Page 8 of Sinful Shifters

His eyes wander over to me, and he adds, "Make sure she's still in good working order when you hand her over. I want her in heat, not half-dead and covered in her own blood. Some pain is to be expected, but the more she fights, the longer it'll take—so try to remember that she used to be fond of you once, in a past life."

"Rape her nicely, you mean." Klaus smirks. "Don't worry,bossman.I intend to make her scream my name with pleasure as well as pain."

"Good. Get her to me quickly, once it's over."

As my stomach churns, Teller strides away without looking at me again. Grabbing my wrist, Klaus unties the rope around me, but my freedom is still far away. With a forceful snarl, he drags me to the tent, past the buzzing magic of the shields all around us.

Chapter6

Rina

I'm going to be all alone in this, I realize as I wipe Morgan's blood off on my shirt. No one will come to save me, not even the gods, because they have no idea what they're up against.

As soon as we're in the tent, Klaus immediately begins talking about his grand plans.

"Isn't the magic Teller is using exciting?" He gestures with the potion bottle, pacing back and forth in the small space. "Teleportation magic. Shields that no witch can get through. He's even able to get past the pack wards—though the ones on your pack werefartoo weak to take much effort. Not like the Glass Pack; they're well-protected, the bastards."

Thinking of Delilah and her mates, who came to us to help while they were dealing with their own issues, I send a little prayer their way. Hopefully the wolf-witch hybrid and her five men are able to keep assholes like Teller and his army off their land. I hate to think that we aren't the only pack under siege right now.

Klaus isn't done talking, and doesn't seem to care that I'm just sitting on the ground, nursing the bruises his ropes left on me with their harsh magic.

"Ancient magic—it's amazing. He's somehow tapped into a wellspring, you know," he says, and I try not to show how muchthatsecret he's spilling grabs my attention. "Not one of the ones here—these wellsprings are so powerful that if he had one of them, he'd just wave a hand and destroy your whole pack. But there's another that he's tapped into, I think because of my brother. It gives him the power to command the vampires and even convince the humans to break their own treaty."

Klaus snaps his fingers. "Can you imagine having that much power? If we had those kinds of abilities when I was alive, my brother never would've been able to remake the world. And I would've had you, Fern—you would've been mine, there's no question. Every omega would've been mine."

He shudders, his eyes shining with madness, his excitement and arousal clear. My stomach churns, and I start to wonder if trying to go through the shields would kill me.

If so, it would be a welcome death, when the alternative is being raped repeatedly by this lunatic. I get the feeling that he doesn't even plan on handing me over to Teller right away, like he promised—he's probably going to keep me for as long as he dares, playing with me like a cat plays with a mouse.

And if Teller is right, and going into heat without an alpha makes me more vulnerable...

No. I can't think that way. Instead of giving in to despair, I focus on Klaus's words. He doesn't seem to care if he's spilling secrets, so I listen closely, even though I despair at the thought of when I might be able to share them with someone.

I can still see Morgan's face, so helpful and kind, just before he was run through. He deserves all my strength and vengeance, not my weakness and despair.

"It's impressive magic, don't you think?" Klaus grins, holding the potion bottle up in the air.

Though I have no idea what the spell is, I paste a smile on and nod. "It is—so impressive. I didn't even know that teleportation spells existed. To create one and put it in a spell bottle is... amazing."

My stomach churns saying so. Klaus chuckles, and says, "I'm glad you agree. I was afraid for a moment there that killing your alpha in front of you might turn you against me. But it didn't, did it?"

He's waiting a response. Though I feel horrible saying it, I nod as I agree, "It didn't at all. Killing Morgan was actually—it was impressive."

I don't think I sound convincing, but he seems to buy it, which just sickens me further.

With so many of the warriors injured, Morgan dead, and vampires rampaging across our borders, I can't feel the pack at all. It's like they never existed. Heartbroken, I wish I could reach out to them in some other way.

And remember a similar wish I once made to Ali when we were both kids.

It was before I got my wolf, and she got none at all, just like her father. We were talking about what we would do if she didn't become part of the pack—something we knew was likely. So she came up with a spell from her ill-gotten spell books, and for months we used it, until we were old enough to get cell phones with unlimited texting.

Klaus is in his own zone, celebrating his victory. He's paced to the other side of the tent and is murmuring something over the potion bottle Teller gave him.

Steadying my breath, I whisper the words to the childhood spell Ali showed me and trace a symbol on the back of my hand, hoping that some things never change.

Because right now, I could really use a best friend.

Badly.

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