Aaron bristles at the word. He seems to swell up, until he towers over Vuk. The veneer of calculated cruelty on Vuk’s face slips when he glimpses Aaron’s strength.
“Such a shame,” Vuk whispers. “I know how much you were looking forward to besting my animal in a blood challenge—”
“Aaron, please,” Lily warns.
Faster than my eye can follow Aaron reaches out and snatches Vuk by the throat. Lifts him inches off the ground, then slowly brings him toward his snarling half-formed wolf face. Vuk’s sputtering, his legs shuddering and kicking, the veins in his neck and forehead swollen by the force of Aaron’s grip—
Vuk was right. Aaron’s going to strangle him to death. A few cheers and hoots rise from the gathered Purebloods. I thought I could keep Aaron off Vuk. I underestimated the wolf’s growing strength—
“Let him go, Aaron,” Lily screams. “He has Pimniq! Please. It was my fault she’s lost. I couldn’t control Shiori…I failed Anik…please let my brother go. I couldn’t live with myself…if anything happened to Pim.”
Something in Lily’s voice seems to slow Aaron.
Vuk’s black eyes flicker between Aaron’s snarling maw and Lily.
Aaron’s claws sink into Vuk’s neck.
Vuk winces. Licks his cracked and bloody lips.
Aaron lifts his ancient wildborn enemy over his head. Glares at him, his eyes bright with fury and kill-lust. I can almost see the battle raging in Aaron’s mind between his need to protect his bloodmate from further harm and the need to murder his rival—
In a single swift motion Aaron releases his hand from Vuk’s throat. Vuk collapses in a heap at Aaron’s feet and immediately begins gasping and sputtering. Aaron stares out over his Pureblood crew. “This one’s death is mine and mine alone. Until that time, he’s under my protection. Any of you touch him, you answer to me.”
A heavy sigh of relief escapes my lips.
“Turn him,” Lily says to Aaron.
“What?” I say.
Lily ignores me and continues staring at Aaron, her lips clamped tight. “Turn the Fallen, Aaron. Make his blood run red.”
Aaron looks at his hands, then at Vuk.
Vuk shrinks away. Shakes his head. Moans no over and over—
Aaron’s eyes blaze. “Fucking turn the sick bastard?” he says, more to himself than anyone listening. “End it right now? Without killing?”
“Yes,” Lily says. “For your bloodmate.”
Vuk scoots backward and presses against the Harley, trying to get as far away as from Aaron as possible.
“Yo. Uh, Prez?” It’s Nash. “Is this something we need to, you know, think through?”
“Nah. Over-thinking doesn’t help shit.” Aaron gestures at Nash. “Bring him to me. Hold him. If he makes a move, kill him.”
“With pleasure,” Nash says, jumping to haul Vuk out from beneath the Harley.
“The One We Answer To,” Vuk whispers.
“Piss off.”
“Lily?” I ask. “What’s going on?”
“Watch.”
Nash lifts Vuk to his feet, pins his arms behind his back and moves him so he’s right in front of Aaron. Vuk cringes as Aaron reaches out and places his hand over my brother’s heart. Aaron closes his eyes and summons his wolf. His skin ripples and his jaw widens and his claws and fangs drop. Then something strange happens. There’s a feeling like a room being sucked dry of air. Aaron’s skin lifts and pulses down his arm. He’s radiating an energy I can’t explain, other than to say it shimmers and pulses like the northern aurora borealis. The energy flows into Vuk’s chest—
Aaron’s eyes shoot open.
A pained moan escapes his lips, followed by a choking gurgle.
“Something’s wrong!” Lily screams.
Vuk’s silent, his face blank. He’s staring at Aaron, his eyes oddly angular, like an insect’s.
Aaron begins shuddering.
“Nash get him the fuck off something’s wrong—” Lily leaps forward, tries to tear Aaron’s hand from Vuk’s chest.
It won’t budge.
Aaron’s hand is turning black.
Nash wrenches Vuk backward, lifting him off his feet. Aaron collapses forward, his hand still stuck fast to Vuk’s chest. The blackness traces up the thick veins in Aaron’s forearm.
“Get him off!” Lily screams. “He’s fucking turning him!”
