The Lord of Near and Nigh: Shifter MC Novel (Pureblood Predator MC Book 2) (20 page)

Because suddenly I
am
afraid. Even though it’s a sunny spring day and the cherry blossoms are falling in the yard. I’m afraid. And I’m upset about that, because being afraid for no reason only makes sense when it’s dark and you’re alone.

I notice there are red footprints on the patio. Bootprints, actually. From a very big man. My dad’s gunna be angry someone tracked paint across the patio. I did that once, when I was five. Except it was up the back porch. Stepped on one of mom’s drop-cloths covered in blue paint and walked up the stairs and into the house without realizing my feet were covered in paint.

Left little blue footprints behind.

“Mom? I’m home.”

I don’t usually announce I’m home. Mom’s either waiting for me on the front porch, or if it’s a sunny day like today she might be out back fixing old furniture.

That’s where she is. Out back.
 

I feel better knowing that.

And then because I know where mom is I’m curious about this red mess in the entry. Maybe mom doesn’t even know it’s here. I should see what it is so I can tell her.

I nudge my index finger into the door. It swings open halfway, then thumps into something. There’s a gross smell in the air, like the washrooms at school.
 

I can’t see what’s stopping the door from opening. I want to, though. So I step into the red paint. It’s going to ruin my shoes. That’ll be trouble, but maybe all right too, because I want new shoes anyway.
 

I peak my head around the door.
 

I don’t scream when I see her. I just turn and run.
 

I don’t even cry until I’m nearly at Mrs. Delaney’s door.

Why didn’t I cry for her?

I ask that a lot.
 

The only answer is because I didn’t believe it was her. I thought it was someone else. Another woman. In my house by mistake. It took me a long time to believe it was really her. It happened long after the funeral. After they took dad away. After I caught the first bad home and started running.

It was during my second night alone on the street. I was getting high with a boy—I forget his name—he had a shaved head and a pudgy face and wore jeans with the crotch sagging almost to his knees.

“What happened to your moms?” he asked, his voice tight from holding the dope smoke in his lungs.
 

“Had her head cut off,” I tell him in a flippant way, trying to sound cool, because I still hadn’t felt it yet. It had been over a year and I still hadn’t felt it.
 

“Whoa. No shit. They know who did it?”

I nodded. “My dad.”

The boy passed me the joint and said, “Whoa. That’s heavy shit.”

That’s heavy shit.
 

Those three words. After all I’d been through. The psychologists and anti-psychotics and my father’s trial and everything else.
 

That’s heavy shit.
 

Then I felt it.
 

For the first time since I pushed open the door and saw her I screamed.
 

And the pudgy-faced boy? He heard me scream, and he looked in my eyes, and he got up and ran.
 

***

 
I wake screaming. It’s dark and I don’t know where I am and I’m cold and my scream only lasts a second or two and then I sink back into the pillows, exhausted.

But my eyes stay wide open, staring through floor-to-ceiling glass windows out over a blue-black ocean. The moon is out, its red reflection trailing across the water like wound.

And I realize where I am.

I’m in Connor Lerrick’s house.

“Connor?” I say, very quiet. “Connor are you there?”
 

No answer. I’m about to call him again when I’m struck by the knowledge that I need to be quiet.
 

Very, very quiet.
 

In fact I need to hide.
 

Because there’s something out there, not in the house but just outside, that knows I’m in here. It’s hunted me here. Tracked my scent.
 

I try and squirm across the bed, hoping to drop to the floor and hide under it. Like a child. But the bed is massive, and when I try and move a sharp burning pain laces up my leg.

I remember everything. Aaron ‘One-Eight-Seven’ Arud, Prez of the Pureblood Predators MC. The man who saved my life. I remember the body bag zipping over my head. The spirit-eater who tried to murder Aaron and I, and his second visit when he called me that awful name. The All Encompassing. I remember the heat bursting from my mouth, frying the creature Detective Kusch became. I remember crawling into the backseat of the stolen car.
 

I remember my son. Lachlan. Missing.

I dig my elbows under me, try and push myself up. “I need to get out of here,” I mutter, not realizing I’m speaking out loud. “Need to find my boy.”

“That won’t be possible, Lily,” a man’s voice says.
 

