Blood and Reign (Blood and Ruin Series Book 3)

We both move further out of the cave and get a better look at our new surroundings. The barren land is like a desert that looks as if it goes on infinitely in every direction.

There are two suns above, one in front and the other behind us. The heat coming from each is probably why the land is barren and completely parched from any nourishment.

I take a step into this dark world, pausing when loud shrieks hit my ears.

Wails of the lost souls echo around us, each one drenched in pain and sorrow. Something on the ground catches my eye. I move closer to it and watch as dark shadows crawl along it making me shiver.

I share a look with Rion as we move further out into the desolate land. We only make it a few steps before we hear voices calling out.

Turning to my left, I release a breath as I watch the rest of my mates moving toward us, coming out of another cave further down.

“They all must be connected.” Rion tilts his head, glancing along the long wall of the cave-like structures behind us.

Seconds pass before Kai has me in his arms, holding me tight. “Are you okay?”

I share a smile with Rion. “We’re fine.”

Kai releases a harsh breath, squeezing me tight one last time, before releasing me and moving over to Rion.

Jax and Luka take his spot, both holding me and hugging me just as tight. “I’m fine, guys.”

“I told you they’d be fine,” Soren tells them, unfazed by their glares.

Luka takes hold of my hand. “What happened after you fell? We tried going after you, but the entire floor caved in.” I share a look with Rion, his eyes softening before looking at the guys. “We ran into a couple of complications, but it was nothing we couldn’t handle.”

Kai’s eyes check me over once more, frowning at the bloodstains. “We knew from the bond you were close, but we had no way of getting to you.”

“Yeah, it was Hell… Oh wait…” Jax smirks at his own joke, but as always, it breaks the tension.

“Idiot,” Axel murmurs as he hugs me from behind, but I feel the small smile on his lips as he kisses my neck.

“Glad you’re okay, princess.”

I give him a soft smile before I look over at Soren. “What is this place?”

“The Shadow realm.” Soren frowns but starts moving forward. “Keep moving forward and ignore the souls that call out to you. Nothing here is what it seems.”

“You can say that again.” Axel releases me but stays close by, just like the rest of them. Luka keeps my hand in his as we follow Soren.

“Nothing here is what it seems,” Jax repeats, earning a glare from Axel. Jax gives him an innocent look. “What? You said to repeat it.”

Axel narrows his eyes to slits. “You’re such a fucking child.”

“No. I’m a man with a huge cock. Just ask Kiarra.”

Not willing to break the easy-going mood, I play along, nodding my head with a serious look on my face. “It’s true.”

Jax’s smirk only grows, the glint in his eyes lighting up his entire face. “Told you.”

Axel sighs as the others chuckle around us. “Don’t encourage him.”

I shrug, giving him my own version of Jax’s innocent look. “I’m just telling you the truth.”

Axel’s eyes narrow on me. From the look on his face, I can see that our little game is hitting a nerve.

“I’ve seen the little dick’s prick. There’s nothing fucking impressive about it.”

I smother my laugh as Jax moves closer to him. “We both know she screamed louder for me.”

“She screamed for both of us, idiot.”

Jax gives him a patronizing look. “But I was inside her.”

Axel’s eyes widen with anger. “And my cock was fucking her mouth. What’s your point?”

Soren raises a brow before shaking his head and walking further ahead and hopefully out of ears’ reach.

Axel scoffs. “Fuck that. We both know I can make her scream the loudest.”

Jax gives him a pitying look. “That’s because I was there with you. I did most of the work.”

Axel clenches his jaw so tight; he looks like he’s about to bust a vein in the side of his head. “Fine. Then let’s find out for sure. We’ll both take her, one after the other. The one who makes her scream the loudest here and now wins bragging rights for a year.”

I chuckle. “As much as I’d love to play along with that entire little scenario. I’d rather not do it in front of the creepy shadow things crawling on the ground.” I point down at one as it slithers past us.

