The All Consuming: A Shifter MC Novel (Pureblood Predator MC Book 4) (9 page)

Then the thought hits me.
 

What if Lily’s animal doesn’t yield?

I’m powerful enough to murder her. Even if she is a Risen. At least now I am, with her pack gone and her creature uncertain of her rank in the world.

What if my bloodmate keeps attacking?

Self defense.
 

I’d fucking do it.
 

I’d murder her to save myself.
 

To survive.

The truth makes me numb with sadness. What did the sick motherfucker Vuk say? That we’re cut from the same cloth, him and I. Two apex predators whose only concern is survival.

I laughed him off.

But maybe he was right.

My wounds heal up faster than ever. I leap at my bloodmate, land on her back, let my weight carry her to the ground. Lily howls and thrashes beneath me. The fires burn bright. I sink my teeth into her back. Lily looses a pained moan. Her stinger slams into my side, just in front of my hind leg. The pain makes me chomp down, through fur and muscle and sinew, until my fangs rake against Lily’s spine.
 

Lily’s front legs buckle.

A roar of triumph rises from the Purebloods surrounding us.
 

They think I’m going to murder her.
 

Feed on her heart.

They’re right.

I’ve had enough of this bitch. Nothing but drama since day one. And I’m still pissed at what she did to—
 

A low growl escapes my lips.
 

Lily’s blood’s driving my wolf mad. I shake my heavily-muscled neck back and forth, grinding my prey’s face through the dirt. Her stinger stabs me again, but the pain feels miles off. I dig my claws into my bloodmate’s back and force her hind legs down until she’s flat on her belly.
 

I could sever her spine.
 

Just flex my jaws a little and snap it in two.

But something holds me back. A memory of how we felt together. And another image, of a child swaddled in black silk.
 

My son.

Shit’s gotten complicated.
 

A long, wheezing breath hisses from Lily’s throat.

Then she freezes.
 

I stay on top of her, mounting her, making damn sure she’s yielding and not only playing at it.

Then I hear a soft moan of submission.
 

I loosen my jaws. Just a touch. Enough to let the bitch know I don’t need to kill her if she smartens the fuck up.

Lily stays perfectly still.
 

Her body begins to shift. Her skin tightens and her bones snap and her fur recedes and in seconds her animal is gone, and lying beneath me is a naked, wounded and bleeding woman, my bloodmate, Lily Thompson, AKA Sparkles the Cop.

I’m still in my wolf.
 

Five hundred pounds of furious death instinct.
 

My jaws fit easily around my bloodmate’s flimsy Skin neck.

Lily’s lying flat on her belly.
 

Pinned into the dirt.
 

Sobbing.

“I fucked up, Aaron,” she says through her tears. “I thought they…Stricken? Not your crew. Not Purebloods. I was so afraid…I didn’t mean to call her…”

“Lily?” a woman screams.

Trish.

So the fucking nosy, meddling Skin is still alive.

“Get the fuck
off
her, you animal,” Trish screams.
 

I glance up. Nash has Trish wrapped in his arms.
 

The cop chick’s squirming against my VP, cussing him out—

Trish is right.
 

I should let Lily go. She yielded to me.
 

But my wolf fought hard for this kill. He demands a feed. My prey’s warm red blood is filling my mouth. It tastes…powerful. More nourishing than any black Stricken blood. Maybe the tables have turned. Maybe we don’t need the Risen to defeat Vuk. Maybe the Risen need to die to prevent him from Becoming—

“Your son, Aaron,” Lily whispers. “I’m carrying your
child
—”

Lily’s heart’s beating like mad.
 

I know, because every time it beats a fresh throb of blood fills my jaws.

Control
.
 

My dead brother’s words.

Love is weakness.

The First Fallen.

Right now I decide where I stand. Who I’m loyal to.
 

Am I like Vuk, loyal only to myself?

Or is there something greater in me? Some sense of…good?

Whatever the fuck that is.

My brother thought so. Saw something in me. Kneeled to let me lead.

