The Apex Shifter Complete Set: Books 1 - 3

by Emilia Hartley

Opposite them, the wall trembled. Cracks formed on the plaster. Concrete crumbled and snapped, the sounds like gunshots. Smoke poured into the lobby, followed by a wave of dust.

  “Kayla, shift, run!”

  The wall tumbled toward them, the sound of it greater than the thunder booming overhead. Gray light appeared, although the clouds of smoke and dust made it nearly impossible to see. Kayla choked on the thick atmosphere. But the girl—she couldn’t leave her.

  Kayla was not strong like Elathan. Still, she grabbed Isabela by the lapels of her leather jacket and dragged her through a doorway into another hall. Smoke and dust followed. “Elathan!” Her shout was weak, her throat clogged. “This way.”

  He looked at her over his shoulder. Their eyes met. But behind him, a shadow rose. Elathan saw the expression in her eyes and whirled back.

  The silhouette of bat-like wings appeared in the gap of the destroyed wall. To Kayla’s shock, Elathan charged toward the looming shadow. He had no weapon. He could not shift. Burning red eyes rose up, taking his measure as he sprinted closer.

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  Chapter Thirty-three

  Blood couldn’t say if it was instinct driving him forward, his lifelong study of the monster, or simply because it was his only move, one of utter desperation. Ripping free a smashed two-by-four, he leapt through the hole in the wall. Smoke and powdered plaster blinded him. Still, he swung at the shadow figure with both hands and all his strength.

  The sight before him rooted him to the spot. It was as if the swing blew away a shape made of smoke. Wings billowed and shrank, no longer leathern and scaled, but the rough weave of a cloak. The figure before him wore a hood, but he caught sight of a jaw dropping in surprise.

  Fingers twisted in an impossible gesture cupped by a ball of white fire. But as the cloaked shape staggered back, the hands whipped out for balance. The flaming sphere dispersed. Without the incredible heat, the cloak dropped.

  Blood recovered from his shock. In two strides, he gripped the rough garment. His other hand lifted the board high overhead. The deep hood fell back, revealing the face of a woman. Her eyes locked on his, filled with hatred so fierce, it felt electric.

  “Who the fuck are you?” he demanded.

  Smoke dispersed, dust settling. She looked to be middle aged, long gray hair tied back from a fine boned face. Despite the fact that he was ready to bust her skull in half with the two-by, her face only showed anger, her eyes blazing at him.

  “I am your death, Elathan Blood.”

  “I don’t even know—” Memory flickered in the back of his brain. It had been a long time, the years incredibly kind to the woman. But he knew her. “You were a nurse here.”

  “And eventually a patient.”

  “You stayed at the tavern.”

  “The trap you laid for the dragon. She made me sick, like my friends. Like your friend.”

  Blood shook his head. “How are you still alive? Are you a shifter?”

  Her face twisted in rage. “Don’t equate me with your disgusting kind, grizzly.”

  Anger flashed in him, and Blood considered smacking her with the board. “You’re the one who attacked us in the car.”

  “Attacked you.”

  “You’re no dragon.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I share the dragon’s power. I have been her servant, her slave and protector for a lifetime, for several lifetimes.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Aren’t you the expert, the self-styled dragon slayer?”

  He gripped the cloak tighter. “I’m gonna be an angry bitch slayer in about three seconds.”

  “The musk, the dragon’s poison. Only the young possess it. It not only draws in prey. It enslaves humans, forces us to protect the hatchling.”

  “Hatchling?” Blood had seen the thing with his own eyes. “Why would that thing need you to protect it?”

  A look of scorn crossed her face. “The dragon is just barely reaching maturity. But she was hurt, damaged while in mid-shift. It’s left her weak, and wild, unconnected to her human half.”

  None of this made sense. “How could you possibly protect a monster that can burn down a town, that flies, that’s bigger than a house? You’re just a human woman.”

  “A human woman who shares the dragon’s powers. Both halves of the dragon need my protection until she fully matures. But your attacks on her, your constant hounding, have left her stunted, an angry child that lashes out uncontrollably.” Her eyes searched his. “I have to keep her under control, keep the monster at bay until the time is right.”

