Blood and Reign (Blood and Ruin Series Book 3)

I slowly wake to the soothing scent of Kai all around me. A warm hand trails down my back before soft lips touch my skin. I turn over and find Kai lying next to me, an exhausted but happy look on his face.

“Morning, beautiful.”

“What time is it?” From the dim light filtering through the blinds behind him, it looks to be nearly morning. Did I really sleep the whole day away?

“It’s still early but you’ve been asleep a while.”

I frown, looking back at the window. A while? “How long have I been out?”

“Three days…” My eyes jump to him.

“Three very long days…” Kai wraps a hand around me, pulling me closer until I’m snuggled into his chest. He breathes me in before kissing my forehead.

“I’m sorry.” They must have been worried.

Kai shakes his head, kissing me again. “You’ve nothing to apologize for.”

“Where are we?” I glance around at the large bedroom. It’s similar to Kai’s old one, the color scheme gray and black, including the dark wooden dresser and drawers, but the layout is completely different. The bed is a bit smaller and in a different direction with the window to its left. And there’s a more of bare, modern city feel to it than the cozy one from the penthouse.

“Jersey City. Between the five of us, we have a few apartments here. It’s not as big as the penthouse but it’ll do until we can get back on our feet.”

Kai shifts to look at me, his soft eyes full of warmth. “This floor, the one below it, and the basement are all for our personal use. The other three levels used to be a security firm that worked for us. They shifted to Manhattan a while ago, but they’ll have to work from here until everything gets rebuilt.”

I can’t believe most of Manhattan is gone. Even with the help from supes and other communities, it’s still going to take months before we start to see some progress.

I glance around the room again, I guess this is where we’re staying too. At least for now.

Looking back at Kai, I ask him as much. “Us too?”

Kai smiles. “Us too.”

We lie there for a moment, just lost in the comfortable silence and each other’s warm embrace. I smile to myself, feeling at peace for the first time in a long time. It’s like I can take a full deep breath, letting it go as every muscle in my body relaxes, instead of being in a constant state of fight or flight.

And then there’s the future. Something I never thought I would have. Not only do I have a future now, but I have one surrounded by people I love and care about.

I glance up at Kai. He gazes down at me, that soft look still in his eyes.

“Where is everyone?”

Kai moves my hair behind my ear, brushing the back of his hand against my cheek. “They’re out helping with the aftermath. We have portals all over the city, but they’ve all been in and out checking on you.”

“You didn’t hav—”

“We wanted to. None of us wanted to leave you, but there’s one hell of a clean-up. A lot of the surrounding cities have taken in most of the supes but we’re already working on getting it cleared to rebuild.”

“Is Jazmyn—”

“Jazmyn and her men are fine. Draven and his people are helping with everything.”

“How bad is it?” The last time I saw it, most of it was completely level ed with fires everywhere.

Kai sighs, his expression turning sad. “A lot of the area has been cleaned up, but we’ll need to rebuild everything from scratch.”

I know he doesn’t really care about the buildings or what will need to be done to get it back to the way it was. He’s thinking about the people who lost their lives.

I swallow hard. So many people joined the fight to help us. How many of them made it? “A lot of lives were lost…”

Kai tilts my chin up to him. He waits until I look at him before speaking. “It’s not your fault.”

“I know, I just… feel like maybe I could’ve done more or… If I’d been faster…”

Kai shakes his head. “We did everything we could and because of that, many survived. A lot of supes worked together. The demons and witches from Staten Island worked alongside those here, the Colorado dragons, the wolves… So many supes that normally stick to their own kind joined together to help one another and because of that, the damage wasn’t as bad as we expected.”

Wait… “The wolves joined? As in, Luka and Jax’s sperm and egg donors?”

Kai smiles, a glint of humor in his eyes. “Not the entire pack, but some, yes. Luna was there.” Was… I sit up, my stomach dropping. “Is she okay?”

Kai’s smile softens. “She’s fine. She wanted to see you before they went back but—”

“I was taking a long ass nap?” I glance around the room, not focusing on anything but my wayward thoughts. “I don’t suppose Cillian got eaten by a demon or maybe stomped on?”

