Blood and Reign (Blood and Ruin Series Book 3)
Blood and Reign: Chapter 21

“You’re not an illusion.”

King smirks as I take a step back. “We both know that I’m not.”

I eye the room around me, knowing that there’s no way out. That this is created from the depths of my mind and not something easily escaped.

I glance back at King as his smirk grows, sensing my fear. It makes me pause.

Why am I trying to find a way out? This is what I came to the Underworld for… To end this once and for all. The time for running is over.

The tension in my shoulders releases as I stop looking for a way out and focus on King.

“How did you get in here?”

King glances around, a look of disgust on his face. “The very root of your insignificant fears? It wasn’t hard to push my way into the connection created for you. We are linked, after all.”

An icy shiver crawls down my back at the look he gives me and the little reveal that makes no sense.

“What link?” There was no way I’d ever be connected to him.

A long shadow slithers up the side of his face, growing sharper and more pointed. His eyes glow an eerie white.

“What are you?”

King ignores me as the shadow-like snakes continue to slither on his skin, moving down his arms. He smirks as one lifts from his hand.

I flinch back just as it whips out, missing me by an inch.

King chuckles, the low sound of it making the hair on my arms stand up.

“I was once weak. Too weak to do anything but follow others and their commands. But now… now I’m so much more.”

The room around me shifts and changes to a dark prison cell, the walls and floor made from a jagged black rock. The temperature in the room drops, a shiver running down my spine at the energy in this place.

There’s a shadowy figure in the middle of the cell, hunched over. I hear the squeal of a small animal before a moment of silence echoes around us, quickly followed by the sound of gnawing and chewing.

King moves into the middle of the cell beside the shadowed being, walking right through it as if it were made of smoke.

“I hated this place. Born from the very depths of it.”

My body turns to ice. “You’re from the Underworld?” Like me? I keep the last question to myself. There’s no way I’m anything like him.

King glances around the cell, his disgust growing the longer he stares. “I was meant to rot in this prison.”

He was a prisoner here? But he got out. If there’s a way for it to happen again, we need to stop it.

“You escaped… How?” I don’t expect him to reply, but he shocks the hell out of me when he turns to look at me, a sinister glint in his eyes as he answers.

“You.”

One word and my world is turned on its head.

“What?” I shake my head. How could I have helped him escape?

“You’re lying.” I slam into the wall as his power whips out and holds me in place.

“Look familiar?” A dark tendril coils around my neck, tightening. Dark tendrils that look similar to mine.

He must see recognition in my eyes as his smirk grows.

“We’re the same, you and me. Because this…” he waves a hand as the black tendrils curl around it. “…all came from you.”

He chuckles. It’s fucking creepy, echoing around me and sending an icy shiver down my spine. He pulls back, dropping me to the ground. I cough and splutter, trying to catch my breath and try to get my head around what he said.

No. There’s no way… This was just another one of his tricks. Another way to manipulate me to get what he wants.

King slowly steps forward, a cruel tilt to his lips. “You not only helped me escape, but you helped make me what I am today. You gave me the power to build my empire.”

He’s crazy. He has to be to make up something like this. Maybe the power has finally gone to his head.

I glance around the room, wondering if there’s a way out. I can’t use my powers in here, but if he’s in here with me, that must mean he’s close by.

I need to figure out a way out and quick. Once I have my powers, I can end this once and for all.

King is oblivious to my inner thoughts as he continues to walk around the cell.

“You were barely a prick in your mother’s womb when I clung to your power and escaped.”

Wait. “What?”

“A link was forged between us, and it kept me alive long enough to gain strength. Feeding from your pain and suffering while growing more powerful was… simply an added bonus.”

I kept him alive all these years… by feeding him my pain? That’s so messed up. In more ways than one. I push it to the back of my mind, not ready to process it just yet.

“Why do you think I kept you close all these years?” he asks me like I’m an idiot. And maybe I am if any of what he’s saying is true.

The only reason I came up with was that he’s sadistic and fucking psychotic. If he fed on my pain and suffering, I must have been a fucking buffet with how many ways he killed me.

“After a while, I found a little flaw in our arrangement. It would seem everything has its balance. You gave me strength and power, but you also became my one weakness.”

I flinch at his words, my stomach twisting into a mass of knots. If what he’s saying is true, it really does come down to me.

“I thought your mates would be able to break the link once bonded, but it never happened. Fortunately, it had an interesting… side-effect.” King lifts his hand as black scales trail up his arm, his finger changes to long back claws.

“I thought I was powerful before, but I had no idea what else was waiting for me.”