  “And when will that be?”

  “When she finally obtains the strength, the energy to heal her shattered mind.”

  Blood was finally catching on. “She needs to devour her prey, shifters, before she’s healed.”

  He heard footsteps behind him, and a voice. “Sybil?”

  Blood couldn’t let his eyes off of her. But Kayla identified the woman. “Sybil? Sybil Auger. You’re the one the shifters call The Vet.”

  “She’s not the dragon?” Kayla asked. “But I saw her change, I saw her cabin go up in flames.”

  “No, not the dragon. Something far worse.” Blood nearly shuddered at the idea. “She keeps the shifters around here healthy, like a gamekeeper. She’s just fattening up the chattel until it’s time for the dragon to feed. To feed on all of us.”

  Kayla stepped through the broken wall to stand at Blood’s side. “But Elathan, if she’s not the dragon, then who is?”

  A smile crossed The Vet’s face, an ugly expression that did not touch on her eyes. “Oh, you know. You both know very well.”

  “I ain’t never struck a woman before,” Blood said. “But I’ve really got the urge. Spill it, Sybil.”

  “But you have struck a woman before,” Sybil said. “That’s why we’re all here. That’s why I’ve been shackled to this brain-damaged monster for longer than I should have lived. It’s why I’ve tended to your disgusting kind for decades.”

  Blood was reaching the end of his patience. “What I hear is blah-blah-blah. What I want to hear is: who is the dragon?”

  Kayla gasped. “Sybil, don’t!”

  A light flashed from below. His eyes caught sight of a gemstone the size of a golf ball in her hand. Blood hadn’t seen her remove it from her cloak. He whipped the board around to smash it from her grip. Except he didn’t. Sybil lifted the glowing stone. Blood’s hand dropped from her cloak. The board fell from his hand.

  Kayla backed away, her steps hesitant, her hands raised in defense.

  The Vet raised the stone higher. Blood could not move his limbs.

  “Kayla, get out of here!”

  When she brought the stone to eye level, he felt his feet leave the floor. Suspended, frozen, he understood that he and Kayla were at the mercy of a crazy woman.

  “Shift, Kayla, run!”

  “Kayla isn’t going anywhere, and neither are you, Elathan Blood.”

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  Chapter Thirty-four

  “I am sick and tired of tending this monster child,” Sybil said. “I came here to care for the ill, not babysit a demon.”

  Elathan’s muscles strained against whatever force held him aloft. Kayla continued to back away until her heels hit the shattered wall. Sybil was obviously out of her mind. Kayla was well aware of her magic powers, but she hadn’t seen anything like this.

  How could she appear to be a dragon, and shoot fire, and make a man as strong as Elathan helpless? Yes, she always had an air of superiority. Kayla never suspected how much hatred she had for shifters. “Sybil, I don’t understand. You always helped me.”

  “And you repay me by coming at me with an ax?”

  To Kayla’s dismay, The Vet removed the obsidian tomahawk from beneath her cloak.

  “I thought you were the dragon. You had to be!”

  “So much for your investigation, counselor.�
� Sybil moved toward her, the gem in one hand, and the weapon in the other.

  “Why did you stop caring for the sick?” Kayla asked.

  “I was struck down. The doctor’s believed it was TB. It was the venomous musk of a baby dragon. The friends I came with were all employed by this place, nurses at the sanatorium. We stopped at a tavern before our final journey here. There were rooms to let, even if women couldn’t drink at a bar. That’s where we were exposed.

  “A few months later, I was in a ward. The staff were kind enough to place me with Lily and Mathilda Sommers, the friends I traveled with here from back east. Just three girls on our own, making our way in the world. Except now we were drowning in our own fluids. The doctors were shocked by the rampant progression of the disease.

  “Another patient who suffered from this raging illness was the owner of the bar. I had cared for him before I took ill. He wasn’t even my patient. But he was a kind man, ambitious, full of dreams. I started falling for him before the illness took him.”

  “You?” Elathan gasped.

