Chapter Nineteen

Trey was waiting outside the firehouse, his face dark and unreadable, when Nathan pulled in front of Diskant’s home. The remaining pack members were there as well, and Diskant was certain that the lone Shepherd and tattooed asshole who’d managed to survive were on lockdown in the basement.

Diskant climbed from the back of the car, walked past the somber faces that stared at the bundle in his arms, and strode to his room. Now wasn’t the time to talk about strategy, revenge or the inevitable rebuilding that would occur as a consequence of the Shepherds. He couldn’t take a moment to console Trey or the rest of the pack and express that he, too, felt the substantial emptiness of their loss.

Ava couldn’t wait any longer.

She was stable but had yet to regain consciousness. That alone terrified him more than he cared to admit. He had to complete the bloodbond—now.

More shifters stood just inside, Kinsley amongst them. He was on the phone, likely contacting the prides to reveal everything that had transpired. He glanced up when Diskant moved past the entranceway and his emerald gaze rested on Ava. His eyes narrowed and he snarled something into the phone as he turned away.

The stairs were empty and Diskant took them two at a time. When he made it to the bedroom he closed the door and carried Ava to the bed. She needed a shower, to have her skin cleansed of the smoke, blood and filth. Slowly he stripped away her clothing, revealing her bruised and battered body.

He wanted to tear something apart when he saw the thin sliver of hollowed flesh missing from her thigh, recognizing the grazing of a bullet. Fear assailed him, tightening his chest. She could have died tonight, killed for nothing more than an association with him and his kind.

Once she was nude he left her on the bed and rushed into the bathroom to start the shower. The water would be harsh against her skin, but it would only be one discomfort among many.

Steeling himself to remain calm and levelheaded, he returned for his mate and remembered that no matter how this occurred, he was the fortunate one. Once done, it was done. He would never leave her again, never entrust her care to another. She would always be safe, always be close. Many of the pack had lost mates tonight. Some would survive the loss, others wouldn’t. The full extent of the damage wouldn’t be known for a couple of months.

Cradling Ava in his arms, he walked into the bathroom, opened the stall and stepped into the warm stream. He used his free hand to wipe the blood away from her face, taking blackened portions of soot along with it. The ache in his chest grew heavier, nearly suffocating in its intensity. No matter how bad the situation, he had been spared the greatest loss a shifter could ever experience.

His lips trembled as kissed her, opened his heart and soul to her completely, and started the final stage of the bloodbond. The first two stages were physical, requiring his seed and blood, but the final one was something that couldn’t explained under any normal context.

He reclined against the wall of the shower to remain upright as he willed his bestial halves forward and the process started. He buried his face in the softness of her shoulder and throat, breathing her in, wishing like hell this could have happened at a different time, under different circumstances.

She whimpered when the first and most powerful animal he possessed slid from his body and entered hers, leaving a portion of itself behind so that they were connected, two halves of one whole. The wolf rubbed against her skin before delving beneath, brushing against soft flesh and solid bone. She cried out as the mark was initiated, forced through her and finally settled. She shivered in his arms, her breathing shallow.

He was overwhelmed by anger, regret and despair as the second beast arose and started the process over. Ava started thrashing, stronger from the wolf that was a part of her now. The cat quickly squelched the canine—leopard becoming cheetah, then cougar, then lion. By the time all of the feline breeds left part of their essence she was no longer unconscious but fighting him, her eyes opened, lips pulled back. The pain and confusion she was experiencing were also enhanced by lust, something that was entirely expected. This was why he was the dominant of the two, and he quickly took control, enforcing his will, ensuring the primal urges within his female answered to one man and one man only—him.

He ran his fingers along the back of her head. The wound was closed and nearly healed. When the grizzly arose, he swung her around, pressed her against the wall, moved between her thighs and thrust his rock-hard cock into her. The bonding had brought his urge to mate to the surface as well as hers. There was no need for preparation. She was drenched with cream, slick and pooling. As he buried his length into her cunt, she welcomed him—hot, wet flesh hugging every inch.

“Diskant.” There was agony and fear in her voice, and when he lifted his head he saw it mirrored in her eyes.

“Feel me, Ava.” He withdrew and thrust back into her harshly, keeping his gaze on her face. “Only me.”

The pain in her expression was laced with pleasure, her eyes becoming dark. She brought her hands up, clutched his arms until her fingernails broke skin, and ground her pussy against him. They began to move together and the remaining beasts took their turns claiming her as their own, leaving behind a piece of themselves so that she would always share a bond with them, would always be able to reach out to, comfort, nurture and soothe them.

Her soft, muted cries tore at his heart, the pain of the bond lessened only by the violence of their union. In order to keep her mind off the misery, he forced her to focus on the feel of him pumping in and out of her. He pinched and teased her clit, nipped and suckled at her breasts. When he felt her quicken he increased the pace, pounding into her hard and fast until she climaxed.

The sound of her release was one he never wanted to hear again.

She screamed in agony yet wailed in relief, her soft vaginal walls tightening around him as she shattered in his arms.

“Can’t…take…more,” she sobbed, clinging to his shoulders, her face buried in his neck.

