Blood and Reign (Blood and Ruin Series Book 3)
Blood and Reign: Chapter 30

KAI

The portal drops us off in the middle of the Prison realm. Or at least, I think it’s the middle. Every time we come here something changes.

Axel eyes the portal as it closes behind us. “That would’ve been handy when we came here the first time.”

Jax smirks at him. “But you can’t deny we had fun destroying those demons on the way.”

“If you need an outlet for your rage, all you have to do is ask.” We turn to find Soren walking toward us. “Back so soon?”

Jax smirks at him. “What can I say, we missed your ugly face.”

Soren gives him a deadpan look. “Stop, you’re making me blush.”

I cut Jax off before the two of them start again. “Did you get it sorted?”

“Straight to business.” I give him a look that tells him now is not the time to mess around. I want to do this right, but I also want to get back to my mate. The look she gave us when she found out King was still alive nearly fucking broke me. I don’t regret what we’ve been doing the last couple of days, but we should’ve handled it better and told her.

Soren’s eyes widen. “With the little time you gave me?”

I raise a brow and he rolls his eyes. The fucker has been around Jax too long. “Of course, I got it sorted, it’s me we’re talking about.”

Jax chuckles, walking over to him and slapping him on the back like they’re old buddies. “Good man.”

Great, now there are two of them.

“Lead the way.” I glance over at Rion and on his shoulder where King is bagged and tagged with just enough air to keep him alive before turning back to Soren and giving him a look to hurry the fuck up.

We turn and head through the jagged rocks. Each time we come here it’s changed, the entire landscape flipped, shifting shapes or sizes. The only consistent thing is the dark sky above as it snuffs out most of the light.

We continue past dozens of prisons when a couple of Ivor’s men walk past us, bowing on their way.

Axel frowns as they scurry away, avoiding eye contact. “That’s still so fucking weird.”

He’s right. Ever since we came back with Kiarra to drain the extra power, all higher-level demons have been treating us like we’re their superiors, bowing in respect and making sure anything we need is on hand.

Soren smirks at Axel. “The Lords haven’t been replaced yet. Even though Rielle has taken over most of their duties, it’s only a quick fix. The five of you and your mate are the most powerful beings we know of. The Underworld would thrive under that kind of power.”

I open my mouth to straight out decline his offer when it hits me. Having the Underworld at our disposal could be useful.

I never want something like King’s war to happen again but should another foolish being decided to push his or her luck, I’d want a plan in place well before it.

But taking over full-time is not something I’d agree to. None of us ever want something like that to take over our lives, when family should be the priority.

I give the boys a look, and from that one look they know what I want to know. If they will trust me with this.

They nod without question, giving me my answer.

I look back to Soren. “We’re not taking over as your Lords, but we’ll help out where we can.” Once we have an in, that’s all we really need.

Soren smirks at me like it was his plan all along but I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m protecting my family in the best way I know how and making sure they never have to go through something like this again.

“I’ll let Rielle know.”

I nod as we move past the jagged rock prisons. More and more of them appear surrounding us like a maze.

Jax’s eyes widen. “What the—”

“Keep moving and try to avoid touching the prisons. Some of these prisoners are extremely temperamental.” The jagged rocks shift and move making us react quickly to avoid them. Soren easily avoids every one of them as if he knows the exact path to follow.

I narrow my eyes on him, about to call him out on it when darkness quickly descends around us. Pushing my hounds to the surface, I watch the darkness crawl outward making everything disappear. Everything but us and the ground is gone. Just a vast darkness that looks like it spans out infinitely.

“What the fuck?” Axel grunts walking into the back of Luka.

Jax shakes a hand in front of himself. “Not again. I feel fucking blind.”

Rion nods over at me, his basilisk eyes glowing back at me.

“Let’s keep moving.” The rest call their beasts to the surface until nothing but glowing eyes surround me.

We move forward, following Soren through the vast darkness. A few minutes pass before we come across two large black walls made from the same black jagged rock similar to the prison’s cells. They spread out on each side of us creating a long pathway.

As we move through them, the walls start to climb upward and over us, forming an arch.

We move through the long pathway only stopping when we reach a black door. Soren stops and turns around to us wearing a smile.

I ignore his happy mood and tilt my head toward the door. “This is it?”

He nods. “I’ve worked with the most powerful demons to make sure your very specific conditions have been met. Similar to the room in your basement, once it’s activated, time will move much slower. It took some tinkering but one hour outside the room will give you the specific time requested inside it.”

“Good.” The room will act similar to the way the core trapped us inside our minds. But instead of just mental suffering, we’ve adapted the energy to make sure it manifests physically, making sure King feels everything too. Every slash of pain. Every sear of flames as they blaze through his body, ripping it apart until there’s nothing but fragments of his essence left behind.