They both freeze as if just realizing where we are. Axel frowns while Jax sighs dramatically, looking put out.

“It’s okay, we all know the truth.” Jax shares a devilish look with me. I nod, still playing along.

Axel looks at him like he’s ready to pummel him into the cave wall. “No, we fucking don’t.”

Jax chuckles before patting him on the shoulder. “Don’t be such a fucking child. We’re all adults here.”

Jax walks off, leaving a pissed off dragon with a permanent eye twitch in place. Axel starts after Jax when a heart-wrenching scream sounds out around us, stopping us in our tracks. I glance over at the source of the sound, my eyes widening at the scene in front of me.

A shadow rises up, swirling to form a large circular frame of black smoke. The center of it glitches like the display of an old TV just before a video of a woman stumbling out of a car appears. She watches the car burn with a man out cold inside. The car suddenly explodes, leaving her screaming over and over.

The complete anguish and torment from her cries break something inside me. I go to move forward when a hand reaches out and stops me. Glancing up at Soren, I find him wearing a somber expression, his eyes on the heart-breaking scene as well.

Axel steps closer, glaring at Soren. He rips his hand off me, pushing him back. “Keep your fucking hands to yourself.”

Soren raises his hands, a small smirk on his face. He ignores Axel’s pissed off glare while continuing. “We can’t intervene.”

I ignore the alpha male pissing contest and look back at the woman. She’s still calling out, kneeling on the ground. Everything inside the strange shadows slows down as if moving in slow motion before shifting.

“What’s happening?” The scene in front of us glitches again and moves backward as if rewinding before starting again, the heart- wrenching scream shuttering through my chest once more.

“She’s living her worst nightmare over and over.” Soren’s eyes glow as he looks at the scene. He frowns before shaking his head. “She’ll be here a while before she can move on.”

“What? Why?” She doesn’t deserve this. Not to watch someone she cares about die over and over. No one deserves that.

“She doesn’t look… evil,” Jax tells him.

“No one does. But you’d be right; she’s not a bad soul,” Soren tells him.

“You can tell?” I ask him. He nods, not saying anything more on the subject.

“Many souls come here to deal with their guilt before moving on. But guilt is a powerful thing, and sometimes the hardest thing to do is forgive yourself.”

Her screams echo around us as the glitch repeats once more.

“Can we help her?” I plead. If she was a good soul, surely, she didn’t deserve this.

“It would make no difference. She needs to be the one to realize it wasn’t her fault or if it was, to take responsibility for it and know that it was a mistake and move on. If we try to interfere with her progress, we could end up making it worse and stop them from moving on completely.”

Them?

I glance back at the scene. The man from the car glitches and moves behind her, holding her tight.

My head whips to Soren. He smiles. “Don’t worry, she’s in good company. Even humans have soulmates. He’ll be by her side until they can move on together.”

“The Underworld is not what I expected,” I mumble, taking one last look at the couple before following him, the guys close beside me.

Soren smirks. “Let me guess… You were picturing ash falling from a dark sky with pits of flames?”

“Something like that.” We move past the scene quickly. Jax and Luka keep their eyes on me, as if waiting for me to try something. I glare back at them.

Even if wanted to help ease her suffering, I wasn’t stupid enough to risk her passing on. Either of them. Knowing she has someone there with her eases the knot in my stomach. Hopefully, they both can pass on soon.

We quickly move further into the barren land until there’s nothing but a complete desert around us. We spot a couple more shadowy frames of smoke but they’re more grayed out than the first one, the glitches too erratic to see what’s going on inside them.

“There are a lot fewer souls here than there usually are.” Soren frowns, stopping as a wisp of shadow quickly passes us before disappearing into nothing.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Maybe they all moved on. At least that’s what I hope.

“No. The energy here… it’s all wrong.” Soren bends down, touching the cracked ground.

Kai glances down at him, frowning. “How?”

“It’s off. As if it’s been stolen or… absorbed.” Soren shakes his head, getting up to look around.

