Page 92 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

“You said you had a way… a way out?” Kai asks me, his words drawn out as he avoids looking me in the eye.

Jax freezes, his beast holding off for the moment. “What way out?”

Luka looks puzzled. “And you haven’t used it?”

“It’s—”

Axel whips out before I have a chance to finish. “Don’t say complicated. I’m sure we can keep up.”

I release a tired sigh. “I’ve been working on it for a while. A way to… detangle the spell he used. I get one shot at it and that’s it. The ingredients alone were extremely hard to find and took me months to get hold of.”

“You said Friday?” Kai confirms, finally looking at me.

I nod. “I have everything in place for then.”

“Good, you’re going to go ahead with your plan and get the hell out of here.”

“What? No! What about Luna?” I look at him, like he’s crazy because if he thinks I’m going to just up and leave Luna here, he really doesn’t know me at all. None of them were tagged. They could leave anytime, but Luna no longer had that choice.

“We can hide out somewhere, wait until the heat dies down and then figure out how to remove the tag.”

I shake my head. “That’s not an option. There’s not a place in this city Luna can hide without King finding her. Once he gets back and Kaladar gets to him, she’ll be found in seconds. She needs to leave as soon as possible.”

The gravity of the situation hits the guys at once, turning them silent. Luna sniffles, wrapping her arms around herself. “It’s all my fault. I am so sorry. You should go and leave me. I can handle it.”

Jax's reply is heated. “No fucking way are any of us leaving you here, Luna. Cut that shit out!”

“But he’ll find you the longer you stay.”

She wasn’t wrong. Kaladar would soon find them.

“We can take care of ourselves,” Luka tells her, avoiding looking at me.

Luna looks desperately to me. “Maybe Kiarra has a way to also take off my tag?”

Her face is full of hope, making me pause. Maybe…

“Luna… she can’t…” Luka glances from me to her. But she’s not wrong. I could ask Jazmyn.

“Of course… I’m sorry for asking…” Luna dips her head, walking away to curl up into a chair. My heart dips, seeing her hopeful mood turn sombre.

“The spell should allow for another person.” I mean, it definitely allows for two, but it might allow for a third. I’d have to ask Jazmyn, but it could work.

Luka gives me a revered look that makes me uncomfortable. He shakes his head, a small smile playing on his lips.

Jax storms over. “No! We shouldn’t even be asking this of you. It’s too much. Especially after what we…” The anger falls from his face, turning to one of misery.

“After we left you here. Luna has spent a couple of weeks and look at her. Kiarra’s been here for six fucking years!”

“She hasn’t a scratch on her.” Axel frowns, looking me over.

Jax’s eyes glow as his wolf fights to be free once more. “You’re blind if you can’t see the pain in her eyes. We have no idea what she’s been through.”

The guys look at me, searching for any hint of pain or darkness. But they wouldn’t find it, not on the surface. It was mine and mine alone.

“We have no right to ask anything of you.”

“Jax, I’m fine.” I force a small chuckle trying to make light of the situation.

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