The All Consuming: A Shifter MC Novel (Pureblood Predator MC Book 4) (30 page)

“At least it was quick.”

Fuck sakes. One down already. That leaves just me and Lily and this cat motherfucker I don’t trust for a second.
 

“What do you want?” I repeat.

“I want Vuk dead. After that…I want to be left alone.”

To reign in your brother’s absence
, I think. But that’s a bridge I’ll cross later. Motion attracts my eye. A white raven’s swooping down to Anik’s corpse. Pimniq. Damn. They didn’t even have an opportunity to see one another—

A sense of profound sadness and foreboding invades my wolfmind, sending a shiver down my neck.

“It’s on,” I growl.
 

“Where?” Rodas says.

I scan the sky. One black cloud is moving faster than the rest. Drifting right at us. “There,” I say, pointing at the cloud and summoning my shadow wolves.

I glance down at Trish. She says nothing, but she doesn’t need to. I know she blames me for this. She’s right. I don’t expect her to understand. She’s a Skin. A different species, governed by different rules. In my world, a motherfucker steps to you, you hit him hard and fast and make sure he never gets up. This blood challenge has been building for eons. I’d even say it was
fated
, if I believed in that bullshit.
 

“Stay close to Lil,” I tell Trish. “You’re a damned good friend.”

Trish stands, walks toward Lil without saying a word.
 

Kill-lust thunders through me. A part of me is relieved. So much suffering and pain. So much uncertainty. The world upended. The hunter hunted. And now this. I call as much of my wolf as I dare. I won’t go all animal, not unless I have to. I’m afraid the scent of violence and blood will push the wolf beyond all control, and then he might turn on anyone, even my bloodmate.
 

I raise my head and unleash a thunderous howl.
 

A blood challenge to end the One War.

Rodas joins my call, his furious roar echoing into the stormy sky, and then I feel Lily at my right side, her animal unleashed, the beautiful silver she-wolf howling along with me. It’s a call that traces back to the beginning, to a time when two packs roamed free, a time before the Fallen spawned a black-blooded species.

Our war cry fills the air. The rolling black cloud explodes.
 

My howl nearly catches in my throat.

Vuk, the One Without Value, has Become.
 

***

Vuk’s flanked by the horned vulture and a massive yellow-black wasp. The three Risen unleash their own war cry as they speed toward us. The sound, a maddening buzzing mixed with an insectile hum and a screeching caw, slams into us, forcing us a few steps backward. My wolf rages, demanding to be freed. He scents his ancient enemy near.
 

Vuk’s ruddy-red fur glows in the red lightning flickering around him. He’s huge, as large as a truck. His eagle’s wings must span sixty feet. His jaws, lined in black teeth, are so broad they could bite a man clean in half. My shadow wolves race around the pyramid platform, keen for a kill.
 

“Leave my son to me,” Lily hisses as our enemies quickly close the gap between us. “He is not to be harmed.”

Rodas and I share a glance. Good.
 

At least me and the Stalker are on the same page.
 

None of these fuckers lives.
 

The ground beneath the approaching pack glitters with blue-white frost. Behind them, a Stricken army marches toward the pyramid. They’re being attacked by the spear-wielding Skins, but wherever the First Fallen’s cold falls the Skins flesh goes blue-white and they slump to the ground, their heart’s stopped by the deadly chill.
 

Lily steps to the edge of the pyramid and unleashes a shimmering wall of murderous heat right at her brother. The heat-wave rolls out from her jaws, widening as it travels. Shiori and Lachlan bank away. Vuk faces Lily’s attack head-on. I wait, my breath caught in my throat, as the heat washes over Vuk.
 

Nothing happens. His wings don’t even slow.

“Shitballs,” Lily mutters.
 

“He’s immune,” Rodas scowls.
 

Maybe to heat. But I know the fucker will bleed with my claws buried in his flesh. I know—

A sensation unlike an I’ve ever felt makes me waver. Like a needle drilling into my mind. Making my wolf whimper and howl. My jaw drops open. Terror grips my throat. The pain’s driving my animal away. My claws and fangs retract. Lily catches the horrified look on my face and says, “What is it? Aaron? Aaron? What’s happening?”

