why they haven't torn him apart in a fury of fire and storm.

Unless his teleportation spell brought us so far away that they can't follow.

But no, it can't be—I can still smell the pack lands with each inhale of my breath, can feel the distant shimmer of my bonds with the pack. I don't tug on them just yet, because even touching them makes the magic-induced sickness in my stomach roil. Focusing on my breath, I try to get the sickness to subside, even as my mind scrambles to catch up with the last few minutes.

I was in the mansion when there was an explosion that wasn't real—or at least, not yet. General William Teller, the head witch of a rebellious branch of the human army, came to me and showed me visions of a violent future. He promised me that if omegas came back, violent alphas would too, and told me he has a way to change it all.

"Neutering," he called it. Removing the knot from an alpha's penis and severing their connection to their pheromones. He said he would do it to the guys for me, as well as sever their connection to the wellspring's power.

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