Page 71 of Sinful Shifters

"Other souls, yes," Everett says, "but you seem to know something that the rest of us don't."

He frowns. "They spoke to me from time to time. I assumed they spoke to you all too, but when you told Caterina that the other souls never interacted with you, I realized I was wrong. There were the souls of tortured omegas in the wellspring with us for all our centuries—souls that needed a respite, and were taken in by the wellspring, to recover."

I'm surprised he's seen so much, but I suppose I shouldn't be. Lucians gifts have always given him keen insight. "The seers couldn't see the exact mechanism that will cause omegas to be reborn, only that it was blocked from ancient magic. If it was their souls in the wellspring, it's possible that something we've done or are about to do will free them. Which means they'll all be reborn, just as Caterina was."

The violence won't start right away. In fact, we won't even be able to see it coming until it's too late. All the souls will have to be reborn and live brand new lives—so it won't be until they come of age and go into heat that they'll discover their omega nature.

And they'll be completely unprepared for it. Ignorant and naive, unmated and unprotected.

"This world doesn't have alphas like our world did," Adar points out. "There will be omegas, yes, but no one will be able to knot them."

"We don't know that," Everett grumbles. "Teller took away Eli's knot, but when all the knots started to disappear, it was a slow process. The magic didn't just change the world overnight—it wasn't even until decades later that alphas stopped being born, and started to become elected."

"Naturalistic alphas are still born in this world," I tell them, remembering a few things I learned from the wolf-witch hybrid's mate, Bastian, when I was able to speak to him. "They're alphas with a strong ability to lead and influence others. Here, they simply consider them flukes, but maybe if omegas are reborn, their natural skills will change them as well."

Bringing back their knots, their pheromones, and the alpha violence that comes with them. They won't be like us—men with centuries of knowledge and self-control behind our strength. They'll be more like Klaus, mad and half-rabid, barely able to understand their urges much less control them.

It'll be chaos.

And Caterina witnessed all of it. No wonder she's been so upset and uncertain about the future.

I wish she'd told us, but I can understand why she didn't. It explains why she wanted to know more about Fern.

I tell the others, "There's a way to stop it all from happening. The seers have witnessed two futures: one with omegas, and one without them. In the future without omegas, there isn't violence, and weaving witches keep packs together and form bonds. It's the only version of the future without great suffering."

It's hard to swallow the idea of a world without omegas, but we all know that we don't want a world where they're tortured to death.

Which begs the question: how do we stop the future from changing, when we've already changed it?

Everett unhappily points out, "The only person who's likely to be able to help us is the only one alive who remembers what happened to Fern."

Chapter61

Rina

Iwake in the morning fully sated, stretch out and reluctantly take a warm shower. When I'm done, I find the guys in the kitchen, standing over a four course breakfast and plenty of coffee. They have expectant and unhappy looks on their faces, and I know that something is up.

"Enjoy your breakfast," Everett says, motioning towards the spread. "We have to talk, and you need to restore your strength after last night."

Eating my fill, I listen as they tell me that they know about the two futures. I'd be mad at Ali, but I wanted to tell them. I just didn't know how.

They have a proposal: we talk to Eli and find out what he knows. If he can't help, we figure something out with the seers themselves.

But we're all in agreement. "A future with omegas in it isn't worth their torture and death," Adar declares. "We have to fix this any way possible."

Going to Eli, we find him in a sorry state. He's in lockup in the pack's prison, and he looks like someone dragged him for a mile from the back of their truck. His hair is messy, his skin covered in dirt, and the hollows under his eyes are deep and dark.

Adar strides towards him, and he cringes back. "What do you know about Teller's plans now?"

"Nothing," he says bleakly. "I knew he had a backup plan, but he wasn't going to fill me in. He barely even talked to me towards the end there. Apparently he was afraid that I was so weak I'd get captured again, and well, now here we are."

It's unfortunate but completely believable. I doubt Teller told him about his backup plans in case stealing the wellsprings failed. He probably had them, though, which means we're not done with him yet.

"You look like shit," I tell the former alpha, whose pack is no longer connected to him at all. "Your bonds are gone. Everyone has up and left you. And you watched your brother die. So I can't imagine that you have any reason to cooperate with us, since you have nothing left to lose."

"I'm sad about Klaus's death, it's true, but I understand why you killed him. He wasn't himself anymore. And I'm sure that his soul will find another life now, be reborn in a body without so much trauma and pain."

"I should kill you too," I tell him. "For everything you put me through."

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