Consumed

by Barb Shuler

  Consumed

  Oblivion Series - Book 3

  Barb Shuler

  CONSUMED (The Oblivion Series; Book 3)

  © Copyright 2018 Barbara Shuler

  Published by Barbara Shuler

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This is a work of fiction which is only recommended for those 18 and older due to violence, strong language and adult content. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), places or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it to the seller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  Cover Design by: Madhat Books

  Edited by: Mindy Seal

  Formatted By: Tattered Quill Designs

  Other Books by Barb Shuler

  Shattered Lives Series

  My Own Nightmare

  Somewhere I Belong

  Shatter Me Whole

  Sparks Of Deception

  Living In Your Hell

  Edge of Danger

  The Cowboy Way Series

  Wrangled By Love

  A Rescue Series Novella

  A Marshal’s Courage

  Her Savior

  Flashpoint

  Primal Darkness

  Harmony Duets

  Finding Harmony

  Through The Eyes Of Madness

  (Co-written with KA Graham)

  Shifting Shadows

  The Oblivion Series

  Shifted

  Ravaged

  Anthologies

  The Parlour: All Access - Ultimate Control

  Coloring Books

  Shaded With Love: A coloring Book for a Cause Volume 5

  Cooking With Love: Shaded With Love Volume 6

  Helplessness is a state of mind. Don’t be afraid to throat punch your way through life.

  Acknowledgments

  My team deserves so much praise for helping make this book happen! I’d be lost without you all!!

  My beta readers (Mindy Seal, Kelly Graham, Jade Lindaas, Emily Maynard, Laura Nelson, Annamarie Gardner), editors, and my awesome formatter, Annie, thank you. You are all the reason I can do what I do. Without you, I’d be the chick running from the killer bear in the woods. Haha

  I owe a special thank you (again) to Author Jen Winters who helped with the latin needed at times in this book.

  Thank you to Shari J Ryan, my cover designer. This cover - as with the others - you nailed the vision I was needing! You did an awesome job.

  When in doubt, follow your gut. It knows what to do.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  CONSUMED ~ PLAYLIST

  About the Author

  Prologue

  When I was brought into this world, I was one of three born within quick succession. However, we were not of the same mother, nor are we of the same father. No, we’re part of something new. Something that was prophesied many moons ago.

  We are three equal parts of the Triune, the Trinity of Three.

  Three pieces of a puzzle that will be brought together to save the way of life for the vampires and shifters alike. Though, this will affect the entirety of the supernatural world. The necessity of such an act is not one to be taken lightly.

  The scale between good and evil must always stay balanced. If the scale tips too far to one side, the world will descend into chaos, then crumble and die.

  The Fates could not let that happen, so they stepped in to restore the balance, which could only happen by uniting the three corners of the Triune before the darkness could sweep over the land and wipe us out.

  As time ticks by and our powers strengthen the darkness grows, spreading through the supernatural community, putting everyone’s lives in even greater danger. The time of the ultimate battle between good and evil is drawing closer and choices will have to be made. Choices that will forever change the world as we know it.

  How do I know this? It was foretold to me by my mother mere days before she was taken from us by the hunters. I mustn’t tell anyone of what I know, but I have to be the one to make the others see just who and what we are. What we are meant to do. They must be shown what our true destiny is.

  That is, if the hunters don’t find us first.

  Hunters equal death for my kind. They poison you with their blood, drain you of your power and end your life by crushing your soul. There is nothing to bring you back once that happens.

  The darkness is a powerful beast. Though, there is but one that can manipulate it and twist it to her will. I just have to find her before the hunters do.

  Hunters took my mother. They changed my life and it’s now my goal to end them all. With help from the two missing pieces of The Triune, we will be able to do just that.

  We can make our world safe again and push the darkness back into the depths for which it came.

  This is our destiny.

  This is what we were created to do.

  There will be no mercy.

  There will be no second chances.

  At the time when my parents met, it was love at first sight. My father was one of three brothers chosen to bring about the Triune. The three beings that would restore the balance of the supernatural world. No, these brothers were not triplets, they were not even from the same race.

  My father, Bartholomew Vincent, is a shifter. Birthed by the same mother as the two Vampire heirs to the throne. No, this does not mean my father, a Kodiak bear shifter, is also heir to the vampire throne. He, for a lack of better words, is an outsider to most. Undesirable and unclaimed by a large part of the vampire community aristocrats. He is not viewed as a son of the late queen, rather he was seen as nothing more than a tragic mistake, a bastard. A savage. Here, however, in the shifter community, he is Lord Bartholomew Vincent, Leader of the Alaskan Polti-Kodiak Sleuth.