Fuck. That’s all we need. King to gain even more power.

Apparently, I’ve no one but myself to blame for it, too.

“What do you want from me?”

“I finally figured out a way to break this little link between us, and you’re going to help me do it.”

King steps back just as the ground beneath us shifts once more. This time we’re in a large circular room, a huge sphere in the middle of it.

King steps up beside it, eyeing it with something akin to lust before turning to me.

I fist my hands, trying to summon up the strength needed. “I’ll never help you.”

King raises a brow, still smirking. He steps back and waves to the floor. “No? Not even for one of your little mates?”

My mates?

My heart stops as Luka appears lying on the ground right beside King. I stare at Luka, watching the small rise and fall of his chest, and wonder if this is real.

“How is he here?”

My eyes widen as King leans down beside him, closing his eyes as he takes a deep breath. “So much pain…”

“No!” I move without thinking, getting a couple of feet away from them before I’m thrown backward, slamming into the jagged wall before hitting the ground.

I gasp, glancing down as blood dribbles down my lip onto the floor. Groaning, I push myself up; my ribs and back feeling bruised and broken.

Still trying to catch my breath, I glance up, finding King staring right at me. “I’ve switched up your little mind game, so anything that happens in here is permanent.” King smiles, glancing down at Luka. “So, if your little mate dies in here…”

He dies out there too… No!

“I may not be able to gain power from him, but that doesn’t mean I can’t kill him. Even with your ability, he will die.”

He could be bluffing. Most injuries the guys have been able to heal from…But we’re in the Underworld now and King is a lot more powerful than we thought. There are so many things we don’t know.

If there’s even the slightest chance that he could be telling the truth… I couldn’t take the chance and risk it.

King opens his mouth; it expands unnaturally as he bends back down to hover over Luka.

“No!” I rush forward again, immediately getting shoved back. I try again and again but end up further and further away from them.

King’s shadow snakes slither onto Luka’s body, coiling around it. The minute they touch his skin, Luka turns pale, so pale he’s nearly white.

“Stop. Please.” I beg just as blood begins to drip from Luka’s ears and nose.

He knows I’ll choose my mates, but still, he toys with me, proving how weak and useless I really am. My knees drop to the ground as the tears run down my cheeks.

“Stop, and I’ll do whatever you want.”

King’s shadows slowly lift as he looks up at me, the smile he’s wearing unnerving. It grows as my shoulders drop.

He knows he has me where he wants me.

“Just let him live,” I beg. I’ll plead and promise, whatever he asks, if only to keep him alive.

My mates are the one thing I can’t compromise on in this world. Now that I know what it’s like to have them in my life, truly have them, I can’t live without them. I don’t want to.

Without warning, King’s shadows fully lift from his skin and join to form a thick tendril. It wraps around Luka, lifting him in the air and slamming him into the ground.

I jump forward, forgetting about the barrier only to be thrown back again, this time harder as I slam into the wall, leaving a cracked imprint.

I slide down to the floor as Luka coughs, spewing up blood.

Squeezing my eyes tight, I reach down and try to drag up any sliver of power. I pull and pull, feeling the drips of sweat slide down my face. But no matter how hard I tug it; I can’t access any of my power.

“Please…” I beg again, watching the rise and fall of Luka’s chest making sure he’s still alive.

King stands up, fixing the cuff of his shirt. “You’re going to pull the power from the core into you. It will break the link between us.”

The core? I glance over at the large sphere in the middle of the room.

“And then what?”

“And then… I feed.” What he says hits me like a ton of bricks and what it means.

He’s going to feed from me, taking that power into him, making him much stronger than he is right now.

King glances at the sphere, smiling. “You will do what I say… or he dies.”

I swallow hard, looking over at Luka, his face now completely white, the circles under his eyes dark and hollow.

I try to stall to come up with something, but I know I’m running out of time. “I can’t use my powers. They don’t work here.” If they did, you wouldn’t be standing there with that smug look on your face.

King smirks. “This isn’t your mind anymore… It’s mine, and I make the rules here. I will release us when I choose.”

Damn it.

The longer I stare at Luka, the more blood I see until my mind imagines him bleeding out and leaving this world. I grab my chest as the tightness nearly chokes me.

I can’t lose him. No matter the consequences. And if that makes me selfish, or evil, or the monster here, then so be it.

King smiles, seeing the answer on my face. Using his tendril, he pulls Luka to him, the dark tendril wrapping around his whole body, keeping him in place. “One wrong move, and your little mate is never waking up.”

King closes his eyes and just like before, I feel the shift beneath my feet.

