Page 157 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

“Haven’t you’ve already gotten what you wanted?” If he no longer needed me, then what was all this for? Was six years of torture not enough for him?

The first blade of pain slashes across my body, making my thoughts curl into it. It stretches out to every nerve, making the pain feel endless.

King’s cold smile appears before me just as dark spots cloud my vision.

“Oh, my dear, I’m only getting started.”

CHAPTER 5

KAI

Cillian Shows up and strolls into our building like he hasn’t a care in the world and isn’t worried about the fact that he’s willingly walking into a den of five extremely volatile alphas. All who fucking despise him.

He shouldn’t have come here. Not now when we’re all trying to hang on to our sanity and caring less and less about our moral compass, the longer Kiarra is gone. Not when we’re itching for bloodshed and someone to punish.

If it were up to me, I’d take him down to our underground basement, the one we purposely built for those we need to… question further… and show him exactly how little I care about who or what family he comes from.

I’d rather lose the alliance of the wolves than have that piece of shit think he has even the slightest bit of control over us.

If it weren’t for Luka, he’d already be dead.

I can only see small similarities between him and the boys. His height is similar to Luka’s, and his slick black hair a close shade to Jax’s. But he has neither their warmth or care, nor any part of the heart both boys wear like a sleeve.

To anyone else, he could be seen as someone who takes care of their appearance, his tailored suit and build making it look like he had everything figured out. But I see him for what he really is.

A demented monster who preys on the innocent and spreads lies to get others to follow him.

My eyes follow him on the security cameras as he makes his way through security to the elevator and up the nine floors to our main base of operations.

The building was originally a large office. With its location in the center of Manhattan, we figured it would make a good base and have been converting it to our needs since.

With ten floors, we started with the penthouse, making it into five spacious bedrooms with a large communal kitchen and lounge area. The security and operations floor sits below it, along with a gym and a weapons and training room. Apart from the main underground and one other floor with spare bedrooms, the rest are still a work in progress.

Moving down the hall and into the meeting room, I glance around at the guys, seeing how much the last few days have taken its toll on them. How each of them has become more broken the more time that passes, and the longer Kiarra stays missing.

Draven better have something for me, or the boys are about to go on a rampage.

“He’s here,” I tell them.

The atmosphere in the room takes a swift turn as rage slices through it.

“I still vote we string him up and use him as target practice,” Axel says, earning a smirk from Jax.

Luka frowns, his quiet expression etched on his face. He’s starting to withdraw into himself. The same way we found him when we reunited after losing Kiarra. After he and Jax had suffered at the clutches of their sick and twisted family.

While Jax wears his demons like a second skin, Luka keeps them hidden in the dark. We’ll all have to keep a close eye on him. I’ll make sure Jax keeps me updated.

What they both went through—all because we were too lost in ourselves to reach out—will haunt me forever.

The knowledge that we left Kiarra in a similar situation hits me like a steel bar in the chest. Except she was left there for six years. Six years locked away with King and his brand of torture and pain.

I clench my fists. King will have his day soon enough. And when I get my hands on him, I’ll make sure to reciprocate the same torture he’s shown Kiarra, but tenfold, before I rip out his blackened heart.

The elevator pings, alerting us to Cillian’s arrival, shaking me out of my thoughts to focus on the task at hand.

“Well, where’s the beast?” Cillian walks up to the long table, a dismissive look on his face.

I watch Luka avoid eye contact with him and hunch his shoulders. Even now, that dick has a hold over him. Rion and Axel notice it too. Axel walks up to Luka, placing himself between him and Cillian.

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