Chapter one
Thisnightclubisawful.The music is far too loud and entirely too modern. It makes me feel old. Old and grumpy. If it wasn’t for the full moon flooding me with arousal, I wouldn’t be here at all.
Taking another sip of my drink, I look around once more. Plenty of the humans are pretty enough and all I really need is willingness. I should just choose one and get out of here. Feed my libido and be done with it.
A human jostles past me and I try not to glare. He flashes me an apologetic smile, and he’s actually not bad looking. Maybe he is the one. He disappears into the crowd and I think about following him. He seemed to like what he saw. Which isn’t surprising. I’m tall and broad. My long dark hair is tied back in a casual ponytail. Beards seem to be popular amongst humans at the moment, so hopefully mine is working in my favor. I’ve rolled the sleeves of my shirt up to show off my tattoos. Humans seem to like those too, along with my muscles. I think it all makes for a pleasing package. If not, I can always rely on my pheromones.
Thank heaven’s most humans find shifters attractive, if I had to actually put any work into this, it would be hell. Having to tap someone on the shoulder and say, “Hey, do you wanna go somewhere else?” is bad enough.
Sipping my drink again, I cast another look around. Should I go after that human, or set my sights on another? Someone else brushes past me. I glare down at them. Dazzling emerald eyes look up at me. He is gorgeous. All cheekbones and plump lips. Smooth pale skin and what looks like silver hair peeking out of his hood. He just about comes up to my pecs, and the way his head tilts back to look up at me does things to my insides. Then the delicious scent of omega washes over me.
Instinctively, I glance around. But there is no sign of any alpha anywhere. What the hell is an omega doing alone in a place like this? He smiles at me and I swallow. He must be unclaimed and feeling the moon too. It’s amazing we have found each other. An omega on the full moon is going to be incredible. He will be able to take my knot. My cock starts to swell in preparation.
The omega winks at me and slips away into the crowd. Throwing my drink down onto the bar, I chase after. He weaves through the crowd effortlessly until we are by the back door and a little island of calm. Then he turns to face me. He pulls down his hood and I stifle my gasp. He is truly stunning. I was right, his hair is silver and all spiky and choppy. Just long enough to frame his face. Just long enough to grab a good fist full. My cock swells even more.
He pulls the neck of his hoodie down and shows me his throat. First one side and then the other. I can’t see all of his neck as his top is still too high, but I can see enough. Smooth, flawless, unmarked. Showing me he is unclaimed. It doesn’t make any sense. He is beautiful, why has no one claimed him?
The hood goes back up and he turns around, pushing the back door open just enough to slip through it. Without deciding to, I follow him. It’s cold outside. My breath clouds in the air. He walks further down the alley. I really should invite him back to my hotel room. He deserves better than getting fucked against an alley wall. But I need to catch him first.
He disappears around a corner, and I jog after. He is a fast little thing. All graceful and agile. I like the way he moves. Maybe I’ll make him mine, claim him. I have been feeling lonely lately. Having my own omega wouldn’t be a bad thing. Companionship. Growing the pack. Someone to hold at night. It all sounds good.
The pain in my chest blazes bright and all-consuming. I’ve fallen to my knees. The hilt of a dagger protrudes from my body as I stare at it in confusion. The omega is looking down at me. Even when I’m kneeling, he is only slightly taller than me. He is a tiny, slender little thing. There is an evil, satisfied smirk on his face. He stabbed me. My mind cannot comprehend it.
Out of the shadows, three human hunters appear. Their crossbows aimed unerringly at us. Fear spikes in my chest, making my heart race. I need to protect the omega. I can’t let hunters kill him. A growl escapes my throat. I need to fight.
He steps back and joins their ranks. I blink in bewilderment. The hunters aren’t reaching for him, aren’t hurting him. Their weapons are pointed at me alone. He is the one who stabbed me. Denial swirls through me even though the evidence is as clear as day. The omega is working with human hunters. He lured me here so they could kill me. And like a dumb, clueless lamb I followed.