Connor’s seated in a white leather and shining chrome armchair on the other side of the room. Moonlight streams through the window, landing on his face, making his skin glow soft red.
 

“Don’t say that,” I say, trying to sound calm. “Don’t make me a prisoner. Please, Connor. I phoned you…there’s no one else. Please.”

“You’ve been through a terrible ordeal. You were near death. I brought you here. You were…delirious. Ranting. Saying awful things. You need rest, Lily. Please.”

“Don’t tell me what I need.”

I try and swing my legs off the edge of the bed.
 

Nothing happens. I’m too tired to move.
 

Something stirs in me. Wild and vicious. My creature. Oh god she’s still with me. She wants out as well. Free to roam the night sky. She’s hungry. I shudder, place my fingers to my temples and feel the blood pounding through my veins. She won’t let me stay here long.

“You don’t have to leave to find your dog,” a woman says, stepping into the light. “He’s coming for you.”

“Star?”

Star smiles. She’s radiant. Her red-blonde hair glows in the light reflecting off the ocean.
 

“Rest, Lily. Connor’s right. A few more hours. You’re safe here.”

“Am I?” I ask, suddenly suspicious. Who the hell is this woman in my boyfriend’s house? “I don’t feel safe. I feel…trapped.”

“We’re not holding you against your will,” Connor says. “You’re free to go.”

He’s lying.
 

“My son?” I say, tearing the IV drip from my arm. “I need to find my son Lachlan.”

“And you will,” Star says. “But not now. Rest, Lily. It’s not yet time.”

“Time?” I shriek. “When is it
time
? Time for what? I don’t even know…if this is real! Is anything real? Have I lost my fucking mind? Who the fuck are you, bitch? Are you…I
saw
you. Leap into the air. Transform into an eagle. Was that real? Nothing makes sense!” Tears flow hot down my cheeks. I feel helpless and impotent and ridiculous, and the feeling makes me furious, and the fury makes—

“Yes,” Connor says. “Fury releases her. As does fear. Breathe, Lily. Please. You’re in no danger from us. But the animal…she’ll harm you if she senses opportunity.”

“Breathe?” I scream. “Who…
what
…the fuck are you? Connor Lerrick? What exactly are
you
? Besides a rich guy I’ve known for years. A quirky, bored, has-it-all rich guy who fucking proposed to me just—”

“Two days ago,” Connor says quietly. “It was only two days ago. And I’m still waiting for an answer.”

Something in his voice calms me. I don’t trust him. Not anymore. And I certainly don’t trust Star. But I don’t think they want to harm me. Not right now, anyway. “An answer. Oh, ha. Fucking ha on me! Sure I’ll give you an answer. Just let me, you know, regain my sanity. Is that okay? Let me forget I have a fucking
scorpion
tail. Let me forget I can shoot
heat
from my mouth.”

“I warned you,” Star says to Connor. “She’s not ready.”

“Oh fuck you, you condescending bitch,” I say, trying with every ounce of strength I have to fling my legs off the bed. And to my surprise they do move. Only and inch, and the pain is near unbearable, but it’s a start. “Who is she, Connor? Your whore? And come to think of it…who or what are
you
?”

“Don’t do that again, Lily,” Connor says, and the edge in his voice reminds me of the voices I heard when I was asleep. It was these two talking. I try and remember what they said. But the details are gone. Only feelings and vague associations remain.
 

Something about their father. Something about a choice.
 

“You’re siblings,” I whisper. “Star is your sister. Shitballs! Who are you, Connor? Who are you
really
?”
 

Connor shrugs in way that speaks of a lifetime of privilege, then gives Star a questioning glance. She turns her head to face the ocean.
 

The arrogant bastard. How could I have believed he loves me?
 

Fuck it. It doesn’t matter.
 

Because I don’t love him.
 

“They call us many names. Just as they will call your kind many names. Demons. Devils. Monsters. To the Hindu we’re
asuras
. The ancient Greeks called us Titans. The Celts, Fomorians. In Islam we’re
Jinn
. The Aztecs sacrificed for us as
tzitzimitl
. Some Native American tribes call us Skinwalkers. All cultures in all ages have named us. But they understand nothing. We’re simply earth’s first born. We thrived in a time before the rift between animal and human.”
 

