Blood and Reign (Blood and Ruin Series Book 3)

AXEL

A couple of hours have passed since I was ripped from my mate and placed in a shitty cave with bars that fucking zap you if you touch them.

I’m losing my damn mind not knowing if Kiarra and the others are alright. I look over at Jax trying to make a dent in the wall beside us, but every time he gets deep enough, it just fixes itself. I gave up after trying a couple of times with no luck, whereas the stubborn fuck just thinks he needs to be quick enough before whatever spell sets in and fixes it.

“What is the fucking point in this?” I glance down at my wrist, the glow from the beaded bracelet fucking mocking me.

“We charged the beads.” And loved every fucking minute of it. I wouldn’t mind a round two, three, and then some.

Jax walks over to me, hopefully done with his pointless digging. I take a seat on the dirty cave floor and glance through the bars, looking out at what looks like one of those large gladiator pits for fighting. Maybe that’s why they have us here.

Jax seems to think the same as me as he takes a seat across from me. “Maybe they’re going to make us fight?”

Good. I need something to burn off this energy. My dragon is pissed as hell that we can’t shift, the shitty cave blocking it just like the room.

I can barely talk to him, his thoughts further away instead of sitting right there beside me.

I can’t hear him all the time, and I fucking hate it.

I rub my chest; the tightness expanding the more I think about it. The thought of losing him makes me feel like my fucking soul is being ripped out.

Fuck. Look at me being all dramatic and shit. I’ve been around Jax too long, and now the fucker’s starting to rub off on me.

Jax picks up a rock, throwing it to the back of the cave. He picks up another, frowning. “What if they make us fight each other?”

I chuckle, looking forward to a good fight. Jax doesn’t hold back like the others. He’s the only one willing to push and pull and keep me right on my fucking toes. “Then you’re getting your ass kicked.”

Jax rolls his eyes before growing quiet. “I mean, really fight, like, to the death?”

“I’m not killing you,” I grit out. The stubborn fuck annoys the hell out of me, but he’s my brother, my family. I’d kill for him and if it comes down to it, I’d fucking die for him too.

Jax huffs. “So, if it comes down to it, you’re going to have to make the killing blow. You annoy the hell out of me, but I fucking love you, brother.”

My eyes widen, but I quickly cover it with a scowl. I guess we’re more alike than we know.

Two stubborn fools in a world that’s always trying to beat us down.

But no way in hell am I letting any of my brothers die down here. I’d rather split my soul in half than see anything happen to them. And as for my mate… who better be fucking safe and unharmed… If anything happens to her… the world won’t just burn, it will fucking blaze to ashes.

“Neither of us is dying, so get that fucking stupid thought out of your head.” I look around at the shitty cave again. “I doubt they’d go through all the trouble of setting this up if they just wanted to have us kill one another.”

Jax leans back against the cave wall, sighing. “I’m just fucking sick of always being pulled away from her. Every time we think she’s safe, she gets yanked away from us. I don’t like her being alone. She spent the last six years alone. I thought I could at least make sure that never happened again.”

“Stop being so damn hard on yourself. We’re literally in fucking Hell, and we don’t exactly have control over anything right now. But we will, and when we do, whoever separated us will pay. You have my word, brother.”

Jax slides his hand across his eyes, trying to hide the fact that the little shit is crying. Okay, not actually crying, more like a couple of stray tears, and if we weren’t in this shitty situation, that’s making him all emotional and shit, I’d tease the fucker endlessly.

But I guess he’s not the only one missing his mate. Kiarra is more than my world. She’s the fucking air I breathe.

And I can’t take a deep breath unless I know she’s safe and happy.

My dragon growls loud enough for me to hear, agreeing with me. It eases some of the tightness in my chest, knowing I can still hear the moody fuck.

The fucker laughs.

Fine. We’re both moody fucks.

He huffs an agreement and I imagine the fucker smirking at me, all smug and shit.

Jax is still lost in his thoughts. The sad fuck. I mean, I’m sad too…well more like fucking angry, but it’s basically the same thing. I glance around the cave, trying to figure out what to say to the fucker to pull him out of it. Luka is normally the one who bounces off him and makes him quickly snap out of it.

I kick the fucker’s feet. He looks up at me, narrowing his eyes, the dim light in them pissing me off. “Look, they put us together , right? I’m guessing it’s the same for the others, so our little mate is more than likely with one of them.” I will myself to believe it too.

Jax’s dimmed eyes start to fade as he nods his head. “You’re right.”

“When am I not?” I give him a smug smirk, but the fucker doesn’t miss a beat replying to me.

“Every other day? Fuck, probably ninety-nine percent of the time if we’re talking statistics.”

And… the fucker’s back. Thank fuck for that. There’s only so much mopey Jax I can take. “When the hell do we… talk statistics?”

