Shifted Devotion: Ravenswatch Clan, #2

By SVB Jackson

The Great Capital is no place to be a shifter, and it is definitely no place to be when you are a shifter wanted for murder.

 

I had a single fate before I met Raven – to lose my virginity at the hands of the highest bidder. Now I have left behind the brothel and my captivity, but freedom is fleeting.

 

I have blood on my hands, so does Raven and they are hunting for us. The City Watch will kill a shifter like Raven on sight.

 

We have to get out of the city, and we have to do it now – but what if the world beyond is worse than the one we are leaving behind?

 

They say you can't trust shifters.

They are dangerous.

They are violent.

 

I want to prove them wrong.

 

Now I am fighting to get out of the city, but is it possible there is no true freedom beyond these concrete walls?

 

Shifted Devotion is the second book in the dark and spicy, wolf shifter series Ravenswatch Clan by SVB Jackson.

 

Set against the background of a shifter/human war and the fight for survival, this series is both strong on passion and plot.

 

If you love strong, feisty heroines, partnered with dashing, dangerous heroes, (who truly are the good guy) and plenty of sexual tension, then you will love this thrilling and steamy science fiction romance series.

 

Buy Shifted Devotion today and start your journey into a new world of passion, drama, and otherworldly desire.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sophie Jackson
• Release date: Apr 29, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224957941

Book preview

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Before you Begin

This novel continues the story of Vox and Raven from Shifted Love.

The Ravenswatch Clan series is a shifter romance set in a sci-fi universe. Each set of lovers feature in two adventures (I call them duets), so you get double the romance, double the passion, double the adventure.

Each novel is a complete, standalone story, so you can read them in any order, however, characters do cross over. There is also a wider story that runs through the whole series.

How you read these books is completely up to you. Read them as standalones, as duets or go for the whole series in order to get the full picture of the world of Ravenswatch Clan.

Whatever you choose to do, I hope you enjoy reading these novels as much as I enjoyed writing them and I wish you many happy hours of Shifter love.

Sophie

One

Vox

––––––––

For the first time in my life, I woke up and I did not know where I was.

My eyes fluttered open. I was in a soft bed, but the walls were unfamiliar and there was someone lying beside me. As my memories slowly kicked in, I realised the person beside me was the man I loved the most in all the world.

It was Raven.

He slept with one arm across my belly, protective, keeping me close. After what had happened to us that night it made sense that he would want to make sure I was safe.

Everything came flooding back to me then.

The Virgin Auction.

Madame Vim’s brothel.

And what I had done to her when I decided that we had to escape. For the moment, though, I was not going to allow those thoughts to enter my mind. It would take time for me to come around to the idea that I was no longer a prisoner of Madame Vim.

I was free.

Or at least as free as anybody could be in the Great Capital.

We had escaped one dangerous situation only to be immediately flung into another. Raven was a shifter, and shifters are despised in the Great Capital. Just his presence was enough to have him arrested by the City Watch if they realised what he was.

And I had no doubt that Madame Vim’s supporters would be spreading word by now that she had been slain when a shifter had rescued one of her girls.

We had to get out of the Great Capital as quickly as possible. This had been merely a stopping point, a moment in time to give us a chance to rest and regroup.

Outside the walls of the city was a completely unknown world to me. I had never strayed far from Madame Vim’s Forbidden Fruit. I had been born there, I had been raised there, and I had been expected to lose my virginity there to the man who bid the highest amount of money for it.

I had always thought that was my destiny, as much as it appalled me. But I had survived, and now here I was – safe, at least for the moment.

I turned my head and studied Raven's face in repose as he slept. His dark hair framed his features as he slept deeply. I thought to myself how handsome he was. How fortunate I had been to cross paths with him. Maybe it was fate that had led us together. Or maybe the whim of the gods we were supposed to worship here in the Great Capital. I had never been one for thinking about fate in the past, but now, as I looked at Raven, I thought how our chance encounter had brought us together and I couldn't help but wonder.

He slept deeply, at peace at last after his injury. I reached out and touched his side, slipping my fingers under his shirt. I felt the smooth skin of the muscle beneath. There was no sign of the wound that had laid him low and nearly killed him. As I lay there, my fingers lightly touching his flesh, I thought to myself that I had never acted this way with a man before. Truth be told, I had never been in this close a proximity to a man before. Naturally, Madam Vim desired her younger girls to keep away from all men until they had been sold at their Virgin Auction. Just in case they got any ideas, or someone took advantage.