Just like our rooms in the basement, time will move slower but this time one hour outside will match six years inside.

Six years to match what he gave Kiarra with ten times the pain and suffering he put her through.

It’s not enough. It’ll never be enough for what he did to her or what took from us, but Kiarra is right, we all need to move on, and King’s death is the best fucking beginning we could ask for.

Besides, we’ve also made sure he can’t die until the six years are up. Knowing that he’ll suffer greatly in those years gives me a sliver of peace.

Soren turns to the door, doing some weird movements with his hands and whispering a strange language I’ve never heard.

As soon as he’s finished, the door lights up, opening before he turns to us.

“There you go.”

I glance inside thanking him. Apart from having another personality similar to Jax, Soren had knowledge and connections that came in use. Without him, it would’ve taken longer to set this up. And more time away from my mate was not something any of us wanted.

Soren salutes, making Jax chuckle. “Anything for the new bosses.”

I narrow my eyes on him. “We’re not your new bosses. We’re just going to help out.”

“Sure thing… boss.” He smirks at me before stepping out of the way.

I shake my head to myself. The fucker really has been spending too much time with Jax and it shows. I ignore his smirk and move into the room with the guys following me.

As soon as I cross the threshold, I feel the energy as it coats my skin. It’s dark and twisted, seeping out around us into every crevice of the room.

Jax shudders frowning at the small space. “It’s fucking creepy.”

“That’s the point.” Axel frowns at him, but glances around looking just as disturbed.

There’s a single rusty chair over by the left wall. Rion heads straight for it and throws King on it without his usual finesse.

Once King hits the chair, long thin black straps slither out from it coiling around every part of his body before seeping into his skin.

He gasps awake, his eyes widening before he quickly passes out again.

Jax sighs, looking in King’s direction. “I was hoping I’d get another few hits in.”

Axel frowns. “Same.”

Luka raises a brow at them both. “You both already beat the shit out of him, ripped him apart, and broke nearly every bone in his body.”

Jax and Axel shrug. “It’s still not enough.” They say in tandem.

Soren smirks at them. “Vicious. I like it.”

“Now what?” Jax gives him a sullen look.

Soren glances over at King’s slumped form. “Now we leave him to suffer.”

Axel looks at him like he’s crazy. “That’s it?”

Soren gives him a savage smirk. “Oh, don’t worry, his form of punishment is something that will definitely hurt. In more ways than one.”

Exactly the way I planned it.

We all head outside. Just before the door closes, we catch his blood- curdling scream as it starts. Hearing it alone eases something in my chest.

Even if the next six years of torture is not by my hands, King will suffer and that’s all I really need to know.

The door shuts with a loud thump and then there’s nothing but silence as we wait.

Soren turns to the door and mumbles that strange language again making it light up.

“It’s done. One hour from now, the door will open, and he’ll be gone. Only his essence left behind.” He sighs, stepping away. An exhausted look coming over him.

Rielle only agreed to this, if we made sure his essence was then absorbed by the core. Hence why we’re going to wait outside until the hour is up and then hand-deliver the last piece of him to the core, where he’ll be gone forever.

Soren moves further out until he disappears completely from view. I know he’ll be back once it’s done, so I pay no mind to his whereabouts.

The rest of us move around finding a place to wait out the hour. Axel leans against the wall, glaring out at nothing. Jax and Luka pick up pacing back and forth. While Rion moves to stand beside me as I stay by the door, guarding it to make sure everything goes to plan, and the fucker is gone for good.

 I glance over at Axel as he continues to glare at everything. His mood a little off, even for what we’re doing. But he went to see Rhory today and I never got the chance to ask how it went.

“What did Rhory want in the end?”

Axel chuckles but there’s no humor in it. “He wants our backing.”

“What?” Jax’s head whips so fast, the fucker probably got whiplash.

Axel nods. “The dick saw what we were capable of in Manhattan and wants a pact to ensure the safety of the Dragons. Should anyone try to come after him or his dragons, he wants our backing.”

Jax’s eyes widen. “I hope you fucking told him no.”

Axel rolls his eyes at him. “Of course, I fucking did. Right before I sent him packing with one less appendage.”

Jax’s dark chuckle echoes around us as I glance over at Axel with a raised brow. He smirks back at me. “It’ll grow back… eventually.”

I shake my head, smiling to myself. The fucker was crazy, but I wouldn’t have him any other way.

Jax starts grilling Axel on every little detail, bringing him out of his strange mood and the hour passes by quicker than we thought. Soon enough, Soren appears out of nowhere and walks straight over to us.

