Page 165 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

“How’s everything there with you two?” Kai asks.

“Good. Quiet,” Jax tells him.

“At least there’s that. It looks like they need our help with the demons. They’re more… volatile than they expected, but we seem to be able to deal with them.”

“This isn’t what we came here for,” Axel grits out, his dragon pushing forward, his voice growing deep. “Kiarra needs to be the priority.”

Kai narrows his eyes on him. “She’s always been the priority.”

“Then we should hunt down Draven and get him to tell us what he knows.” Axel seethes.

“He obviously needs our help, and in exchange, we’ll

get the information we need,” Kai says, his patience starting to waver.

“He could be lying to us,” Axel tells him.

“That’s a risk we’ll have to take. For now.” Kai gives him a pointed look.

“We should burn them all. Make him tell us.” Jax narrows his eyes, the hard set to his jaw telling me he meant it, too.

“I’m down for some destruction.” Axel nods to Jax. Kai sighs just as Rion speaks up. “We can’t kill them—” “Actu—” Jax starts, but one look from Rion stops him.

“I know we have the abilities to take them on, but in the end, it will get us nowhere. Draven knows something. We could use this alliance,” Kai tells them.

Fighting starts up, and they hurl insults at one another. Kai closes his eyes, his head tilted up at the ceiling. Jax and Axel go at it with Rion and Luka… but Luka looks so lost I want to just wrap my arms around him and take away all the pain and torture etched across his face.

My boys. My mates. This isn’t how I wanted to see them. Lost. Broken and arguing among each other. They’re a family. My family. One I so desperately want to reach out to touch.

I want to comfort them, but instead I have to watch on while they suffer.

“Damn it!” I shout out, knowing they can’t hear me.

“Why did you have to come after me?” They could’ve gone back to Manhattan and been safe… alive.

“Why did you have to die?” My heart squeezes inside my chest. A tight grip yanks at it, threatening to pull it right out.

I rub at my chest, wanting it to happen. For someone to rip it out and along with it, the pain it carries.

“Please…” I beg. Even if this is a dream. Some cruel, beautiful dream. I beg someone to help them.

I squeeze my eyes shut, letting the tears run freely down my face.

Moments later, silence surrounds me. It makes me think I’ve gone back to the darkness, but light seeps in from behind my closed eyelids, telling me differently.

Blinking away my tears, I open them to look at the guys.

They’ve stopped fighting. In fact, they’re not even moving, just all looking at Luka. He takes a step out from the shadows, looking straight at me—or at least in my direction—a shocked expression on his beautiful face.

“What did you say?” Kai asks him with as much patience as he has right now.

“She… she’s here,” Luka tells them, swallowing hard.

“How?” Jax asks.

“Where?” Axel glances around.

Kai whips around to Rion. “Is the connection secured?”

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