The thought makes me grin.
The Dog God spins through the air, out of control, then gets his shit together and rights himself. He flies straight upward, a thousand feet overhead, so high he’s level with the top of the Cliff of Cages, leaving me to pace and growl in the dirt. I hear my bloodmate calling my name but block her out.
No distractions. No bullshit.
Only clear, murderous intent—
The Purebloods trapped in their cages go berserk as the wounded Dog God flies past, then the fucker spreads his wings, halts his ascent and begins plummeting to the ground. He’s moving so fast he’s a black blur.
I sink my claws into the dirt.
Another three seconds and he’ll be on me.
He’s expecting me to duck him.
Expects I’ll try and avoid the full brunt of his attack.
Any sane creature would.
Two seconds.
But I’m only sane-ish at the best of times. And now? After witnessing this douchebag threaten my son and bloody my mate? Fucker has no idea what I’m capable of.
Me and the Dog God lock eyes.
Three spitting Doberman heads snarl down at me.
He’s playing chicken. Forcing me to yield.
Lording the power of flight. Showing off for his pack.
Pride? That’ll get you fucked up real quick.
A half second.
This one’s for you, Sparkles.
A blast of warm air ruffles my fur.
The Dog God comes in hot. Fucker must be moving over a hundred miles an hour. I stand my ground. He sees me and realizes I won’t yield. His ugly black eyes widen. One of the Doberman heads looses a quick yelp. The stupid fucker tries to avoid me. Stretches his wings out as wide as he can and tries to bank hard left.
Chickenshit.
It’s a fatal error. He shoulda went for it. Slammed into me full bore when he realized I wouldn’t yield. Now he’s off course, his raking jaws and snapping claws turned away from me.
His tender belly exposed.
I wait for precisely the right moment.
Then I spring.
You wound an animal mortally, you know it. You hear death in how your prey shrieks. See it in how the animal moves, its body folding around the pain that will end him. I even scent it.
Game over. Thanks for coming out.
I pile into the falling Dog God so hard the breath bursts from my lungs. My fangs sink into his belly and then we’re flipping through space and suddenly I’m on top of him. He hits the ground with a tremendous boom that sends a cloud of dust rolling across the yard. The impact flings me thirty feet through the air, and when I land and give my head a shake to ward off the bright lights bursting behind my eyes the first thing I hear is the dog pack howling in pain and misery.
Then the ground starts to shake.
The rabid dogs turn on one another. Flashing fangs and raking claws and in seconds the courtyard is consumed in carnage. I summon my human and stroll through the murderous dogs.
They leave me untouched.
Overhead, high on the Cliff of Cages, iron bars are being rent open. The Dog God’s power secured the cages. Made them impervious to Pureblood strength.
Now my packmates are freed.
The Dog God’s returned to his mostly-human form. He’s lying on his side, cradling his shredded belly. My fangs opened him from his balls to his throat. The wound doesn’t bleed. But it’s sure as fuck not healing.
Fucker’s dog-eyes are dull.
He’s barely breathing.
“She would have been…safe with me,” he says as I crouch beside him.
“Yeah. You’re a dream come true. A real catch.”
The Dog God coughs. The first of my freed Purebloods have reached the courtyard. Behind them, the entire Cliff of Cages is shaking. Long, deathly black chasms begin splitting the earth. Lily’s screaming at me but I tune her nagging out. My prey’s not dead yet—
The Dog God flashes me a cruel grin. “You think you’ve won.”
“I’m not the one airing out my insides.”
The Dog God motions to the cliff.
My gaze tracks upward.
“You did his bidding,” the Dog God says. “Like a loyal mutt.”
My hackles rise.
“Yes, you idiot animal,” the Dog God whispers. “You freed the Fallen. Somewhere in the Warm Land his flesh is healing.”
I have just enough time to tear out the Dog God’s heart before Vuk leaps from the cliff top, spreads his wings and dives straight at Lily—
CHAPTER FIVE
LILY
AARON DOESN’T SEE my brother tear open the iron cage and step outside, but I do, and I begin screaming at my bloodmate, trying to warn him.