The Purebloods have closed in around us. A couple dozen leather-cut wearing MC bikers and hundreds of animals I don’t recognize.
 

A fucking army at my command.

The ones I summoned in the church when my grandfather named me the One We Answer To.

Fuck it.

There’s a war to fight. I offered Vuk a blood challenge.
 

I
want
that brawl. Want to see who’s really top dog.

I’d even toss Lily into the pole pyramid just to make Vuk Become so I can square off against him. I fear nothing. And after I murder the Fallen, if the Risen need to die as well…so be it. The strong above the weak. Somewhere along the way the stupid motherfuckers got confused. Believed all the wrong stories. Thought it was the end of the Pureblood era. Thought a new species was destined to rise.
 

They’re wrong.

Slowly, in complete control, I release Lily’s neck. Retract my claws from her back. Step off her. Send my wolf back into his cage.

A rush of held breath escapes from the crowd.

They still want her dead. But they’re willing to follow my lead.

For now.

Lily rolls onto her back. Sits up, cradling her belly and wincing. Looks me in the eye. A wave of conflicting emotion passes over her face: anger and hatred, love and lust.
 

Then she fucking smacks me straight across the cheek so hard my head rockets to the side. I grind my claws into my palms and resist the urge to gut her.
 

Okay. I deserved that.
 

But once was enough. If she tries it again—

“You dirtbag biker
asshole
,” she whispers as her wounds close.

“Never pretended to be anything else.”

“No,” Lily says, “you
can’t
be anything else.”

Then she’s in my arms, kissing me, our wounded, naked bodies pressed tight and there’s a world of suffering and uncertainty between us but none of it matters now, we escaped the Bloodless Land and this woman is going to bear my son and a huge flood of relief washes over me as Lily puts her lips to my ear and begs me to fuck her, right now, here in front of the whole crew—
 

My cock stiffens as Lily’s hands trace down my abs and the Purebloods cheer and roar and the music starts up. Lily’s whispering how hot it was to feel my fangs in her neck, my weight pressing her into the dirt and how strong I am, her fucking apex alpha, how badly she needs me inside her, how she wants to feel my weight on her again—
 

I scent the heat and desire building between my bloodmate’s legs and then she’s pulling me down onto her, spreading her legs and gripping my cock in both hands and steering me toward the hot slip of her cunt while the crew screams and it’s a wildborn night, a night of insanity and madness and blood and lust, a night of raw, unfettered animal instinct.
 

I push my cock balls-deep into my bloodmate. She moans and grips my ass and holds me inside her, our two animal heats merged as one and a part of me’s wondering how the fuck a couple can be so wrong and so right at the same time, how this cop chick is perfect for me and yet…
disastrous
, and if I believed in a god I’d think the fucker’s having a good smirk right about now.
 

Someone hands me a bottle of bourbon. I take a long pull and pour some into Lily’s mouth and drizzle it over her neck and tits and lick it from her warm, smooth skin while the firelight dances across us and the desert stars shine bright above and I begin fucking my bloodmate, slow at first, but building in intensity as my need grows. Lily’s eyes never break from mine, we’re staring directly at one another as we fuck, searching each other, scenting each other, just opening it all up, the secrets most lovers keep hidden behind locked doors, the resentments and fears and insecurities that don’t mean shit in the animal world.
 

After tonight, there’s none of that between me and Lily.

We know were we stand.
 

My bloodmate offered herself to me.
 

Sank to her knees and submitted.

That takes a kind of trust that’s beyond most people, the loyalty of a pack bond, and as she begins moaning from the force of my cock opening her swollen folds I kiss my bloodmate’s cheeks and neck and shoulders, the wounds my wolf gave her still raw and tender and too-warm—

A
ARON
SLIPS
FROM
my arms.
 

Leaves me lying in the dirt, broken and bleeding, my insides sore and aching and feeling empty without his hard cock filling me, while he pisses off to party with his MC.
 

So much for afterglow cuddles.
 

