I shook Moon off, before standing up, forcing myself to watch as Ivy pulled Aquilo to his feet and clasped him to her chest. He looked like an affronted kitten who didn’t know if it wanted a cuddle or not.
Lux was pressed against the wall, whilst the knife hung loosely in her hand. Her gaze flicked between Aquilo and me like she couldn’t figure out what had happened. For once in her life, she wasn’t the one in charge.
Knocking the arrogance out of my childhood bully at last…? It wasn’t as satisfying as I’d always imagined.
“She shan’t do this.” Lux bared her teeth at me. “I won’t allow it.”
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I shoved my hands in the pockets of my jeans. “He’s just a mage, nothing but the wind and the enemy. I’ll be doing you a favor, right?”
Lux edged closed to Aquilo, resting her hand on his neck, where before she’d rested a knife. “He’s my brother and my twin.”
Ivy pushed Aquilo back to his knees, wiping her wet cheeks. “There, there, Lux sweetheart, he stopped being both of those years ago.” Ivy swept her hand one final time across Aquilo’s forehead. “Do you remember what to recite in order to break the bond?”
She’d truly let me murder her own son…?
“Honestly, your scene just then was so touching, really on the Gladiator scale: Brother and twin of an asshole witch… How about I don’t kill your son just yet and accept your low-quality merchandise as a husband, whilst keeping your secret?” I winced on each heartless word, along with Aquilo. Please, don’t let him think that I believed them… “As long as we’re done with the training of my Charms…?”
I didn’t expect the instant darkening of Ivy’s eyes or the way that her tears became droplets of blood, staining her cheeks. “Oh my, you truly don’t perceive that I’m trying to save the entire world from the shifters, and you have the starring role. We’re fighting here for the future of not simply every witch but the humans down below us, who I swore to protect. Why would I risk the power, prestige, and future of the House of Blood for a mage, even if he is my son? You’ll train because you must. So, kill him.”
“Mother, please, wait,” Lux begged.
Aquilo bowed his head.
Boy, was she not bluffing.
My pulse pounded, whilst I hugged my arms across my chest; Moon rubbed his head against my leg. “Wow, that’s a tempting offer, but I’ll pass. Your son’s mine now. That won’t change.”
Ivy’s scrutiny was hard. “I’ve underestimated you. There I was thinking that you’re soft, but there’s the same Wolf Charmer streak in you as there was in your mom, and she was formidable. I won’t forget again. So, you failed the last test, which means that you must impress me now. Choose one of your beasts to flay, and as you already have one prince transformed, why don’t you save time and choose him?”
Flay…? She couldn’t mean…?
Moon whined, pressing his ears against his head.
When Lux hurled the knife at my feet with a clang, I expected her to sneer, but instead she was surprisingly muted. Maybe nearly losing your brother does that to you. “It’s not so bad. Trap him in your crimson shadows and weave through the collar until the silver poisons him. He won’t feel anything that way when you flay him. Unless, of course, you want him to.”
I gagged, bent over. The gleaming knife mocked me. Ivy had always intended me to do this to one of my Charms, that was why Lux had brought the knife with her.
Was this what being a witch in the House of Silver meant? My mom’s legacy? A Wolf Charmer?
Tears trickled down my own cheeks because despite everything, I’d hoped that there was a way for me to expose the killer and still become a witch in this world in my own way. But if Claiming an Omega — a prince — from the wolves and then sacrificing him for real by flaying him was the price for my elite life amongst the covens, then I could never take it.
I’d once thought that I hated wolves. Yet now it was me sacrificing everything that I had for one.
I guessed that was love.
“It’s tradition.” Ivy watched me closely. “I was with your mom when she flayed her first Charm. I believe she keeps the pelt on her bed as a memento.”
That did it.
I hurled, wiping my mouth at the bitter taste of my own bile. Now I understood Moon’s horror, when he’d sat on my parents’ bed.
The Ambassador hadn’t been my mom’s first Omega because she’d murdered that one when she’d been as young as me. How could she have made that choice? Or raised to believe the witches’ propaganda, had she looked down the ranks of terrified Omegas in the Training Center and seen nothing but broken but beautiful beasts?
I shook because my fading memories of my mom tasted now of lies. Had my mom in fact been just as cruel as Lux, Ivy, or her own sister, Stella to the shifters? How could I find out the truth?