Opiyel’s dogs are raging against one another, a swarming tide of madness. This is what happens when predators lose the security of the pack. I’ve seen it before. On the mountain ridge, when Mia and Nash challenged Aaron.
Suddenly there’s a tremendous crack, then another. The earth parts a fraction of an inch, then chasms several feet wide open around us. Opiyel’s dogs tumble inside, barking and howling their last.
The stone dais splits and cracks.
I throw my still-bleeding, naked body over my son, shielding him from the stones falling from the Cliff of Cages. His terrified wails shatter me. I cradle him in the crook of one arm while I work at tugging against the shackle securing me to the dais.
The Dog God’s palace is crumbling.
Towers fall against one another, explode in clouds of grey-black dust.
The Bloodless Land is no more.
We need to get out. Escape. But how?
I bite my lip and try and summon my animal, but she doesn’t answer, and I have to wonder if I’ve lost her forever or only here in Opiyel’s realm.
Then I hear something. A high-pitched, insectile shriek that pains my mind and makes me wince.
I thrash against my restraints, suddenly maddened with fear.
My brother is coming to claim me.
I sense him approaching.
I’m helpless, cradling my son in my arms and I know if Vuk reaches me he’ll murder my child without a thought, he won’t let Aaron’s heir and a potential challenge live—
A shadow passes over me. The air cools.
My skin is cold as ice.
My baby boy’s lips go light blue. He stops crying. He’s too weak.
I look up to see my brother settle on the ground a few steps from the dais. He’s a giant, his wolf nearly as large as a truck, his preying mantis head gleaming emerald green. My brother studies me with his three expressionless black eyes. There’s no hint of emotion in their depths. A wave of loathing washes over me, so strong bile rises in my throat.
“Please no,” I whisper. “Please…not my son.”
“What of our son, my sister?” Vuk says in his raspy, insect voice.
“I love them equally,” I say, rising to stand. “They are both my sons.”
“Lachlan doesn’t believe so.”
“Your sickness turned him against me.”
A wolf roars behind me.
Vuk pauses. Glances over my head.
Aaron of the Mountain River. My bloodmate.
Vuk’s razor forelegs slice through the air in front of him.
The ground shudders and shakes.
I squeeze my boy to my chest.
“Join me in the Warm Land, Lily,” Vuk says. “I mean your second son no harm. But if you force my hand…well. I think you know what I’m capable of.”
“Go fuck yourself, pig,” I spit.
Vuk crouches low. A magnificent silver black wolf leaps over the dais, and at the last second Vuk springs into the air and out of harm’s reach. The blue-eyed wolf pounces again. He nearly catches my brother, but Vuk flaps his eagle’s wings and soars out of reach and the wolf’s jaws snap closed on empty air. The wolf howls, a sound so furious and powerful it makes me want to kneel.
The One We Answ
er To.
Vuk hovers overhead, but he doesn’t attack. Maybe he’s weak in this realm. Maybe he needs me alive in the Warm Land.
Then my brother says, “War lives on because of you, Lily. You could have ended the One War. Ended the killing and bloodshed. One species must rise ascendant. It’s natural law. But you, with the weakness you call love and loyalty, have upset nature’s balance. The suffering that follows is on your head alone.”
I’m about to tell my sick, murdering self-deluded asshole of a brother to fuck off again when the ground shakes so violently I’m thrown off my feet, and when I look up Vuk is a dark speck retreating against a horizon of black cloud.
Aaron banishes his animal and leaps onto the dais to help me. I scent him, warm pine needles in autumn sun. My bloodmate’s naked. His ripped and tattooed body glistens with sweat. I stare open-mouthed at him. No matter how much I try to distance my heart…my body betrays me. My breath quickens as he leans down, grips the heavy chain in both hands, gives it a sharp tug. Aaron’s biceps bulge. The muscles and veins on his forearms ripple. He looses a low grunt and the chain snaps as if it were made of cheap plastic instead of forged iron.
I resist the urge to leap into my bloodmate’s arms.