I blink and I’m lying down in the room I was in moments ago but whereas that was an illusion, this is not. I feel my power pulse inside me, calling out to the familiar energy in the core.

I look over and find Luka in the same spot, still out cold and bleeding, with King right beside him, his shadows coiled around him.

“No tricks or he dies.”

I get up and glance around to see that our surroundings are still the same. The core is still in the middle of the circular room. The only difference is the energy and power I feel inside it and around me.

It’s vast. So vast, it feels infinite.

And something this powerful should never be in the hands of someone like King.

But I can’t lose Luka either. I can’t lose any of them.

I try to think of something else. To come up with another way out of this, but I keep drawing blanks, my thoughts scattered between Luka and my other mates.

Where are they? Did King get to them, too?

I glance at the core just as a pulse of energy spans out around me.

“Why not just take it yourself and break the link?”

King’s reply is a cruel laugh. “Do you think if I could take that power, I’d need you? You’re the only one who can even touch it.”

“Why?”

“Why? Because you’re the same and like calls to like.”

I glance back at the sphere. It pulses as if confirming King’s answer. “Once I take the power, what will happen to the Underworld?”

King’s twisted smile grows. “It will throw off the balance, plunging the world into destruction and chaos.”

My stomach drops. When I do this, I’m not only releasing a powerful monster, but I’m also helping destroy the world, too.

I close my eyes as anguish settles over me, coating me in it until it weighs heavily on me.

“Enough stalling. Let’s begin.”

I clench my jaw as the blood in my veins begins to heat. I focus on King and his arrogant smirk as I reach out and feel for the energy of the core once more.

It hits me like a ton of bricks.

King is right, at least with this. The energy feels familiar yet… different. More.

I begin to pull, the energy flowing into me like the rush of a river while I stare down King, promising myself that somehow, I will fix this.

KAI

“I’ll take you to them.” The door appears once more. Ivor nods to Soren before they both head out. I follow them close behind, keeping my eyes peeled for anything and everything.

What started as a hunt for King has ended up as a twisted game of horrors.

As we make our way along a long hall with gray walls and a granite black floor, I catch Soren and Ivor trading worried looks. Rion gives me a nod, telling me he’s noticed it, too.

We follow the hall, taking a sharp left and right that eventually leads to a downward spiraling staircase.

After a few steps, the staircase opens up, becoming as wide as the entrance growing more rocky and uneven the further we move down it.

“Where are we heading?” Jax asks, eying the dark steps.

Ivor sighs as if it’s an inconvenience to share even the slightest piece of information. He moves forward, not looking back. “To the core of the Underworld. We need to move through the Prison realm to get there. Orthis has got most of it under control but keep your eyes open.”

Jax scowls at his back, mumbling something about dickheads and liars while Axel looks like he’s ready to tear this place apart, his agitated state growing the longer our mate and brother are missing. I didn’t blame him; I wanted to rip this place apart just as much.

Soren gives me a look. “If you get a chance, Orthis will want to meet you. He’s your family, after all.”

“The only family I’m interested in right now is my mate and brothers.” Blood means nothing when it comes to true family. Most of us learned that firsthand and Orthis is just another stranger.

The staircase opens out into another wide hall, but one that looks like they carved it in a mountain. The black rock that starts halfway down the stairs lines the floors and walls.

Soren turns to us, a serious look on his face, before turning back to Ivor. “Keep your guard about you. This is where most of the demons in your world came from.”

We make it less than a couple of steps before the growls and screams of the prison assault us.

Axel freezes. “What the—”

I mirror Rion’s frown before looking at Ivor. “Isn’t this a prison for the worst of the worse? Meaning demons. So why do we hear screams?”

Soren passes us, waving us to follow. “Demons aren’t the only evil in this world. There are many different creatures and beasts, including humans, that are more vicious and viler than some of the demons in the Underworld.”

Something didn’t add up. “Why not just leave them all in the realm of the damned?”

Soren looks at me with a smirk. “Because we cannot destroy most of the demons down here for fear of upsetting the balance, and they need to be fed.”

Fed…

Axel stops in his tracks. “Wait… you feed the demons down here? With what?”

Soren shares a wicked smile with Ivor before looking over his shoulder at us. “Some beings are beyond reform, their sins too vile to be forgiven. This is one of the ways they pay. Their souls are completely gone once fed upon by the demons, making sure they’ll never be reborn again.”

Jax chuckles. “Good fucking riddance. Feed them all to the fuckers. It’s the least they deserve.”