“It’s almost over,” he whispered, voice clogged with tears as he witnessed the pain he was forcing on her. “Stay with me, Pinkie. Please, stay with me.”

When he felt her slight nod he started thrusting again, gently this time. Her skin would be so sensitive his touch would burn, leaving behind impressions even as he let her go, but not for long. A portion of his soul took root in hers, and he felt the final connection being established. The moment it was completed a window opened between them, more powerful than he had ever anticipated. As it occurred he slid to the floor, shouting as his own orgasm thundered through him.

Even as he came he continued thrusting, caught in the throes of their first mating heat. The bloodbonding was done. Now it was about establishing a connection, branding her as his female and mate just as she’d once claimed she wished to be.

Mine.

“More,” Ava demanded and wrapped her fingers in his hair, forcing him to look into her face.

Her eyes shifted color—changing from sapphire blue to emerald green to liquid silver, to flashing gold—the only outward sign she would ever have that indicated she carried the essence of multiple shifting beasts inside of her. She started riding him, rotating her pelvis as she plunged down, stirring his cock to life.

The scent of sex was overpowering, the cream of her cunt mixed with the pungent odor of his seed. His feral instincts reacted to the heady fragrance as the wolf growled in satisfaction. Raking his fingers into her hips, he looked into her face. There was a touch of the wild that wasn’t there before and it made him hotter than hell.

“You feel so good,” she purred, staring at him through her lashes. “So. Damned. Good.”

“So do you, baby.” He let go of her waist to touch her face. Bringing her upright to kiss him, he brushed his lips against hers. “So do you.”

He roared when she opened the mental connection between them, stunned by how much stronger it was. She was entirely open to him, allowing him to hear her thoughts and sense her emotions. She basked in their union, their shared bond and her ability to finally understand the animals that made the man.

“Ava,” he moaned into her mouth.

Diskant, she whispered in his mind. My lover, my mate. Omega mine.

Her fingers tugged at his hair and he turned his head to the side, revealing the vulnerable hollow of his throat. She scraped her teeth along his jugular, back and forth, and followed it with laps of her tongue. Then she bit down, staking her claim, making her mark. She growled around the skin, released her hold and bit down once more. He groaned, remaining still when all he wanted to do was to flip her over, pin her in place and force her compliance.

“Want you inside me.” She lifted her head and panted, riding him hard, up and down, fast then slow. “Need to feel you come.”

Her motions were frantic, the woman and newfound creatures within struggling to find a singular balance. He heard the chaotic thoughts in her mind, the logical portion of her combating the new, feral part that demanded this mating leave an impression he would never shake, never forget and never escape.

Bringing his hand down to her enlarged clit, he stroked and petted and growled in turn, “You first, mate. I want to feel you shatter.”

Her motions became wild, rough and desperate. He felt the orgasm building in her and met her thrusts, positioning his hips to match them. Nothing else mattered in that moment. This was their pairing, the beginning of the rest of their lives together. No matter the tragedy that marred it, it was meant to be, something that was fated the moment they were born. Their cries carried through the bathroom, echoing off the walls.

“Oh god.”

“I’m here. Come for me.”

Her pussy went taut around him, holding him close, keeping him deep inside as she lost control and wept her release. He held her as she cried against his shoulder, the shudders of her body stronger than a mortal’s but weak in comparison to a shifter’s. That was what she was now, a combination of both, with the same needs, desires and compulsions.

Only when she was spent did he allow his own climax to claim him. His seed shot into her womb and he wondered if she’d conceive in that moment, creating a new life that would be a mixture of the two of them. Shifters could breed with those they weren’t bloodbonded with but usually the pregnancies terminated early in the term. He hadn’t concerned himself with that fact, since he’d planned to fully bloodbond his mate as soon as possible. Knowing the danger to his unborn children was gone, he allowed himself to consider the future.

His heart swelled when he pictured Ava swollen with his child, her small frame rounded in an obvious display of their affection and desire for each other. If it was a girl she’d have his mate’s blonde hair, big blue eyes and gorgeous smile. If it was a boy he would look like him, tall, dark and tanned.

A family of his own.

A new beginning.

He held her in his arms as the final throes of climax subsided, nuzzling her with his chin. Her mind was blank now, his head echoing nothing more than his own thoughts and concerns. As he’d expected, she went limp against him. He stroked her back and rested against the wall of the shower, allowing the slowly cooling water to cascade over their skin. They sat entwined for several minutes until she dozed peacefully. He stroked her hair and pressed his lips to the top of her head.

Her body needed time to recuperate and heal. After he put her in bed she’d sleep the rest of the night, as well as a solid portion of the morning. When she woke she would discover a lot of things had changed. While she wasn’t a shifter, she was no longer wholly human. With all the changes in her perception she was bound to experience the enormity of the loss the pack had suffered, as well as understand the impact of what rebuilding their ranks would entail.

A pang of dread squeezed his heart, the result of something he couldn’t control.

So much had changed in the course of a few hours. Shifters didn’t willingly hunt Shepherds, choosing to leave them alone. This, however, raised the stakes. There was no way their arrogance and destruction would be allowed to go unchallenged.

They had thrown the gauntlet and, in the doing, started a war.