The room is quiet for a long while, then I finally say, “So you’re gods. That’s wonderful. I feel much better knowing I’m not the only batshit insane one around here. Fuck, Connor. I knew you had an ego, but this—”

“We’re not gods,” Star says quietly. “We’re the first species. Flesh and blood, as human’s are. We age very slowly, but we’re not immortal…as you well know, after killing Al Kusch. We have…powerful gifts. Creatures inside us. That’s all. Some of us are weak and others strong, as in the human race. Some are beautiful, others hideous. Some loyal and noble…others less so.”

I strain to shift my legs off the bed and manage a few more inches. It’s good enough. My shattered leg is tingling. Healing. The creature inside me is helping. She wants to be free as well, and for a moment our interests are aligned.
 

“Don’t unleash her, Lily,” Connor warns. “She will consume you.”

“And if I do?” I ask.

Connor stands from the chair. “We won’t permit it. Not yet. We have…methods.”

“What? Strap me down? Shoot me full of tranquilizer?”

“If need be, yes,” Star says. “That’s exactly what we’ll do.”
 

“You fucking bastards,” I say, my blood boiling. “Release me. Now!”
 

“You don’t know what you are, Lily,” Connor says. “What you’re Becoming.”

“Stop patronizing me!” I scream. “Tell me! Help me. Please? I want it out. I want it…gone. I want my life back. My shitty fucking life. My career. Can you do that? Well? Can you tell me how to end this?’

“No,” Connor says. “You were marked. The All Encompassing has stirred within you. She cannot be stopped.”

“Fuck you,” I say. “I’m so
sick
of people calling me that! The All Encompassing? What the fuck is that, anyway?”
 

“Wait,” Star says softly, turning to face her brother. “There is a way.”

Connor looks at her, his mouth open.
 

“Tell her the way, brother. Tell her how to rid herself of the creature.”

“Tell me!” I scream.

Connor shakes his head, looks at me, his eyes misted. “I won’t…I can’t…”

“Give her what she wants, brother,” Star says. “Tell her there’s hope.”

Connor’s expression hardens. “The First Fallen must be destroyed.”

“Who?” I say, gripping the sheets to my chest, afraid of the answer. “Not him. Please. I won’t do it. He’s an asshole, but that doesn’t mean he deserves to die. Not Aar—”

“No,” Star says firmly. “You need Aaron’s help to destroy the First Fallen. And the help of others you have yet to meet.”

Connor’s glaring at his sister. Either he doesn’t want to tell me the truth…or this isn’t the truth.

Either way I need to know.

“Tell me who the First Fallen is,” I say to Connor. “I want my life back. I want this madness to end. Please? Tell me?”

Connor stands, stares at the sea. “The First Fallen is my father. August Lerrick.”

“Fuck you,” I say, sneering. “Your
father
? Let me guess: you’re tired of only having one mansion. You want me to murder your father so you can have a dozen.”

“You need to stop thinking about what you know in this world, Lily,” Star says. “It’s an older world that matters now.”

“Maybe to you. But this world,” I slam my hands on the bed, “this fucking broken-down world right here matters to a lot of people, and it still matters to
me
.”

“That’s why you must destroy the First Fallen,” Connor says. “His power grows in time with yours. The One Without Value. He understands our history. Knows our lineage. Knows who his true adversary is, Lily. And that’s
you
.”

I think about the monster Al Kusch. He mentioned being told to wait so another could breed with me. He also said I’m the All Encompassing. “If I kill him…kill August Lerrick…the creature will leave me?”

“Yes,” Star says. “The two of you are locked in an ageless battle. Without an enemy your creature has no reason to exist. She’ll remain in you. That will never change. But…she’ll settle. You won’t know she’s there, like you didn’t know she was there until the wolf-man marked you and woke her. All the creatures will settle. The ageless war will end.”

“Yours as well? The eagle? She’ll leave you in peace?”

Star smiles. “Yes.”

I run my fingers over the bite on my shoulder. “The wolf-man? Aaron? I saw it…the other night. Will his creature…leave him?”

“Yes. But I wouldn’t mention this secret to him. Some of us are more…attached to our creatures than others.”