Consumed (Blood Ties Book 9)

Hunt…hunt them.

Then kill.

The Beast was hungry, ravenous for blood. I hunched my shoulders, driving my body harder. Heavy steps thudded against the concrete tunnel under my feet. Carven was a blur beside me, his nearly white hair fucking neon in the dark as we left the alley far behind. The moment the doors opened and Hale’s Sons spilled out, we’d known this was the only way to reach him. So we’d fought. We’d killed, and at the first opportunity, we’d pushed through those open metal doors and plunged into the darkness.

“Move…your…fat…ass,” Carven snarled beside me as he surged ahead.

My chest burned.

My breaths were like razors.

Still, I pushed harder and let that savage part of my nature rise. Because it wasn’t him I focused on…it was the three up ahead running away from us. The three Sons who were leading us to the only one we really wanted. The one we hungered to tear apart…Haelstrom Hale.

I unleashed a growl and pushed harder, hurtling toward them…and slowly gained ground.

“’Bout…fucking…time.” Carven jerked an unhinged grin my way and dropped his hand, palming a blade.

Only, I sensed movement in front of me, coming fast. I drove my fist through the air and into my brother’s shoulder, pushing him hard away from me. He stumbled to the side as the first of Hale’s Sons stepped out of a small alcove and lunged.

I dropped my shoulder and met the swing of his fist with brute force. His feet left the floor as I drove him into the air, then down again, hard.

Thud.

His body impacted with the floor as two more of them came in fast. Steel slashed through the air, forcing me backwards. I lunged, driving myself back again and again and again, until there was nowhere else to go. Agony sliced through my shoulder.

That pain triggered the savage monster inside me. Walls trembled before they came crashing down and the Beast was unshackled.

NO!

He roared, clawing upwards, and instead of moving backwards, he slammed into Hale’s Son and drove him back. I couldn’t hold on, slipping further and further away into that emptiness. But I didn’t fight him this time.

Instead, I gave him the one thing he needed…

The memory of her.

KILL THEM. Kill them. Kill them.

Hard breaths. The slash of pain. One that whipped my gaze toward him. The male stopped, scowling as I just continued forward. Blood. Agony. They only made me stronger. I clenched my fists and drew them upwards as an image slammed into me.

My Wildcat.

Big and round with my offspring.

Her hair whipped in the wind, wild and free.

“They want to hurt me,” she urged, her hand resting against our babies. “They want to kill what’s yours.”

My lips curled back as my focus narrowed in on the male in front of me. One who shook his head and glanced at the other one at his side. My brother grunted, the clash of steel sharp and brutal in the dark. But I didn’t focus on him.

Carven could take care of himself.

It was her I thought about as I stepped forward. Her that ripped through me like adrenaline.

“What the fuck?” One of them muttered before I lunged.

My fist drove up, connecting fast and hard with his stomach. With an oof, he doubled over. But I was already grabbing him by the throat and lifting him until his feet dangled and kicked as he wailed.

The bite of cold steel pressed against my temple. “Put him down now,” the other Son commanded.

My muscles quaked, driving the pain into my elbow as I slowly turned my head to meet the Son’s stare.

He flinched with the connection, then murmured. “What the fuck are you?”

“Not Son,” I grunted. “Killer.”

“No, he isn’t. He’s my goddamn brother.” Carven sucked in hard breaths and pressed the tip of his blade into the back of the other Son’s neck. “Now, how about we play a little game. Let’s see if your finger can pull that trigger faster than I can drive this blade through your fucking spine.”Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

There was a flicker of panic before his lips curled.

“That’s what I figured.” Carven reached around and took the gun from his hand, then he shifted that piercing blue stare my way before glancing at the male in my hands. “Take your time, brother. Do what you have to do.”

I turned my focus back to him. To the one who wanted to hurt her.

“Mine.” The word was a growl that rumbled in my chest as I squeezed. “My female. My mate.”

Feet kicked. Fists swung, landing against my cheek. My head was snapped to the side by the blow and my elbows howled as I clenched my fists, driving all my hate and desperation into my grip until, with a roar, his neck went snap and Hale’s Son was no more.

“Goddamn, Beast.” Carven jerked his stare my way.

I sucked in hard breaths and stared at the male in my hands as I let him go, letting him crumple to the floor.

“You aren’t one of us,” The male Carven pressed his knife against spoke. “What the fuck are you?”

“Something your kind made,” Carven spat. “Now, you and I are gonna have a nice little chat while my brother comes back to us.” His stare was desperate. “Right, Colt?”

No.

Not yet.

Not ready.

I swung my stare to the darkness up ahead. I could feel him up there. The man we were hunting…and so could Carven. My brother’s focus shifted with mine.

“He’s up there waiting you know,” Hale’s Son croaked. “He made you. You belong to him. You feel it, right? That need to belong. You finally found it. You never belonged to St. James. You belong with us. We are your family.”

I swung my glare toward him. Heavy breaths consumed me as I took a step forward until I almost towered over him and leaned in until my chest hit his and he was forced to breathe my air.

“Easy, Beast,” my brother urged. “Easy.”

Rage howled inside me, hating the fact I felt what he’d said. It thrummed inside me, like a pulse I couldn’t quite find. I wanted to strangle that pulse…I wanted to tear it out.

“I will find him,” my words rumbled in the back of my throat. “And he won’t like what he created one bit.”