Kai chuckles, pulling me back to his side. “He didn’t come.”

“Of course, he didn’t.” I give him a wry grin. Cillian was a coward, through and through. “I know Luka has worked out things with his wolf, but Cillian shouldn’t get away with what he did to him.”

Kai gives me an unreadable look. “Don’t worry… he won’t.”

He shakes his head. “After what happened, a lot of supes found their leaders… lacking and unfit for their positions. Some even tried to switch sides.”

I would say I’m surprised, but I’ve met some of the leaders over the years at Club Prestige. Most of them were corrupt and downright vile.

Kai searches for something in my eyes before continuing. “We also found out that the Cardinal Three has been divided back up with new leaders taking over. They have their work cut out for them.”

“What do you mean?” There was a lot of corruption after King took over, but I had a feeling that’s not what Kai meant.

Kai frowns. “King had more demons sent there. It wasn’t as bad as Manhattan, but there was still a lot of damage done. Luckily, they all disappeared when you commanded them. Same with Staten Island.”

I didn’t even think about the Cardinal. I don’t know why I assumed it would be safe. King never cared about anything but power and himself. I’m just glad he’s gone now.

“There’s still so much to do, but that’s not something you need to worry about. Just focus on resting.”

After sleeping for three days, resting was definitely not something I needed.

Kai glances down at me. “How are you feeling?”

I glance down at the oversized tee someone changed me into. It hangs off my body revealing most of my skin. There are no bruises or wounds. Not that I expected there to be any, especially with my healing ability.

“I feel…” Great. More than great, my powers are back to normal levels. No longer painful or feeling like it’s about to explode out of me.

“…back to normal.” I smile and then frown. “Wait… how?”

Kai laughs. “Soren helped us bring you straight to the Underworld. Rielle wasn’t there but once you were near the core, the excess power rushed into it. Same with us.”

“And everyone is okay?”

Kai nods, placing a kiss on my shoulder. “They’re all fine. Just missing their mate.”

“I miss them too.”

Kai smiles. He dips his head, leaning in for a kiss when I remember I’ve been sleeping for three days and probably need a shower, or three.

I wiggle free of him and move to the other side of the bed. He frowns, following me.

“I need to have a shower.” I’m surprised I’m not stinking up the room. I subtly try to smell myself, but I get a whiff of… jasmine and vanilla.

Kai smirks, dragging me closer to him. “Jazmyn’s been in to check on you a few times and thought you wouldn’t appreciate sleeping for three days without a shower. So, she basically gave you a one with some spell.”

Huh. I run my fingers through my hair. It feels soft, and so does my skin.

Kai pushes me down onto the bed, hovering over me with a smirk on his face. “Now where were we?”

“I still want a shower.” Cleaned magically or not, nothing beats hot water.

Kai’s smirk turns wicked. “And I want a kiss from my mate.”

I smile, getting lost in his dark eyes. “Fine, one kiss…”

His smirk grows. “One will never be enough when it comes to you.” He dips down, teasing my lips apart before sliding his tongue in and taking control of the kiss. One brush, one taste is all it takes to crave everything and more.

I deepen the kiss, reaching around him and trailing my hand down his back. He leans into me, his body weight pressing me further into the bed with every hard inch of him pressed against me.

Heat unfurls inside me as his lips trail down my chin and along my jaw.

He groans. “Kiarra? I can smell your arousal, but I need to hear you say it. Tell me you want this?”

I moan, as he kisses down my neck. “I want this… I want you.” I run my hand down his stomach and grab the hem of his top. He pulls back and yanks it off throwing it to the side, his possessive gaze trailing over every inch of me as he removes his jeans.

I bite my lip and he smirks down at me before leaning down and kissing me. His hard cock pushing against my stomach.

“I’m going to make you come so many fucking times, you won’t be able to walk.”

Fuck, yes.

He drags a hand down my chest, over my stomach and to my thighs. Grabbing the end of the top, he pushes it up to my waist before sliding a hand down to my hip and rips my underwear off. His finger slides along my slick folds making me moan.

