Blood and Reign (Blood and Ruin Series Book 3)

RION

A few hours ago… or what feels like it… Kai and I woke up in a cave. There’s an arena right outside, making me think we are in for our next test. Or game, depending on what way you look at it. I’m sure the fools who set this up are enjoying watching us.

Once we realized we couldn’t rip through the cave wall or break the bars that shock us if we so much as tip them, we settled down and waited.

Or I did.

Kai has been pacing back and forth, his temper rising the longer we’re apart from our mate and brothers.

The beads are charged, but neither of us can shift. The cave must be similar to the room we were in, blocking us from shifting. My basilisk hisses in the background, too far away for my liking.

Whatever spell they’re using to block us from our beasts is powerful. So much so that I don’t feel as connected to my basilisk as usual. He’s in the distance of my mind, masked behind a fog I can’t get near.

It makes me feel hollow on the inside, reminding me of a time when that’s all I felt, the emptiness all-consuming as my parents showed me no care or love.

They left me alone until they needed a killer. Someone they could use to do their dirty work. Being a child didn’t matter to them, and to this day, it never has.

Kai speaks his thoughts aloud, making me snap out of my own somber ones to focus on the task at hand. “They wanted us to charge the beads, then separated us and placed us here, still blocking us from shifting…”

I narrow my eyes at the large arena outside. “They want us to fight.”

Kai nods. “Yes, but why?”

“To test our abilities,” I tell him, my eyes still narrowed on the large arena, waiting for whatever is coming while my mind works through what I know so far, piecing everything together like a puzzle.

We’re being tested. That part is obvious, but who is doing the testing and why is still not clear.

For the first test we needed to be able to control our emotions to charge the beads. Now it looks like it will be a physical test.

As always, it’s like Kai can read my mind and come to the same conclusion. “First test must have been to see if we could charge the beads. Once we passed, we move on to this. From the looks of our surroundings, I’d say they’ll have us fight something. Probably demons of some kind to test our strength. While the beads and the bracelet keep us in line.”

I nod. “They don’t trust us, and they also need leverage. Making sure we have some cap on our abilities ensures we don’t lose it and kill them as retribution.”

Kai growls, his eyes glowing red. Something that shouldn’t be possible right now. “That’s still going to happen either way. They took our mate and brothers. They’ll pay for that alone.” His voice grows deep, his eyes pulsing.

“And I’ll help.” I nod, telling him, but my focus is on Kai as he comes close to a shift.

“Kai? Can you shift?”

Kai squeezes his eyes shut. “I think I might be able to push through and force one. Just give me a minute.”

His body starts to grow in size, slightly at first, before lines of black crawl up his body. My eyes catch on his bracelet as his beads start to dim.

“Stop.” The sharp tone in my voice makes him freeze.

Kai glances up at me, giving me a questioning look. I nod toward his bracelet. “Your beads, they’re losing their power.”

“Damn it.” Kai squeezes his eyes tight, pulling back the shift before opening them and rolling his shoulders back. Still tightly sprung, he picks up pacing back and forth as he tries to subdue his hounds.

I glance back out at the arena, wondering how long it’s going to take before something happens. “Let’s wait to see how they’re going to play this out and use your shift as a last resort.”

Kai sighs, closing his eyes as he dips his head. “I hope the others are all okay.”

“I’m sure they’re fine. They’ve put us together for a reason. They more than likely placed us in groups of two. Our mate isn’t alone, and even if she is, she’s more than capable of looking after herself.”

“I know, but it’s ingrained in me to watch over you all. To keep us all together.”

Kai’s face is drenched in guilt as he leans against the cave wall. I wish there was some way I could shake him out of it, but he still feels guilty for not keeping us together as kids when Kiarra was taken.

No matter how many times I tell him, it isn’t his fault, he never listens.

What Kiarra went through… What happened to Luka and Jax… What happened to Axel…What my parents made me do…

In his mind, it could have all been avoided if we had stayed together.

“We’re not kids anymore. We were all lost and broken after Kiarra. Our families were supposed to look after us.”

“They were never truly family,” he grits out.

“No, but we are. The six of us, and we’ll get through this just like we do with everything else that comes our way.”

Kai clenches his jaw, glancing out at the arena, still too stubborn to admit the truth to himself.

I narrow my eyes on him. “Keep up worrying about us all and you’ll start growing gray.”

Kai gives me a tired look. “Shifters live a long time and we’re basically impenetrable now. I doubt that’s something we have to think about anytime soon. Besides, it’s the least of our worries.”

“Then I’ll tell Kiarra about how morose you’re being, and she’ll add you to the list of people I need to knock some sense into.”

Kai finally smiles, shaking his head. “Ah, the invisible list that’s never executed.”

I raise a brow. “Who says it’s never executed?”

Kai’s smile grows. “You’re telling me you’ve followed through every time she’s mentioned adding someone to that list of hers?”

I nod my head, making him laugh, but I’m damn serious. “What my Siren wants, she gets. Even if that means knocking some sense into one of my brothers for pissing her off.”

“Including me?”