Colt pushed in, not desperate or demanding. Comforting. I eased back, letting him take hold. Knowing I didn’t have to take control. He hated and raged just as I did. I slipped away, melting back into the shadows, waiting to return to her.

A keening call tore from my chest, resounding in the darkness.

My Wildcat…my mate.

She was close.

“WHAT THE FUCK kind of sound was that?”

I shook my head, my senses dull…until one last surge of the beast ripped through me. I saw everything. His mind. His senses…and in that clarity…two heartbeats behind us. I turned, whipping my gaze to the darkness. To another alcove deeper in the tunnel we’d come from.

Vivienne’s face rose in my mind. Confusion filled me. Through the connection of the Beast, she felt close…real damn close. I stared at the two dark blurs racing back along the tunnel behind us, and an overwhelming need to follow filled me.

I took a step backwards.

“Colt? What is it?”

With every second, that howling desperation grew louder until it was undeniable.

“She is here,” I croaked. “And they know it. They’re going after her. They’re⁠—”

A low snigger came from Hale’s Son in front of me, right before Carven slammed his fist down on the hilt of the knife, driving the tip all the way into the hunter’s neck, severing his spine instantly. He dropped to the floor, but I had already spun around and was driving my body forward in the dark.

They knew where she was.

And they were going after her.

I ran, pushing myself harder than ever.

Carven matched my strides.

“Go!” I roared. “Save her.”

He needed no encouragement, his own terrifying need for her driving him forward. The cracks in the tunnel beside me were a blur. My pounding steps were sledgehammer blows. Still, I needed harder, faster.

GET TO HER NOW!

The Beast howled.

Carven pushed harder, charging along the tunnel back to that alley. Fear pushed in. Why the hell was she here?

Crack.

Crack.

Crack.

The faint sound of gunfire pushed me harder. Sunlight splashed against the floor of the tunnel. Screams outside pushed in. A woman…was it Vivienne?

Carven turned right and lunged. I knew where we were. The metal doors at the end of the alley. The walls blurred, rage was all I saw as I barrelled right and all but threw myself out through the open door and into the alley.

Riven and Thomas were fighting one of the Sons, unleashing the kind of violence that was sickening. But I didn’t care about them…I turned my head.

London was there.

Carven too.

Two Sons stood between them and Vivienne…

My Vivienne.

Her hand went to her belly. Her wide eyes fixed on me. There was a look of relief as she met my gaze. But she shouldn’t be relieved. No, she should be fucking terrified.

“Easy.” London lifted his gun as the Son in front of her pulled his blade.

The bastard said nothing, but he didn’t need to. We all knew exactly what he intended to do with that honed razor’s edge.

“Make a move and I’ll drop you where you stand,” Carven growled.

But I didn’t wait for that to happen. I lowered my head and strode toward him, watching as the Son’s eyes widened in surprise.

Mine.

The Beast snarled, still hovering close to the surface.

If you don’t kill him, then I will.

He didn’t need to say it twice. The other Son lunged, aiming for Carven, as I took a step forward and leaped. The burning slash of the blade drove all the way into my side. Still, I slammed the Son sideways and away from the woman I loved. That searing agony drove deeper. I didn’t need to look down. I didn’t even feel the blade at all.

All I felt was the Beast…and rage.

I drove my fist onto his face as the alley erupted with the roar of gunfire. The Son’s head snapped back as blood spilled from his curled lips and stained the front of his teeth red. I unleashed again…and again. Each blow hit harder than the last, until the bastard who’d threatened my mate buckled and fell to the ground.

“Five seconds,” he said, staring up at me. “And I would’ve gutted her like a fish.”

A guttural roar ripped from my chest, burning as it took flight. Inarticulate screams echoed through the alley from the others as I slammed my fist into his face over and over until his eyes fluttered shut. Still, I didn’t stop, falling forward to straddle his body.

His face was crushed, the white of bone visible through his split nose. I couldn’t even see his eyes.

Until with one more savage blow, his head rolled backwards…and that’s where it stayed.

I stopped, my fists throbbing at my sides. My breaths consumed me.

“Colt.”

Her voice pushed into the red haze. I lifted my gaze from the mess of his face to hers. To my beautiful Wildcat. The woman I watched over…the woman I loved.

“Baby,” she said carefully reaching out to brush her hand against my cheek.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head, desperate for every soft brush of her fingers and every soothing word from her lips. The faint thudthudthudthud of our babies’ heartbeats called to me. She was the only one who could turn the Beast in me to a mewling, purring thing. I reached out, wrapped my throbbing hands around her waist, and pulled her gently to me.

My head tilted as my ear pressed against the swell of her belly. I closed my eyes, those racing throbbings both soothing.

“I wasn’t going to leave you there.” She dropped her hand, her fingers sliding through my hair. “Never again”

I nodded, because it was all I could do.

There was no anger.

No rage.

Just knowing she would do anything to find me.

And I’d do the same…to protect her.

“We found him,” Carven’s voice pulled me away from the sounds of my children. “We found Hale.”

“Where?” London growled.

“In the tunnel…you follow that to the end and you’ll find him. But he has Sons. Lots and lots of Sons, and they’re waiting. They’re waiting for us.”

“Then it’d be rude of me to fucking disappoint, wouldn’t it?”

I lifted my head and turned to the man who was the closest thing we’d ever had to a father, and spoke. “Yes. Yes, it would.”