Truth is I’m not interested in holding him either.
 

Tonight was about raw, animalistic desire. Release.
 

No bullshit.
 

We both got what we needed.

Aaron drove my animal into the ground. Had his powerful jaws clamped around my throat. I can still feel his fangs piercing my skin. His hot breath on my neck. His weight smothering over me.

He forced my animal to yield.

Dominated me.

I knew as soon as I felt my animal fleeing that I wanted to fuck him. I’ve never been so turned on. Aaron’s new-born power…it’s intoxicating. His confidence and strength. It’s next level alpha.
 

I can’t thank him enough for banishing my animal.
 

Teaching the bitch who’s boss.

I lost control of her. Almost lost
myself
. If Aaron wasn’t here she would’ve slaughtered the Purebloods. Fed on them. Then moved on, roaming and hunting alone, driven by the need to find another kill.

She would never have permitted me return.
 

Not to mention the man has a perfect cock and knows exactly how I want to be fucked. Every time we’re together I come so many times I lose count. We’re animals in heat, mad for each other.

Maybe there’s no future. Maybe one or both of us dies during the One War. It doesn’t matter. We’ve been blessed with this…passion. This uncaged, wildborn togetherness. I’ve lived more in the past few weeks than most people live in a lifetime.
 

I cover my eyes with my palm and lie naked, flat on my back while the Purebloods mill around me. I’m not embarrassed or ashamed. Let them see me naked. Let them watch their alpha fuck his bloodmate.
 

Only the Skins hide their desire. Repress it.
 

Feel bad about what’s perfectly natural.

I sense someone kneeling beside me. Then a soft touch against my forehead brushes my bangs behind my ears. I move the hand covering my eyes and am looking at my best friend. Trish. She’s staring at me with the fretful, motherly look of worry and concern she always does. Like she still doesn’t believe I can handle myself out here.
 

Like I need her protection.

Resentment makes my lips tighten. I love her, but fuck do I wish she wasn’t such an old hen. Then I remember how much she’s lost. Her career and home and family. Her
people
. How uncertain she must be. How afraid. Maybe she’s right to worry over me. I’m the only thing she’s got.
 

I try and give my best friend a smile.
 

It makes it halfway, then slowly fades.
 

“You don’t approve,” I say.

Trish frowns. “You’re a grown woman.”

“What then?”

“Are you all right? That’s all.”

“I’m a lot more than all right.”

“You made it back.”

I smile, not knowing what to say.

“I knew you would.”

A heavy silence, punctuated by the death metal playing a little ways in the distance and the sound of shattering glass and loud hoots and hollers. “They’re really getting their party on.”

Trish gives me a stiff nod.

She doesn’t approve.

“Why’d you do it, Lil?” Trish asks.

“Drive the bike off that cliff? To get my son back. Why else?”

“No. Why’d you trade your son for me and the Risen in the first place? You didn’t even know them. And me? I’m a fucking Skin. A lost cause. The last dodo.”

I slip my hand into Trish’s. “I took a risk. I saw August gut you, remember? I couldn’t have lived with myself—”

Trish glances at my belly. “You did it for
you
. Cuz you felt guilty.”

“I guess so. Yeah. Does that make me a shit person?”

“I won’t judge.”

“You sure?”

Trish’s eyes blaze. “I’m thinking…about your other son. Lachlan? What if it comes down to him, Lil? Will you act selfishly or make the hard call?”

“You mean murder him?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m happy to see you, too, Trish. Nice to get caught up. Now if you’ll excuse me…I just rescued my unborn son from a fucking dog-faced god. Got my ass kicked by an alpha wolf. Had my brains fucked out by a hot as hell outlaw while his biker crew cheered us on. I could use some water. Maybe a little shuteye.” My voice rises in frustration. “You think that could happen? Or do we need—”

“I think they’re right,” Trish says, her voice deadly soft. “Aaron might be your alpha, but I think everything still depends on you. And that fucking
terrifies
me.”