Now here I was and for the first time in my life, I had a choice. I had chosen Raven. As he rested beside me, breathing softly and deeply, I realised he was mine. That he had come for me and rescued me and that, in return, I had rescued him. That together we were unstoppable.

And yet, that joy also came with pain. The painful fear of losing him. For we had as yet to get out of the Great Capital and back to his clan.

There was a part of me that wished we could just flee right then. Race out of the city as fast as we could. If we went now, then surely no one would be looking for us? There wouldn't have been time to spread the word far about a shifter in the city.

But I knew Raven would not simply leave. He had been sent to the Great Capital for a reason. He had to retrieve something to reclaim his honour and to save his sister.

He would not abandon that mission even if it meant risking his life.

I felt a glimmer of resentment towards his sister; that unknown person I had never met. To think that she was allowing her brother to put himself in such harm's way!

Then I felt bad about my own thoughts because he had told me about the terrible thing that had happened to her.

A thing too similar to what had nearly happened to me and how could I judge her for that?

No, she needed his help just as much as I had needed him. She could just as easily resent me for distracting Raven from his honour quest. I would do all I could to help Raven complete his task, so that we could escape the Great Capital together.

I was nervous now, anxious, thinking about all the things that could go wrong. Suddenly it seemed impossible what we wanted to do, and yet we were going to have to try and do it, nonetheless.

I could no longer look at Raven. It felt too difficult to stare at his beautiful face and then think about losing him. I wanted to touch every inch of his skin, to kiss it with my lips. To allow him to be the first man between my legs. To be the one to take my virginity.

And the thought of losing him before that could happen, (the thought of losing him at all) created this terrible pain in my chest. It felt as though my heart was going to explode. I turned over, placing my back to him, pressed up against his body so that I could feel him breathing into my hair.

Looking across the room, I saw Lotto sleeping in one of the armchairs. She was curled up and looked so young, even though she was a year older than me. Terrible things had happened to Lotto and yet she had been willing to trust Raven, willing to trust me. We had brought her with us, even though I was not sure we had done the right thing by her. Surely she was in more danger with us? But there was no way I could have left her behind.

I wished I could heal my friend. To take away the pain she had suffered in her life. We were both running away from a life that had nearly destroyed us. We were running away to something unknown, to somewhere we would be the outsiders, and it might be worse than what we had here, but at least we would have each other, and I would have Raven. He had promised to look after us.

That had to count for something.

As the first light of dawn started to creep across the window, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep a little more. I would need all my energy for what was coming next. I pushed away my anxiety about the unknown and what today might bring. I tried to just focus on this moment. Tried being present with Raven, knowing I was loved, knowing I was safe.

That, for once in my life, I was not alone.

Two

Raven

––––––––

The dawn light creeping through the window woke me.

Vox was sound asleep, pressed against me, her back aligned with my chest. My head was leaning into her shoulder. I smelt the beautiful, sweet scent of her hair. Spied the light blonde-brown colour of it. I had only ever really seen her hair before under artificial light. When it now glimmered in the delicate sunlight, it was as though there were streaks of gold running through it. My arm was resting over her body. I felt her breathing deeply. My muscles tensed and I drew her a little closer. There were things I wanted to do with her. Things I wanted to teach her. But she needed to rest right now and so I would have to content myself with holding her close.

I had wanted her from the very first day I had spotted her and rescued her from men who would do her harm. But I had never truly allowed that thought to truly enter my head. Not until later, when the possibility of losing her forever had risen its ugly head, and then I had known what I had to do.

We were safe now, at least for the moment. And all I could think about was stripping off Vox’s clothing and kissing every inch of her skin. Of tasting her lips. Of moving down to her belly, stroking between her legs. Of kissing her in her most private of places.

Finding out what she really tasted like.

Abruptly I recalled that Lotto was in the room and her presence cooled my lust.

Lotto had helped us to escape. The girl deserved our consideration. She was a damaged article, a product of Madame Vim’s cruelty, and I wanted to help her get away as much as I wanted to take Vox with me. It was just slightly inconvenient she was there, in that moment, just when my ardour had begun to stir.

Recalling that she was sleeping in an armchair nearby halted all my immediate plans.

I stretched. Trying to relax some parts of me that were not as relaxed as they should be, then I leaned over Vox and looked at the time. It was another day in the Great Capital, the place I hated the most.

It was too noisy, too full of people, and, of course, I was a shifter. Shifters were not supposed to be here.

There had to be a target on my back by now, considering what had happened at the brothel. My reputation would be preceding me and very soon the City Watch would be trying to track me down. A loose shifter in the city was a public scandal they could not allow to continue. We had to escape as fast as possible. We also had to get the totem.

I had