Blood and Wrath (Blood and Ruin Series Book 2)

Cillian shows up and strolls into our building like he hasn’t a care in the world and isn’t worried about the fact that he’s willingly walking into a den of five extremely volatile alphas. All who fucking despise him.

He shouldn’t have come here. Not now when we’re all trying to hang on to our sanity and caring less and less about our moral compass, the longer Kiarra is gone. Not when we’re itching for bloodshed and someone to punish.

If it were up to me, I’d take him down to our underground basement, the one we purposely built for those we need to… question further… and show him exactly how little I care about who or what family he comes from.

I’d rather lose the alliance of the wolves than have that piece of shit think he has even the slightest bit of control over us.

If it weren’t for Luka, he’d already be dead.

I can only see small similarities between him and the boys. His height is similar to Luka’s, and his slick black hair a close shade to Jax’s. But he has neither their warmth or care, nor any part of the heart both boys wear like a sleeve.

To anyone else, he could be seen as someone who takes care of their appearance, his tailored suit and build making it look like he had everything figured out. But I see him for what he really is.

A demented monster who preys on the innocent and spreads lies to get others to follow him.

My eyes follow him on the security cameras as he makes his way through security to the elevator and up the nine floors to our main base of operations.

The building was originally a large office. With its location in the center of Manhattan, we figured it would make a good base and have been converting it to our needs since.

With ten floors, we started with the penthouse, making it into five spacious bedrooms with a large communal kitchen and lounge area. The security and operations floor sits below it, along with a gym and a weapons and training room. Apart from the main underground and one other floor with spare bedrooms, the rest are still a work in progress.

Moving down the hall and into the meeting room, I glance around at the guys, seeing how much the last few days have taken its toll on them. How each of them has become more broken the more time that passes, and the longer Kiarra stays missing.

Draven better have something for me, or the boys are about to go on a rampage.

“He’s here,” I tell them.

The atmosphere in the room takes a swift turn as rage slices through it.

“I still vote we string him up and use him as target practice,” Axel says, earning a smirk from Jax.

Luka frowns, his quiet expression etched on his face. He’s starting to withdraw into himself. The same way we found him when we reunited after losing Kiarra. After he and Jax had suffered at the clutches of their sick and twisted family.

While Jax wears his demons like a second skin, Luka keeps them hidden in the dark. We’ll all have to keep a close eye on him. I’ll make sure Jax keeps me updated.

What they both went through—all because we were too lost in ourselves to reach out—will haunt me forever.

The knowledge that we left Kiarra in a similar situation hits me like a steel bar in the chest. Except she was left there for six years. Six years locked away with King and his brand of torture and pain.

I clench my fists. King will have his day soon enough. And when I get my hands on him, I’ll make sure to reciprocate the same torture he’s shown Kiarra, but tenfold, before I rip out his blackened heart.

The elevator pings, alerting us to Cillian’s arrival, shaking me out of my thoughts to focus on the task at hand.

“Well, where’s the beast?” Cillian walks up to the long table, a dismissive look on his face.

I watch Luka avoid eye contact with him and hunch his shoulders. Even now, that dick has a hold over him. Rion and Axel notice it too. Axel walks up to Luka, placing himself between him and Cillian.

Jax sneers at Cillian before rolling the cloth-wrapped body part onto the table, revealing the contents as it slaps along the table to where Cillian is.

Cillian narrows his eyes on Jax as he stares him down before looking down at the chunk of seared meat. His face turns white.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he murmurs, staring in shock at the remains.

“What is it?” I grit out, having no patience for this.

Cillian releases a harsh sigh, losing any of the confidence he had moments ago. “It’s worse than I thought. This isn’t any ordinary demon.”

“Then what is it?” I ask.

“It’s old and dark,” he warns.

“Yeah, no shit. Are you going to tell us something we can work with or just repeat yourself?” Jax spits out.

Cillian snarls at Jax, making me want to rip the fucker’s lips off his mouth. “I’m not the one looking for help now, am I?”

“Fuck you.” Jax steps closer to Cillian, his build slightly taller than the bulky wolf. Jax stares down at him, his whole body as stiff as a board and seconds away from snapping and shifting.

“Jax…” Luka looks at his twin. “We need his help… This isn’t the time for this.”