The pained, gurgling sound Aaron’s making is getting louder. His eyes are wide open, unseeing. His skin’s rippling—
“No,” Vuk whispers. “Not like this. However much you deserve it. I accept your blood challenge, Aaron Arud. I accept, and now…I release you.”
Lily tears Aaron’s hand from Vuk’s chest. A tremendous blast of air sends sand stinging into my eyes, and when I look up Nash has Vuk on the ground, his knee pressed hard on Vuk’s solar plexus, his hyena spitting and snarling for the kill.
I race at Nash, intent on knocking him off Vuk even without Tornarsuk, afraid the wild hyena’s going to murder my brother and doom Pimniq. Blue, the Kodiac bear, steps in front of me, followed quickly by Mia.
“Mia?” I gasp, my heart wrenching.
“Sorry handsome. Good times were had. This is pack business.”
Nash sees me, sees his packmates blocking my path, and eases up on Vuk. “Prez said not to kill him,” Nash says. “Means I ain’t killing him.”
I raise my hands and back away.
Aaron’s leaning into Lily. His breath is ragged.
He looks like he’s aged a decade.
“You should have known,” I say to Lily. “He pretended to be afraid to draw his mark. He’s the First Fallen. The One Without Value. Even without his animal, his blood corrupts.”
Aaron whirls at me and says, “You step to me like that again, I’ll send the bear away permanently. You got me Anik? I don’t give a fuck who’s brother you are.”
I watch Vuk’s smile spread across his face. He lives for this. Preys on chaos and instability, hurt and unhappiness.
“You got me, Anik?” Aaron repeats.
“Yeah. I got you.”
Suddenly my animal spirit is in me again. Lurking. Prowling. Aaron didn’t say a word. Just…commanded. Me. A Risen animal. Aaron pushes away from Lily, spins on a heel and motions for his crew to follow, leaving me and Trish and Lily to guard Vuk.
Before we can stop him Vuk yells, “Remember, Aaron of the Mountain River, how my blood burns. Remember I chose to spare you.”
***
“This is your brother’s doing,” Mia says as we survey the hundreds of miles of burned, blasted land surrounding the Pyramid of the Sun.
The pyramid itself is visible in the far distance, its peaked summit rising above low-hanging yellow-grey smoke. My hackles rise when I see the pyramid and the hundreds of miles of wasteland surrounding it.
“He’s a corruption of natural law,” Mia continues. “A sickness. The firestorms, the earthquakes, the senseless destruction and death. Even the fucking Blood Moon. All unnatural. All because of his twisted will.”
“He wasn’t always like this,” I say quietly. “He was a child once. A pup. I remember roaming with him.”
It’s true. The longer I spend united with Vuk and Lily, the more of my wildborn history returns. I’m beginning to have a better idea of who I am. The role I play in the Risen pack.
I can’t see the future.
But I’m beginning to understand why I’m here. My purpose—
At my mention of roaming with Vuk, Mia shoots me a sharp look.
Exhaustion’s gathering in her brow, in the tightness in her eyes. We’ve been on the road for three full days and two nights. Stopping only to siphon fuel for our bikes. We’ve been attacked four times by Stricken patrols. Lost six Purebloods in the ambushes. The cost of riding without scouting, Aaron said. He’s been setting a relentless pace. Dropping those who can’t keep up and shrugging it off as natural selection.
He seems tireless. But I know better.
; He’s gunning for the biggest trophy kill of his life.
My older brother.
Now Mia’s straddling her Harley, her black leather riding outfit and MC cut grey with road dust and splotched with oil and bloodstains, and for a minute my heart quickens, remembering the time we spent alone together in the sandstone canyons—
The closeness between Mia and me is over.
I see it every time I look in her eyes. The hardness and distance.
It saddens me. Not because it was unexpected. I knew what Mia and I shared would be short-lived. But it saddens me because, looking into her eyes now, I wonder if anything she said she felt was real. Or did she make it up, simply to harm her true unrequited love, Aaron Arud?
Did the snake woman use me?
This southern land where no one speaks what they mean. Where every action has a hidden motive. Anger rises in my throat, and I remind myself of the goal: rescue my sister. Flee to our northern home. Let the rest fight their endless One War—
“That was a fuck of a long time ago,” Mia says, flicking a cool glance behind her to where Vuk is strapped to the back of Lily’s bike. “The past doesn’t count for shit. Only this moment matters.”
