Page 239 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

Luka gets up to go over to him, probably to smack him upside his head, but Jax nods his head like it was the answer he was expecting. “Good, that was a trick question, and you passed.”

Luka sits back down while Jax continues to look the picture of innocence.

Axel takes the next turn. “Kiarra.” I roll my eyes, starting to see a pattern with both of them picking me.

“What is something you want to tell us but are too afraid to?” He raises a brow as if challenging me, but I know the sneak is just trying to get me to talk about what happened while I was gone without outright asking me.

“That’s a question, not a truth,” I tell him, trying to buy myself some time to think.

Axel shrugs. “Semantics.”

My stomach twists and turns as I think over what I want to tell them, but worried about how they’ll react.

“If there’s nothing—”

“There is…”

The guys all give me their full attention.

Taking a large swig of my drink, I glance down at it, not really seeing it. “I don’t remember much of when King moved me around, not before that place I was in. But when I was there… something… something happened…” Images of the inky dark power as it poured out of me flashes before me.

“You can tell us anything,” Luka says, urging me to continue, but nerves take hold of me, making me want to change the subject.

“What if it’s bad?” I ask them, wondering if they’ll start looking at me differently once they find out.

“Nothing you could tell us would change the way we feel about you,” Kai says.

“So, you don’t care if I go on a killing rampage?” I ask them, trying to find the humor in it all.

“Nope.” Jax’s quick answer and the surety in his voice makes me smile.

Glancing at them all, I see the resolve in their eyes.

“What if I wanted to burn the entire city down?” This was their home, after all.

“Then we’ll help you light the fucking match.” Jax’s eyes dilate, turned on by the idea. I could see it in his eyes that he meant every word, too. He wouldn’t care if I destroyed this entire city and everyone in it once he was there with me, and even though it sounded crazy as hell, it warmed something inside, easing my turbulent thoughts.

“We’re in, all in. Whatever way you decide this is going to go, we’re following you in this world and every other that exists. We’ll follow you to the end and then beyond that,” Kai tells me.

The others nod their agreement.

“I—”

“Gentlemen, may we join you? We have something we’d like to discuss.” Two men in gray suits approach us, with two bodyguards in black trailing behind them.

One man is shorter, with a curly mope of brown hair, the other one is taller with shades of gray sprinkled throughout his jet-black hair. Both are built but look small next to my guys.

“It’s fine.” I squeeze Kai’s hand. “We can talk later.” Maybe it was better to talk to them back at the penthouse instead of out in the open, anyway.

“Kiarra.” Kai looks at me, but I shake my head.

“I promise.” And I would tell them everything. It was time to start opening up to them more and to stop trying to deal with it all by myself.

“No. You come first, always,” Kai grits out, making my chest warm.

“I know and I love that you think that, but it’s probably better to talk about it back home.”

He gives me a soft smile. “Home?”

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