“Fuck,” he groans. “Always so ready for us.” The husky sound of his voice slides down my back making me shiver.

I gasp as he slides a finger inside, while running his tongue up my neck to my ear.

“Imagine it’s my cock, beautiful.” He releases some alpha power and within seconds I’m dripping, panting, and moaning his name.

I arch into him, absorbing the feel of him when he adds another finger, making me moan. He slams his lips to mine, thrusting his tongue in my mouth as he fucks me with his fingers. My hips move on their own, meeting each of his thrusts.

I’m so close that when he curls his fingers, it’s all it takes to push me over that edge. I come seeing stars, my whole body shuddering in pleasure.

Before I have a chance to come down from my high, he surges into me.

I cry out as he fills me, stretching me to the hilt. He leans over me, his ragged breath sliding across my ear and neck. “When I’m inside you, nothing else matters. Nothing but you, me, and this moment. And I never want it to fucking end.”

He groans as he pulls back and starts moving, dragging out each thrust until it’s agonizingly slow making my legs shake from how intense the slow build is.

“You’re my paradise, Kiarra. Everything begins and ends with you.” He releases more of his alpha power but this time it seeps out, slowly gathering around me until it brushes against every inch of my body, drenching me in its hold.

I wrap my legs around him and try to slide up against him, quickening the pace but the fucker chuckles holding us both still until I stop.

He starts up his slow dragging pace, my entire body shuddering as it continues to build again when he releases more of his power.

I moan as it saturates the air around me, making my body throb with desire but it’s still not close enough to push me over.

I open my eyes and glance at him as his smirk grows. The fucker’s not going to give up until I’m so close, I’m begging for it as he takes control of my body.

But he’s not the only alpha here.

I narrow my eyes on him before reaching down and pulling up my powers. Kai freezes as my dark tendril slips out and brushes up against him.

Kai licks his bottom lip as they trail around his arms. “Kiarra?”

I smirk before letting them whip out, wrapping around his wrists and torso, pulling his body up so until he’s on his knees, his by his sides.

I slide out of him, giving him a wicked smirk as his eyes narrow on me.

“Kiarra…”

There’s a warning in his voice, but it’s a contradiction to how his body is reacting. His pupils are blown wide with lust, his breathing ragged.

He likes that I’m taking control. And I have every intention of following through with it.

“What are you—”

I lean up, wrapping my arms around his neck and cutting off his question with my lips. He moans, thrusting his tongue with mine and sending my body into overdrive.

He yanks at his binds as I pull back and give him a wicked smile. Before he gets the chance to demand anything, I use my shadows to flip him until we’ve changed places and he’s on his back with me on top of him.

Not even close to finishing my fun yet, I let my tendrils slide up his body, around his wrists and anchor him to the bed.

He tries pulling against them, but they don’t budge. He looks back to me with a raised brow and a slow, easy smirk. But it’s his dark eyes that reveal what’s really going on in that beautiful mind of his.

I can see he’s loving it, but he also wants to take control. He’s an alpha, the alpha among alphas… but he’s not the only one.

I trail my hands down his chest and watch as his muscles contract under my touch. “You’re not the only Alpha…”

His low chuckle sends warm shivers down my spine. “You think you’re the one in control here?”

I grind down on him and smirk when he groans, cursing as he pulls against my binds. I raise a brow. “Sure looks like it.”

His eyes narrow on me as he releases some of his alpha power. It shoots straight to my core, making me gasp. He chuckles, doing it again and again, making my stomach clench as that sizzling heat builds once more.

“Then ride me, beautiful. Take everything and more, because when you’re finished, I’m going to make that body mine.”

Shivers slide across my body at the dark promise in his voice. I rear up and slide down onto him, taking him to the hilt and moaning as I absorb the feel of his thick cock inside me.

Shock waves of pleasure sear through me as I adjust to the size of him, while our ragged breaths blend as one.

And then I’m moving, grinding into him, and using my hands as leverage against his chest to rear up and slide back down on him.

Once I get my pace, I let go and lose myself in the feel of him. Closing my eyes, I tilt my head back and ride him with wild recklessness.