Jax tries to calm himself, but he’s foaming at the mouth to take a swing at him.

Cillian see this and smirks, his smug attitude returned. “Yeah, listen to your brother, Jax.”

Jax moves before I can get to him, but Axel is there, yanking him back.

“What do you know?” I demand.

We need to move this along before I end up needing to call the wolves and inform them that they no longer had a maven. I wanted to gut the fucker here and now and be done with it.

Cillian glances at me. He must see something in my expression that tells him to move on with it because he loses the cocky attitude, looking down at the beast’s arm. “You got Luna back, so after this, we’re even.”

Far from it. He’d pay for what he’s done, but he’ll never see us coming when we do. For now, though, he gets to live another day.

“What I know is, I don’t want to be anywhere near that thing or anything like it.” Cillian scrubs a hand down his face, tilting his head towards the arm.

“It’s from the Underworld, but not just the Underworld, the deepest part of it. The Pits.”

“What the fuck are the pits?” Axel looks at him like he’s lost a few screws.

“It’s not somewhere you ever want to be,” he tells us.

“Stop speaking in riddles and just tell us what it is and where it came from?” Jax says, losing any little patience he has left. Not that he had much to begin with.

Cillian is about to pick a fight again when I speak over him. “Just tell us what you know so you can get the hell out of here. What’s The Pits?”

I know of the Underworld. I know of the demons and creatures that called it home, more than I want to, but even I have never heard of such a place.

“A place so dark, they say it was the birthplace of evil itself,” Rion says. Cillian nods his head.

An icy chill sweeps through the room, and everyone gets quiet.

“It must have passed through onto this plane, but the guardians usually have it heavily guarded. Very strange indeed.” Cillian glances back at the beast’s arm.

“The guardians?” I ask, this was the first time I’ve heard of them.

Cillian shakes his head. “Those who guard it. If these creatures have made it past them and onto this plane, it means trouble. The kind that only brings about death and destruction.”

He moves to go. “Look, I need to warn the family. We’ll be going dark for a while.”

“So that’s it? You know what this demon showing up means, and you want to run with your tail between your legs? Nice. I suppose that’s what people like you do,” Jax tells him, still looking for a fight.

Cillian snarls at him. “Wolves are not known to run from anything, boy.”

Jax’s chuckle is dark. “Not wolves. People like you. People that are nothing but weak and pathetic. You’re a coward. A spineless piece of shit that should be wiped out. A fucking waste of space that taints the air we all breathe.”

Cillian is livid, his body vibrating as he seethes. He takes a step forward but stops. One look at the rest of us and he knows he doesn’t stand a chance.

“It isn’t my fight,” he grits out.

“It’s everyone’s fight,” Jax tells him.

“Not this time,” Cillian says.

“Good to know where your priorities lie, Uncle.”

“We’re not family, boy. Not since you were both born abominations. If it were up to me, I would’ve gotten rid of you the moment I found out what you were; slit your throats and be done with it. You are filth, the lot of you. And you all deserve to burn in hell.”

I move forward, seeing nothing but red. Grabbing him by his throat, I slam him into the wall, slowly dragging him up it and holding him there as my grip tightens.

My hound pushes forward, demanding we teach him some respect. For daring to insult our family.

When I speak, I’m far more beast than man. “They call us monsters, but it’s people like you who should have that name. People who torture and break apart little kids.” My body expands, my other hound slipping forward with interest.

“Stop. Please,” Luka begs, his voice small, halting me and my beasts.

Jax had told me how Luka still feels like he owes Cillian for trying to help him. That, on some level, Luka still feels that there is something wrong with him. But the only thing wrong with him is what Cillian did.

Cillian tainted everything that’s good about him. What should have been celebrated was turned into something that should be shamed and hidden.

He got into Luka’s head long ago and brainwashed him into believing that being a shadow wolf was an abomination that should never exist.

Shadow wolves are extremely rare, so much so that Luka and Jax are the only ones I’ve come across. Being a shadow wolf makes them different but also fucking powerful. And no matter what we say or do, we haven’t been able to make him see that.

We are all different… unique from our kind, but the connection we share with our beasts don’t make us freaks, it makes us threats to watch out for.

“Please,” Luka says, breaking through the haze of rage.

