Page 142 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

I wasn’t losing another family member simply because he wanted to see how indestructible he was.

His way of dealing with Kiarra being gone was nothing more than an added distraction. One we didn’t need right now.

“Luka won’t let him go too far.” Another complication building like a silent storm. Luka wasn’t far off snapping himself, and with his shadow side gaining power, it only made things worse.

I rub the spot on my chest where our six threads rest, trying to ease the deep ache telling me something is wrong, that something is coming, and that we needed to be together. We need to find her soon, before it’s too late.

“Let’s go get him before he destroys any more of the city.”

CHAPTER 2

KIARRA

Love is something we all hope to feel at least once in our lives. It’s an emotion so vast, so vivid and bright, it can make your entire world feel brand new, brimming with possibilities and new adventures.

You notice more beauty around you because that’s how you feel.

It’s a feeling of being whole and complete, of finding those missing pieces you didn’t realize you needed.

We all fear the loss of that love, of the happiness and hope that comes along with it.

So, when it’s ripped from you, your entire world shifts and you’re left with nothing but darkness.

A haze drifts over you, making you feel heavy as you try to push through the sludge that is your every waking moment.

Days grow longer and nights become never ending, and that fullness that you once felt becomes so empty, so hollow, you start to wonder if it was ever there to begin with.

Or if it was all just a dream.

Was any of it real? Or did my fractured mind make up a fairy tale to help me push through King’s endless torture?

Kai. Jax. Luka. Rion. Axel.

Each of their faces flash before me, something deep inside me telling me it was real, that every moment I spent with them couldn’t have been faked.

But that also meant their last moment was real, too.

They didn’t deserve this. They didn’t deserve their lives ripped from them, all because of me. I should have been the one to pay that price. Not them.

Never them.

How was I supposed to move on from this? From them?

A little voice in my head and heart told me,you don’t.

My life was tethered to theirs the day they walked into it and stayed that way until they found me once more.

With my ability, there was no way out, not until I grew old and left this world to join them. If that was even an option.

I can’t feel anything, my mind the only thing aware right now, which is something I’m grateful for.

I know that if I wake up, the pain from their loss would be felt in every inch of my body. And so I welcome the darkness and numbness that comes along with it, craving the silence it brings me.

My mind has already been awake for too long now. I know it’s only time before the darkness pulls me back under.

I wait and wait, but it never comes. My mind slowly becoming more alert as each moment passes. And instead of succumbing to the void, my body also starts to wake.

Cold is the first sensation to hit my body. It wraps around me, dulling everything else while also making me feel heavy and weak.

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