“It doesn’t make any sense. Not in this realm.”

Stealing energy…

“Do you think?” I share a worried look with Kai.

“King. It has to be.”

The sun to my left shutters in my vision, drawing my attention. I glance over to it and stop short.

A large demon-like creature with wings flies about the sky like a vulture waiting for its food. “I thought you said this realm was just for the souls.”

“It is.” Soren doesn’t even turn as he continues on, but the others stop and look over at me, following the direction I’m looking at.

Jax mumbles a curse while Axel’s eye twitches as he turns to Soren. Soren still moves forward, oblivious to our new intruder.

“Then what the hell is that?” I ask him, pointing up at the winged demon.

Soren finally turns, following my hand, his eyes widening when he spots the creature.

“This is bad.”

“How bad are we talking?” Kai asks him.

Soren glances at Kai before veering his eyes back to the creature. “That demon is from the Prison realm. It shouldn’t be here.”

It flies away, disappearing within seconds.

Axel smirks. “Looks like it’s not our problem anymore.”

A loud shriek draws our attention to a dark spot further down from us. Axel’s smirk falls as he sighs. “What now?”

Soren moves toward the dark spot without a backward glance.

“I guess we’re following him.” Jax rolls his eyes before grabbing my free hand as we follow after Soren.

With the rest of the guys in tow, we catch up to him, finding him still as a statue as he looks down at a large burned spot with chunks of black slime scattered about it.

“They’re feeding on them.” Soren’s pale skin turns white.

“What are? The creatures? What are they feeding on?” I glance around, but there’s no other demon or creature around.

“The souls.” Soren turns to us, looking older than he is, the worry etched into his face like a second skin. “They’re feeding on the souls here.”

Jax glances down at the black stain. “I’m guessing that’s a bad thing?”

Soren nods. “Passing through the realms won’t upset the balance too much because once they die, they’ll be reabsorbed. No matter where they are, they start over. But to mess with the energy inside each realm is a whole other ball game. The balance will be ruined if these demons keep feeding on the souls in this realm, and it will have devastating consequences.”

The air around us turns stagnant as we process what Soren said.

“What happens to the balance if it’s off? Will it affect more than just the Underworld?”

“It will affect everything. Every plane and realm including yours and eventually if it gets bad enough, it will lead to the end of everything.”

“What about the demons on our plane? What will happen if we destroy them there?” If we have to bring them down here first, that’s going to be one hell of a problem.

Soren shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter where they’re destroyed. The Underworld is their home, they’re connected to it. Once they are destroyed, their energy returns to it, evening out the balance once more. The only thing we need to worry about is if that energy is stolen or absorbed. Once it’s absorbed, it becomes tainted.”

Great. Not only do we have to catch up with King, but now we have to fix the mess he’s made. And if we don’t do it as soon as possible, King will be the least of our problems.

“End of the world? Hate to tell you, but we’re already there.” Axel scowls at Soren.

Soren shakes his head. “A few hundred or thousand demons in your realm is nothing compared to how bad it can get. I’m talking about multiple worlds of chaos and corruption, eventually leading to life itself withering away.”

“So, just your average Monday? Fun times.” Jax nods to himself before turning and pointing at the sky.

“Oh look, another demon.”

The winged demon is larger and a whole lot meaner looking than the last one as it heads straight for us.

“Damn it.” Soren scrubs a hand down his face.

Kai frowns at Soren’s panicked look. “It’s fine. Let’s just kill it and we can move on.”

“These demons aren’t that easy to kill. They—” One swoops down ready to attack but Kai is already there meeting it on its descent and ripping it in two before Axel turns it to ash.

Soren’s mouth drops open as he stares at Kai and Axel heading back to us. “Those demons are not supposed to be that easy to kill.”

Jax shrugs. “Maybe the imbalance is making it easier for us.”

Soren frowns. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Don’t worry about it. Most of what comes out of my brother’s mouth makes little sense.” Luka takes my hand, heading in the direction Soren was before we all got distracted by the demons. “Let’s get moving.”