We keep moving, but I glance at Rion, a seed of a plan forming. As always, Rion knows exactly where my thoughts have gone. He nods his head, giving me a small smirk.

The hall soon opens up to a wide-open area with the ceiling disappearing into an infinite night sky. Thick jagged rocks are randomly spaced ahead, with each spanning about twenty feet tall.

We start moving through them when the screaming grows louder. Soren and Ivor ignore it, keeping their pace.

Glancing around, I notice something is missing. “Where are the prisons?”

Soren glances over his shoulder before tilting his head at the thick, jagged rocks. “You’re looking at them. Each contains a prison that locks away a demon. No one should be able to bypass that lock. So, you can understand our frustration. Not only did King rip a hole in this realm, opening it into your world. He somehow tore open the lock on most of these cells, unleashing the demons inside.”

Ivor grunts. “Not an easy feat.”

I share a look with the guys. We’ve underestimated King and his power for too long but no more.

More and more jagged prisons appear, placed randomly around us until we make our way through a labyrinth of them.

Axel rolls his neck, scowling at Soren’s back. “This place is like a fucking maze.”

Soren nods, waving his hand around us. “That’s the point. Should any try to escape or get in, those that don’t know the secrets to work the maze will be lost forever.”

“Sounds like fun.” Jax gives him a deadpan look.

Soren’s mouth twists into a smirk as he narrows his eyes on Jax. “Why don’t you give it a go?”

Jax chuckles. “Trying to get rid of me, old man?”

“One can only hope.”

Jax walks over to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Soren stares at it like he would a snake.

“Don’t be like that. You know you’d miss me if I were gone.”

“I really wouldn’t. I have a feeling the only one who would miss you is your mate.”

Jax nods like that’s a given. “Of course, she would. I’m her favorite.”

Soren looks over at the rest of us as if waiting for one of us to deny it. But we all know what Jax is like and even though he likes to vie for Kiarra’s attention, we know he doesn’t mean it. It’s just his way of lighting the mood when everyone gets too serious, including himself.

Soren drops Jax’s arm, giving him a look of warning, making him laugh. He sighs before moving closer to Ivor.

A low growl hits my ears just as we round the next corner, making me pause. Rion whips out his blades just as a large beast surges forward, leaping up to attack. Before it reaches us, I shoot forward, grabbing it by its neck, holding it in place.

The beast is nearly the same size as me as it growls, trying to snap at me. I tighten my hold and it whimpers.

My senses pick up more just as three more hounds surround us.

My own hounds rise up as I push my alpha power out around us. “Yield.”

One word and they all freeze. I release more power and narrow my eyes on them. I feel a mental tap as they try to push back, but I push harder and watch as each of their heads dip, baring their necks to me.

Dropping the beast, it walks backward to its kin, avoiding eye contact with me. I pull back my hellhounds just as I sense another presence nearby.

“Not bad.”

I turn around, only to find an older version of myself staring back at me. His dark hair is longer, tied back and he wears more of a laid- back, easy-going attitude.

Something stirs inside me; my hounds move to the surface once more.

His smile grows, but there’s nothing but warmth in his eyes making me pause. “Now is not the time for a challenge, little bro.”

Jax’s head whips from mine, to whom I can only assume is Orthis. “Bro?”

Orthis’s eyes pulse as he tilts his head. I feel a brush of energy as it slides over me. “Half. We definitely had the same father.”

“You knew he was your brother?” Ivor’s eyes widen, his voice reaching another octave.

“Of course, I did. How do you think he’s avoided all of you this long?” Orthis chuckles as Ivor’s face turns beet red. “He should’ve been brought here the minute you found out.”

Orthis shrugs before pinning me with a look. “He deserves to make his own choices.”

I frown, not understanding why he’d help me, and wonder if he has a reason for it. If there’s something he wants in return for this so-called protection.

After all, blood means nothing in our world.

A howl sounds out, shaking me from my thoughts.

“Go. I’ve got this covered.” Orthis looks toward me. “We’ll catch up another time.”

I nod before sharing a look with the guys as we follow Soren and Ivor. Soren’s wearing a smile while Ivor is pissed as hell as he curses Orthis out.

I ignore them, my agitation growing the longer it takes to reach Kiarra and Luka. The rest of the guys are in a similar state, with even Jax quieter as he snarls at everything around him.

The labyrinth suddenly opens up, the infinite sky disappearing as we come through another long hall with double doors at the end of it.

Even from here, I can feel the energy pulsing from it. One look from the guys and I know they sense it, too.

Once we reach the doors, Ivor mumbles something in a strange language, and they glow before sliding open.

