Only Pretty Betas: A Shifter Paranormal Romance Series (Rebel Werewolves Book 2)

by Rosemary A Johns

  “Not as easy as you.” Emperor lightly brushed his hand over Amadeus’ clothed dick, and he gasped, biting his lip.

  “If it pleases you,” Amadeus murmured.

  Yet I stared down at my palms, willing myself to remember a skill that I’d barely used since I was a teenager.

  When I’d first been learning my magic, I’d discovered that I could control animals. I’d practiced first on insects and then rodents.

  I’d taught my cousin’s mouse to ballet dance for her birthday; she’d been so excited that she’d barely slept that night, but her uncle had been furious, banning me from controlling animals again. Afterward, I’d cried alone in my room and I’d never missed my mom and dad so much. I figured that for my uncle, it was too close to me becoming a Wolf Charmer like his murdered sister.

  Except, that was what I’d been.

  It’d also been why I’d accepted my aunt’s insistence at first that wolves were no more than animals. Honestly, I’d thought that they were just a bigger mouse to make dance.

  Boy, had I been wrong.

  But could I still command insects, whilst my crimson was bound?

  “Bees first, dicks later.” I pressed my palms to the ground. “Oh, and possibly some rats if we need them.”

  “Did I miss the memo on the Doctor Doolittle and the Werewolves remake?” Emperor raised his hand.

  I sucked in a breath as I felt the coiling energy within me stretch outward, snaking through the earth, before shooting up into the domed sky in bloody streaks. I stared into the morning sky, waiting…hoping…that it’d work.

  Please, please, please…

  Emperor and Amadeus sat up in excited anticipation.

  The morning was still and silent. I lowered my head, pressing my lips tightly together.

  Hex a mage’s dick, what on earth would we do now…?

  Emperor stroked my shoulder. It felt more like understanding than pity.

  Bzzz — I jolted at the sudden vibration of thousands of bees’ wings.

  I glanced up, as the sky above the wood darkened with a swarm of bees. Then I grinned, dragging my Charms to their feet.

  Amadeus stared at me wildly. “You’ve no idea how much I crave to shag you right now, my wicked witch.”

  “If we survive today…” I caught his lips with mine, as they sparked with his own sweet power, “…you can screw me any way that you desire.”

  “Now, that’s the type of promise I like. Until then,” Emperor caught my arm, before boosting me onto his shoulder and then the top of the wall, “up you go.”

  Below in the courtyard, everything was screams, running, and panic.

  I’d directed the bees to only attack Alphas, and they flew through the barred windows into the center on their mission. The Omegas crushed themselves against the walls in bewildered fright, but they weren’t stung.

  The honey blond Omega was watching the guard who’d tormented him, whilst she rolled around howling, with his arms crossed and a revenge is sweet smirk. As Emperor boosted Amadeus onto the wall, before being hauled up himself, the Omega met my eye. I raised my finger to my mouth in the universal shhh gesture, and he nodded with a wink.

  So, there were other epic Omegas…? Why did that make it so much harder to only rescue Moon?

  I dropped down on the other side of the Re-education Center, looking up at the high arched building, which had silver bars on the windows. In the midst of the chaos, the Alphas hadn’t noticed us yet.

  But they would.

  “How will we find Moon?” Amadeus asked.

  I quivered, as Moon’s magic sang out to me, just as it had on the first day that I’d met him in the Omega Training Center. If I hadn’t chosen him as my Charm, he’d have been executed…or put down, as Stella cutely called it. Yet I’d picked him because of the silver, which had drawn me to him — the magical Moon Child.

  My heart ached at the need to hold Moon and make him mine again. When I sprinted towards the building’s main door, I heard Emperor’s holler behind me, but I was lost to Moon’s magic, which stole my breath away with my cravings.

  Moon was my Bitten: I could taste his blood on my tongue, imagine the feel of my teeth in his neck and the soft tickle of his curls.

  He was my first Charm and Omega…I was his.