He groans, low and deep and I feel it inside me, it only adds to the pleasure making me crave the intense release that continues to build.

When I look back down at him, I nearly come from the look of savage need on his face alone. His eyes are nearly completely black as they roll to the back of his head in pleasure.

“Kiarra,” he growls, sounding more beast than man. The raw hunger and desperation in it slowly strip away at my control, my tendrils faltering.

I pull them back when Kai’s eyes pulse a deep red as he growls again, his alpha power seeping out around us, making the air thick with lust.

Each of my ragged breaths fills with his power, pushing me straight into that sweet release. Riding the sweet side of pleasure and pain I come apart, screaming his name as I splinter into a million pieces, my body floating away in a haze of pleasure.

He pushes more power out and I become lost in the sensation until it’s consuming every inch of my body.

I feel the hold on my powers slip. Just before I get the chance to rein them back in, Kai swiftly moves, flipping us over until I’m face first on the bed and he’s behind me.

He leans over me, licking and biting my ear. “My turn.”

Pinning me down by my wrists, he pulls my hips up, widens my legs and slams into me. The heat coils in my lower stomach, slowly spreading out as he drives into me over and over. I can’t move, my body bent and curled up beneath him, but it only adds to the pleasure building once again.

He continues to work my body, taking control of every inch of it as he surges into me, his punishing pace relentless.

A delicious feeling uncurls inside me at the brutal strength of his passion.

Every nerve in my body is stretched taut, that one final deep thrust makes me shatter as spasms sear through me, spreading out to every limb. My body lights in flames as I come apart, screaming his name, the pleasure consuming my entire body.

He drives into me one last time, groaning as he spills into me. Both of us collapse onto the bed, spent and breathing heavy.

He rolls to the side, taking me with him and moving me until I’m by his side. Once we catch our breaths, he looks down at me, his eyes filled with so much love I can feel the warmth as it seeps into my soul and fills me up until I’m brimming with it.

He traces a finger along my jaw. “That was—”

“Hot?” I smirk at him as he chuckles.

“Very…” He glances down at my body, his eyes growing dark once more as his cock hardens against my stomach.

“Now… how about that shower?”

KAI

I drag myself away from my mate as she sleeps soundlessly. I don’t want to leave her, but something important has been brought to my attention that needs to be dealt with immediately.

Throwing on some clothes, I glance back at her before making my way down to the basement.

In the early hours of the morning, our men came across a supe trying to leave Manhattan with a couple of young witches in the back of his truck. They’d recently lost their parents, and this fucker thought he could just grab them and leave.

Our men brought him to us and when we found out who it was… Let’s just say, our luck must have changed with this little gift being handed to us.

Kidnapping is something we don’t just give a slap on the wrist for. Especially after what happened with Kiarra. And because it happened in Manhattan, our city, we get to enact the punishment.

I smile to myself, feeling lighter than I have in a long while. This day has been a long time coming.

Pulling back the bolt, I open the basement door and walk in. I sense my brothers nearby. Not one of them wants to miss this.

The basement is a wide-open space with four smaller rooms, two on each side. All are soundproof for when our interrogating gets a bit too loud.

Weapons and instruments of every kind line the walls. There are no windows in here, with the only way out, the door I came in.

It’s perfect for dealing with those who have no regard for the law and its rules, and sometimes doing it ourselves is the better option.

I see Rion first. He’s by a small table of blades, eyeing up two that curve into talons.

I walk over beside him. “How are the girls?”

His eyes flicker to me before he picks up the talon blade, inspecting it. “A bit shaken up, but both are fine. One of the covens from Staten Island is looking after them.”

“Good.” I glance around the room. “Where’s Luka?”

“He’s in there.”

I freeze. “In where?”

Rion raises a brow. “Where do you think?”

“And you let him?”

Rion continues to inspect another blade, as if the news he just gave me isn’t a fucking shock to the system.

“He deserves to handle this the way he wants.”

That’s true, but I want the piece of shit in there with him to fucking suffer. Many times, over. It’s what he deserves.

