Page 166 of Jagged Souls

As long as we scorch it, our war stays with the Shadow Domain. But if we start dealing the Ricks and Vs ourselves, we will be targeted by every dealer of it in the world. The Mattos twins, the two geniuses who make the potions, are notoriously strict about who they sell to and who is allowed to distribute for them. There’s a list of detailed requirements their partners must adhere to, and one of those is to kill any unauthorized traders.

So if we try to sell even a single vial, we’ll instantly put a multi-billion dollar bounty on our heads and create enemies on every continent.

The Mattos twins are not ones for mercy.

We move out, a dozen of us stalking through the city in our human forms. Oscar only joins us as far as the whores on the docks though. That is where he stops; he hasn’t got his own hands bloody in a long time.

We continue through the cloud-covered night, weaving our way through quiet streets until we reach the outskirts of the city, where humans are few. They might not know about our existence, but they know danger haunts these woods. They know better than to be out this late alone.

Slipping into the cover of the trees, we strip out of our clothes, then shift. Pain cuts through our skin – a curse of the gods, the consequence of some ancient sin. Grunts and growls rip through the group, and even I’m not quiet as the intensity increases, but at least mine doesn’t last long. Shaking out my red fur, I push to my feet, towering over them. Most of our soldiers are female due to the make-up of our pack – one alpha male, a few betas, and the rest women, but werewolf males are still bigger. Stronger.

My eyes slip to the whore in the middle of her change, and terror permeates the air. They are all too aware that I could kill them one by one. I move too fast, when they don’t shift fast enough.

But capo openings just cause strife within our Family. So I turn my gaze to the woods around us and breathe in deep, checking for any Bloods or Shades, standing watch while they finish.

Then we race through the trees as one, heading towards the secret outpost Oscar marked on a map. It’s hidden by magic, but it’s been scent-marked by a couple of our guys, and we turn our heads side to side, pinpointing its direction.

I veer off when we get close, and as the rest of them start to target the east side, working to destroy the invisibility and protection ward by overloading it with their attacks, I wait on the western side. The air shimmers in front of me, the witches’ pale-blue shield taking a hammering. It starts to weaken.

My fur stands on end as adrenaline rushes through me. I could probably push through the ward without dying right now, but I’m only resistant to magic, not immune.

If I calculate it wrong, I’m dead.

And so I wait.

It fizzes out in a few minutes. A wooden hut pops into view. As the sound of fighting dances through the trees, I streak towards the building in a blur of red fur. We only have ten, maybe fifteen minutes before more reinforcements arrive. They’ll have a witch in there who knows how to scry, and they would have sent out a cry for help as soon we started attacking the ward.

Launching myself into the air, I crash through a window rather than the door. Rolling to my feet, I dart to the side and slice through the chest of the man I have taken by surprise. They’ve only left one guard for me, and I whip my head around, breathing in the smells to track where I need to go next.

But the whole place stinks of sex, Vs, and Ricks. We must’ve just interrupted an orgy – the dealers too tempted by their own product. If we don’t kill them for their mistake, Delun Shadow will, so perhaps they haven’t requested back-up at all. Perhaps they are dumb enough to think in their drug-induced state that they have what it takes to fend us off. To be the heroes and hide this mess from their Boss.

My cock twitches as the drugs in the air hook their claws into me. Ricks are the only way I’ve been able to get off in the eighty-two years since I chased Siome away. It still feels disgusting to get that release every few years, but at least with a Rick, the dick isn’t ‘mine.’ It’s a thing of magic with its own shape… And yet, I still kill the women after. Still feel the disgust too strongly. Like I’m cheating on her even though it’s been decades since I’ve even seen her outside of the painting in my watch.

Shaking my head, I fight the effects of the drugs, but they’ve filled the place up like a fucking opium den. It’s only a matter of time until I succumb. If they were having an orgy, then they have whores, and if any of them are wolves in heat and on V, then it will trigger a primal instinct I’ll struggle to fight. There is a reason most packs are made up of women. Too many males cause too much trouble too easily.

Heading deeper into the house, I kill any witch I come across, biting off their heads or stabbing my claws through their hearts. I move quickly and efficiently, feeling the timer ticking down on my control.

I barge into a room, and my cock jumps to attention. Beneath the smoky haze of the drugs filling the place, I spot a woman I would know anywhere.

Her scent calls to me, fills me, demands I make her mine.

I dig my claws into the door frame on either side of me, my muscles rippling as I struggle to control the urges of the Ricks so potent in the air.

She lies naked on a bed with one hand between her legs. Multiple bottles of V lie around her – a few full, more of them empty. The smell of her pussy is all wrong, too twisted by the potions’ own scents. Too filled with other men’s cum.

A pack member screams from outside, but I ignore their cry for help.

All my attention is on my childhood sweetheart.

The woman I thought I’d saved.

Siome.

Shifting back into my human form, I stumble towards her.

She turns to look at me, but her eyes are all wrong. The beautiful bright red delights are now dull and empty. Full of all the pain she was never supposed to experience. There’s no recognition there, no big smile to greet me. There’s just pure desperation. “Come fuck me,” she purrs.

I flinch away even as my cock demands me forward. I don’t want her like this though. Where she doesn’t even know who I am.