She’s wrong. But I keep my mouth closed. Mia’s not as hard as she makes herself out to be. I’ve seen the other side of her. But she needs to believe she’s hard, simply to have the strength to go on living. Self-delusion. Another curse of this land—
Lily rides up beside me. We haven’t spoken much. I’ve been keeping to myself. A black cloud’s been hanging over the MC since Aaron nearly died trying to turn Vuk. My presence only reminds Aaron and the rest of the MC that Lily’s a Risen. Lily looks as tired as Mia, maybe more. She doesn’t have Mia’s tough-as-nails exterior. Everything she feels is right there on her face.
I hope my sister finds her way. I really do.
“Smoke?” Mia says, offering Lily a cigarette.
I swat Mia’s hand away. The mocking is part of how she protects herself. Once I understood this about Mia I couldn’t stay angry with her.
She flashes me a pretend pout, tosses the cigarette to her lips, takes a drag and says, “Gunna be a bummer when we run out of these. Need to learn how to grow tobacco.”
“Need to learn how to live clean,” I say.
Lily ignores us, looks out over the valley at the pyramid.
Vuk’s eyes are closed. He’s so still he looks dead, but I scent the life in him. “Can you hear it?” Lily asks, nodding at the pyramid.
“What?”
“The ringing.”
“No.”
Lily jerks her thumb at Mia. “She can. Though she’s doing a good job hiding it.”
Mia shrugs, pretends to straighten her leather riding gloves, blows a few smoke rings in Lily’s direction.
“Soon the noise will become unbearable,” Lily says. “And if the Purebloods insist on traveling closer to the Pyramid of the Sun, the ringing will eventually shatter their eardrums, then drive them batshit. They’ll butcher one another, then turn their claws against themselves—”
“Good times,” Mia says.
“Which means the Risen ride to the pyramid alone,” I say, feeling oddly relieved.
Lily shakes her head. “Aaron’s traveling with us. He doesn’t hear it.”
I silently curse the alpha wolf’s strength, but say nothing. I would prefer just the three of us go. Aaron only complicates what needs to be done, which is save Pimniq.
“The three of you against the entire Stricken army,” Mia scoffs. “How about them odds?”
“Four of us,” Lily says, smiling in a way that doesn’t reach her eyes. “Trish isn’t affected by the pyramid’s curse. She’s riding with us.”
“Oh, that’ll even it up.”
“The Stricken are occupied,” Lily says, pointing out over the smoke-choked valley that used to house one of the largest Skin cities in the world. “See there? Where the fires still burn? Someone’s attacking the Stricken. Drawing them away from the pyramid.”
“Who?” I ask.
“Our brother Rodas. Creating a diversion for us. If we’re lucky.”
“And if not?”
“Someone we don’t know who’s powerful enough to make a territorial claim in the Age of Discord.”
“A challenger,” Mia hisses.
“A world up for grabs,” Lily says, her voice distant. “I’d imagine that would inspire all kinds of fuck-ups and wannabe despots—”
Vuk’s eyes suddenly shoot open. He draws a long, gurgling breath, clutches his hands to his wounded shoulder, then breaks into a horrible cough. He doesn’t have long to live.
“Get some rest, Anik,” Lily says, eyeing the crew surrounding Aaron. From the shocked expressions on Nash and Blue’s faces I can tell he’s just broken the news that he’ll be riding to the heart of enemy territory without his most trusted brothers. Blue’s looking at the Prez like he’s nuts. Which maybe he is. “We ride at nightfall,” Lily says before taking off to join her bloodmate.
When Lily’s gone Mia looks at me for a long while. I ignore her and continue studying the pyramid. Occasionally the smoke shifts, revealing the beginnings of another pyramid across from the original. Its base is four times as large as the old one. I see wooden towers and scaffolds and winches and even a few pieces of heavy machinery. A monument to a new empire. Started too soon, and if events go as Lily and Aaron intend, never to be completed.
But the look in Aaron Arud’s eyes when he held Vuk by the throat?