  The waves of uncertainty that divided the men and woman under the crown sent ripples of despair through the masses. From my mother’s stories, old King William, my uncle’s predecessor, knew of the destiny that awaited his children. It had been prophesied by someone that would never lead him astray.

  As with any great leader, there are those that want to kill the lines off. But that is not the case for all. King William wanted to keep his line in tact. To continue the good that would come. His brother, however, had other plans of how the kingdom should be run and by whom it should be ruled.

  With the rebelliousness of some, King William did the only thing he could. He sent word to bring in a friend of old to him. A man, for whom he was allied and trusted. A shifter who had once been a trusted member of his wife Sophia’s guard while she stayed in the village across the veil.

  Alderon, son of Magnus the mighty, was a great warrior. One of strength, and honor. There was always a connect
ion between he and Sophia. The nights she spent in the village while William was out and about doing his duty, she would walk the lands around the village. Alderon would be right there, watching, making sure she was safe from any danger. A connection grew between the two. An intimacy. Both races would learn soon that not only had a connection grew, but a love blossomed.

  Of course, William knew this would happen. It was foretold in the prophecy. Nothing was said about the pregnancy being from anyone but her husband. No one knew any difference between the brothers until they were older.

  The first time Father shifted to his bear form things changed. It was then that my father was sent to live with Alderon’s family for training, and most of all, his safety. William never refuted the claim that he was the father, but his brother Gregor, he of course knew the truth.

  My father flourished in the lands of his biological father.

  Kodiak bears, the largest bears in existence next to the Polar bear, have roamed these lands for hundreds of thousands of years. It is here where he learned of his father’s lineage. Polti’s are an ancient race of shifter bears from the land of Faery. Across the veil they rule their lands as they do here. Sometimes, as they say, size matters. I laughed when my mother told me to remember, bigger was better.

  When you are larger than a polar bear and a kodiak combined, not many things can trifle with you. It was with his family that my father was able to develop himself into a warrior as great as his father had been before him. It was also here that he fell in love with a very special woman. A woman that was destined to bring him to his knees. And his heart to forever be hers.

  From their love and union I was created. Just another piece in the puzzle forming around them.

  With every piece of the prophecy that fell into place, Gregor became more and more determined to win the throne. He believed that he who rules with an iron fist ruled best. He tried to break everyone to the point that they just gave up. It was rumored that he thought he alone could end the prophecy. He believed that if he could stop it he would be able to remain in control and lead as he wished.

  It was a battle that had my father’s parent seeing the end to their lives. Uncle Trenton, prince and eldest son of King William, took his father’s place as the rightful heir to the throne, but even then Gregor refused to back down.

  When Uncle Trenton found his mate, once again things became shrouded in darkness. It was also then that my uncles and my father went on the run. They had to hide their mates. They had to hide their soon to be born children.

  They had to do everything in their power to protect the prophecy, protect the Triune.

  That was when the pieces, that had previously only been whispered about, began to lock into place. One by one they completed the puzzle, bringing about the events that led us to where we are now.

  Now we must race against time to save our father’s from the evil that has tarnished the throne. The evil that is poisoning our world and those in it.

  It will be a hard fight.

  It will be a fight some shall not walk away from, but it is a battle we must be there for.

  Without the power of the Triune, the three offspring of the magical trinity, the vampire realm shall be lost to darkness and all others will soon follow.

  1

  Sebastian

  “She is my only daughter, Sebastian. You would do well to remember that!”

  The boom of Bart’s voice along with his hand slamming against the wooden table before him showed his anger. His irises had begun to glow gold as his bear pushed forward. The power rolling off of him, the power only an alpha could wield, slammed into me like a ton of bricks and had me dropping to my knee, my head bowed.

  I had come to speak to him about Sonny, that was true. She was his only daughter, but she was also my mate. Did he think I wasn’t concerned about her as much as he? She was being pulled towards her cousins more and more with each new dream she had. Her gift of foresight, that gift her mother bestowed upon her, was strong and I knew my mate would not wait much longer. It was better to be prepared then for us to wake one morning to find that she had gone off alone. I’d be damned if I let that happen.

