Page 206 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

Shots and screams sound out in the hall, then it all turns quiet.

Seconds later, the shadow beast stalks in, interrupting the question on my lips, blood dripping from its mouth. It glances at Malik and then at me, as if asking if he also needs to be dealt with.

I shake my head, narrowing my eyes on the second alarm now shrieking around us.

“Let’s go.” I put out my hand for Malik.

He stares at it a moment before grabbing it and pulling himself up, letting go immediately.

We move quickly, making our way out of Malik’s room and into the hall. Red paints the walls with blood, with the bodies of the guards on the floor beside it.

I glance at the beast, but it just narrows its eyes on me as if to say,“You're welcome.”

Shaking my head, we move through the halls, over the discarded bodies of the guards, and out through the door at the end of the hall.

The door opens out to a plain white hallway that leads in both directions.

“Any ideas?” I ask Malik.

“Usually, when they take me out of my room, they’ve knocked me out or I’m in my demon form. I don’t remember much of either. So, no.”

I go with my gut, taking a right. Malik follows, not questioning my decision, while the beast slides in and out of the shadows along the way.

The hall seems to go on forever. I’m about to turn back and try the other way when I spot a door in the corner.

Heading over to it, I put my ear to it, hearing no sound. Giving the handle a shake, I find it’s not locked.

I glance back at Malik, giving him a look to be quiet. He answers by raising a brow.

Edging the door open, I find a staircase leading upwards.

“You said we were on the bottom level?” I ask Malik. He walks around me, looking up the stairway.

“That’s what I was told, repeatedly. That it would be the grave I would die in.”

I shake my head. The more Malik told me, the more my blood boiled. I seize the fury racing through me and trap it inside me, ready to use when I meet King once again.

We move as quick as we can up the stairway, finding another door at the end. Opening it, we find a hall with wide windows looking out onto a large forest. I squint against the sun, my eyes not used to it after being in the dark for so long.

A spark of hope spears through me as we get one step closer to our freedom.

“Let’s find the nearest exit and get the hell out of here.” Malik grunts in agreement while keeping his eyes out. We move along the halls as quick as we can. It seems to be more active on this level, with sounds coming from all around us.

I tell the beast to go check it out but stay in the shadows. He disappears just as heavy boots alert us to guards coming our way. Not knowing how many there are, we find an open door and hide in it until they pass.

“Well, what have we got here?”

CHAPTER 16

KAI

This is the last place any of us wanted to be, but it’s a necessary evil. If we can get rid of the block on opening portals on the location Draven and Jazmyn found, we might also be able to locate Kiarra quicker.

The sooner I have her in my arms, the better. I am never letting her go again. I meant it when I told her to get ready for five crazy possessive alphas. She isn’t leaving my sight after this.

There is a strange shift in the atmosphere around me. Something bigger is happening. My hounds can sense it, but what it is, I didn’t know. At least, not yet.

Either way, time is not on our side. We need to move fast.

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