  My shadows stormed in raging tsunami to burst free and join with his magic. My cheeks were suddenly wet, and I hadn’t even known that I’d started crying. When an Alpha snatched at my elbow, I focused passing bees to sting her ass. She yowled, falling away from me. I followed Moon’s trail like a will-o’-the-wisp to the room behind a gleaming door. It lay beyond a bank of abandoned monitors. Then I stopped in shock.

  The monitors showed footage of an opulent bathroom, which reminded me of the one that the wolves had granted to me in the Wilds, after I’d Wolf Bitten Moon. There was a marble bath and a pile of fluffy towels. Massage oils were ranked around the steaming water and rose petals floated on top.

  It should’ve been romantic.

  Except for how it was Moon who was naked apart from his leather collar in the water, holding himself with a terrible stiffness, whilst his gaze was dead and blank.

  I knew how much Moon hated baths. When I sniffed the heavy floral scent, I also knew that it was freaking ylang ylang in that oil…the type, which they used in the Omega Training Center.

  I trembled at the memory of Moth’s punishment: the way that the guard had massaged him with ylang ylang oil, before dunking him into ice-cold water to cleanse him.

  Worse, was the messed-up fact that it was Lyall kneeling next to the bath and whispering to Moon like he was her lover.

  Holy hell, I was going to hurl.

  “By my fur, when you’re mine, I’ll bathe you every day, Om.” Lyall smiled with a tenderness that shocked me, as she drizzled more oil onto her fingers and rubbed them together to warm it because the oil being too freaking cold was going to be what distressed Moon. Then she looked down bashfully like she was the one who’d been stripped. “I was always too weak to treat you like your ma wanted. You should serve me, but instead…” She reached out to massage Moon’s shoulders, and he flinched. She scowled. “Enough of that. Why don’t you cherish my care? Other Alphas would have you shivering your behind off in cold water.” She leaned closer, wiping the oil down his neck, even as he whimpered. “I love you.”

  She vibrated with such anguish that if she hadn’t been trying to take away a member of my pack, I’d have pitied the bitch.

  Yep, no pitying the asshole Alpha.

  “But you’re not my Charmer.” At last Moon met Lyall’s gaze, and his eyes blazed.

  I grinned, until Lyall gripped Moon’s curls and yanked back his head, but she only tipped water onto his hair, before working in scented shampoo.

  I glanced at Amadeus and Emperor who’d darted in behind me and were staring horrified at the monitor as well, then I nodded at the door.

  Emperor’s hands were clenched, but he shook his head. “A magical trap,” he whispered, “which we have also at the Alpha Academies. Without express permission, there’s no way to break through, unless your magic…?”

  I booted the bank of monitors in frustration. The screens flickered.

  “Your precious Charmer is unworthy, just as you’re the reject that you always were, even as a cub.” In contrast to the viciousness of her words, Lyall stroked the shampoo gently through Moon’s hair.

  “Aye, right. Then why do you want me?” Moon demanded, although his voice was rough with tears.

  Then he yelped, as Lyall tugged him back and dunked him under the water.

  Amadeus whined.

  When Lyall pulled Moon back up again, she smiled sweetly. “There, isn’t that better? Just trying to make sure that the shampoo doesn’t sting your beautiful eyes.” Then she leaned closer. “And I want you, wee Om, because you’ve always been mine — my promised prince. Stop your fussing. If you’d been with the Charmer for any longer, the witch would’ve become bored of all your
trouble, then she’d have thrown you back as a reject again.” I hated how Moon flinched, whilst I couldn’t call bullshit. “Does she even know that you’re a freak of a Moon Child?”

  I stormed towards the door, quivering at her casual cruelty and prejudice. Sweat dripped down the back of my neck, as I prickled with fever.

  Suddenly, my Charmer powers, which were as enraged as I was, broke free of the last bindings, which snapped like twanging guitar strings. I swayed, steadied by Amadeus, whilst my crimson shadows surged through me more powerful than ever before.

  Hey, maybe they’d needed a vacation to reenergize…?

  I fought back the wild laugh at the thrill of the shadows, before they exploded out of me in a billowing sea. My Charms moaned at the ecstasy, as they were caught in the waves of pleasure, joy, and dark desire for control. I craved to catch every shifter in Wolf Kingdom in the shadows’ hold and make them dance.