The fury? The hatred? The kill-lust? I wonder.
Maybe the second pyramid will be completed even if Lily and Aaron triumph over Vuk. Maybe the wolf’s newfound power will corrupt him as surely as Vuk’s corrupted—
I close my eyes, willing myself to focus on the now. Then I turn my attention to the Pyramid of the Sun.
Pimniq’s there. I sense her pain.
I hear it: a soft, halting wail.
Her screams are with me constantly now. Driving my animal mad.
It takes every bit of willpower I have to wait for Lily and the rest.
There’s a reason Vuk’s on Lily’s bike. They don’t trust me with him. Afraid I’ll take off—
“I hope you free her, Anik,” Mia says, her voice soft. “I only knew her briefly. She doesn’t deserve such suffering. No one does.”
“Many do,” I growl as my sister’s screams crash through my mind, enraging my animal spirit.
“Yeah,” Mia says. “Maybe you’re right. But doesn’t it seem…the ones who deserve it least suffer the most?”
I meet Mia’s eyes.
I can tell she wants to say more.
But instead she gives me a quick nod, kicks the Harley to life and returns to her crew without a backward glance.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
AARON
MY CREW’S NOT psyched about about staying behind.
Shocker.
But they’re feeling the pyramid’s curse, so they know I’m not bullshitting. Fact a few of the weaker ones have already succumbed to the maddening ringing. They’re the ones leaning over their bikes while blood streams from their ears.
“Think of it this way,” I say to Nash and Blue, who are both still insisting they’re gunna storm the pyramid at my side. “After I kill these motherfuckers, the Stricken are gunna run wild. Stampede out of the city. I want you guys here to cut them down. More we kill now means the fewer we have to hunt down later.”
Nash and Blue share an uneasy glance.
“The First Fallen,” Nash says.
“Shiori,” Blue adds.
“Lachlan.”
“The Minions.”
“Maybe that Rodas douchebag,” Nash says, slamming half a bottle of cheap rye.
“Oh yeah,” Blue nods. “Almost forgot about him. “Maybe Anik, too, if shit goes sideways, which it will—”
“You guys done fucking with my day? Or are there any more enemies you’d like to remind me of?”
“You ne
ed us,” Blue says.
“Fuck yeah I do. I need you whole. Look at you, Blue. I know you hear the ringing. Face all white and sweating. Digging your fingernails into your palms. And we’re still a hundred miles off—”
Truth is I don’t want them with me. If I lose and they’re this far outside the city they have half a chance of getting out before Vuk tracks them down.
But that’s bullshit, too.
If Vuk doesn’t die my bro’s are dead as sure as I am. I’ve been face-to-face with Vuk’s animal. I saw inside him. I was an idiot to try and turn him. I shudder, thinking about how it felt to have that blackness creep into my veins. What I’m realizing is…when I turn someone I establish a link. Between animals, spirits, souls, whatever you want to call it. That link’s a two way street. Leaves me vulnerable. And when I touched Vuk’s heart and felt what he’s made of, what makes him tick…I force the thought away.
I swallow hard. No use dwelling on what’s already done, or letting that slimy bastard worm his way deeper into my psyche than he already has.
I got a blood challenge to win.
A cool bead of sweat slides down the back of my neck.
“That a command, Prez?” Blue asks, giving me a bit of side-eye.
“Bet your ass. Now. Props for having my back when shit got real with Lil.” I turn to take in the entire crew that stayed loyal, both old MC bros and new arrivals. “So. Thank you all…and fuck off.” I look at Nash and Blue again and say, “Break the MC up into three crews. One for each of you and one for Mia. Wrap around this destroyed shithole of a city and kill anything that tries to get out.”
Me and my inner circle fist-bump and smack shoulders.
No goodbyes. Just business. Stone-cold predators.
But as they ride off I can’t help but think it’s the last I’ll ever see of them—
“Anik might not make it until nightfall.”
Lily. With her jerkoff brother riding bitch. Only thing that made the last few days tolerable was seeing how much Vuk is hurting.
“He’ll have to,” I say.
“We should leave now.”
“Now? Fuck no.”
“Why not?”
The All Consuming: A Shifter MC Novel (Pureblood Predator MC Book 4) Page 20