Jax opens his mouth to protest when a loud shriek sounds out, followed by another and another. We glance up at the source, watching as more and more demons appear, all circling right above us.

Jax smirks, rubbing his hands together, a devilish glint on his face as he eyes up the score of demons flying above us. “Let’s take turns and see who can kill the most.”

Soren looks at him like he’s lost it. “This isn’t a game—”

“What does the winner get?” Axel ignores Soren, narrowing his eyes on Jax, but it’s Luka who answers.

“Whatever they want.”

The guys all look at me wearing matching savage smirks. I roll my eyes at them. “You already have me.”

“Yes, but the winner gets to do whatever they want to you… I mean with…” Jax smirks.

“You didn’t, but I’ll agree either way,” I tell him, watching his smirk grow, his eyes burning with heat.

Luka turns, eyeing up the demons. “Let’s split up.”

“I’ll just wait here, shall I?” They ignore Soren as each of the guys eyes up a section of the demons above us. They’re about to make a move to shift when I call out, making them pause.

If they thought I was going to sit this one out, they were in for a rude awakening.

“What’s in it for me?”

“You’re not—” Axel doesn’t finish his sentence with the glare I give him. Clearing his throat, he looks away, rubbing the back of his neck.

Jax chuckles at him before looking at me. “Whatever you want, baby. Whoever you want and whenever. Lady’s’ choice.”

My smirk grows wicked. “Don’t I already get that?”

Kai’s answering smile is anything but innocent. “True. What is it you want? Name it, and it’s yours.”

“If I win… sorry, when I win, I want… Axel to take me up flying on his dragon, Jax and Luka to take me out for a run on their wolves. I want to see Rion’s basilisk up close and Kai, I want to spend time with all three of your hounds.”

The guys freeze, each wearing a matching expression of shock and desire.

Jax gulps. “Maybe we should just let her win.”

I roll my eyes at him. “You’re not letting me win anything. I’ll win fair and square without any of your help.”

Axel smirks, walking backward. “When I win, you can still ride my beast, but not before you ride me first.” Before I get a word in, he quickly turns and shifts into his dragon, taking out a couple of the nearest demons before moving on to the dozen, heading straight for him. He turns them to nothing but flames before circling around and heading for the rest of them.

The rest of the guys turn, ready to shift, but before they get the chance, I pull my power to the surface of my skin, feeling the energy around me grow and expand. Focusing on the demons above, I zone in on each one and push the energy into them.

Within seconds they burn, turning to ash, and falling from the sky.

Soren gives me an incredulous look. Axel swoops back down to us as the guys chuckle, shaking their heads. But all wearing proud smiles.

“Not sorry you lost?” I ask Axel just as he shifts back with a smile on his face and heat in his eyes.

“The only way I’d lose is if one of these fuckers won. They’d hog you all to themselves.”

Jax scoffs at him. “We already know I like to share, and I’d be willing to—”

“Now that the demons are no longer a problem here, how about we move on?” Soren looks at us all with an unreadable expression as he starts moving forward.

“Such a buzzkill.” Jax groans but follows him. He glances over at me. “Can we add him to the challenge? I’ll take his life as my winnings.”

“I heard that,” Soren shouts over his shoulder.

“Glad to hear your hearing isn’t gone with your old age,” Jax shouts as if he is deaf.

“Apologies for delaying the orgy about to happen when the world is about to end.” Soren narrows his eyes on a spot in front of us.

My mouth drops open as Soren walks over to a dark stained spot on the ground. “No one was talking about an orgy…”

“Well—”

Jax doesn’t get to finish his sentence as our surroundings quickly change before our eyes, morphing into something far more terrifying than the shadow realm. One that truly envisions the nightmare of Hell.

“What’s happening?” I glance around as ash falls from the sky like heavy snow as it lands in front of us.

“Welcome to the Realm of the Damned.”