Blood and Reign (Blood and Ruin Series Book 3)

KIARRA

Soren turns pale. “How is that possible? They’re immortal beings, touched with the essence of Erebus himself.”

Ivor shakes his head as if he still doesn’t believe it himself. “They were destroyed. When we found them, there was nothing but shells left of their existence. There was no essence left.”

Shells…

My head whips to Kai. He finds my eyes immediately, his own full of worry, as he nods his head, confirming my fears.

King. It has to be.

But that means he’s a lot stronger than we imagined. A lot stronger and gaining more power by the minute.

Soren takes a staggering step back, shaking his head. “Destroyed? By what? There’s nothing in any of the realms that could—”

“There was nothing in the realms.” Ivor sighs. “But a powerful being appeared from nowhere and shattered that illusion. He bypassed our defenses and unleashed the old demons from their prisons. Once they were out, they began wreaking havoc between each realm. Orthis is still in the Prison realm as we speak, trying to get as many of the old ones back to their prisons while attempting to restore some semblance of balance.”

“He?” Soren asks.

Ivor nods. “The being has taken the form of a male.” Soren glances over at me, his eyes telling me he’s come to the same conclusion as me and Kai.

Jax levels his hand around his height. “He wouldn’t happen to be this tall with dark hair and creepy eyes?”

Ivor’s eyes narrow in suspicion, choosing his words more selectively. “You’ve met him?”

“Unfortunately,” Axel mutters.

An understatement of the century. “It’s the reason we’re here. To stop him.”

Jax points around the room, not bothered by the glares from each soldier. “So, if you could point us in the direction, you last saw him. We’ll be on our way.”

Ivor’s suspicions don’t let up, instead growing as he shares a look with his men. “How do you know this being?”

Luka sighs, his frustration growing at the time we’re wasting. “It’s a long story, but we don’t have a lot of time—”

A loud alarm rings out around us, cutting Luka off. The room grows quiet, turning tense as Ivor’s guards burst into the room.

“Sir, it’s another attack. This time it’s coming from the east side. We need to go now.” Ivor nods, stepping into his general role.

Getting up, he moves toward them but stops and turns to us. “Take them to—”

“I can vouch for them,” Soren tells him, giving him a firm look. “They’re not here to cause you trouble.” He smiles, a sliver of warmth in his eyes. “That’s my job.”

They stare each other down, doing some form of communication between each other before Ivor relents.

“Fine, if I can trust them, then tell me how you all made it past the gate?”

Soren looks at Kai as if asking for permission. My respect for him kicks up a notch just as Kai nods.

Soren turns back to Ivor. “Kai is also a descendant of Cerberus. A direct one.” Soren gives him a look as if to say, yes, I’m shocked too.

Ivor’s eyes grow wide before he frowns. “We weren’t told of any other descendants.”

Soren crosses his arms. “It seems Cerberus’ lineage had more fun on earth than we knew about.”

Ivor shakes his head in disbelief before exhaustion takes over his face. He looks at Kai before nodding to himself. “That might come to aid us.”

Ivor looks at us all. “Can you fight?”

“Yes,” Soren answers for us. “They destroyed the horde of demons at the gate without breaking a sweat and took on realm demons as if they were flies.”

Ivor’s eyes widen, a look of complete shock slashed across his face. He shakes his head again, looking at each one of his, his gaze landing on me. After a second, I catch the slight flare of his eyes before he whips his head to Soren, his eyes asking him a question. Ivor nods to himself before a small smile releases a slight bit of tension from his face.

The demon guards grow restless, inching forward. “Sir?”

“Yes, yes.” Ivor waves them away before turning back to us. “We’re under attack. Again. Old ones from the prison keep passing into our realm, while hordes are attacking daily and growing by the hour. Come with us and show us what you can do, and we’ll help you any way we can.”

Ivor leaves without a backward glance. He must assume we’ll choose his option, but from the looks that each of the guys is giving me, they’re not too set on it.

They aim their glare at Soren. He raises his hands and takes a step back. “I’ll let you have a moment alone.” He quickly leaves, but the tension in the room stays.

It takes seconds before Axel blows up in anger. “We didn’t come here to fight their battles.”

Kai sighs. “What other choice do we have? It’s either help them or—”

“Or find King ourselves?” Axel says, as if it’s the obvious answer. But even I know that will not be as easy as it sounds. King has been three steps ahead of us this whole time. While we were fighting to survive each day, he’s been working on some larger plan that he set in motion years ago.

Kai releases some alpha power, glaring at Axel to stand down, the others flinch at the power behind it, whereas I’m brought back to when he used it on me with just him and Rion. I immediately get overheated and turned on. I shift my thigh, trying to get it under control, but my body just doesn’t want to listen.

The guys freeze, all turning to me with heat in their eyes.

“Kiarra?” Kai’s eyes darken as he looks at me.

Stupid shifter sense. “It’s not my fault. You’re the one who used your alpha powers.”

Kai smirks, amused at my temper. “To get everyone to calm down.”

