Page 152 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

“We have no choice. He knows something. The quicker he tells us, the quicker he can leave, then we can focus on

Kiarra.”

“I don’t like this.”

“Noted. But it doesn’t change the fact that it’s still going ahead.”

I glance around at the dead shifters, eyeing any that might have survived for round two, but none of the idiots are alive, leaving me to stir in my irritation.

“I’ll grab a sample of the beast.” Luka heads over and looks for a piece of the demon to bring back. He takes off his jacket and wraps it around the blackened chunk of meat before heading back to me.

“Let’s head back to contact the others and update them.

Hopefully, they had better luck than us.” Here’s hoping.

Kiarra… Where thefuckare you?

* * *

Back at the penthouse apartment,we find a comfortable spot and close our eyes. Focusing on the guys and the separate bond we have as brothers; I push myself into the link. A place where our bodies and minds can subconsciously travel to and communicate in. More than communicate.

The link is a room we created and built on a bond none of us realized we had until Kiarra left.

After she was taken six years ago, we fell apart. In more ways than one. We didn’t realize at the time she was our mate, but looking back now, it made sense. Not having her around anymore destroyed us.

Our so-called families saw this and tried to widen the gap between us further by keeping us apart. We were no longer a family, just a group of lost boys who were too broken to fix.

We were all going through our own types of hell, nearly giving into the dark when we all showed up inside the link one day.

We were shocked as hell, thinking we had teleported somehow. The room we were in felt as real as any other. The furniture and floor all as solid as the actual things.

Over the years, we’ve tested out just how real it is and have used it to our advantage when training. Although a slice of a blade feels just as real inside the link, once we leave, it’s as if it never happened and disappears.

The room can be malleable but takes a while to create and secure so other supes can’t listen in or overhear us. We could be overthinking it, but Rion thought it might be a possibility.

The link isn’t something that any other shifters can normally do either, though none of us are normal by any means, but nothing we’ve found out about it over the years leads us to believe there’s anyone else out there with the same ability.

My body forms in the new room. The large white sofa set and wide-open spaces is a mirror image of the lounge in the penthouse. The kitchen has a long marble island table surrounded with gray chairs.

A nice change from the dingy room we somehow conjured up as kids.

After being restricted by King’s spells in the Cardinal Three, it feels like coming home. Rion would never have let us test its limits while King was near, should he or someone find out. Though we didn’t really need it with all of us being together.

The room is set up to sense when one of us arrives, so I know it won’t be long before the others show up. They’ll also be waiting for an update.

Luka appears beside me, looking carefree and relaxed, but I know it’s an act. Talking to Cillian has dragged up old scars we both want to keep buried. I know I’ll have to keep a closer eye on him and his wolf for the next while.

Kai arrives with Axel and Rion. All wearing somber expressions.

“Anything?” I ask, but he shakes his head.

Damn.

Kai releases a sigh, looking a lot older than he is at this moment. The stress of everything weighs heavily on us, but more so on him, since he thinks it’s his fault that Kiarra is missing.

The simple idiot that he is should know that we all fucked up. We all should have tried harder to stop her somehow.

We need to stay positive, even if I feel anything but.

---