“Especially you. Alpha of alphas or not, I’ll still take you down a notch to prove a point.”

Kai shakes his head, the smile still on his face making him look a little lighter. “Looking forward to it, brother.”

He gives me a look, thanking me for getting him out of his head. For helping him move past the guilt and worry just like every other time his thoughts consume him.

It happens too often, but I’ll always be around to remind him just how much we need him. To not let him forget Kiarra is our heart and soul, but he is our balance, and the thing that keeps us all grounded and united. Without him, we’re just six strands of the same thread floating aimlessly through life.

A loud shriek makes me wince as the bars move up, freeing us from our cage.

“Looks like it’s finally time.” I share a determined look with Kai as we step out of our cage.

The arena is larger than I expected, spanning at least forty feet each way. There are more cave prisons all around the wall of the arena, the wall itself climbing high until it reaches a strange dark net.

With my abilities finally unleashed, I sense every vibration of every type of energy around me. The ground beneath my feet is the most powerful one I’ve seen in a long time. I frown, glancing down at it, trying to make sense of the energy.

I kneel down and touch the ground, hoping to get a better read on it. The energy flickers as if glitching.

Kai moves, kneeling next to me. “What is it?”

“There’s something… off about the vibration of energy in the arena itself.”

Kai frowns, standing up. He looks around, trying to pinpoint it. “Like what?”

“It’s as if it’s layered with another. Like it’s trying to mask its true form.”

“Like an illusion?” Kai asks, frowning. “Like…” Kai clenches his fists as we both think of one of Kiarra’s betrayers. Morana.

I nod, not willing to even utter that woman’s name after what she did.

“So, the arena is an illusion?” Kai asks.

I stand, taking another look around the arena, trying to see past the illusion, but it’s no use, the illusion is too powerful to see through. At least with only a fraction of access to my abilities.

“No. I think the arena is real, but parts of it are… hidden. At least to us.”

“Then let’s keep our eyes peeled. Anything could just show—”

As if Kai summoned them, a horde of demons appear on the other side of the arena with four larger ones between them.

My basilisk slithers under my skin, ready and waiting to fight. I glance over at Kai, his eyes red-rimmed as he stares down the demons waiting for them to come to him.

They move at a running pace, straight for us.

No longer able to hold back, I shift as scales slide up my arms and legs before my body expands, making way for my basilisk.

Still in his human form, Kai slashes through the hordes of demons as I turn my focus to the larger ones.

Moving straight for the one closest to me, my tail lashes out, taking out a few from the horde as I make my way to them.

The large demon raises its meaty claw, aiming for my head, but I bare my teeth, hissing before striking, ripping its arm off. I do it again and again until all that’s left are pieces. I move to the next one and coil my long body around it, squeezing tight before striking again and again, shredding its top in half.

The ground beneath me shakes once more, making me pause. I glance over and see the other two large demons trying to throw Kai off by splitting the ground beneath him. He moves fast, avoiding the large cracks they create in the ground and instead use it to his advantage to throw some of the horde down into it.

Focusing back on the second demon, I release my hold. What’s left of the body drops to the ground with a thump.

By the time we’re finished, there’s only two of the four larger demons left, with the entire horde completely destroyed.

The two larger demons spread out, their attention divided between me and Kai. Both suddenly pause, taking a slow step back as they stare in Kai’s direction. I look over at him to find he’s already shifted into his hounds.

Glancing back at the demons, I watch their behavior quickly change. It’s as if they fear him.

I use this to my advantage and take out the one closest to me, quickly coiling around it, tightening my hold, and squeezing the life from it.

By the time it’s nothing but ash, Kai has destroyed the last one, leaving only a blackened stain on the ground.

I feel a pull, like something has zapped my energy all at once. I quickly shift back, swaying a little as I move over to Kai. He’s already shifted back and is making his way over to the spot where the demons first showed up.

Kai glances around. “They obviously came in from somewhere around here. Look around and see if you can find a break or glitch in the illusion.”

I nod, moving further out to the cave wall. There has to be an entrance, or maybe they used a portal.

Neither reveals itself to me, and the longer I look, reaching out with my senses to find the glitch, the weaker I grow.

“Rion!” Kai’s panicked tone makes me whip around. My eyes widen on a large black swarm from where the beasts were killed as it spreads and heads straight for me.

I’m surrounded with no way out.

I open my mouth to tell Kai to stay where he is, but he’s already moving toward me, jumping and tumbling over the black mass before he’s right next to me. “I can’t shift. My beads are dead.”

I want to shake the foolish idiot but know it’s too late to do anything about it now. “Mine too.”

His eyes find the black mass as it moves closer. “Maybe it’s another illusion…”

I shake my head. “There’s real energy coming from it. Whatever that thing is, it’s as real as you or me.”

“Damn it.” Kai turns to me, a fierce look in his eyes. He grabs my shoulder. “Whatever happens next will not be the end of us. I will find you, brother. No matter what it takes.”

“And I you.”

The shadows envelop us whole, pulling me and Kai apart until I slowly drift into the darkness.