Page 72 of Sinful Shifters

"I wouldn't blame you for that either. I'd be at peace, at least." He bows his head, resigned to his bloody fate.

"Before you die, though, make yourself useful," I announce to him. "Tell us more about Fern's life. You're the only one alive who might know."

"You don't know yet?" He sounds surprised. "You should know everything."

I lie to him. "I want to hear it from your perspective."

After studying me for a long moment, his eyes widen a little. "I don't believe you. It's clear that you don't have her memories."

"Believe whatever you want to believe, you'll just die sooner."

"It makes sense," he says, smirking dismissively. "Of course, it all makes sense."

Adar slaps him. "Explain yourself."

Shivering, Eli submits to him, nothing like the alpha he once was.

"Fine, I'll tell you. All of you know that Fern saved me. You think that's why she did what she did, right?"

"Yes, of course," Adar says impatiently. "She wanted to save the new world and keep you from dying. She was in love with you."

"It wasn't me she was in love with, it was what I represented. Yes, she wanted to save me, but she went into the wellspring for more than one reason."

"Why? What other reason?"

He meets my eyes. "Her whole life, she'd been a sought after omega. All the alphas fought over her, and many betas were slaughtered in wars to get her. News of her existence spread far beyond her pack's embrace.

"She was special—she could channel magic. She could even channel an alpha's abilities. They all saw it. So every alpha on the continent wanted to tie with her from the time she was old enough to go into heat, before she was even of age."

I don't hide my disgust. "But she didn't mate with them?"

"Oh, they tried to mate her, but she was clever and powerful. She always escaped." He shakes his head. "Klaus wanted her, but he was convinced he had to lead a pack to get her. That's why he tried to kill me—he was lovesick."

He was a bastard, but I keep that to myself. "So Fern lured him into the wellspring?"

"Yes. She said she wanted to mate with him, then dragged him down into it. But in the end, she didn't do it to save me. She did it because she didn't want omegas to exist at all, and she'd found a way to do just that."

Eli looks at me with recrimination in his eyes. "She'd hate this new world that you're creating. One where alphas take packs from each other through bloodshed. Maybe her memories have remained locked away from you because she doesn't approve of what you're doing."

His words sting me.

Because I can feel their truth.

Chapter62

Rina

Thale disagrees with him, though. "While Fern may have wanted the violence to be over, I doubt she destroyed the omegas on purpose. It must have been an accident."

Though Eli shakes his head. "I'm certain she didn't want omegas to exist anymore. The new world I was creating was one she approved of, but she confided in me that she thought alphas would fight forever, as long as omegas existed."

"But why choose to die?" I ask him. "I know she wanted to live. I can just feel it."

"She also thought she'd become one of the wellspring's guardians, though that didn't happen at all." He frowns. "I guess there was no place for her once the four of you sacrificed yourselves to save it. Not that it seemed to fix everything—it wasn't until Fern and Klaus died that the wellspring seemed to have gotten its bloodthirsty fill for sacrifice."

In that moment, we feel a disturbance in the magic. The ground trembles beneath us and the air seems to shivers. Lucian suggests sending out scouts to see if we're under attack, but that isn't it.

It's the wellspring doing it.

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