Page 184 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

With just the thought, they all freeze. Glancing around, they talk to one another. It’s still too muddled to hear. They start searching around, looking for something.

Luka is the only one not moving around. Instead, he’s focusing on the spot where I stand.

Moving slowly, he walks toward me, each step making my heartbeat that much faster.

Just before he reaches me, he stops. His hand reaching out but going right through me. Closing his eyes, he brings his hand to his chest.

I mirror him, closing my own eyes and placing my hand on my heart. Imagining the five strands that once used to sit there.

I remember the feeling when we bonded. The lightness and pure joy that filled me up. I wish I could feel it once more.

“Kiarra?” Luka’s tentative voice is clear as day.

I open my eyes and find Luka looking right at me, searching my face. But… how?

“Focus on us. On the bond and will yourself to us,” Luka says, but I don’t understand.

He reaches a hand up as if to touch my face, but lets it hover right in front of it. “You’re not fully here yet. Push yourself onto this plane. Please.”Plane?

I glance around the silent room. The guys all stare in my direction.

“Kiarra? Please. Try. Feel the connection right here”— he thumps his chest— “and let it guide you to us.” “But you’re not real,” I tell him.

Luka gives me a sad look. “We’re here. This isn’t a dream, and we’ll be back together soon; but right now, I need you to focus.”

I shake my head, stepping back just as Luka reaches out to grab me. His hand goes straight through me as a panicked look overtakes his face.

Holding his hands up, I see a tremor work through them, but his focus remains on me.

“Kiarra. Please.Please. Just try. Even if you think it’s not real, just try. Please.”

Something in my chest tightens, watching the devastation grow across his face. And even though this is just a dream, I’d give anything to take away that away.

Reaching inward, I imagine the bond once more. Of the different colors and feelings each evokes inside me.

Once I have them together, wrapped around my own strand, I reach out and grab them, pulling them closer to me.

A lightness encases my chest, spreading outward.

I stumble a step as the ground moves beneath me. My hands reach out to catch myself, but instead, someone catches me.

CHAPTER 12

KIARRA

“Is she…”

Opening my eyes, I find Luka holding me up, his warm hands seeping through the cold that has laced my body in shock.

How can I feel him? He feels…real.

But he can’t be. None of this can.

Luka helps me up. His eyes are sad, but with more hope and light than before. I go to pull back, to give myself some space from the storm of overwhelming emotions brewing inside me, but he won’t let me. His hold gets tighter.

“You’re safe.” He breathes, his grip not letting up, but neither does it hurt.

I shake my head, wanting to pull away, remembering the pain from their deaths all over again, knowing this will hurt too much when I wake up.

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