Like everything in the Underworld, the outside of the room is deceiving as the room opens up to a large circular dome with enough space to fit our entire apartment with space.

The source of the pulsing energy is a large black sphere that sits in the middle of the room. It isn’t until I look closer do I see Kiarra and Luka laid out on the ground beside the sphere.

I make a move toward them when a transparent barrier stops me in my place. I whip around and spear Ivor and Soren with a furious glare. The others try but come up with the same resistance before moving to stand beside me, each ready to attack the two idiots now in front of us.

“What the hell is going on?” I grit out, sounding more beast than man.

Soren grimaces, looking at Ivor as the idiot demon takes a step back from us, raising his hands. “You were all in here. You needed to be close to the core and its power for the last trial. Once you passed, you were then transported to the room we just left.”

“Why can’t I go to them?” I glance back at Kiarra and Luka. They both look serene, as if they’re just taking a nap, but after going through the mental test myself, I know that’s anything but true.

They’re both in fucking hell right now. Their own personal hell.

“If anything happens to them, you’re dead,” Axel warns, before moving as close to them as the barrier will let him.

“Let’s give them a little more time.” Ivor shares another worried look with Soren. It doesn’t go unnoticed by any of us.

Minutes pass by agonizingly slow. I’m pacing back and forth beside the barrier when I notice a shift on the other side. Glancing over, I watch as blood starts to leak from Luka’s nose and ears.

Jax notices it too as he tries to punch a hole in the barrier. “Fuck this. Just get them out of there.”

Ivor shakes his head. I sense his fear as he eyes us. “It’s not possible. Rielle—”

“What’s not possible?”

Ivor shares another look with Soren before turning to me. “Their minds have been connected to the core power of the Underworld. It would be like pulling someone out of a coma when they’re not ready. It’s too dangerous.”

Jax points toward Luka as the blood pools around him. “And that isn’t?”

Soren looks at Ivor. “They’re not supposed to be capable of getting physically hurt while in the link.”

Ivor tries to reassure us, but not even Soren believes him as he grows more worried.

While both are talking, I feel the energy shift behind the barrier just as Kiarra wakes. My heartbeat trebles as she stands up and glares at the empty space beside Luka.

“She’s awake. Kiarra’s awake,” I tell them.

The guys freeze before whipping around. But the longer I watch Kiarra, the more I know something isn’t right. I can feel it.

They need to get out. Now.

“Kiarra!” Jax moves, ready to go to her, forgetting about the barrier. Axel stops him centimeters from hitting it.

Axel narrows his eyes on Ivor. “Why can’t she hear or see us?”

Ivor swallows hard, growing paler. “She was supposed to be sent to the room you woke up in once she woke. Not here. Whatever is happening in there is not our doing.”

Damn it.

Soren frowns, watching her. “What is she doing?”

Kiarra turns toward the large sphere in the room. Focusing on it, I watch as energy slides over her body, moving from the sphere to her and then onto a spot beside Luka.

“Look. The energy is going somewhere. It’s not staying with her.” Axel points to a spot beside Luka where the energy seems to just disappear.

What the hell is going on?

“Rion?” One word, and he already knows what I want to know.

Rion narrows his eyes on the spot. “There’s something else in there. Something powerful.”

I frown as I try to sense anything familiar on the spot, but all I feel is something off. Something that unnerves even me.

Rion’s eyes widen. “It’s King.”

Turning around, I rush forward and grab Ivor by the throat, pinning him against the nearest wall. “Drop the barrier or I’ll rip your throat out.”

There’s no fucking way I’m leaving my mate and brother in there alone with him.

“I agree. Something isn’t right. I’ll do it.” Soren steps forward, raising his hands toward the barrier. He closes his eyes as I snarl at Ivor before dropping him to the ground and moving beside Soren.

We ignore Ivor’s splutters and gasps as the barrier shimmers in front of us. Soren’s body grows stiff, making my stomach drop. He opens his eyes wide, turning to look straight at me. “We’re locked out.”

Ivor scrambles up to Soren’s side. “That’s not possible.”

Ivor does the same thing Soren does, but just like him, he comes up empty, the barrier still in place.

I can’t take it anymore. I lose it and start to shift; each of my hounds out for blood.

Dark lines of ash trail up my arms as my body expands. It draws the attention of others.

“You shouldn’t be able to shift in here. How…” Ivor stumbles back as my hounds come out to play.

I catch the guy’s savage smirks as they span out around the barrier, ready and waiting for me to destroy it.

I wasn’t losing my family or mate ever again.

The time for waiting was over.

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