Page 334 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

“No one is touching you,” Kai growls as Jax rolls his eyes at him.

“No one would fucking try.”

Luka nods, agreeing with his brother. “I’d rather break off my own arm and kill myself with it than lay a finger on you.”

“Even I agree with them. You’re sitting this one out, Siren.” Rion places a kiss on my head before heading over to one side of the room with Luka.

I glare at them all, making them chuckle. But I relent, letting them have this one. I know even with my basic skills; I can’t take them. At least not without my powers.

Axel and Jax both wear matching savage smiles as they size each other up, moving over to the other side of the room. Jax slightly crouches as he eyes up Axel with murderous glee. “Don’t hold back, brother.”

Axel’s smirk grows as he slightly dips his head. “Ditto.”

Kai moves to stand in front of me as we stand in the middle of them, watching both. I raise a brow, giving him a look. “Those two like to make a mess. I’m sure you don’t want to become part of it.”

I roll my eyes at him, doubting either of them would accidentally hurt me, but I knew my answer would fall on deaf ears. Especially with him in overprotective alpha mode.

The room shakes at the force of the slam as Axel and Jax collide. Kai gives me a look as if to say, ‘I told you so’.

I shake my head and glance over at Rion and Luka, their moves more calculated. Rion moves in silently to attack Luka’s left, but Luka swiftly moves out of his way avoiding it. Rion advances immediately, striking him from the right side, with Luka missing it by inches.

They go back and forth attacking and advancing until both groups are sweating. I watch the room grow another couple of inches smaller just as Axel gets the upper hand.

While Jax is distracted glancing over at me, Axel lands a hard punch to his face. I wince at the impact as Jax goes down. I go to move to him when I hear a low chuckle as he spits out blood. “Fucker.”

Jax frowns as he feels his lip. “It’s healing. Guess they didn’t block everything.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. At least there’s that.

Axel rolls his shoulders back, a smile on his face as he helps Jax up. They come over to us to watch Rion and Luka.

Jax frowns. “I thought my wolf was gone, but as soon as I started fighting, I could feel him. It’s like he’s… caged. Pissed, but caged.”

“Same.” Axel nods as he watches Rion’s movements with interest, his strikes against Luka now coming from every angle.

Seconds later, Rion takes Luka down. He catches him from behind, holding him in a chokehold before bringing him to the brink of unconsciousness. Just before he passes out, he releases him.

“Well? What’s the verdict?”

We move closer and take a look at the beads on the bracelet. Not even a shimmer of a glow is on any of them.

Jax scrubs a hand down his face. “Well, that was a colossal waste of time.”

“I wouldn’t say it was a complete waste of time.” Axel smirks at him. Jax punches him in the shoulder. “I’ll get you back, fucker.”

“Anytime.”

“Why didn’t they even light up a little?” Jax shakes his bracelet like it’s a fucking glow stick that’s broken.

“Because none of us truly wants to hurt the other,” Rion tells us.

“Any other ideas?” Axel asks, turning to kick the end of the bed and breaking it.

Kai shakes his head but stops, whipping his head to me. His eyes widen slightly as if he just realized something. Before I get the chance to ask him what it is, he moves closer to me with a roguish glint in his eyes.

“Do you trust me?”

I nod. “Of course.”

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