  I twirled, painting the room crimson.

  Could I paint the world red…?

  Then Emperor grabbed my hand. “Your eyes…they’ve transformed to silver.”

  I stumbled over my feet, slamming into the door. Only the Wolf Charmer line had silver eyes.

  Seriously, that was one way to bring a girl down.

  I twisted towards the door, sliding my questing shadows that thrummed in their freedom against its magic, which snapped back. I fought through the pain with the thought of Moon on the other side.

  I gritted my teeth, threading my red deeper into the mechanisms of the door, which shot electric bursts back.

  What if it still wouldn’t break?

  Come on, Crimson, you can do this…

  Who cared if I didn’t know a damn thing about being the kind of witch that my English aunt and her covens wanted? I was who Moon wanted, and honestly, since the covens had thrown me to the wolves, they could go to hell.

  I clenched my jaw, crashing my shadows down in a tidal wave on the door. With a shrieking creak, it splintered into shards. I howled, leaping over the ruins of the door into the intoxicating haze of the bathroom. Moon sat up, splashing the water out of the tub in shock. Lyall merely twisted to me, however, with a raised eyebrow.

  “Get away from my Moon Child, Countess. I’d never reject his gorgeous ass. I want him just as he is.” I stalked towards Lyall, whilst my shadows washed over the floors and ceiling, until we were all shaded in crimson.

  Moon smirked at Lyall. “She’s my Charmer.”

  Lyall’s nostrils flared. “Nay, witch’s bitch, because a wolf’s bite is stronger than a Charmer’s. And I intend to save you from her single skin influence.”

  Then her fangs grew.

  Moon’s eyes widened in terror. I screamed, throwing myself towards Lyall to stop her Wolf Biting Moon, but she’d already sunk her teeth into his throat.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I didn’t know that I’d be able to experience my Charms’ pain like it was my own, but when Lyall savaged Moon’s throat right over my own Wolf Bite, severing my Claim, I howled.

  Agony swept through me — Moon’s own, entwining around mine — whilst my shadows trembled with it. I dropped to my knees on the marble bathroom floor, cradling my arms around my head.

  Then suddenly, Moon’s silver tugged at my red. I lowered my arms, until my gaze met Moon’s, even though Lyall was still licking over her bite, savoring his blood with a smug satisfaction that filled me with a shuddering urge to kick her ass.

  Emperor and Amadeus prowled closer, growling.

  Then, despite the fact that Moon was naked apart from his collar, bitten, and shaking, he lifted his chin, which in any other Omega would’ve looked like he was offering his neck submissively.

  Yet in Moon…?

  Okay, so that’s what princely defiance looked like.

  I shivered, as his magic thrummed with rage, stirring my own into beating waves that darkened the floor to a bloody sea. I could feel his silver struggling against the influence of the collar. I flinched because his anguish at the way that it forced back his shift, controlling him in the most primal and cruel way, vibrated through me as well.

  How in the witching heavens couldn’t the covens see how freaking wrong it was to hold such power over every wolf?

  The only way to save Moon before the full moon was to show that I trusted him as my equal. I wished that I could remove his collar. Yet Moon had told me that it was impossible, which in my uncle’s business where I’d combined tech and magic had always been my favorite game. I wrecked impossible’s ass (in the non-kinky way), unless, you know, I didn’t…like with the dark magic that resisted me in the collar.

  I narrowed my eyes; if I couldn’t remove it, then I’d find another way around it.

  Watch out, collar, it was time to have your leather ass wrecked.

  When my red stroked Moon’s silver, it sighed, entwining with mine. I steadied my breathing. Then for the first time, I allowed Moon’s magic to meld with my own.

  Moon’s lips parted, as his breath hitched; his gaze was suddenly raw with disbelief. Joined and equal, our magic slipped inside the snake-like collar, which glimmered, as if it was alive, questing through the mechanism. The ancient magics inside lashed us, whilst Moon and I jumped at the sting, united.

  I bit my lip, unable to look away from Moon’s burning amber gaze. I trembled with the terror that the silver would shoot out and poison him.

