Marked By Lies: A Reverse Harem Series (The Marked Series Book 1) by Paige Orr (best english books to read for beginners .txt) 📕

been confident that I was the only one who saw him making his escape. Because not far down the tunnel, I find him leisurely strolling away. If he thinks that it was going to be that easy to stop me, then he has another thing coming!

Chapter Thirty-Two

Morpheus

I lose sight of Melissa as the cult members begin to converge on us. Like rats crawling from the sewers, they begin to appear almost out of nowhere. We never exactly got the chance to count how many members were down here, but as they begin to show themselves from the crevices they were hidden in, I can see at least thirty.

After everything we found out about the ritual, that doesn’t really make sense though. The ritual called for a sacrifice from each person, and if Zaph and Melissa took out ten of the fuckers in the woods, and there are at least ten bodies already on the floor, then forty Fae is nowhere near enough.

When my eyes flick towards the center of the room to do a quick head count, I find more than forty Fae. There haven't been any more disappearances reported to either Cail or Zaph, and some of the captives don’t look Seelie or Unseelie, which can only mean that they belong to the lower castes.

If these bastards were looking for power though, then that just doesn’t add up. As I continue to fight my way through the crowd though, I actually take in each of the members who are present for the ritual. What I see causes surprise, since there are people here who look like at best they've only just turned eighteen.

I hate to have to kill someone so young, but it’s not like we can just let them get away with this. The weaker Fae makes a lot more sense though. The older cult members obviously didn’t trust the younger ones with the same level of power as them. Either way, it makes our task more difficult.

Already I can see the captives trying to release their bindings as some of the cult members begin to stalk towards them, ignoring the fighting going on behind them. Luckily enough, I’m not the only one who notices what the sneaky bastards are up to, as the surrounding shadows begin to converge on them.

You would think that the cult would have done their homework and decided to perform the ritual somewhere that isn’t so perfect for the Unseelie Prince. Hell, if there weren’t so many lives at risk, then Zaph could have quite easily taken them all down on his own with the amount of shadows around us. I don’t think I’ve ever been so jealous of his shadow manipulation before.

It’s not that my own magic isn’t useful, but my fire magic could be a hindrance against the other's magic. It’s just a basic understanding of the elements. Fire and earth don’t exactly work together, nor does fire and water, and even with all the training I’ve done with Zaph and his wind, he does really prefer to use his shadows.

My Skinwalker capabilities aren’t much use in this type of fight either. I’m so much better at infiltration and espionage, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a few tricks up my sleeves. Just because I find it easier to shift into another humanoid shape, doesn’t mean I can’t be more creative with it.

There are many humanoid figures that I could shift into that would have the cult members shifting themselves, but shifting into something large can be very taxing, so I need to make sure that I’m making the right choice. What comes to mind has a sickening grin crossing my face.

With how promiscuous the Fae can be, there are some extremely dangerous creatures that have been born into our world. Just like the creature I plan to use. Not all of Fae kind worship the Mother Goddess Danu, some chose to worship the Queen of Spiders, the Drow Goddess Lolth. Those that do, and perform rituals to show their devotion to her, have given birth to some of the most fearful creatures of our kind.

This includes the Draegloth, which is a mix between a Drow and a Glebrezu demon. The Draegloth can easily reach eight feet in height, and have four arms, two of which are smaller and more humanoid for spellwork. The other two upper arms are basically just razor sharp claws that can cut through the strongest of metals.

Their lupine-like snout and black skin covered in white tufts of hair, all matched together with their powerful jagged teeth, make for one scary motherfucker. Which is exactly what I need.

Most of your average shapeshifters start off with a painful transition between their natural form and their animal, but Skinwalkers don’t receive the same kindness. Every time we shift, n matter how much we practice, it still hurts like a bitch. Thankfully, after five hundred and thirty-two years of practice, I’m able to block out the pain completely, which makes the transition much smoother.

The cult members who had begun to approach me, look more hesitant at the expression on my face, and I use their hesitation to begin the transformation. Their eyes grow wide as my body changes shape, growing much taller than them. When the upper arms begin to grow from my shoulder blades, like some twisted version of wings, I can see the disgust clearly written on their faces.

That’s fine by me though, and as I feel my jaw beginning to extend along with my teeth, I give them a mischievous wink. The stench of their fear is strong to new senses, which causes me to release a predatory growl. The cult members stumble backwards away from me, and the acrid smell of piss reaches me.

Seriously, these assholes are big and bad enough to abduct so many of our people that they were