Moon licked my cheek, before nudging me with his nose. I stared into his amber eyes, before he lay down, bowing his head to the ground.
Was he freaking offering himself up in sacrifice…?
“By my hide,” Emperor growled, “if you follow this quaint tradition, then I shall have to honor the quaint tradition of tearing out a witch’s throat.”
“And that’s exactly what I love about you.” I snatched up the knife, before cocooning all three of my Charms in my shadows and yanking them to their feet behind me. I stood defiantly in front of them. “Oh, look at that, there’s not going to be any flaying today because these wolves aren’t beasts, they’re my pack.”
Amadeus whooped, clutching me around the waist and feathering kisses down my neck. Emperor swaggered to my side, stroking his hand through Moon’s fur. Moon’s lips pulled back, as he snarled at Ivy.
Ivy screeched with rage. I quailed back, as blood bubbled out of her ears, eyes, and mouth.
Had I killed her, simply by pissing her off?
I’d never seen her like this before, yet I’d heard stories of the Blood Witch... Lux had delighted in terrifying me with them when we’d been kids, but I’d still thought that they’d only been stories.
Holy hell, what if they were true…?
I huddled with my Charms and Aquilo, whilst the walls of the tower shuddered and bled, weeping like it was in pain.
Ivy’s face, neck, and hands were coated in red now like she was a blood doll. She rose, levitating above the ground in a dripping puddle of scarlet. Then she blasted a bronze arc towards me, which twisted around me like vines, dragging me away from Amadeus’ hold and up towards the infinite sky of the ceiling. I screamed as I was caught against the bright stars.
Moon launched himself at Ivy, with Amadeus and Emperor diving behind him. Ivy waved her hand and silver slithered out of Mars in strands that whipped around my three Charms like chains. They howled and bellowed as they burned.
When Aquilo faced his sister, I clenched my jaw in frustration that I couldn’t help him, but instead of hurting him, she pulled him into a tight hug.
“The covens have given you every chance to prove yourself a worthy Wolf Charmer. I tried to offer you guidance and even my son. Yet you’re unworthy.” Blood spat out of Ivy’s mouth, as she rose through the air to face me. My heart hammered in my chest, whilst I quivered. “Do you know the punishment for unworthiness?”
“No dessert after dinner?” I ventured.
The stars blazed so brightly in indignation that my eyes were haloed. “You’ll be thrown to the wolves in the Kingdom of the Wilds with your Charms. And do you know what they’ll do to an unworthy Wolf Charmer?”
My breath became ragged, and I felt dizzy. How could I forget the Hunt? “Yep, I can imagine.”
“I highly doubt that you can.” The blood face broke into a horrifying grin. “In the beasts’ backwards culture, a Wolf Charmer is responsible for their Omega’s actions. Didn’t you allow your Omega to steal another beast away from the Training Center…?”
Moon had broken the law by stealing Moth, so did that mean I’d be punished for his crime as well�
��? I bit my lip, refusing to answer because I didn’t want to give Ivy the satisfaction of knowing that finally, I was scared.
“Your aunt and I gave you everything to welcome you into our covens. If you want to act like a wolf and a revolting wolf lover, then you shall see how fun the adventures are for a witch in Wolf Kingdom. And don’t think that you’ll be taking my son along with you as a trophy husband.”
I thrashed, until my wrists bruised. “You frog kissing bitch! He’ll die if we don’t marry within the month.”
Ivy’s teeth dripped blood like she’d already savaged my throat. “Then I’ll have a month to say my goodbyes…unlike you. Tomorrow, I’ll deliver you and your Charms bound in chains to the Wilds. You think that they care about justice? All they hunger for is vengeance against witches and their favorite dish is Wolf Charmer.”
I screamed, as the bronze shadows unexpectedly burrowed deeper inside, suppressing my crimson. They wound around it like weeds choking the true flowers beneath.
I writhed, shattered, just as Mischief had said, at the binding of my powers.
Ivy’s blood-tinged breath gusted across my mouth. “Hush, it’s only a temporary binding of your powers…maybe. I’ve never had to try before. You didn’t think that I’d deliver a witch as powerful as you to the Kingdom of the Wilds, without magically shackling you first?”
I shivered, swinging from the star ceiling of the tower with my magic bound, whilst below me, my Charms growled, trapped in chains.
