Page 67 of Sinful Shifters

Apologizing to the warrior, I bring her to the side, nerves in my belly.

"What is it, Rina? Tell me."

I clear my throat. "Are you sure the future can be changed?"

"Something is off," Ali says, studying me closely. "What's going on? Tell me everything, so I can help you.

There's no holding back anymore, so I tell her about the rune.

And I can see in her eyes that she's kept something from me.

"I have news from the seers that I didn't want to share before or during the battle," she admits. "There are fewer branching futures than we might have hoped."

"How many? And why?"

"The instant the gods took over two of the packs, the futures narrowed. Now that they have all four of them, there are only two major branching futures. One with omegas. And one without them."

I feel it like a gut punch. "The one with omegas?"

"The one with omegas in it is always violent," Ali says, her voice tinged with regret. "It can go dozens of ways, maybe even hundreds, but there's death and chaos in every one. The seers who looked into that branch of the future seemed distraught just knowing that it exists."

"And the future without omegas?"

"Peaceful," she admits, handing me an empty glass and filling it with honeyed wine. "It's different than our past, with more magic, but that was inevitable the instant a wolf-witch hybrid became alpha of the Northwest pack. Without omegas, there's no reason for alphas to fight over them, and the weaving witches of the future take over the task of bonding packs and keeping them together."

"So I'm not necessary at all," I realize bitterly, swallowing a mouthful of the sweetened wine to make up for the horrible realization. "All this fighting and changing things was for nothing."

"Not nothing—the gods being alphasdoeshelp change the peaceful future." Ali squeezes my arm comfortingly. "And we discovered that witches can channel ancient magic, at least some of them, like me. Not to mention, we have four packs that are allied together now."

There is that, I suppose, though it only makes me much more fearful. "What changes to cause omegas to come back? Or to go away?"

"We don't know," she admits. "The seers couldn't see that moment in time. It was clouded—they think by our wellspring, because all they saw was ancient magic. But if we can destroy the ability to restore omegas, we can prevent that future."

"Maybe if I don't have children," I tell her, though it breaks my heart. "I'd rather never get pregnant than risk a terrible future. And the gods say they can't impregnate me unless they cut their connection to the wellspring, so we can do that, right?"

"Rina..." Ali's eyes prick with tears. "I don't know if it's good news or bad news, but whether or not you have children doesn't matter. In one of the futures with omegas, they're reborn just like you were, from the powers within the wellspring."

So they aren't my children. That should be a relief, but it only makes my chest tighten more.

The future Teller showed mehasto be preventable. Neutering the guys couldn't have been the only way. There's no reason why omegas being reborn has to be inevitable—especially since, as of right now, I seem to be the only one.

"Thank you," I tell Ali. "I appreciate the information."

"I'm sorry it wasn't what we'd hoped." Throwing her arms around me, she murmurs, "Good luck."

"I'll need it."

"And I'll put me in touch with the seers and give me any info they give her. "Though they can be hard to stay in contact with, since they're always living in the future."

I'd like to speak to them, but I know they don't have all the answers. Those who might have a history of lying to me, but I can only hope all that's over with now.

Taking a deep breath, I go to the guys, and muster up my courage.

"We need to talk."

Chapter57

Rina

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