Page 125 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

King’s guards soundlessly surround us from every angle.

“Thank you for falling so willingly into my plan.”

Kai pushes me behind him, as the others form a protective circle around me. I know I’m not some big ass shifter, but technically I’m the only one here who can’t die.

Even if it does hurt like a bitch.

I push my way through Kai and Rion, ignoring their snarling glares before they aim them at King.

A dark shadow shifts over Kai’s body just as his eyes flash red. “What the hell are you talking about?”

King smirks at the volatile hound of hell. “You’ve bonded. I can taste the fresh magic from here.”

“You knew we were mates?” I ask.

“Of course, I did.” A conceited smirk flashes across his face.

“What the fuck!” Jax narrows his eyes on him, his body trembling with rage.

He knew all this time? Then the so-called agreement was nothing but a trick. But for what? What could he gain from this?

King’s laugh is full of cruel delight. “I know everything that goes on in my city, especially about this particular whore of yours.”

Once the word leaves his mouth, Axel and Jax try to rush out. I catch them by the arm, pleading them to stay.

“Please, don’t.”

They don’t know how powerful King is. And with the powerful warlocks and shifters behind him, he will destroy them in minutes. We need to stick together. At least then we might stand a chance.

“He calls you that one more fucking time, and he’s dead,” Jax spits out, seething.

“They’re only meaningless words, they can’t hurt me.”

“No, but they’ll fucking hurt when I make him choke on them,” Axel says. His body vibrates with fury as his dragon comes to the surface.

I squeeze Axel’s hand, giving him a soft smile. He squeezes back, still focused on the psycho in front of us.

“What do you want from us?” Rion asks, his basilisk slithering just under his skin.

King lets out a humourless laugh. “You?! You’ve already done exactly as I expected. I no longer require your services or your farce of an agreement. My stepdaughter, on the other hand, will be coming with me.”

“Over our dead bodies.” Jax snarls, more beast than man, as his familiar blue flame lights up his irises.

The guys try pushing me between them again, but with the glare I give them, they stop.

“I was hoping you’d say that.” King nods to one of his guards as they begin to shift in seconds.

“Fuck,” Luka whispers, watching as powerful shifters show their true form. Wolves, bears, tigers and fucking jaguars, all charge forward, ready to strike. Warlocks line up outside them, creating another boundary to block us in.

The guys waste no time shifting into their beasts.

“Stay with her and protect her with your fucking life,” Kai says to Axel before grabbing me and pulling me into his warm body. Slamming his lips to mine, I taste death and danger. Savouring every brush and lick of flames as they spread through my body, lighting up my core. I clutch fistfuls of his shirt, not wanting to let go. We break apart, still breathless, our eyes making each other a promise.

We will make it through this and have many more moments like this.

With one last look, he turns and shifts into his hound of hell, doubling in size as the shadows and darkness cover his body, moulding it into hellfire and ash.

He rips apart a tiger before making his way to the line of bear shifters aiming an attack at my shadow wolves.

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