The seed of doubt that Luka has, thinking he isn’t normal or should exist, will always be there, thanks to the bastard in front of me. For that alone, I want to snap his neck, but I will never put my own wants above that of my family.

Pulling both of my hounds back, I reluctantly drop him to the ground.

Cillian chokes and splutters. A large, red imprint of my hand burned into his throat. “I’ll… have your… alpha position… for this. You’re all abominations that should never have been allowed to run this city.”

Rion swiftly moves around me. Grabbing him by the collar, he leans into his face.

“If you ever dare speak of my family with such disrespect again, I will personally hunt down you and every one of your kin. You won’t see me coming, none of you will. But when I do, I’ll make sure to leave you until the very end, so I can take my time with you. I’ll make you beg for death while slowly destroying every last piece of you, leaving you unrecognizable.”

Rion shoves him toward the door. “Go. Now. Before we change our minds and gut you like the spineless prey you are.”

Cillian scurries backwards, stumbling on his way out. I hear the ping of the elevator as he gets in, then the door closes behind him. My hound inches forward, itching to go after him, to hunt him down and make him bleed.

“You’re just going to let him leave?” Axel looks at us like we’re crazy.

“For now,” I tell him, barely holding on and wanting to make him pay myself.

“No one is killing him,” Luka says, glancing out the window as Cillian staggers out of the building and into his waiting car.

“That’s not your choice to make,” I tell him. We’re a family. Each of us looks out for one another. Even if one of us is too hurt or blind to see what they need.

Luka whips around, his eyes bleeding darkness. “And it’s yours?”

The fight leaves me when I see the pain and sadness in Luka. The darkness he tries so hard to push away instead of accepting.

“He was always going to pay for what he did.”

Luka chuckles without a speck of humor in his voice, raising his brows. “And I don’t get a say in any of this?”

Luka looks at each one of us. We stay quiet, our decision made. His eyes land on his twin. Jax looks back at his brother, a silent conversation happening between them both. Luka’s chest rises and falls quicker the longer Jax stares. Luka unravels, frustration etched across his face. He’s so full of conflicted emotion, it makes me want to go after Cillian right now.

Luka silently stares at us all before leaving the room without a backward glance.

Jax sighs. “I’ll go check on him.” He follows him, a somber look full of exhaustion on his face.

“When you decide it’s time to go after him, I want in,” Axel says, coming over to me.

I nod, agreeing. Everyone would get their shot at Cillian when the time came. But it would be only right for Jax and Luka to deliver the final blow and finish him off.

Rion walks up beside me and Axel.

“What did you figure out?” I ask Rion.

Rion shakes his head. “Nothing should be able to get out from the depths of the Underworld. If he’s right, and it was from The Pits, then more will come.”

“Then we’d better find our mate, and soon.”

“How is he?” I ask Jax, just as we make our way toward the car.

Axel and Rion are already there, ready to head to Staten Island to meet with Draven.

Jax shrugs, looking away. “He’s strong, but… ever since he found out what Kiarra was going through and how… similar it was to our past, he’s started to slowly to pull back again. He still thinks what he is, is wrong. That he’s too broken to be fixed.” Jax shakes his head looking away. “I can’t lose him.”

I grab his shoulder. “You won’t. We’re here, and as soon as we have Kiarra back, we’ll make sure he never forgets that.”

“Keep us updated and only contact through the link. I don’t want any of King’s people overhearing us because we got lazy and used a cell phone.” I give him a look.

Jax rolls his eyes. “Kai—”

“If any of those creatures show up, don’t try anything stupid,” I warn.

“We can’t die—” Jax starts, but I cut him a look.

“You don’t know that.”

Jax rolls his eyes at me. “Go. We’ve got this. We’ll contact if anything fun to play with shows up.” He smirks.

Shaking my head, I move toward the car. Rion and Axel get in after me.

“They’ll be fine,” Rion tells me, giving me a look.

I didn’t like us splitting up, but we also held the position of Alphas of the city. We needed to protect those within our city walls. Leaving this place unguarded when old demons from the Underworld are showing up wouldn’t look good.

Kiarra comes first, always. We just need to spread ourselves a bit more to make sure she had a home to come back to. One she would rule alongside us.