A Curse of Fate (Shifter City Fated Mates #1)

Chapter 42

The pounding in my head was the first sensation I became aware of. Thump thump thump. Nausea rolled in my gut, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever felt my mouth this dry.

What happened? My memory was fuzzy, and as I tried to recall if I’d drank too much last night, the events come back to me in a flash.

Riding with Slade. The attack. Explosion and pain.

A thousand pins stabbed into my head when I lurched up and forced my eyes open. My wolf whimpered as she tried to orient herself, the drugs in our system keeping us groggy.

When my vision finally cleared, I found myself in what looked like an old-fashioned jail cell, my butt firmly planted on the cold, stone floor, while my arms were chained to the wall above my head. The chains kept me upright, and when I attempted to straighten, pain clamped down on my spine. Far superseding the pain in my head and strained arms.

“Don’t move, Emmeline.”

Slade’s low rumble froze me, at least every part of me except my eyes, as I searched for him in the semi-darkness. It was not only dark but freezing in this cell, and as my breaths puffed in front of me, it took a few minutes for my sight to adjust and find the dragon.

Holy goddess babies.

He was in the cell across from me, and unlike me, was chained down with multiple cuffs around his arms, throat, and ankles. All of them glowing with witchy magic. I had no idea how strong dragons were, but to my knowledge no shifter could break through even one of those cuffs, let alone half a dozen.

Who the fuck took us? They had to be both loaded and connected to access magic like this. Shifters and witches weren’t on the best of terms, which made this a very unusual display of power.

Granted, they’d have had no chance against a dragon otherwise.

“Slade,” I groaned, trying not to vomit as my head pounded. “What happened?”

All I could clearly see was the glow of his green eyes and the menacing expression on his perfect face. “It was an ambush. I took out dozens of them, but they had a veritable army at their disposal. We underestimated their numbers, and it’s put us in this position.”

“Who—?” I tried to clear my aching throat, but only water would help at this point. “Who is behind the attack?”

Before he could answer there was a clang above our heads, and a second later footsteps echoed down to us. My body still wouldn’t respond, even as I attempted to press myself against the wall and move as far from the bars as I could get.

Slade remained silent but deadly, his gaze locked on me.

As the steps grew louder, my stomach churned until I was once again in danger of vomiting all over myself. When the shifter came into view, I stared in blank horror, wondering if I was hallucinating.

“Hello, princess,” he rumbled, eyes as dark as midnight staring right into my soul. “We’ve been looking for you for what feels like forever.”

As I stared back into the depraved gaze of Blaine Rogers, the entitled alpha of my mom’s former pack, all I could hear were screams.

It took me a very long time to realize they were mine.

Catch up on what happens next in the Shifter City Fated Mates series in book 2, A Twist of Luck, coming in 2025 Link .