Tomorrow, we’d be taken to the Wilds, where Moon was a criminal who’d broken Omega law by kidnapping his brother, and I’d humiliated every Alpha on my wedding day. For the first time, I no longer had my crimson shadows to defend us.
I’d survived the murder of my own parents, but could I survive being thrown to the wolves?
To Be Continued…
Continue Crimson’s adventures in ONLY PRETTY BETAS, Book Two in the Rebel Werewolves series HERE NOW
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AUTHOR NOTE:
Only Pretty Betas - Book Two in the Rebel Werewolves series - is already written, so you can continue Crimson and her pack’s adventures HERE!
I love sinfully beautiful shifters, as well as the idea of turning the traditional idea of an Omega on its head…and making him the rebel. I’ve had this series planned for over five years, and OMG - I’m excited for you to read the next book and discover the secrets, mysteries, and danger of the three wolf kingdoms and their princes!
You’re total stars for your recommendations, word of mouth, and reviews because it’s how my books reach new readers. I’m truly grateful to you. Even a single line review raises the series’ visibility.
I love Crimson and her Charms. I hope you do too!
Thanks, you’re awesome - my Rebel family :)
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Rosemary A Johns
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READ ONLY PRETTY BETAS NOW
“Command him, witch.” Mischief rested in Ramiel’s wings at the end of the bed; his gaze was masterful and dark.
Amadeus raised his gloved hand to my cheek and whispered, “Let me pleasure you.”
He traced his hands up my inner thighs with a devilish smile, whilst his hair brushed across my face in a dark waterfall. Then he crawled down me, popping open the button of my jeans and sliding them down.
He peeked at me through his long lashes, whilst stroking the crease between my thigh and hip. My skin tingled at each stroke of his fingers. I was desperate for him to touch me…
Amadeus already knew what I craved from him because he’d read my darkest, hidden, and secret desires. Yet I realized how little I knew about incubi, Betas, the fanatical worshipers of the Kingdom of the Gods…or Amadeus himself.
Amadeus was meant to be only a pretty Beta.
But what if he was also the deadliest of my Charms?
Continue Crimson’s adventures now in ONLY PRETTY BETAS, Book Two in the Rebel Werewolves series…
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APPENDIX ONE: OXFORD’S WITCH COVENS
House of Silver
Crimson Tide, the Wolf Charmer
Zetta and Daniel, Crimson’s parents
Crimson’s legendary great-grandmother
House of Seasons
Stella, Crimson’s aunt and leader of Oxford’s covens
House of Blood
Ivy, the Blood Witch, mother to the twins
Lux, twins with Aquilo
Aquilo, twins with Lux, a mage
APPENDIX TWO: CHARACTERS
WOLF SHIFTERS
The Ambassador, Stella’s wolf
Okami, magical wolf created by Crimson
SUPERNATURALS
Mischief, (god, mage, angel name ‘Zophia’, archduke from the Realm of the Seraphim)
Ramiel, Addict angel
‘Zetta’, magical essence of past Wolf Charmers, ward in House of Silver
Dual, Duke of Oxford’s vampire court and Fallen angel
ACADEMIES
Rebel Academy, where ‘bad’ supernaturals are sent
Omega Training Center, where Omegas are trained
APPENDIX THREE: WOLF KINGDOMS
Kingdom of the Wilds
Omega Prince Moon (Moon Child) — First Charm
Omega Moth, Moon’s brother
Queen Rhona
Princess Morag
Countess Lyall
Kingdom of the Gods
Beta Prince Amadeus (half incubus) — Second Charm
Kingdom of the Alphas
Alpha Prince Emperor (‘Cursed Alpha’) — Third Charm
Queen Aurora
Princess Hope
About the Author
ROSEMARY A JOHNS is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning fantasy author, music fanatic, and paranormal anti-hero addict. She writes sexy angels and werewolves, savage vampires, and epic battles.
Winner of the Silver Award in the National Wishing Shelf Book Awards. Finalist in the IAN Book of the Year Awards. Runner-up in the Best Fantasy Book of the Year, Reality Bites Book Awards. Honorable Mention in the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards.
Shortlisted in the International Rubery Book Awards.
Rosemary is also a traditionally published short story writer. She studied history at Oxford University and ran her own theater company. She’s always been a rebel…
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OMEGA PRINCE MOON
Only Perfect Omegas: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance Series (Rebel Werewolves Book 1) Page 28
