The All Consuming: A Shifter MC Novel (Pureblood Predator MC Book 4) by May Ellis Daniels
Authors: May Ellis Daniels
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attract the animal-demons to my spear would make the dreams end.”
Luz lowers her gaze.
Folds her hands in her lap.
I know she still dreams. For three nights now I’ve woken to find her sitting still and silent, her back pressed to a wall, her knees hugged tight to her chest. Not crying. Just sitting staring into the darkness—
“I want you to help me remove my piercings, Rodas.”
“Why?
“Because I am no longer La Mugre . The sewers are no longer my home. I no longer command the Bells.”
I move very near to Luz.
I want to touch her. Kiss her.
But instead I say, “Which one first?”
Luz pauses. “I could still go back,” she says. “With my piercings. I could drop into the sewers beneath this villa. I know where the Hole is from here. I could say I was captured.”
“But after you remove the piercings?”
“No.”
Luz lifts the thin rod she showed me earlier. “This one first.”
I hold the delicate piercing between my fingers. Luz’s skin stretches slightly as I twist the rod. It’s old. Rusted. I’m focused, barely breathing. Luz’s head is tilted at an odd angle. I study her cheekbones. Her jawline. Her smooth, shapely neck and soft, olive skin. The piercing won’t loosen. I’m straining against the rod, twisting it in my fingers, an uncomfortable feeling of needing to be very gentle and very strong at the same time, recognizing I don’t want to hurt this Skin woman, and then my gaze traces across her neck and I see her pale blue jugular throbbing with the force of her beating heart, the blood flowing beneath her tender, ripe flesh—
The piercing loosens.
Comes undone.
This woman’s jugular throbbing so close to my teeth.
Her warm blood running so close to my lips.
To drink of her blood.
Feed from her.
To drop from the trees. Onto my prey’s back. Sink my claws into Luz’s spine. My fangs deep into her neck. To feel her slump into the damp jungle floor—
“Thank you, Rodas,” Luz whispers.
A low, rumbling growl escapes my throat.
Luz freezes.
Looks at me over her shoulder. Her eyes widen.
Then she gives me a smile.
Brave and fearful at the same time.
Carefully guides my hand to another piercing
“This one next,” Luz says as my clawed fingers grasp a tiny metal ring. “And be gentle, my demon-animal.”
***
When I reach for the last piercing Luz grips my wrist and says, “Not that one. That one stays.”
“Why?”
“As a reminder.”
My claws are gone. Luz’s blood-scent drew the Spotted Stalker near. He’s still with me. Still prowling. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“What does it feel like…to change?” Luz asks while she stands and approaches the wash basin.
“It hurts.”
“Change always does.”
Luz splashes more water on her face.
My leopard hears the buzzing insect before I see it. My skin ripples.
“Luz. They’re here. They tracked us down.”
“How do you—”
A wasp, its lean body wrapped in yellow and black like the marks I once panted on my face, flies from behind the rags hanging from the windows and lands on my arm. I stare at it, transfixed, watching its antennae wave in the too-quiet air.
Luz grabs her spear. Turns to face the windows. “There’s a tunnel just outside—”
The wasp caresses me with her stinger.
My brother.
The words buzz through my mind.
My lost brother. Our alpha has called. Vuk is Becoming—
Deep inside my spirit, locked in his hidden cage, my animal shrieks in terror and hatred.
I scent them. Their polluted black blood. My ancient enemies.
They’re gathered outside. Waiting my sister’s command.
Memories from my wildmind, long lost to time, wash over me. A tiny woman with pale skin and eyes as black as her hair. An altar in the shape of a pyramid. I remember kneeling to an animal far more powerful than me. My alpha. My brother. My mother’s shrieks as my brother violated her. I remember the killing. Eons of suffering. I remember hating
Luz lowers her gaze.
Folds her hands in her lap.
I know she still dreams. For three nights now I’ve woken to find her sitting still and silent, her back pressed to a wall, her knees hugged tight to her chest. Not crying. Just sitting staring into the darkness—
“I want you to help me remove my piercings, Rodas.”
“Why?
“Because I am no longer La Mugre . The sewers are no longer my home. I no longer command the Bells.”
I move very near to Luz.
I want to touch her. Kiss her.
But instead I say, “Which one first?”
Luz pauses. “I could still go back,” she says. “With my piercings. I could drop into the sewers beneath this villa. I know where the Hole is from here. I could say I was captured.”
“But after you remove the piercings?”
“No.”
Luz lifts the thin rod she showed me earlier. “This one first.”
I hold the delicate piercing between my fingers. Luz’s skin stretches slightly as I twist the rod. It’s old. Rusted. I’m focused, barely breathing. Luz’s head is tilted at an odd angle. I study her cheekbones. Her jawline. Her smooth, shapely neck and soft, olive skin. The piercing won’t loosen. I’m straining against the rod, twisting it in my fingers, an uncomfortable feeling of needing to be very gentle and very strong at the same time, recognizing I don’t want to hurt this Skin woman, and then my gaze traces across her neck and I see her pale blue jugular throbbing with the force of her beating heart, the blood flowing beneath her tender, ripe flesh—
The piercing loosens.
Comes undone.
This woman’s jugular throbbing so close to my teeth.
Her warm blood running so close to my lips.
To drink of her blood.
Feed from her.
To drop from the trees. Onto my prey’s back. Sink my claws into Luz’s spine. My fangs deep into her neck. To feel her slump into the damp jungle floor—
“Thank you, Rodas,” Luz whispers.
A low, rumbling growl escapes my throat.
Luz freezes.
Looks at me over her shoulder. Her eyes widen.
Then she gives me a smile.
Brave and fearful at the same time.
Carefully guides my hand to another piercing
“This one next,” Luz says as my clawed fingers grasp a tiny metal ring. “And be gentle, my demon-animal.”
***
When I reach for the last piercing Luz grips my wrist and says, “Not that one. That one stays.”
“Why?”
“As a reminder.”
My claws are gone. Luz’s blood-scent drew the Spotted Stalker near. He’s still with me. Still prowling. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“What does it feel like…to change?” Luz asks while she stands and approaches the wash basin.
“It hurts.”
“Change always does.”
Luz splashes more water on her face.
My leopard hears the buzzing insect before I see it. My skin ripples.
“Luz. They’re here. They tracked us down.”
“How do you—”
A wasp, its lean body wrapped in yellow and black like the marks I once panted on my face, flies from behind the rags hanging from the windows and lands on my arm. I stare at it, transfixed, watching its antennae wave in the too-quiet air.
Luz grabs her spear. Turns to face the windows. “There’s a tunnel just outside—”
The wasp caresses me with her stinger.
My brother.
The words buzz through my mind.
My lost brother. Our alpha has called. Vuk is Becoming—
Deep inside my spirit, locked in his hidden cage, my animal shrieks in terror and hatred.
I scent them. Their polluted black blood. My ancient enemies.
They’re gathered outside. Waiting my sister’s command.
Memories from my wildmind, long lost to time, wash over me. A tiny woman with pale skin and eyes as black as her hair. An altar in the shape of a pyramid. I remember kneeling to an animal far more powerful than me. My alpha. My brother. My mother’s shrieks as my brother violated her. I remember the killing. Eons of suffering. I remember hating
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