I try to calm my hounds down as they rise up, wanting to cause damage to the fucker. But if anyone gets to take the lead on this, it’s Luka. After all, he’s the one that was tortured by that sick fuck.

Cillian.

The idiot thought he could sneak into our city while hell was raining down and walk out with two of our people.

Someone up there was looking out for us, because after today the sick fuck would no longer terrorize Luka’s nightmares, or anyone else’s, for that matter. Even if I have to rip his black heart out with my bare hands.

I move over to the small room and try to listen out for anything but there’s no window and the damn thing is fucking soundproof. Something I’m regretting right about now.

Jax and Axel are right beside it, doing the same thing. Worry slashed across both their faces.

Jax starts pacing before he shakes his head, heading straight for the door. “Fuck it, I can’t wait any longer.”

Axel blocks him, standing in front of it. “Give him another minute.” But Jax has reached his limit, he snarls at him getting up in Axel’s face. “He’s had enough fucking time.”

“Calm down.” I pull him back from Axel and release some of my alpha power.

Axel remains patient with him, not taking it personally. He understands how on edge Jax is right now. We all do.

Axel crosses his arm, leaning back against the door. “He’s tied and chained to a fucking chair. That thing is going nowhere.”

Jax glares at him, picking up his pacing once again. “That doesn’t mean he can’t escape. He could get inside Luka’s head. He’s done it before.”

Rion walks over. “We won’t let him.”

“I just want to check on him.” Jax frowns, the tone in his voice pleading.

I share a look with Rion before nodding to Jax. Axel steps aside as Jax reaches for the handle.

But the door opens and Luka steps out, splatters of blood on his hands, knuckles, and top. One sniff and I know none of it is his.

I look into his eyes and realize it’s not Luka but his wolf in charge. I glance behind him, finding Cillian’s slumped form. He’s out cold, his face barely visible from the beating Luka gave him and it makes me fucking proud, even if it was Luka’s wolf who did it.

They’re both working together now, so that means Luka was also in on this.

Luka takes back over but instead of fear or pain in his eyes, all I see is… relief. He smirks at us. “The fucker is still alive…”

The tightness in my chest eases at the lightness on his face.

Rion glances over his shoulder, a savage smile on his face. “Barely…”

“Good.” Jax chuckles in twisted delight as he goes to his brother and pulls him into a hug.

Axel turns and narrows his eyes on Cillian’s slumped form. “I say we all get a shot at him.”

I’m not against the idea, but Cillian deserves something a little… more.

“I might have a better idea.” I share a look with Rion.

A couple of portals were already back up and running in the Underworld, with one specially designed for us. Thanks to our involvement in saving it, we could come and go as we please. We all just had to stay the fuck away from the core.

Which I was more than happy to do.

Jax narrows his eyes. “We’re listening.”

“Do you remember what Soren said when we were in the Prison realm? There are some demons that cannot be destroyed for fear of upsetting the balance. But they still need to be fed…” I glance over at Cillian’s limp form, a slow smirk sliding across my face. “…and being fed on by a demon will make sure they’re never reborn again.”

Meaning we’ll never have to see or hear about this vile piece of shit ever again.

Axel chuckles in delight as the fucker behind us starts to wake, a moan on his lips. Before I get a chance to blink, Jax rushes forward and slams his fists into Cillian’s face a few times before pulling back and slamming his foot into the end of the chair, toppling it over with Cillian in it.

Cillian flies backward, smacking his head into the ground, knocking him out once more. Jax turns and saunters back to us, a smile on his face.

“Now you can take him.”

I chuckle as Rion hauls Cillian’s body over his shoulder.

“I’ll keep an eye on the other one.” Axel walks over to the next room beside us, picking up a long blade on his way.

Jax follows him, narrowing his eyes on the room. “We’ll keep an eye on the other one. I’ve still got a shitload of energy to work out.”

“Same.” Luka’s eyes flash as he joins them. I turn to leave when Axel calls out.

“Kai?”

I turn back to Axel just as he narrows his eyes. “Make sure they make it slow.”

I give him a savage smirk. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”