The All Consuming: A Shifter MC Novel (Pureblood Predator MC Book 4) by May Ellis Daniels Read Free Book Online Page B

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—

C HAPTER F IVE
L ILY

    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