Jax shrugs. “I don’t know. I thought it sounded smart.”

“You’re fucking weird.”

Jax laughs, the glint of light in his eyes nearly back to its normal state now. “I’d rather be weird than fucking boring like you.”

“Our little mate doesn’t think I’m boring.” Especially when I make her come so fucking hard, she screams my name.

My cock stirs just thinking about it. The way she grinds down on me, swaying her hips and taking every inch of me. And those little soft gasps she makes when I slide in and out of her slick heat nearly fucking ends me.

Fuck. I really need to stop thinking about her or Jax will be the one to fucking tease me endlessly when I start walking around the cave with a hard-on.

He hasn’t noticed my switch in thoughts and gives me a look full of pity. Still trying to make me take the bait.

The dick.

He nods his head, all fucking condescending and shit. “She does, she just doesn’t tell you ’cause she doesn’t want to hurt your little feelings.” He nods as if believing the shit that’s coming from his mouth.

“My little—”

The bars beside us shake, making a screeching sound before dragging upward, releasing us from our caved prison. Jax’s wide eyes glance at me before we quickly scramble out of the cave.

Once we’re out, my dragon rises to the surface, grouchy as hell that he’s being pushed down so much. He wants to shift, but we can’t risk it yet. This could be a trap or another game or test that they’ve pulled out of their asses.

Smoke crawls from my nose and mouth, telling me he’s still fucking grouchy, but he settles down long enough for me to get a better look around us and figure out where to go from here.

I was right. It is like a fucking gladiator pit. There are cave walls that look similar to our little prison all around us, blocking us in. They climb upward before meeting some black net that covers the entire pit. I had a feeling it had that shitty zapping thing the bars have, except on a much larger scale.

My dragon growls in the back of my head, pissed that we can’t just fly the fuck out of here.

I glance over at Jax, seeing him struggle with his beast to push back a shift. He turns to me, his eyes revealing just how close his wolf is to the surface. “What now?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“There’s no one to fight other than each other—”

“I’m not fucking fighting you. No matter how much they want it. Not like this, so just drop it.”

Jax sighs, nodding his head as he looks around. He opens his mouth to say something when he pauses, looking down at the ground just as it starts to shake, and a horde of demons appears from nowhere on the other side of the pit.

About fucking time.

I meet Jax’s smirk, his own beast at the surface looking back at me.

“You’re late,” I tell them with a smug smile on my face as I crack my knuckles and start forward, my dragon fucking itching for this.

They waste no time attacking, their claws slashing out at us as soon as they’re close enough. I dodge them easily, the fuckers too slow.

Damn, my granny could hit faster than them… well, if I had one, she would.

A sly fucker tries to catch me off guard, trying to jump me from behind while his buddy in front aims for my face, but my dragon is having none of it.

My body lights up in flames, turning them both to ashes before they even touch me.

I glance over at Jax, making sure the fucker isn’t dead, and see a savage smirk on his face as he bounces around the demons, making them work for it before ripping them to shreds.

I focus back on the group, trying to surround me from every angle, rolling my eyes at their sad attempt to overwhelm me. Ripping the heads off a couple of them, I break off two clawed hands from one before shoving them into its chest. Yanking them out, I watch the fucker drop to the ground before turning to the next one.

I catch a demon running at Jax from behind and even though I know the fucker can take care of himself, I still throw one of the clawed arms like a spear toward it. It skewers the fucker, killing it instantly.

Jax whips his head around as it drops to the ground before he glances over at me and down at the other clawed arm in my hand. His brows raise before he smirks, turning to rip two arms off a demon closest to him and using them like weapons against the other demons around him.

Fucking copycat.

We get through the rest of the horde within minutes without breaking a sweat, let alone having to shift.

Something my dragon is pissed about.

Jax saunters over to me, smiling down at the clawed arms still in his hands.

He looks up and raises one of them to me, a dopey happy look on his face. “High five.”

I drop my mini demon weapons and roll my eyes at the idiot. Not deterred by my lack of interest, he uses one claw to smack the other, chuckling to himself like the little weirdo he is.

Eventually he loses interest and throws them to the ground beside the rest of the dead demons.

“That’s it?” Jax glances around, looking disappointed. It turns into a pout, making him look fucking constipated.

But the fucker has a right to be disappointed. “I’m hurt that they think we’re this weak.”

“What now?” Jax asks but the hell if I know. Glancing around, I get a good look at the pit. Maybe we can destroy it in our beast forms. My dragon can burn through anything. Surely a little fucking rock and net are nothing.

My dragon huffs, annoyed that I even question it.

I turn to Jax. “Let’s shift and see if we can destroy the pit.”