“He…he…”

The words tumble from my lips.
 

“He’s in your mind,” Lily says, her face a mask of horror. “Fight him, Aaron! Push him out!”

Vuk’s triumphant howl crashes around me while thunder rolls overhead and lighting arcs from the sky and my wolf’s turned away from the pain, he’s sprinting through the forest, fleeing, desperate to escape—

The drilling pinprick of pain is growing larger, and behind it a blackness settles in, a malicious void, and I feel Vuk’s diseased will spreading through me, banishing my animal, and then a command pounds through my mind:

Murder Rodas.

“No,” I moan.
 

Murder the Spotted Stalker.

I stare out over the ruined city. Vuk’s only seconds away. I see his black fangs gleaming. Lily’s screaming at me, trying o draw me back, but her voice is weak and whispery beneath the pounding in my ears.
 

Murder Rodas.

Yes. Murder Rodas. He’s the true enemy. The traitor.
 

My hand reaches for Rodas’ neck.
 

His attention is riveted on his enemies. He doesn’t notice me.
 

Rip his throat out.
 

Images roar through me. An army bending at my command. The earth consumed in fire. Black-blooded roaming the earth, murdering the last of the Skins and Purebloods. And worst of all, the images make my skin tingle…with
excitement
.

These are Vuk’s desires. Pushing me out of my wildmind. His grip on my animal tightens. I can no longer remember my name. My purpose. All I have is a sinking feeling spreading from my belly. I was too proud. Too arrogant.
 

Rodas senses my hand reaching for his throat. Whirls, knocks my arm down. And in that instant of distraction the giant wasp ploughs into him, carries the Spotted Stalker into the air—

I blink, not understanding.
 

Then another voice booms in my mind. My brother Sorry’s voice.

Control, brother.

My wolf howls. I’m being rent in two. I focus on my dead brother’s voice. It’s strength. How he loved me. How the Fallen corrupted him, turned him against his own kind, and the hatred that brings gives me the strength to force Vuk back. A piercing pain makes my vision flash red. I cover my head in my hands and rip at my hair. It feels like my skull’s splitting open, but I feel Vuk retreating. I’m pissing sweat, near passing out, and then he’s gone.

My wolf roars back to reclaim my mind.

I have just enough time to thank my brother and take a shaking half breath before the One Without Value barrels into me with the destructive force of a missile roaring toward its target—

V
UK
SLAMS
INTO
Aaron and lifts him into the sky. My brother passes so close I smell the reek of ash and blood and triumph on him. Aaron was a fool. He’ll never defeat the Fallen. Vuk rips the turquoise amulet from Aaron’s neck and hurls it down the pyramid.
 

The shadow wolves vanish.

Shiori and Rodas tumble down the side of the pyramid, locked in a vicious battle for survival. They disappear beneath the pyramid. Their war cries rise on the frigid wind, but I turn my attention to my brother and my bloodmate.

If I believed in god I’d pray for Rodas.
 

I’ve suffered the creepy chick’s bite.
 

Vuk rises high into the rolling clouds, then drops Aaron. My bloodmate plummets from the sky. Vuk in his wildborn animal is a sight of such overpowering beauty and horror it makes my legs weak. His fractal insect eyes reflect the simmering storm clouds and alternate between luminous red and orange and deep, boundless black.
 

Aaron crashes into the pyramid platform. Inch-wide cracks spread through the stone. He’s in his half-wolf form. He pushes to his knees, spits a mouthful of blood, curses, clutches at his head.

My brother was in Aaron’s mind. Commanding the Pureblood alpha.

Anik’s dead. It doesn’t seem real. I have nowhere to put that pain—
 

Then I hear something that makes my heart stop.

My bloodmate’s
laughing
.

The crazy bastard.
 

Lachlan settles on top of the burning pole pyramid. His eyes bore into me. He’s waiting for the outcome of the blood challenge. Waiting for his father to triumph. My heart cracks, seeing my son witness to such violence. Then I remember my father. How he was tortured before he died. That was Lachlan’s doing. My son’s heart has been corrupted black by his father’s evil.