  Our magic pushed further and further against the furious collar’s resistance. Nope, there was no way to remove it…but Moon and I grinned at the same time with the realization that now Moon’s magic had seeped through the collar, I could force his shift…but he could also take it over and stop a transformation or turn himself back.

  My uncle had always taught me to search for loopholes in deals.

  I’d never violate Moon in a shift again or control him. Now he’d be able to transform almost like a free wolf. His pupils were blown, and his face was flushed with joy.

  He’d be my equal.

  Lyall paused in the licking of her bite, frowning as she glanced up at Moon’s sudden change. “Do you still not know your place, Om?”

  I yanked my shadows out of the collar, requesting a shift at the same time as Moon wound his magic around himself and seized control of his own transformation. He arched, before exploding in a spray of silver into a large white wolf.

  This time, he was not only sinfully beautiful in wolf form but deadly. His fur glittered like pearls with water droplets, as his silky ears pressed to his head and his golden eyes glowed.

  How was it possible that the danger of his snarl and fangs didn’t terrify me, but flooded me with awe and pride?

  Moon shook his head, forcing Lyall to fall back and wild water droplets to spray across the bathroom.

  Lyall reached a trembling hand towards his fur. “Goddess Moon, you’ve grown beautiful,” she whispered. Moon’s hackles raised, bristling his fur, until he looked twice as large again. His lips curled back into a ferocious snarl. “Nay, don’t think that you can dominate me. I’m still your Alpha.”

  Moon’s paw shot out; his claws gleamed.

  Lyall shrieked as she was pinned over the edge of the bath. Then Moon sank his teeth into her neck, savaging her throat.

  How was that for a breakup?

  Blood swirled into the water, turning it red. Lyall’s arms and legs spasmed. When Moon finally raised his scarlet jaws, turning to look at me through his butterfly lashes for approval, I should’ve been shaking in my witchy boots. Instead, I smiled, thrilling on the sensation of my Wolf Bite, which settled back into place on Lyall’s death. Moon had chosen me by reclaiming it.

  I raised my hand against the tidal wave splash of water, as Moon leaped out of the bath, then paraded towards me with his head high and his tail lifted.

  Yep, he was definitely in Alpha headspace.

  Moon pushed his snout against my thigh, and I stroked the soft fur behind his ear, just like I’d craved to do ever since he’d shifted. My shadows caressed
down his back and along his tail, whilst he quivered, sensitive to my touch in this form, panting.

  “Your name is Moon,” I whispered, resting my chin on his head, “and that asshole was never your Alpha. You’re my Moon Child, the same as I’m your Wolf Charmer. We need each other.”

  Holy hell it was true. I felt it deep in my victorious shadows, which tangled with his silver now in a thrilling dance. He was what I’d always been missing — his power was part of me.

  Then why were witches and werewolves enemies?

  I shook with delayed shock because if this hadn’t worked and I’d been unable to wreck impossible’s ass, then by the full moon, my Charm would’ve died.

  I couldn’t lose somebody that I loved again.

  Boil and bubble, I did love Moon.

  He didn’t need to know that, right?

  Emperor stalked closer with Amadeus slinking at his side. “I hope you understand that was spectacularly dangerous.” He cocked his head. “And like something I’d do. It appears that my friend has become a real little prince.” He opened his arms with a smirk. “I still expect a cuddle though.”

  Moon’s eyes narrowed, as he growled. Moon might’ve forgiven Emperor for whatever had driven them apart as kids, although I doubted even that, but Emperor wasn’t in the cuddle zone just yet.

  Didn’t he realize how close he was to being savaged?

  When Moon took one prowling step towards Emperor’s welcoming arms, I snatched his tail. Moon blinked at me, then he launched himself at Emperor, shaking himself and spraying water all over Emperor’s suit and robes.

  Emperor howled in outrage. “How charming,” he grumbled. “I’d only just dried out from the well. True princes have more refinement and—”

  “Your hair’s dripping into your eyes.” Amadeus laughed. “You look like a drowned golden rat.”

  “My hair…?” Emperor stormed to the bathroom’s mirror, molding his locks back into place, frantically

  Amadeus’ smile was wicked. “I always wondered if I’d please him more, see, if I just held up a mirror in front of my face.”