Page 160 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

“No one is killing him,” Luka says, glancing out the window as Cillian staggers out of the building and into his waiting car.

“That’s not your choice to make,” I tell him. We’re a family. Each of us looks out for one another. Even if one of us is too hurt or blind to see what they need.

Luka whips around, his eyes bleeding darkness. “And it’s yours?”

The fight leaves me when I see the pain and sadness in Luka. The darkness he tries so hard to push away instead of accepting.

“He was always going to pay for what he did.”

Luka chuckles without a speck of humor in his voice, raising his brows. “And I don’t get a say in any of this?”

Luka looks at each one of us. We stay quiet, our decision made. His eyes land on his twin. Jax looks back at his brother, a silent conversation happening between them both. Luka’s chest rises and falls quicker the longer Jax stares. Luka unravels, frustration etched across his face. He’s so full of conflicted emotion, it makes me want to go after Cillian right now.

Luka silently stares at us all before leaving the room without a backward glance.

Jax sighs. “I’ll go check on him.” He follows him, a somber look full of exhaustion on his face.

“When you decide it’s time to go after him, I want in,” Axel says, coming over to me.

I nod, agreeing. Everyone would get their shot at Cillian when the time came. But it would be only right for Jax and Luka to deliver the final blow and finish him off.

Rion walks up beside me and Axel.

“What did you figure out?” I ask Rion.

Rion shakes his head. “Nothing should be able to get out from the depths of the Underworld. If he’s right, and it was from The Pits, then more will come.”

“Then we’d better find our mate, and soon.”

* * *

“How is he?”I ask Jax, just as we make our way toward the car.

Axel and Rion are already there, ready to head to Staten Island to meet with Draven.

Jax shrugs, looking away. “He’s strong, but… ever since he found out what Kiarra was going through and how… similar it was to our past, he’s started to slowly to pull back again. He still thinks what he is, is wrong. That he’s too broken to be fixed.” Jax shakes his head looking away. “I can’t lose him.”

I grab his shoulder. “You won’t. We’re here, and as soon as we have Kiarra back, we’ll make sure he never forgets that.”

“Keep us updated and only contact through the link. I don’t want any of King’s people overhearing us because we got lazy and used a cell phone.” I give him a look.

Jax rolls his eyes. “Kai—”

“If any of those creatures show up, don’t try anything stupid,” I warn.

“We can’t die—” Jax starts, but I cut him a look.

“You don’t know that.”

Jax rolls his eyes at me. “Go. We’ve got this. We’ll contact if anything fun to play with shows up.” He smirks.

Shaking my head, I move toward the car. Rion and Axel get in after me.

“They’ll be fine,” Rion tells me, giving me a look.

I didn’t like us splitting up, but we also held the position of Alphas of the city. We needed to protect those within our city walls. Leaving this place unguarded when old demons from the Underworld are showing up wouldn’t look good.

Kiarra comes first, always. We just need to spread ourselves a bit more to make sure she had a home to come back to. One she would rule alongside us.

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