He does his thing, and the door lights up. Once it’s open, he walks straight in and pulls something from his pocket, placing it in the middle of the floor.

I look around the room but there’s no one here. King long gone along with the creepy vine chair.

I glance over at Soren to the small red container he placed down. It starts to glow making the energy around the room, swirl and gather together. Once it’s formed into a small mass, it rushes straight into the container, shaking slightly before going still.

After a moment, the light dims and Soren bends down to pick it up. He hands it straight to me with a smirk. “That’s what’s left of him.”

I glance at the small red container in my hands as it starts to pulse and glow. “Let’s take it to the core and finish this.”

In silence, we quickly move back through the vast darkness, passing the jagged rocky prisons, moving along the long random halls that curl and shift, before finally coming to the core.

Once we’re in the room, I chuck the red container straight at the center of it. Before it hits it, the core’s energy snaps out, swallowing it whole.

Seconds later a rumble of power pulses out, swiftly changing the air around us and making something in my chest feel lighter than it was a moment ago.

I glance over at the guys and see them all look just as relieved.

Soren rubs his hands together, a smile on his face. “I can already feel the difference. The balance is complete now.”

Soren waves, turning to go. But before he disappears, Jax calls out to him. “Where are you rushing off to?”

Soren turns around with a smirk. “Let’s just say your little mate was good on her deal and helped me organize something, so unless there’s anything else… I’m off to reap the benefit of it.” He winks and disappears.

I look at my brothers, all looking content and happy. “It’s done. Let’s go home.”

We quickly organize a portal that leads us straight to the smaller apartment in Jersey City. We head straight for our mate, sensing her in the lounge.

She turns around the minute we walk in, a hesitant smile on her face. “It’s done?”

I walk over to her and pull her into my arms. “It’s done. He’ll never hurt you or anyone ever again.”

Her whole body relaxes as she smiles up at me. And that one look eases every tense muscle in my body. It seeps into my soul, wrapping it in warmth.

She looks around at us with nothing but love in her eyes. “Thank you.”

Rion steps forward and hands her the piece of paper from his suit. I release her from my hold as she takes it frowning, though there’s a glint of a smile and warmth still in her eyes.

“What’s this?”

I smile at her. “Open it.”

She playfully narrows her eyes on us before slowly opening it, her eyes widening when she reads what it says. Her eyes jump from mine to the rest of the guys.

“Is this real?”

I laugh at her shocked expression. “Yes, it’s real.”

Her smile grows as she glances around each one of us as if to make sure this isn’t a joke. “So, we’re actually going to travel the world… for the next six months.”

I nod. “It will take that long to get everything up and running again. We’ve organized everything so our men can get a start on it while we’re traveling. And we’re only a portal away if they need anything.”

Jax narrows his eyes at no one in particular. “But the fuckers aren’t allowed to call us for anything other than an emergency and by that time, they’d want to be fucking dying.”

She does the cutest little fucking excited dance, making us chuckle. “When do we leave?”

I take her free hand and bring it to my lips. “As soon as you want. The portals are at our disposal.”

Her eyes soften. “This is amazing. I never thought…” She shakes her head, glancing back down at the piece of paper. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I always wanted to travel. To go anywhere and everywhere and just experience everything I’ve missed. And getting to do it with you all is better than anything I could have hoped for.” She looks up at us smiling, her eyes glassy before tears start to fall.

I know they’re happy tears, but I already want to pull her to me and kiss every one of them away. And by the looks on each of the guy’s faces, I can tell they want to do the same.

Instead, we form a circle around her, all of us smiling like big happy idiots as we stare down at the woman who owns us, mind, body, and soul. The woman who never gave up when everything around her turned to hell. When she had to fight to survive each moment of every day and still found hope in the darkness.

She deserves every good thing the world has to offer and I’m going to make sure she gets it.

She looks around at us smiling with nothing but love in her eyes. “I love you. I love you all.”

Jax’s eyes soften. “We love you too.”

Luka smiles. “…more than anything.”

“And then some.” Axel smirks, making Jax roll his eyes at him.

“And that will never change.” Rion gives her a knowing look.

Each of my brothers pulls her into a hug, kissing her and twirling her around. Her laughter rings out around me as I stand back content to watch my family, all happy and together. All loved and safe.

Finally.

Once they’ve all had their moment, I pull her closer, wrapping my arms around her.

“We’re going to show you the world, Kiarra. Every beautiful, magical place we can find and travel to. We’re going to give you so many good memories that the old ones no longer exist.”

There’s a long happy future in front of us. One I’ll make damn sure will happen. No matter who or what gets in our way.

“I love you, Kiarra. We all do.” I lean down and brush my lips against hers.

“Endlessly. Infinitely. And always and forever.”

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