The All Consuming: A Shifter MC Novel (Pureblood Predator MC Book 4) (6 page)

Something in my nose pops and blood leaks down my face.

Then the Dog God does something strange. He turns his back to me. Sets my infant son down on the stone dais. Grips Lily’s hand. Tugs her to her feet.
 

“He’s ignoring your challenge, Aaron!” Vuk says, slamming into the iron bars. “The coward’s ignoring your blood challenge—”

The Purebloods caged beneath me howl and scream and roar, my strength feeding them. They hear my power and recognize the Dog God’s weakness. Realize the challenge has gone unanswered.

Another half inch and I’m free. My wolf bites and claws at my insides, his fury gutting me.

The Dog God puts his clawed hands on my bloodmate’s cheeks. Lily struggles against him, but he’s too strong. He plants a long kiss on her lips, and when they part I see my bloodmate’s lips are bleeding.
 

“He’s taunting you!” Vuk yells. “Daring you to break free. You’re nothing, Aaron. A weak sack of shit. A Skin. A—”

A restless wave ripples through the Dog God’s pack.
 

He lets go of Lily and whirls to face them.

A few of the dogs in front snarl and spit at their master.
 

He takes a startled step away.

The dogs press around the dais, baring their fangs.

“It’s natural law” Vuk cackles. “Weakness is death! Cowardice is death! They’ll force their alpha to meet your challenge or they’ll tear him apart.”

I scent it now.
 

The Dog God’s uncertainty. His hesitation.
 

Fucker’s lived like a king in this world. Spoiled. Coddled. Never known real pain. Never been challenged by a mad-as-fuck Pureblood predator.

The dogs begin nipping at one another. They sense the chaos about to erupt. Know the hierarchy that’s ruled their lives is crumbling, and in their panic they’re turning on one another.

The Dog God’s trapped between meeting my challenge and having his pack turn on him. Vuk’s right. The pack will not tolerate weakness from its alpha. It demands leadership. Action above all else. Or death.

The Dog God glares across the shifting black sea of his rabid pack. Then he snatches the nearest dog, brings the struggling creature to his jaws, tears its throat out and tosses the still living animal into the pack. The dogs pounce on their wounded kin in a blood hungry feeding frenzy.
 

“Blood,” Vuk whispers. “Blood and death and power.”

Fuck him. The bug-eyed sack of shit rapist.

I’ll deal with him later.
 

Because right now the Dog God turns to me. Flashes me a thin smile. Then the bastard strikes Lily again, and this time his claws rake across her naked chest, leaving a long, bloody wound just below her neck—

Several things happen at once.
 

The iron bars give and I’m leaping onto a small ledge, a thousand feet of air beneath me—

Lily falls back, her eyes wide, and while the Dog God laughs and turns to face the Cliff of Cages Lily kicks out and wraps one of her chains around the Dog God’s neck—

The rabid dogs part and a large circle forms and then I’m scrambling down the mountainside, knocking rocks down, passing the cages of my imprisoned packmates, every one of them doomed to be fed to the Dog God’s pack, and they’re raging as well, calling my name, the One We Answer To, and then I leap to the ground and my feet crunch into the rocky red soil and I’m sprinting at the dead motherfucker, my fury beyond all reckoning, my mind a red fog of kill-lust—

Lily leaps on the Dog God’s back and tries to strangle him with the chain. He reaches back and tears at her hair, then flings her to the ground. Her head smashes into the stone dais and she lies still, her eyes closed—

The Dog God flicks the chain off his neck and hops from the dais.
 

My son is behind him. Alone on the dais.
 

A few of the rabid dogs slink forward for a sniff, and all it would take—

I cut the thought short.
 

There’s only now. This single, glorious moment of blood.

A set of black feathered wings spring from the Dog God’s back. His bones shift and reshape and he bulks up fucking big-time and then he shakes his massive head so fast it’s a blur, and when he slows I’m racing toward a slobbering monster with three snarling Doberman heads. Long, narrow snouts lined with vicious teeth. Each head as large as a bull’s, and as ugly.

Didn’t figure on a threesome. Fuck it.

The more the merrier.

I’m in full wolf now, my human form sloughed off like molted skin, my silver-black fur glowing in the grey half-light. The Dog God sees me and leaps into the air, but I fought the fucker back when Lily and me crashed the Harley in the mountains and I’m ready for him.
 

He swoops in low, his claws ready to rip me open. I duck to the side, leap up and sink my fangs into the fucker’s hind leg. For a minute I’m flying through space, my enemy’s muscles and tendons shredding between my teeth, then something rips from the Dog God and I land heavy in the dirt.

A pain-filled howl rises from the throats of a thousand dogs.

The pack feels their alpha’s pain.

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—

A
ARON
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 Answer 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.”