  “That’s right. Not the dragon-shifter you hunted. Just me, a simple nurse. I saw him many times during my employment. Before we both got sick. Ah, but you were so certain he had fallen into the dragon’s clutches, weren’t you? The very idea of human interactions was beyond you, even then. Oh, no, it couldn’t be two people falling in love—it was the magical influence of a mythical creature. By then, it was all you could understand.”

  “Sybil, you’re talking nonsense,” Kayla’s voice shook. “That was a hundred years ago.”

  “You took him from me.” Her eyes blazed at Elathan. “Our love was probably the only thing that might have saved us from the dragon’s power. But you turned him. Bit him, and made him a half-animal. You left me at her mercy.

  “I lay dying, waiting for the breath that would be my last. Finally, as my body gave up, I was filled with fire. The dragon’s fire, the dragon’s will, the dragon’s power. I was her creature, her slave, as were Lily and Mathilda. Our only reason for being became protecting the dragon and her offspring. We gave up our lives to it. We sacrificed our children so that her son might be protected.

  “But no longer. I am the last, and I am through with this shit. The time has come. My hand has been forced. The dragon will raze this rotten community, feast on the energy of the shifters who contaminate this land. She will destroy her tormentor and free her damaged psyche. Finally, she will heal, and rise to the position of the true apex predator.”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Sybil? You need help. We can help you.” Kayla watched the madwoman approach with the hatchet. Elathan still hung helplessly in the air. With the stairs blocked, there was no way to escape. She had to fight. But how could she fight an armed woman—

  Kayla gasped. She felt the impact more than the pain. Eyes wide with insanity and triumph, Sybil stared. Kayla’s eyes followed the crazy woman’s down. The tomahawk jutted from between her breasts, the glossy black head buried in her sternum. Blood soaked her blouse. Her trembling hands rose, but her mind was too shocked to touch the weapon.

  Sybil’s face suddenly looked pale, stricken with sick fright. Her eyes moved to Kayla’s.

  “Let it be done,” The Vet said with a quavering whisper.

  Kayla choked and spat bright red blood on the floor. Her knees felt soft. She heard the patter of her life’s blood hit the dirty floor. Thoughts whirled. Was the tomahawk stuck in her heart? Evidence of her mortality was at hand. There was no way to get her to a hospital in time. She was going to die in this horrible, crumbling facility.

  Blood again gurgled into her throat. She spat it out. “Sybil, why?”

  The Vet’s eyes locked on the weapon, now flooding with tears. “To save you. To free you. To free both of us.”

  Kayla took a step toward her. “You killed me.”

  “No.” Sybil shook her head, but the mad certainty had left her face. Her hand with the gem lowered slowly. “No, it can’t be.”

  Another step was too much. Kayla sank to one knee. Darkness swirled in her vision. Her life faded with the light.

  Sybil knelt down. “No, Kayla, no, this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be.”

  When The Vet’s hand fell on her shoulder, Kayla felt an ember of anger glow to life. “What have you done, you twisted bitch?”

  Sybil recoiled, her hand jerking away.

  “What have you done?” Kayla screamed.

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  Chapter Thirty-five

  Blood felt the unseen grip release him. He whirled as he hit the ground. He saw Kayla rise to her feet. Her fist shot out. The blow sounded like thunder, Sybil Auger tossed across the floor.

  He saw the ax jutting from Kayla’s chest, all the blood.

  “Kayla,” he raced to her side, his hands hovering, afraid to touch her. “You have to shift. It’s your only chance, but you can heal from this.”

  “I can’t, Elathan.” Her eyes filled with bright tears. “Don’t you understand?”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’ll kill you if I do.”

  His mouth dropped at her words. Still, her face paled, her hands shook. He reached out and ripped the tomahawk from her. The sound sickened him. Bright blood flowed. “Shift, Kayla, do it now!”

  Her hands found his shoulders, her grip fierce. “I can’t.”

