Page 341 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

Glancing back at the guys and their confused expressions makes me believe that maybe they feel it too.

I open my mouth to ask them when a beam of light flashes through the small room, blinding us all just as the room falls away.

CHAPTER 12

Light flickers behind my eyes as I open them to find myself in a cave with thick metal bars glinting back at me. Still feeling the after effects of our group…activities, I glance down and find myself fully clothed.

One less thing I have to worry about.

“Kiarra?”

Whipping around, I find Luka heading straight for me. He wraps me in a hug as I breathe a sense of relief at seeing him here. Pulling back, I glance over his shoulder, finding nothing but a dark empty cave, the light that filters in from the bars not reaching it.

“Where are the others?”

“I don’t know. The cave doesn’t go all the way back; there’s a wall. I woke up right beside it.” I glance over Luka’s shoulder to try to find the wall, but it’s so dark I can only see a few feet in, the shadows consuming the rest of it.

Luka glances around, his gaze finding the open bars. “Let’s figure out where we are and then we can go look for them.”

We move toward the bars, finding no lock or any way to open them. It’s as if they’ve grown from the cave wall itself.

Luka reaches out and touches them. Hissing, he quickly pulls his hand back.

“Are you okay?” I pull his hand to mine seeing a line of raw skin starting to blister.

“I’m fine.”

It begins to heal within a couple of seconds, making me breathe a sigh of relief.

Luka inspects his hand as it heals but my eye catches on a glint from his bracelet. I look closer and watch as one bead flickers and dims right before my eyes.

“Your bead, Luka. It looks like it’s… draining.”

Luka frowns, glancing between the metal bars and his hand.

“You think it might be from touching the bars?”

“There’s always a catch.” Luka scrubs a hand down his face.

Or another part of this twisted game Ivor came up with. “What was the point in charging them if we can’t use them?”

“They must have something else planned for us. Let’s just stay away from them for now until we figure out what’s going on.”

Something that looks like it’s going to take time, time we didn’t have.

My thoughts turn to Jazmyn and the others, hoping they’re okay. “Soren said time was different down here, do you think...”

“Don’t worry. It might feel like we’ve been here a while, but it’s probably only been a few minutes or a couple of days in our world. We have time.”

I nod my head, the knot in my stomach slightly untwisting.

“Are you… okay?” The hesitance in Luka’s voice makes me look up at him. He shuffles, looking unsure of himself. Clearing his throat he looks down at his hand, now nearly fully healed. “You know… after what we… did?”

The tilt in my lips grows into a smile. “Out of all the things down here, that is definitely something I don’t want to forget. I’m also expecting a repeat performance when we’re not under constant threat of demons and assholes playing games.”

Luka chuckles, pulling me into him and kissing my forehead. “I’m sure none of your mates would refuse you.”

“Including you?”

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