But I refuse to lose hope.
 

I won’t let him go.
 

Not without trying, one more time, to save him.

Vuk swoops from the sky, his three reflective eyes focused on Aaron.
 

Aaron’s shaking his head, trying to stand.
 

I scream a warning as Vuk dives low, his claws slicing through the air, straight at my bloodmate’s back. Aaron waits until the last possible second, then rolls to the side. Vuk screeches in fury as he misses, his mantis-voice driving into my skull, making my animal howl and rage.
 

“Come here, you sick motherfucker,” I scream.
 

Vuk banks hard left, flies out of sight below the level of the platform.
 

Aaron and me stare at one another from across the pyramid. It’s a look that speaks volumes. My heart swells in my chest, making my throat tighten. This gorgeous man. This foolish, proud, arrogant and gorgeous man.
 

Then Aaron grins. His dimples wink. His fangs sparkle pure white. His icy blue eyes are sharp and focused. His tats ripple in time with his taut muscles. A powerful aura of energy focuses around him, warping the air, making it pulse and shimmer cool blue. He is the One We Answer To. A Pureblood apex alpha at his peak.
 

And right then, I know my man’s going to die.

The truth maims me worse than a knife in the back.
 

“No,” I whisper.

Aaron chuckles, flashes me the peace sign.
 

He knows. But he’s going to go out fighting.
 

A predator always does.

My lips flicker into a smile. “You crazy bastard,” I breathe.

Vuk rises over the side of the pyramid, slowly, almost lazily. He sees the look Aaron and me are sharing. His mantis face is hideous to begin with, but it turns even uglier as hatred and envy twist in my fallen brother’s gut.

“Love is weakness,” Vuk hisses.

“You keep saying that,” Aaron says, his voice rumbling and firm. “But I’m in mad love. And I’m still fucking standing.”

Vuk roars, flaps his wings twice and launches at Aaron.

I take a running leap and summon my animal.

Aaron stands his ground while Vuk flies at him.
 

I smash into Vuk’s flank at the precise second he hits Aaron. We’re tossed in a snarling heap of fang and claw, each of us lashing out, snapping and biting and clawing and gouging, our movements so fast the fight becomes a blur. We roll across the pyramid platform, nearly topple over the edge, then roll back into the middle. Blood and kill-lust fills my nostrils. I slam my fangs into Vuk’s side while his claws rake across my neck. I see Aaron’s still in half-wolf, his powerful arms wrapped around Vuk’s neck, squeezing my brother’s throat, holding Vuk down while I bite and rage. Black blood splatters my fur, sending me wild with hunger. I want to feed on this shitbag’s heart. After all he did. I want my brother’s beating heart in my clawed hands—

Something swoops from the sky.
 

Lands beside us.
 

At first I think it’s Lachlan, but then I catch a blur of white feathers.

Pimniq?

The white raven’s darting around the three of us, sinking her sharp beak into Vuk. Seeing Pimniq healed floods me with strength. I clamp my jaws into my brother’s back, aiming to sever his spine. He roars and rears up, nearly tossing me off. Pimniq flies away, then attacks once more, her eyes pure white and her feathers streaked in Vuk’s black blood.

Aaron looses a mountainous roar, the kind that commands armies. I hear the power in his voice, the predatory dominance. He’s still clinging to Vuk’s neck. My brother’s mandibles are cutting into Aaron’s side, ripping through flesh and ribs, but he’s still holding on—

My teeth grind into something hard.
 

Vuk’s spine.
 

I clamp down, focusing all my will into this single killing stroke.
 

He’s finished.
 

The thought is a momentary distraction.
 

An instant of weakened focus.

I bite down still harder, stabbing my brother with my scorpion tail while his claws dig into me. There is no pain.
 

I’m too far into the hunt for pain.
 

There’s only life and death. Kill or be killed.
 

An elemental truth.
 

Suddenly Vuk tenses like he’s caught in an electric surge. For a second I think we’ve been struck by lightning. But then a horrible, pain-wracked wail splits from Vuk’s lips.