Page 37 of Psycho Shifters

The darkness became more stifling. I couldn’t do anything, I just lost myself in the endless void that burned me alive.

I needed to stop obsessing over the girl.

“Do you hear that?” Ascher asked without looking up from his fancy phone.

The young shifter had been revealed as an alpha only a year ago. Sometimes it took longer for a shifter’s body to grow into its full immortal size.

Ascher was unique in that his horns had appeared on his twentieth birthday, and he had immediately bulked up. He’d mastered his shifted form the first day we’d fought him.

Still, he was loud and obnoxious and unbroken by the world, eager to prove himself.

In contrast, Jax was a hundred and twenty years old and had been assigned to fight at many portals.

I was a hundred years old, but had spent most of my miserable life in the fae realm.

I had only escaped to the shifter realm six years ago. That same year, Jax and I had both been assigned to this portal.

We’d never had any issues with Ascher. He was hardworking and his beast was formidable. Even now, his black horns curled large on his head, a constant reminder that he was more than he seemed.

Still, I ignored Ascher’s question, like I usually did.

Even though I appreciated him, it didn’t mean I was going to indulge his antics. Jax dealt with that.

I didn’t have the patience.

Most of the time, all my attention was focused on keeping myself together, keeping my mind intact.

Jax grunted noncommittally as he did push-ups on the ground. His bulging muscles shone with sweat, and I couldn’t help but admire the larger shifter.

He was my rock.

I also knew him better than myself, and I could tell he was rattled by the girl as well. She was an unknown and practically stank of secrets and lies.

No way was she an alpha.

The oligarchy had told Zed she had no battle experience whatsoever. Every time her skin cracked with a punishing blow, she retaliated harder.

It was like the pain fueled her. We’d been lied to. The darkness crept into my vision.

Both Jax and I were distrustful in general. We took our orders and led our troops, but neither of us were big nationalists.

The only person I was loyal to was Jax.

The oligarchy had its secrets, and something about the never-ending fae war didn’t taste right in our mouths.

I hadn’t survived what I had to be a fool to the political machinations of people with too much power.

They were using the girl for something, and I would break it out of her.

“Right there, again. Did you hear that?” Ascher sat up and put his phone down.

The cocky alpha looked stressed, and my skin prickled. What were the odds that my instincts went haywire at the exact same time that Ascher’s did?

“I felt something, a vibration.” Jax stopped doing push-ups and jumped up. “On the floor above us.”

I listened quietly and heard the echo of a body hitting the floor. When you trained for war all the time, you knew what physical combat sounded like.

Two people were fighting.