Magic. All-Mother, magic was the only explanation for the electric blue light that had momentarily blinded him. The threat of magic worked to ground the alpha. There was no way he could give into his hindbrain now. Not when there was magic in the air. And not with a defenseless omega’s safety at stake. He would have to keep going forward, no matter how powerful or old the magic was.

Surging forward, Zehr burst out of the treeline and into a glen. No sooner had he cleared the last branch than he caught sight of the omega. All it took was that first glance for Zehr to jerk to a stop.

From that first step, he knew that everything was different. He wasn’t sure how, but he sensed the weight, the very stillness, that had descended on the glen and seemed to suspend time and motion.

Standing at the center of the grassy glen was a dark-haired omega female, powerful magic crackling over her outstretched hands.

The omega was a magic user.

But that didn’t mean the omega was safe. Not with the blood flowing from her right shoulder and staining the otherwise spotless white material of her tank top. He tried not to notice how beautifully it set off her brown sun-kissed skin. Now was not the time for that.

Forcing his gaze away, Zehr’s eyes darted from the omega to the clearing’s other occupant, another shifter, an alpha from the smell of him. It only took a second before Zehr knew without a shadow of a doubt that the alpha slowly shaking his head as if just struck was wholly responsible for whatever had prompted the blast of power from the omega.

The shifter turned to face Zehr, and he almost roared at the sight. It was the alpha who had leered at Zara not twenty minutes earlier. His baby sister had believed the alpha innocent but here the trash was, preying on an omega and proving Zehr right.

He hated bullies. Couldn’t stand them.

He didn’t care if the omega was capable of blowing him right out of the universe. He was going to teach the shit excuse for an alpha what happened when they preyed on omegas.

Letting out a deafening roar, Zehr stalked into the clearing and fixed his unwavering glare on the now backpedalling alpha. He could smell the fear rolling off the other shifter and a flush of pleasure washed over him. He was going to enjoy putting the coward in his place.

The other alpha tripped as he tried to put ground between an advancing Zehr and himself. Zehr kept advancing until he had successfully put himself between the omega and the shifter in front of him. Only when she was completely at his back did he stop moving, his eyes glowing amber as he stared the other alpha down.

“This isn’t what it looks like.” The alpha swallowed hard, words rushing into one another as he shot him a panicked look. “She wanted—”

“LIAR!” the omega suddenly screamed. “YOU’RE A LIAR!”

“You knew what you were doing! YOU BEGGED FOR IT!” the alpha hurled back at her, and it was only by the grace of the All-Mother that Zehr was able to restrain himself from snapping the alpha’s neck.

“Silence,” he snarled, eyes flashing. The sight made the alpha go still out of fear, and he stared at Zehr with wide eyes.

Zehr tilted his head slightly, looking back at the omega. “He hurt you?” he asked.

“H-he dragged me,” the omega said, clutching a hand to her shoulder. Her fingers pressed tightly to the wound to stem the blood. Zehr’s mouth went into a tight line at seeing her injury. Her chest, which Zehr tried to not notice was amply proportioned, rose and fell in short, shallow breaths as she stared wide-eyed at the two alphas.

“Chased me away from the camp an-and tried to mark me, alpha,” she said, voice trembling.

Zehr felt a flare of admiration for the omega. It would be difficult for any shifter to speak so soon of an attack, but for an omega? And one about to fall into a heat?

Nearly impossible.

The poor thing should be somewhere safe, with shifters she trusted, and given only the best of things. Not caused trauma by a beast of an alpha.

Zehr turned back to toward the alpha and a growl formed low in his chest when he noticed the smear of blood on the other alpha’s chin. Proof enough to back the omega’s story. It was all he needed to take action against the alpha.

“She wanted—”

Zehr caught him by his neck and lifted him from the ground. His fingers circled the alpha’s neck and dug roughly into that particularly vulnerable spot mates would bond, but now Zehr used it to remind the alpha of precisely who THE alpha was. The shifter shuddered and went still in Zehr’s grip, his head drooping and body going limp.

“She wanted nothing,” Zehr thundered, his voice echoing among the trees which still seemed eerily quiet. Not even the crickets moved as the tableau unfolded in front of them.

“You forced her.”

“Yes,” he gasped, eyes still averted.

“In my clan, we kill shifters like you.”

The shifter’s eyes darted up to Zehr’s, but a warning growl had them darting away again. “P-please. Mercy.”

“Did she ask for mercy?” Zehr shook him. Holding onto his rage was difficult. He felt as if he could snap the shifter’s neck with the barest twitch of his hand, and only the fear of further stressing the omega held him in check. When the shifter didn’t respond Zehr shook him harder.

“DID SHE ASK FOR MERCY?”

“Yes.” The alpha gasped in pain but didn’t move a finger to stop the treatment.

“And yet you ask for what you would not grant.” Zehr sneered at the alpha in his hands. “What makes you think I won’t kill you?”

The alpha then dared to lift his eyes to Zehr’s. “The coronation.”

Zehr felt a white-hot blinding anger he hadn’t experienced since his father’s murder. “You think you’re safe because of some antiquated law? There are no witnesses here. The All-Mother knows what you did and she alone will judge me. My hands will be plenty clean for the coronation, even with spilling your blood.”

