Page 155 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

I’m in a room, but it’s dim, the light above me nearly completely off.

My head is heavy, like it’s full of lead. I lift it slightly, getting no further than a couple of inches. There’s a large strap around my chest stopping me, but it’s enough to see down my body.

My clothes are changed. I’m no longer in my jeans and top but a white t-shirt and leggings. I’m lying on a metal table with metal cuffs wrapped around my wrist and ankles and a larger metal band around my waist.

There are wires leading straight from the band up to the wall beside me, where I can make out some type of rectangular metal machine. Buttons and switches run along it, but it’s too dark to decipher what they’re for.

I try to pull my wrists out of the metal bands, but it’s no use. They’re too tight, leaving no space to move. I try the same with my legs and body but have the same problem.

Squinting, I look around the room. The wall with the machine is on my right and only an arm’s length away, but to the left of me is complete darkness. I can’t see how far back it goes. The door in front of me is close enough to see. It has long metal bars, making me think I’m in some sort of cell instead of a room.

I lay my head back down and look up at the white ceiling. There’s a small dark crack that runs along the middle of it. I stare at the crack until it’s all I can see.

The silence stretches out around me, suffocating me. I stare at the crack, at its darkened shades and long open gap until it’s all I see. The longer I stare, the more it starts to feel like it’s a part of me. The part of me that’s being spilt open in two.

I once thought that King had come close to breaking me, that he had tortured me for too long and taken pieces that I couldn’t put back.

But I never truly understood what breaking meant. Not if the pain inside me now was anything to go by.

I don’t feel…wholeanymore, but I don’t want to be either. I don’t want to be anything.

I just want to give up. To drift away and cease to exist. To not feel this kind of torment inside me anymore.

What’s the point now that they’re gone? Why try to stay and fight?

They were my fated mates. A bond not many people come across or even get the chance to experience once in their lifetime.

The bond was there from the very beginning, since the first time we met, and I knew it, we all did. We had something special, something worth fighting for.

But that’s gone now, and I’m too tired to continue the fight.

Just give it time.Isn’t that what people say?

Give it time to heal, time to move on. But time can be endless when there’s no hope or future to look forward to.

Time can be the enemy when all you want it to do is stop. To rewind and start again, start afresh.

I’m aching all over, but I know it’s not a true physical injury or sickness of any kind. I know it because the pain feels so much deeper than anything I’ve ever felt before. Like the inside of my bones and muscles are bruised and broken. My chest is heavy and tight, making it hard to take in a full deep breath, and there’s a hole carved into the place where my heart sits.

The pulling sensation continues, draining me further.

Tired. I am so tired. It won’t be long before I’m pulled under by sleep once again.

I sense a presence in the room before I see it. To my left in the darkness, I catch a glint of white.

I squint my eyes just as two white, floating orbs move toward me. The shape of a tall figure comes into view before it steps closer, revealing its identity.

King.

But not the same King I’ve known. His eyes are completely white, his face and jaw sharper, more pointed. Shadows move across his face as he stares down at me, his white eyes void of emotion.

“I can taste your pain.” King closes his eyes and tilts his head upward. Opening his mouth, he sucks in air, his mouth widening unnaturally as he does. An icy chill slides down my back just as the pulling sensation grows again.

“It’s… exquisite, and much stronger since you’ve bonded.”

I knew there was something not right about King and that when he finally revealed what type of supe he was, it wouldn’t be anything nice. But this…form… was not something I ever expected nor understood.

“What are you?”

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