Rejected (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 1)

Knowing that I’d rather die than be taken by the Torma pack again—and who the hell else would be chasing me?—I didn’t slow. If those bastards got their hands on me, they’d probably make the last ten years with them seem like a wonderland. I couldn’t let that happen. I’d fight to the death if need be, because I was not going back to Torma.

My wolf swirled inside, fighting to break free, and despite the impossibility of shifting before the full moon, it actually felt like she might succeed in forcing the change. My face ached as if my jaw was morphing, teeth shifting to accommodate the shift.

“Meerraaa,” a mocking voice taunted from my right. Another joined in from the left, both of them familiar and terrifying.

Torin and Jaxson. Alpha- and beta-to-be.

Of course Victor would have sent them after me—the better a shifter knew a person’s scent and energy, the easier it was to track them down. I’d grown up with those bastards, and they’d locked straight on to my energy. But why? I honestly hadn’t expected them to care I was gone at all, but apparently, Victor wasn’t ready to release any of his wolves. Even ones he hated.

“Or is it Lucy?” Torin added, his laughter closer than before.

Greg had said it had been a woman asking about me in the diner, but clearly these two had been there as well. It had probably been Sisily… Stupid bitch never went anywhere without the alpha and beta. I knew for a fact my boss wouldn’t have given out my personal information to dudes, but a woman was different. Greg was old school like that.

And it might just get me murdered.

My speed picked up, but there was no way I could outrun fully turned shifters. Especially not if they wolfed out.

“Come on, Mera. The pack misses you,” Torin added, his laughter gone now. “Father doesn’t like when his pack members leave without a goodbye. You know that.”

He was basically running side by side with me, and despite the odds being so against me, I palmed the blade that was always in the side of my bag, preparing myself for the fight.

Someone tackled me from behind, and I hit the ground hard, the solid weight of a wolf on my back. Fuck! Spinning over, I kicked at the smaller wolf, realizing this must be the female.

She didn’t hesitate to attack, and I wanted to scream as her claws and teeth slashed into my skin. Swinging my blade, I sliced through the fur, and wondered which bitch was on me. Sisily hadn’t turned yet…

My blade glanced off the dense fur that protected her hide, and she snapped at my throat, but I managed to lodge my arm in her mouth to stop her. It cost me arm skin, but unlike my throat, that wasn’t going to kill me.

The wolf was a dark grey color—hair color often dictated fur color, and I had no idea who was grey in the pack. She was average size, too, with deep brown eyes. “Get off me,” I growled, and with unknown strength, I managed to knock her back so I could crawl to my feet.

Blood sprinkled the ground, and even in the darkening sky, I could tell that it was from more than just a few scrapes. Bitch had hit something important; something to worry about tomorrow, if I was still alive to care.

Strong arms wrapped around me, biting into the injuries I’d already sustained. Before Torin could crush me further, though, I stabbed him, right in the chest. My blade wasn’t silver or any of the metals that reacted badly to shifter magic. It was basically a medium-sized switch blade, which would do minimal damage. Except when stabbed through the heart. Whoops.

Torin’s eyes widened and he stared down at me for a beat like he couldn’t believe what I’d just done. “Like father like daughter,” he muttered before I jerked from his hold and he stumbled back.

Jaxson was at his best friend’s side in a heartbeat, his darkening gaze drilling holes into my face. “You’ll pay for that, Mera,” he growled, his face already starting to change as he fought his wolf.

I flipped him off because I was apparently without self-preservation these days. “He’s not gonna die from it.”

And he wouldn’t. It’d just take a few days to repair and he’d be in a bad way until then. Heart muscles did a lot of work in the body, and a blade through one, even for a shifter, was never good.

“Protect him,” I heard Jaxson shout to the unknown bitch wolf, and then the first crack of bones told me he was about to shift.

I had one shot to get away because if he caught me in his wolf form, it was all over. My blade was still buried in my enemy’s chest, and deciding that I’d be faster without my bag, I took off emptyhanded. Ironic that I’d thought the bag had been worth the risk of detection because it had all my money. Now I knew that I’d have been better off running straight from the diner and never looking back.

Sprinting faster than I ever had, I made it to the edge of town, ready to plunge into the streets still teeming with people. Wolves had one very strict rule above all others: never let the humans know of our existence. Any shifter spotted in public was in a shitload of trouble with their alpha, especially in this day and age of phones and recording devices.

Being among the humans gave me a shot at escaping since Jaxson would have to be careful. He might even have to change back and be forced to prance about naked. He deserved that sort of karma, not that the overconfident bastard would worry about being naked.

He had nothing to worry about, truthfully, but he could at least attempt some humility.

The sounds of an approaching wolf propelled me forward, and I’d been sure I was about to make it when Jaxson got hold of my shirt with his teeth, yanking me back. How the fuck was he so close? The overachieving bastard had shifted in seconds.

People were only a few dozen feet away, and I could have screamed, but if Jaxson’s wolf was in control, he’d kill them all. I couldn’t do that. Not to innocent humans.

I had to accept my fate.

Fighting to get free, I was halted when he pounced on my back. Dude was a big man, and an even bigger wolf. With the air knocked out of me, I tried to crawl, gasping for breath. Jaxson slid off, nudging me over so I was on my back, and with my chest heaving, I stared up at his midnight black wolf.

Fangs flashed in my face as he growled, and I knew this was my last moment on Earth. No matter how I tried to fight, he was larger and stronger, and I was succumbing to the injuries littering my body.

Sorry, my wolf.

I’d longed to know her better, but it wasn’t to be.

Maybe in our next life.

She howled then, a long, echoing lament that filled my body, but no sound emerged from my mouth. Jaxson leaned in closer, and just as his jaw clamped around my throat, I heard a shout from behind him. It sounded like Torin, but I couldn’t be sure because the wolf holding my life in his jaws sank his teeth in, yanking at the skin, and everything went black.