  We knew this day would come. Rosyln, her mother, had said as much. I did not normally disagree with my alpha, well, not much anyway, but on this I do. I have to for Sonnys’ and our cubs’ sakes.

  My sweet Sunshine had a destiny, one that was told to us many many moons ago. A destiny that was set into motion before she was even a spark of an idea between Bart and Roslyn.

  I didn’t want this to be her destiny, her future, but I had no way to alter the course she was on.

  As with us all, she had an integral role to play in this world. I would not keep her from that. A chain reaction of events you have no control over to start with is one thing but to mess with fate. No, thanks. I liked my pelt just where it lay.

  “I know, Alpha, I mean no disrespect.”

  I kept my head down, my voice going no further than the room we occupied. He must understand. It was my place to make sure that he did, even if I lost some of my hide to do it.

  “Rise, my boy. I mean no harm to you. I do not agree with this. Esmeralda has spoken to me many times since my Rosalyn was taken from us but, alas, I do not wish it to be true.”

  “There is not much to be done to change it. The three have to meet in order to set things right, as they should be. We must not tarry. I’m no happier than you, but I also know we can't stop this. She will go alone if need be. I can’t allow that, not with her in the delicate position she is.”

  “I know, I know. But, she is my only reminder of Roslyn. How can I chance losing her? I do not see why it has to be this way.”

  “Alpha, I’m no more a fan of this than you are. She is my mate. She is the mother of my unborn child. I promise I will do everything in my power to keep her and my cub safe. I will throw myself before the enemy's weapons in order to keep her alive. I will not allow them to be harmed.”

  I again bowed my head as he turned to face me.

  “I know, my boy, I know. For now, I wish for you to keep her here until I go to see for myself how bad things are. I must speak to Esmeralda… I shall only be gone a few days. Promise me, Sebastian. As my top warrior, my beta, my son-in-law, you will keep her here, keep her and the babe safe.”

  I knew this may not be as simple as he made it out to be. After a moment of thought, I nodded.

  “On my honor, I promise to do my best, Alpha.”

  He scowled at me, but slowly his shoulders slumped. He knew good and well I would do what I could but, again, it may not be as simple as a word.

  “Good man. Now, be off with you. I do not want her to see me leave, for it will only lead to a fight. I will send word as soon as I reach the village.”

  “Yes, Alpha,” I nodded before turning and walking from his cabin.

  I took in a deep breath of the fresh air and gathered my wits. It was so quiet today. I looked around. There was much to be done but, for now, I needed to check on my mate. My steps were sure as I made my way across the open yard of our village. I heard her before I saw her. I followed the sweet sound of her voice as it carried on the soft breeze. I slowed my steps and felt the smile pull at my lips. She sat on a blanket spread on the ground in front of the cabins with two of the clans youngest members in her lap.

  She looked so natural this way. Her lap full of young, her blonde hair sparkling in the sun. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against a tree, watching her. The book she was reading from was a favorite to them both. I had watched her read to them many times.

  When she saw me standing there her grin grew but she kept reading without pause. Warmth spread through me at being this close to her. When the last page was turned, both of the little ones had droopy eyes, so she closed the book and let it fall to the blanket before her. I moved to kneel before her and scooped them both up into my arms.

  “Come on, little ones, let’s get you to your cots.”

  “M
aryanna will be back in a bit. She is out gathering some herbs from the greenhouse for her stew.”

  “Ah, I see. I thought maybe these too little ones were just trying to steal you from me.”

  “They just might, you know I can’t turn down those little faces.”

  I chuckled softly as she shook her head at herself and we stepped up into Maryanna’s home.

  Maryanna was raising these two little ones on her own. Her mate Mikell, had been shot and killed by humans only a year ago. He had been in bear form when poachers came across him. By the time we got to him, it was too late. The humans had paid for taking one of our own and since then we had all reached out a helping hand to Maryanna. She was heartbroken but her cubs were the only thing she needed to keep herself here with us. She was fighting through the pain of her loss. A loss that would normally kill a mate.

  It is true, you can die of a broken heart.

  I’d seen it before.

  I moved out of the cabin once the little ones were settled and took a seat on the front steps. When Sonny came out she sat before me and leaned back. I rubbed her shoulders and felt her relax under my touch. I would sit with her until Maryanna came back, then I would escort her to our cabin and let her have a rest before I went about my duties of the day.