Shitballs. A fucking biker outlaw? That’s the least of it.
And I’m a helpless bundle of quivering need every time I see him—
The earth bucks. There’s a massive crack, then a thundering boom that reverberates through my bones. The back half of the Cliff of Cages tumbles to the ground in a massive landslide.
“Holy fuck,” Aaron breathes, staring at the landslide as a dust cloud rolls over us.
The mountain has fallen into an empty black space so large I can’t see the bottom, and suddenly I’m struck by the horrible sensation that everything I see in this world is suspended in that endless black space.
“There’s nothing out there,” I whisper. “The Dog God’s realm is only a few feet thick. It’s crumbling in on itself.”
Another crack, and a huge section of the wind-blown desert vanishes into the black pit of nothingness.
The Bloodless Land is caving away.
The Purebloods Aaron freed pause in killing the last remaining rabid dogs. All eyes turn to my bloodmate as the earth continues shaking.
Aaron growls. His eyes glitter angrily as he glares at me.
“Give me my son,” he says in the tone of an apex alpha who’s damn sure his word is law.
I hold my child to my chest and shake my head.
Aaron doesn’t trust me with our child. I see it in his eyes.
Why should he? It’s my fault our son is here.
“Give him to me, Lily.”
There’s a threatening edge in my bloodmate’s voice.
“I won’t let my son go,” I say. “Never again. I’ll hold him tight. Even if it kills me.”
Aaron looks about to protest when a chasm opens beneath us, and as we plummet into darkness my child slips from my grasp. My son’s soft blue light hovers beside me, and then a wonderful fullness swells in my belly—
***
I wake screaming. Panicked. Disoriented. I can’t take a full breath. Something’s wrapped around my head. I struggle and thrash and the wrapping loosens and I realize I’m covered in layer after layer of bloodstained blankets. Then the pain hits, so sharp it forces me to stop screaming. Every bone in my body feels shattered. I hug my arms, my shoulders, feeling for wounds. My hands fall to the slight rise of my belly.
I freeze. My fingers probe my belly. Gently.
Tears stream down my cheeks.
It can’t be. My son?
He’s in my womb. Growing.
Desperate now, I thrash against the blankets. Try and scream but my throat is too raw. I’m desperately thirsty. The last blanket slips from my head. I blink into a night of bright, sparkling stars. They seem so close I could almost pluck them from the sky.
I take a gasping breath of cool desert air.
My first full breath among the living.
I’m lying flat on my back. There’s something behind me. A shape. Motionless. And a flickering orange light even further off. I try and tilt my head to see more and am greeted by a stab of pain that shoots from my spine into the back of my head. I freak out, fearing I’m paralyzed. Lift my legs a few inches off the cold sand.
No. Not paralyzed. I can move.
But the throbbing in my head…I can’t remember…my unborn son…a grinning Doberman. I try and make sense of the shattered images floating through my head. But the more I try and remember the more fractured they feel.
“Water,” I croak.
Or at least I expect to hear myself croak.
But there’s nothing.
I’m deaf.
I touch my ears. They feel uninjured.
Then I bite my lower lip, steady my nerve and roll onto my side to try and see what’s above me.
It’s a motorbike.
A gleaming Harley chopper. From this unfamiliar angle it looks…beautiful. Like a steel sculpture.
Sound rushes in. Mad laughter. Shrieks and hollers and hoots. Barks and cat-calls. And music. Fast-paced. Guitar-heavy. Some kind of obnoxious, testosterone-fueled death metal—
“Trish?” I whisper, digging my fingers into the dirt and trying to claw my way out from behind the bike. I look through the bike’s tires. See a cabin or abandoned shack lit on fire. Flames licking into the night sky. I blink, not comprehending. Shadowy figures are dancing around the fire. Some human. Some animal. Many halfway between.
Hundreds of them.
Drinking and smoking and fighting and fucking.
