Page 112 of Blood and Reign

Silence drags on as they all stare at me as if I’ll disappear any second. Soren and Rielle walk into the room making them swing their gazes to them. But most of their focus is on Rielle.

Jax glances at me before looking back at her, his frown growing the longer he stares. “It’s weird…right?”

“You can say that again,” Axel mumbles, staring at her.

Jax opens his mouth, but Axel cuts him a glare. “Don’tsay it again.”

Jax rolls his eyes at him before glaring at Rielle. “Whatever. No matter who she looks like, we can’t trust her.”

Axel nods, easily agreeing with him. “She’sthe one who placed us in those trials.”

Everything inside me freezes and stops as I whip my head toward Rielle. “You’rethe one who created the trials?” The one who put us through misery andmoresuffering.

Like she can see the pain and anger written across my face, she gives me a sad look. One that’s full of pity.

And I fucking hate it.

“The core did most of the work, but yes, I manipulated it to help you all.”

“Helpus?” I give her an incredulous look. “How does mental torture and fighting off demonshelpus?”

Rielle frowns. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. I’m even sorrier you all had to live through what you did. But it was the best I could do with the time we had. In order to strengthen your bond, you had to let go of your doubts and fears.”

Kai leans forward, a hard-set to his jaw. “There was nothing wrong with our bond to begin with.”

Rielle’s shoulders drop with a sigh, a pained expression in her eyes as she looks at us. “Not in the normal sense no, but as individuals, you were holding a piece of yourselves back because you were unable to move past those doubts and fears. You all went through something traumatic that inflicted a wound so deep it marked each of your souls.”

The room grows silent as Rielle’s words hit us hard. I watch each of the guys as a range of emotions flicker across their faces.

Were we really holding back because of our pasts? I didn’t feel like we were, not after all the progress we’ve made. But we all went through some messed up shit. Maybe it affected us more than we thought.

“Are you… okay?” I glance around at each one of them, catching a couple of winces and pissed off looks. Mostly thrown in Soren’s and Rielle’s direction.

Jax sighs, scrubbing a hand down his face. “No, I’m not okay.”

Everyone turns to Jax, as if waiting for the snappy comeback or joke but there is none, his face drenched in sadness as he looks at me. “You fuckingdied. You stopped breathing and you wouldn’t heal...”

He shakes his head, sighing. “It was one of my worst fucking nightmares and it came true. Ineverwant to live through something like that again.”

I reach out and grab his hand. He holds onto it like a lifeline, squeezing it tight. I watch the guys as they share the same devastated look full of agony.

“None of us do,” Kai whispers, his grip on me tightening as he dips his head and places a kiss on my shoulder.

I open my mouth to apologize but Luka shakes his head stopping me. “We love you, Kiarra. More than anything. And without you, none of us exist. None of us want to. We know you’re strong, powerful, but by taking care of yourself you’ll be taking care of us too.”

I swallow past the unshed tears threatening to fall at their confessions as they rip my heart open while also mending it anew.

Before I say something cringy or sappy, I nod agreeing with them. “Once you all do the same.” I once thought they were all dead and it was worse than hell. I’d never want to put them through that, not if I could stop it.

“Deal.” Rion smiles as the others nod in agreement.

A sense of relief fills the air as everyone starts to relax.

Jax slaps Luka on the back. “Also, we’re actually triplets now.”

I glance between them. “What?”

The guys chuckle, already in on the joke as I frown at them, trying to figure it out. Luka bumps my shoulder. “Let’s just say my wolf and I have finally come to terms with how to get along with each other.”

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