Jax smirks, a glint in his eyes that tells me he just thought of something stupid. “First one to cause enough damage wins.”

“What do we win?”

Maybe not a stupid idea after all. Both of us look at one another, wearing savage smirks.

“Mate privileges.” She doesn’t have to be here to agree. I know she’ll agree when she finds out what I have in store for her.

“Although. We never got that second round with just the two of us.” Jax raises a brow in question, wondering if I’d be up for just the three of us again. But what the fucker might not realize yet is that anything to do with our mate, and I’m automatically up for it. I fucking loved our group thing, and I can’t wait until we have alone time to do it again… and again.

The smug fucking smile I give him lets him know my answer.

We turn to head off in opposite directions when another rumble shakes the ground, making us pause.

I share a look with Jax before we both turn and stare in the sound’s direction. Three large demons the size of my dragon stomp into the pit. I try to glance behind them to see where these fuckers are coming from, but there’s nothing there, so it must be some sort of portal sending them here.

“Looks like the bet is going to have to wait,” I tell Jax, rolling my shoulders back as I ready myself for round two. By the looks of these demons, they wouldn’t be easy pickings like the others.

“Or we could kill two birds?” Jax raises a brow.

“Kill the demons and destroy the pit?” I look at Jax, actually fucking impressed he came up with a decent idea before nodding my head. “Let’s do it.”

I nod to Jax before shifting. Energy slides over my body, encasing it in warm flames that make me feel alive. Shifting always does that, makes me feel like I’m part of something bigger than myself.

My dragon roars, making sure the demons below us know who’s fucking coming for them just before flames pour down around them, forcing them together.

I watch Jax shift into his shadow wolf as he uses his shadowing ability to move through the flames and right into one of the demons. I focus on the same demon adding my flames to it and watch as it lights up, burning from the inside out.

Flying up but keeping low enough to avoid the black net, I circle back around and head for the demons. When I’m close enough, I release more flames around them, enclosing them in a ring of fire before burning them, too.

Instead of exploding, they start to burn alive and slowly turn to ash.

It’s apparently not quick enough for Jax as he speeds up the process by shadowing through the flames and demons until there’s nothing left of them other than a blackened stain.

If this was their so-called backup, then they’re all fucking weak. My dragon huffs, agreeing.

I fly around the large pit trying to find an exit or way out, but apart from the cave wall with more prisons, there’s nothing.

But maybe there’s something else I can do.

I eye the black net above, coming up with a plan. If I absorb the energy, maybe I can break it and get us out of here.

I get halfway when a heavy weight settles over me, making me feel like I need to take a long nap. I shake it off, trying to move as close to the net as I can, but before I can reach it, my dragon starts to pull back.

What the fuck?

My wings grow heavier and heavier as I try to stop a shift from taking over. It’s as if most of my energy has been yanked away from me.

I’m forced to the ground as I grow weaker, my dragon no longer able to stay in his form. I glance over and see Jax is fairing the same, he’s already shifted back and is bent over struggling to get back up.

I can’t hold it anymore as I shift back, my dragon roaring in pain.

My hands slam to the ground as I pant through the quick shift, my eyes catching on the bracelet and the beads. Every single one of them is dim, nearly completely black.

Fuck.

So that’s what happened.

A loud buzzing shakes me out of my murderous thoughts, my eyes draw to the dust rising and falling from the ground as if something is moving it. Looking over at the spot all the demons come from, my eyes widen.

Where the ashed remains of the demons once were, now in its place is a creepy black thing that moves and spreads as one. It grows, multiplying as it expands backward before swarming toward me and Jax.

I share a look with him before I push myself up, watching Jax do the same as we make a move toward the only place we can go right now.

The shitty cave.

We’ve no choice, it’s either that or the creepy black thing moving toward us and like hell was I about to test that thing touching me.

We can’t shift, anyway.

We make it inside the cave and the bars slam down, locking us in once more. I glance back out and watch as the black thing rushes right toward us. Jax and I take a step back just as it reaches the bars.

“Maybe we should—”

All of a sudden, the black thing stops, staying right outside the cave. A loud shrill sounds out just before the blackened ground collapses in on itself.

“That’s fucking messed up.” Jax stares at the weird large shadow hole, his eyes wide.

“You can say that again.”

Jax faces me, giving me a deadpan look. “That’s fucking messed up.” His face switching to a smirk. “Any other requests?”

I shake my head at him, still trying to catch my breath from the forced shift and running from whatever that thing is, when dark spots start to enter my vision.

“What the fuck was that?” I don’t hear whatever else Jax says as a loud ringing shoots through my ears, making everything tilt and sway around me.

My legs buckle beneath me as my vision goes dark.

Fuck, not again…

I feel my face cushion my fall just before I black out.