Rage flows through me, heightening all my senses. With a swipe of my hand, I throw a wave of magic at the hunters that flings them to the ground and disintegrates their crossbows. Surprised cries fill my ears. They didn’t know I was a magic weaver. This is going to be easy if they don’t have any protection.
Climbing to my feet, I yank the dagger out of my chest whilst sending a blast of magic to the wound with my other hand. I can’t heal for shit, but sometimes brute force works well enough.
The hunters are trying to get to their feet. I’m not going to let them. With a squeeze of my fist, I stop their hearts. It only takes a few minutes for them to die. All of them apart from the omega. Him, I want to talk to. I need to know why he is hunting his own kind and what the fuck I ever did to him.
But I can’t see him, the alley is dark and empty, save for the rapidly cooling bodies of the hunters sprawled on the ground. Where has the little shit gone? My question is answered nearly as soon as I ask it. He leaps onto my back from behind and locks his arm around my throat, pressing in tight in a vain attempt to throttle me. He moves well and is clearly no stranger to combat, but I’m an alpha shifter. He is no match for me. I heave him over my shoulders and throw him to the ground. He lands none too gently. Immediately I straddle him and pin his arms above his head. I’ve had enough of being stabbed for one day.
I’m about to growl my first question, but his eyes roll back. His entire body arches off of the concrete in an effort to reach me, to touch my body. His head tilts up, baring his long slender throat to me. The sight bypasses my brain and goes straight to my instincts. Before I know what I am doing, my teeth are on his flesh. Gently pressing down. Confirming and accepting his submission.
The rich, intoxicating scent of a heat fills my nose and lungs. His pale cheeks flush a delicious pink as he lets out a soft, needy moan.
Fuck. I’ve thrown him into a heat. The most primitive part of his mind has concluded he is defeated and his best chance of survival is to seduce me instead.
It’s not going to work. Helping an omega through their heat is an immense honor. A pleasure like no other. But this omega is a murderous, treacherous abomination. How many shifters has he lured to their deaths? And for what purpose? What kind of evil do you have to be to hunt your own kind?
Echoing screams and terror start to whisper in the corners of my mind. With a growl, and a shake of my head I quench those unbidden memories away. Now is not the time. I need to concentrate. Being swamped by grief and rage when there could be more hunters nearby, would be a death sentence.
The omega’s emerald eyes are now wide and unfocused as he stares up at me, it doesn’t look like he is really seeing me. His cheeks are flushed, his breaths uneven. I’m not going to get any sense out of him when he is like this. The only thoughts in his pretty little head right now, will be cocks and knots and how much he needs to be filled with both. My own cock throbs painfully. It doesn’t understand why there is an omega in heat lying underneath me and nothing is happening.
I’m not going to fuck the little shit. I’m also not going to leave him here, alone, lost in his heat and completely vulnerable to whoever finds him. Humans are drawn to omega pheromones too. They would use him, and he would be too out of it to stop them. He’d moan for them, he’d writhe for them, he’d spill for them. And he’d hate himself in the morning.
I have to take him with me. It’s not because I am soft. It’s because I need answers and he is going to give them to me.
I get to my feet and haul the omega up. He whimpers but he is not resisting. Cautiously, I head towards the parking lot, dragging my prisoner with me. My skin tingles all over every inch of me as all my senses strain to seek awareness of another attack. My footsteps are too loud. The shadows are too deep. The stink of the alley and heat is too cloying. Everything conspires to hide my enemies. My magic reaches out but finds only rats. But maybe a new group of hunters is stalking me and they do have magical protection.
It takes an eternity to reach my car. I unlock it swiftly and manhandle my captive into the back seat, though he seems far too dazed to resist and isn’t giving me much difficulty at all. He sits there, where I shoved him, while I click the child locks onto the back doors and shut him in.
One last quick glance around to check the coast is clear and I jump into the driver’s seat. Time to get the hell out of here.
Chapter two
