But that was as likely to happen as rainbow-colored flying monkeys.
That would never happen. Not here. Not with one of these scumbag dickhead alphas in the Society who claimed they were only doing all this to keep us safe.
No, in the two years I'd been here, I was soured on alphas. If they were capable of acting like this, of keeping us in a glorified cage like pet birds and slapping leg bands on us that prevented shifting, then who knew what else they were capable of? I couldn't trust them anymore.
I wouldn't trust any alpha ever again.
2
Quinn
The sky was huge today.Bright blue and stretching out as far as the eye could see.
Freedom. That's what it was. My soul yearned for it, to reach out and get as close as possible, to graze it with the tips of my feathers, to feel the sun's warm rays on my wings.
Except I didn't have any wings.
I slumped back against the grassy strip on the rocky outcropping of the cliff. It was the closest I could get to the sky without going all the way up the mountains. As my soul ached for the vastness of the sky, I found myself spending more and more time here lately.
I raised my arm straight out, folding and unfolding my fingers, watching as the sunlight slipped through them. If I used my imagination, I could pretend I was touching the sky itself.
I wasn't, though. And I never could.
With a sigh, I rolled over onto my stomach and picked up the grass instead to distract myself from the discontent stewing inside me.
Usually I was able to ignore the desperate urge for flight. After dealing with it for my whole life, I liked to think that I was pretty good at it by now. But recently, it was growing too strong to ignore.
The parent that birthed me, my da Red, was fluid, both an omega and an alpha. He was a fox shifter like me. Don't get me wrong; I loved being a fox. The beautiful red coat, the agility, the fangs and claws… I wouldn't give it up for anything.
But that wasn't all of who I was.
My dad, Orpheus, was a raven shifter. So technically, I was half raven. Except I had nothing to show for it at all. No feathers, no wings, no talons. Just the smarts.
When I was younger, it was easier to ignore the pangs of longing when I watched Dad spread his wings and fly. Da would usually entertain me with hunting mice in the tall grass. But it never stopped me from looking over my shoulder and watching Dad spread his black wings gracefully in the air.
These days, the urge that something wasmissingwas unbearable.
And not just one thing, either.
I didn't know what changed. Maybe it was the fact that my cousin Zak had recently found his fated mate, an orca shifter named Kamari. They had a baby together, little Azure, who seemed to have a mix of characteristics of both wolf and orca. I'd wondered on more than one occasion why Azure had been blessed, but not me.
Was I jealous of a literal baby? Gods, that was embarrassing.
But the question stuck in my mind. If Azure had a combination of traits from two different shifter parents, then why couldn't I?
I was being childish thinking that way. There was a reason why and I knew it. Zak, Azure's alpha father, was the descendent of a spirit, and that came with all the perks of having blessed blood.
But unlike Zak, I wasn't that special. My parents were just two regular shifters without a speck of magical spirit blessings between them.
I wasn't angry at Zak. I could never be. We were family, the most important people in each other's lives.
Although I guess Zak had a partner and a child of his own now. That was the other thing missing in my life. One hole in my heart, the other in my soul.
Wings and a fated mate. Seriously, was that so much to ask for?
A fox with wings? Grow up, Quinn,a voice in my head said scornfully.And if you're this desperate, why would an omega ever want you as a mate, let alone a fated one?
I exhaled a long, heavy sigh. "You're right, voice..."