I clear my throat, looking everywhere but them and their savage smirks. “Well… it obviously has the opposite effect on me, so maybe try something else next time.”

Jax steps closer, making me look up at him. “Nah, just means we’ve got more to work with.”

What the hell is he talking about? He must see the confused look on my face as he dips down. “Kai’s not the only Alpha here, baby.”

Oh. Fuck.

Jax’s chuckle is echoed by the others as they see me finally catching on. “We’re definitely trying that out when we get the chance.”

“We’re in Hell.”

“That’s not going to stop me, babe. The world is already burning around us. Why not have a little fun while it goes up in flames?” One glance at the others, and I can see they all feel the same.

I shake my head to myself. “You’re all crazy,” I mutter.

I’m not embarrassed, knowing my body craves each of them, each of their touches and kisses. But right now, we need to focus.

If anything, it breaks the tension that was in the room a moment ago. Even if it does still leave my body overheated.

Rion is the first to speak up, taking over where Kai left off. Kai’s eyes still burning right through me, making me shiver.

“King has changed the setup down here. Even Soren can’t lead us directly to him. Our best option is to gain their favor and then let them help us. If we don’t help them now, their battles will become our battles, and then we’ll have a war none of us want to fight.”

Axel clenches his jaw but keeps his mouth shut. He grabs my top, pulling me backward into him and wrapping his arms around me. Jax narrows his eyes on him but stays where he is. The rest just look at him, waiting for some type of answer.

“You already know how I feel, but if you want me to stay quiet, I’m holding on to my mate to distract me from your shitty decision- making.”

“Who said I agree to this?” I tell him while leaning further back into him. His scent easing every tense nerve in my body.

His head dips to the side of my neck. I feel the hint of a smile at the side of my face. “We both know you’ll take anything I give you.”

I freeze, my body going taunt before quickly making a move forward and away from the dickwad and his assumptions. But the fucker’s grip tightens on me as he laughs. “Don’t even think about moving away from me now. Hell, or not, I’ll chase your ass down and give every fucking demon here a show and tell they won’t forget.”

“You’re a dick.”

“Yep, and we both know you love it.”

I keep my mouth shut, knowing he’s right and from the way his chest vibrates behind me, he knows it too.

He makes my blood boil with how pissed off he makes me, but that heat always turns into something else. Something that makes me crave every heated look and touch. But no matter how much he pushes; I’d still give it back to him tenfold.

I elbow him in the side, reminding him who’s really in charge here. It barely harms him with his stupid rock abs, instead making him laugh harder.

I sigh, trying to ignore the dick behind me. The dick with the even larger dick rubbing up against me and I try to focus on what we’re supposed to be doing.

“Let’s move this along,” I tell them, hoping we can make some sort of decision before Ivor and his men decide to forget about their deal.

“Yes, let’s. Our mate is horny as hell and is starting to get cranky.” Axel’s deep chuckle rings out around me. I aim for his kidney this time, hoping to do some damage, but the fucker dodges me laughing.

“Rion?”

“Yes, Siren?”

“Where’re your swords? I’m gonna stab the fucker.”

“If you want to poke me with something, you’re picking the wrong mate. I’m not into knife play.”

Jax raises his hand. That innocent look slashes across his face, making him look like a sinful angel. “I am.”

He steps closer, his innocent look transforming into something sinfully wicked. “I’ll play with all the sharp, spiky objects you want, and unlike this pussy, I’ll fucking bleed for you.”

Axel rolls his eyes. “I’d die for her, and she knows it.”

“Nobody is dying,” I grit out, my temper going from horny to pissed in seconds. The thought of anything happening to them like a slash through the heart.

“Kiarra’s right, nobody is dying. Not on my fucking watch. So, let’s move on from this… conversation.”

Jax chuckles at Kai’s reaction. “Too kinky for you, Alpha?”

A laugh falls from my lips, garnering everyone’s attention.

Jax smirks, his gaze shifting from Kai to me. “Something you’d like to share with the class, babe?”

Kai’s heated smile finds mine. “Nope.” If anyone was kinky as hell, it would be Kai. I could see him being into anything and everything. Once he has the control, that is.

Kai’s smile grows as if hearing my thoughts.

“Let’s get back on topic. Do we all agree?” Kai asks everyone but looks straight at Axel, waiting on his reply. Axel sighs, kissing the top of my head. “I still think this is a shitty idea, but I’ll follow you all to the end and then whatever comes after that.”

Kai’s eyes soften. “Let’s catch up with the others.”

We head out of the room, finding Soren still waiting for us.

“How much did you hear?”

“Enough to know you like pointy objects. I’ll make sure to let everyone else know it, too.”

Jax laughs. “I knew we’d eventually grow on you.”

Soren raises a brow. “Like fungus?”

We move around the edge of the tents until we come to a large black arched stone. The door similar to a portal but one full of dark shadows.

They swirl and slither like snakes coiling in and around it. Soren doesn’t stop, heading straight for it.

Kai catches my eye before looking around at everyone. “Stay together.” Luka grabs my hand just as we step through the cold portal and straight out into a war zone.