I watch, motionless, as a heavyset man leans his woman over another Harley. Her eyes close as her lover slips into her. A group gathers around to watch and cheer. They pour whiskey over the lovers. The woman tilts her head up and one of the men watching her get fucked puts the bottle to her lips. The woman takes a greedy gulp, and then her eyes glow yellow and her face shifts and I see she’s a hissing lynx—
It can’t be Aaron’s crew. Not the Purebloods. There are too many. He commanded only a couple dozen. Where did they all come from? Are they—
My mind reels.
Stricken.
They must be.
I clamp my mouth closed. My limbs go wooden. I was about to call out again. Shitballs. I have to escape. Terror grips my throat as I think about my son in my womb. I won’t be reunited with him only to be fucking eaten alive by the black blooded bastards ruining this world—
What’s the plan, Lil? I ask myself.
Plan is to keep on breathing.
Careful, quiet, I claw my way up the Harley until I’m leaning half over it. I might me able to start the fucking thing. Zoom outta here before I’m discovered.
My lips open in a humorless smile.
That escape plan is total shit.
Maybe crawl into the desert? No.
They’ll hunt me down. Tear out my heart.
I spit blood. Fuck sakes I’m worried about my son. This stress. I need to rest. Need to heal. Then I remember. Who and what I am. The All Encompassing. I reach my mind into my animal. Call her name.
Please. I’m begging you. Please come to me.
Smoke rises from the Harley’s alligator leather seat.
My claws drop. My skin’s heating up, becoming white-hot. The exhaustion and pain fall away. My creature’s roaring, springing to the surface—
“Hey! What in actual fucking hell?” someone shouts.
Another shout, then another.
I’m discovered.
But I’m no longer afraid.
Three leather cut wearing bikers rush at me. I push to my feet and stand to face them. One’s a reptile, some kind of snake. Another’s a coyote. The third lifts his Glock and pops off three quick rounds right at me.
The bullets melt before they hit my skin.
I loose a tremendous roar, then the first Stricken, the snake dude, piles into me. I fling him through the
air. He’s nothing. A waste. A dying species. The coyote motherfucker pauses when he sees how easily I tossed his bro, and in that instant of hesitation I leap over the bike and slam into his chest. My fangs punch through his sternum, loosing a torrent of warm red blood, and somewhere in the back of my mind that doesn’t sit right—
I try and reign my animal in but she’s having none of it, she’s starving, desperate for a feed. She’s been beat up and kicked down for too long, and she’s furious. I rip out the coyote’s throat with a single bite, then slam my red-plated scorpion stinger into the neck of the guy with the Glock.
My poison floods into him as I lift the poor fucker into the air.
The snake Stricken hisses and the air explodes as more of the Stricken MC open fire. I use the half-dead snake-dude as a shield and race at them, not caring if there’s a hundred or a thousand because my vision’s blurred to red and my animal’s nearly escaped my control and all I can think about is this overpowering instinct to kill and feed—
Someone’s calling my name.
Lily.
Lily.
I snarl and howl and drop the poisoned Stricken at my feet. He’s convulsing, white froth bubbling from his mouth—
Lily.
Lily!
Trish?
The word means nothing. Another dead Skin.
A memory arriving to haunt me.
The burning cabin sends a spinning wave of embers into the sky. Bullets zip and ping into the bikes around me, but none even make it close to hitting me. They melt into drops of lead at my feet and now I understand why I shouldn’t have summoned my creature; it’s not only her I have to fear, it’s this power, so raw and seductive, the power of life and death, the power to do whatever the fuck I want—
CHAPTER SIX
SHIORI
THE WRETCHED VESSEL named Connor Lerrick remembers less and less of his old life each time my brother Vuk inhabits his skin.
Soon my brother and alpha The One Without Value will Become and the Stricken vessel Connor Lerrick will be no more.
It’s a great honor for such a low-born animal.
I’m standing on top of the Pyramid of the Sun, wrapped in the burgundy robes that mark me as a high priestess of the Guardians of the Gate. The thought makes a slight smile play on my lips. The natural order inverted. The weak born strong. A new species rises.
The All Consuming: A Shifter MC Novel (Pureblood Predator MC Book 4) Page 5