The alpha jerked back as if he had been slapped and his eyes widened in fear. Zehr smiled thinly at the sight of the now trembling alpha. He tightened his fingers on the alpha’s neck, and might have gone further if not for the soft voice of the omega.

“Don’t kill him,” she called from behind Zehr. Zehr swallowed hard and flexed his fingers on the alpha’s neck before he spoke.

“Is that your wish?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as he considered the shifter who barely qualified as an alpha.

The shifter smelled like another wolf, perhaps from the Moonwater clan, a sorry lot of cold-hearted backstabbers and the prime suspects in his father's murder. There would be little love lost in the death of one such wolf and he expected nothing better of one of their alphas than trying to force-bond an omega.

“Yes,” the omega said, voice quiet but firm. “I want him banished. You can do that. I know you’re the Fireheart alpha, and everyone knows how you treat omegas.”

Zehr’s lips tilted up in a smile but he said nothing. So the little omega knew who he was. The shifter in his hands squirmed.

“Banishment?! You don’t have that kind of power! She’s a half-breed! I am—”

Zehr’s eyes snapped back to the alpha in front of him. “I don’t give a damn who you are! And you think I don’t have that kind of power?” He jerked the alpha close to him, a snarl on his face as he stared down at him.

“You forget the blood that flows through my veins. I can do exactly what she’s asked and more. As of this hour, you are banished from shifter gatherings. You are not welcome here for breaking a sacred law. You are unknown to the clans.” Zehr flung the shifter away from him with enough force that the alpha bounced and rolled head over heels into the tall grass of the glen.

“You should run,” he said, glaring at the prostrate alpha, “before I change my mind and send you back to the All-Mother, though you’d make a piss-poor offering.”

“You’ll pay for this, witch.” The alpha’s eyes moved past Zehr to where the omega was standing.

A stifled gasp from her had Zehr moving with a speed that surprised even him, and a well-placed front kick delivered squarely to the shifter’s abdomen sent the alpha once more flying backward in a cloud of dust and curses.

“The next time you speak to her I will kill you,” Zehr said, walking along in a mockery of a stroll, his posture relaxed but his eyes murderous.

All it took was one glance for the other alpha to understand the seriousness of Zehr’s promise. Thankfully, the idiot turned and without a second look sprinted from the clearing. It was a mercy to Zehr as he didn’t have it in him to kill in front of an omega, especially one who was frightened and wounded. He wrinkled his nose at the coppery smell of her blood mingling with her sugary sweetness. The effect wasn’t...unpleasant, with the saltiness of her blood adding an extra layer to the overwhelming sweetness of her heat scent.

And then there was the matter of her magic mingling with it all and making it all the more heady, like a strong glass of wine. Zehr had to give himself a shake. He should not be feeling this taken by an omega he didn’t know, and he certainly had no business doing it with one capable of wielding magic.

Shifters had no affinity or love for magic. Their world was very clearly separated into two halves: those with magic and those without. Shifters were the latter and trusted none that were of the former. How was she even possible?

“What are you?” Zehr stared at the omega in wonder. There was far too much magic around her for her to be purely shifter.

The metallic tang of arcane magic wafted to the alpha on the air, mingling with her enticing sweetness. Shimmering blue light from the charge she had let loose only minutes before still clung to her tan skin, like small streaks of lightning, and Zehr wondered if they would burn him should he touch her.

All-Mother, he wanted to touch her.

But the magic held him back. It screamed danger to him, despite his need to come closer.

The omega's brown eyes darted up to meet his before sliding away again. “I-I’m Moonwater Clan.”

“That’s not what I meant.” He took a step toward her, his eyes moving along her lush curves. She was achingly beautiful in that soft way omegas had about them. Pink pillow lips, flawless tan skin, and haunting doe eyes. He’d never known anything of beauty to come from the cold shifters of Moonwater.

She and her attacker were from the same clan.

Interesting.

How did she smell so perfect to him? A shifter and a magic wielder? Such a union wasn’t allowed by pack law. How had she come to be? This omega shouldn't be. Couldn't be. But here she was.

Magic and beauty.

“Sweets…” The pet name fell unbidden from his lips. Zehr might have winced at the slip if the sweet confectionery scent of the omega hadn’t been cloying around him. But it was, and the intoxicating smell pulled him a few steps closer. Not even the alarm bells her lingering magic set off in his hindbrain could stop him now, and he kept advancing, watching with interest at how the omega’s whiskey brown eyes widened at the endearment.

“You have magic.”

“I do.”

“No shifter has magic.”

She gave a quick shake of her head, sending her mane of black curls over her shoulder. “That’s not true. We are magic.”

Zehr smiled slightly. “Shifters are not magic, little omega, but somehow you are. How?”

The omega looked down, gaze moving to her feet, and she went still as a statue. A moment later she spoke, voice so soft Zehr almost missed it over the sound of rustling leaves and wind.

“I’m ha-half bruja," she whispered.

Zehr froze, and this time it was the alpha’s eyes that widened. Bruja?! How was it that one of the witches to the south had mated with a shifter to produce the sinfully sweet and trembling omega in front of him?

Oh, this was bad. Very bad.