Page 59 of Blood and Reign

“Kiarra I’m—

I place my finger on his lips, stopping him. “Don’t even think about apologizing. That was fucking amazing and an added bonus? Our beads are charged again.” I lift my wrist, showing him the beads are all now fully charged and glowing.

Luka chuckles, kissing my fingers before I pull them away.

His smile falls as he glances down at his bracelet. “I thought I was learning to trust him, and vice versa. But when I couldn’t push him back…”

“You got scared he wouldn’t let you out?”

“I never thought he could actually do it. It was always just a possibility.” Luka’s eyes grow wide.

“But the fucker locked me in. He’s never been able to do that before.”

I glance around the cave. “I think it’s something to do with being down here. The energy is different. He told me he was trapped.”

Luka slowly nods before frowning. “I can still hear him, even when I can’t shift… even now. But this place weakens it, somehow making it feel like he’s barely there, like he’s far away. Once we passed the bars, he rose up and nearly took over then and there, but once we saw the demons, we worked together.”

Luka sighs, pulling me closer. “Then when we were going back, he caught me off guard and pushed hard. By the time the bars locked, he was in charge, and I was pushed back.”

I trail my fingers down his chest. “Is he talking to you now? Did he say anything about why he took over now when he hasn’t before?”

Luka mumbles something that I can’t make out.

“What?”

Luka clears his throat, his cheeks turning a slight red. “He’s pissed that he never got a turn when we had our group thing.”

I bit my lip, fighting my smile. “I don’t think he’d ever do anything to hurt us or… you. He was just feeling a bit left out. He is also my mate.”

Luka smiles, shaking his head. “True.”

Dark spots mark my vision, and the cave tilts and spins around me. “Not again.”

Luka calls out, but he sounds far away.

Everything around me turns black once more as the cave disappears.

CHAPTER 13

AXEL

A coupleof hours have passed since I was ripped from my mate and placed in a shitty cave with bars that fucking zap you if you touch them.

I’m losing my damn mind not knowing if Kiarra and the others are alright. I look over at Jax trying to make a dent in the wall beside us, but every time he gets deep enough, it just fixes itself. I gave up after trying a couple of times with no luck, whereas the stubborn fuck just thinks he needs to be quick enough before whatever spell sets in and fixes it.

“What is the fucking point in this?” I glance down at my wrist, the glow from the beaded bracelet fucking mocking me.

“We charged the beads.” And loved every fucking minute of it. I wouldn’t mind a round two, three, and then some.

Jax walks over to me, hopefully done with his pointless digging. I take a seat on the dirty cave floor and glance through the bars, looking out at what looks like one of those large gladiator pits for fighting. Maybe that’s why they have us here.

Jax seems to think the same as me as he takes a seat across from me. “Maybe they’re going to make us fight?”

Good. I need something to burn off this energy. My dragon is pissed as hell that we can’t shift, the shitty cave blocking it just like the room.

I can barely talk to him, his thoughts further away instead of sitting right there beside me.

I can’t hear him all the time, and I fuckinghateit.

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