  For a moment, a shimmer appeared in the air in front of her, like a heat mirage. Blood stared into a different face. One from so long ago, he could barely recall it. He took in the straight, aquiline nose, the high cheekbones, so much like Kayla’s face, and yet different. Kimama. His most recent nightmare flashed in his brain. But it couldn’t be.

  The illusion faded, though Blood was still thunderstruck to the core.

  “Don’t be a fool, Kayla, you have to shift. You’ll die if you don’t.”

  Her voice lost all power. “You’ll die if I do.”

  “It would be worth it.” He gently cupped her chin. “I would sacrifice my life for you.”

  “Let me go, Elathan. After all these years, let me go.”

  She was delirious, and fading quickly. A moan came from the floor behind him. Blood ignored it.

  “Shift, damn you!”

  “The tomahawk,” Sybil Auger groaned.

  Blood lifted it, brushing Kayla’s arm. He saw the ruby red against the obsidian edge. Kayla stared at it. The blood on the blade sizzled. It evaporated in green smoke. He looked in her eyes, and saw the awful color mirrored there. Kayla’s pupils lengthened into vertical slits.

  “Kayla?”

  Her soft skin cracked, at first looking like a face in an ancient oil painting. But the cracks organized into a distinct pattern. Scales, Blood recognized.

  “You wounded her, Blood.” He heard Sybil gain her feet. “So long ago, in that collapsing lava tube on Mount Hood. You left her unable to reconcile the fact that the man who loved her was also the man sworn to kill her.”

  Blood took a step back. Kayla’s features melted into Kimama’s, and back again. A bluish pallor infused her face, not the chill of death, but a terrible vitality.

  “That injury trapped her, a loop of stagnation, always returning to immaturity, leaving her unable to grow.”

  Blood no longer flowed from her wound. Her blouse and jeans suddenly stretched with an audible sound. Her neck lengthened. Kayla’s features were lost in something horrible, reptilian. The smell of smoke filled the air. Her hair lifted as if from a heated breeze.

  “Your avenging blow to her skull severed any ties between the woman and the dragon. It left her a monster, Blood. I helped her. The spell I cast over her made her believe she shifted into the most innocuous of creatures—a deer. Yet every happy prance in the woods was actually a flight of flaming destruction.”

  Kayla’s spine shifted with ear-splitting cracks. She shook her head, her face becoming prognostic, her teeth growing to fangs. Forearms grew strange musculature, th
e blue scales forming as her hands grew into leathery talons. With the tearing of fabric, wings jutted from her back.

  “You denied me my love, Elathan Blood. But I give you yours. And I give you the knowledge that your lover is also your killing obsession. For these past centuries, you have been in love with a dragon.”

  Blood took another step back. “You’re lying,” he said to Sybil, though his eyes remained on Kayla. She grew quickly, shifting fast, but there was so much mass she had to gain. The floor trembled beneath his feet.

  “You know I’m not.”

  The female figure ballooned outwards, the soft curves lost. Sinuously, Kayla continued to shift. Her body became longer and longer, her limbs twisting until they splayed from her body. Worst of all, her face jutted forward, her hair falling like black snow. Spines rose from her neck, her back.

  Blood knew The Vet was not lying, even as he refused to accept the shape forming before him. Wings thrust wide, bashing the surrounding walls. The floor protested with groans and creaks as the monster’s weight increased.

  Blood’s thinking was crippled. How could this be? How could this be? Even as the truth unfolded before him, his heart denied the fact.

  A tail whipped out from behind the creature, dragging through the rubble. The walls around them bent and sagged. Doors popped open as the frames came out of true.

  He shook himself from his daze. The whole sanatorium was falling apart under the dragon’s sudden mass. The monster’s terrible eyes met his. It opened its mouth.

  “Run.”

  With the word, a stream of smoke issued. Kayla’s voice echoed like it came from the deepest, darkest crevasse in the earth.

  “Run for your life, Elathan Blood.”

  The dragon took a single step toward him. Shifting weight tilted the floor toward the beast. A crack plowed through the center of the room.

  Sybil’s voice rose in the disintegrating room. “Kill him, my mistress, free yourself from his hatred. Free yourself at last from his love.”