Blood and Ruin (Blood and Ruin Series Book 1)

The serum works it ways through my body. Burning me from the inside out before making me feel like I’m splitting in half.

I’m slick with sweat, my cheek glued to the cold ground as I pant through the onslaught of pain.

I’ve never felt so fucking weak in all my life.

The devastated look on Kiarra’s face when King ordered the shot blazes across my mind.

She thinks we’re dead.

That son of a bitch is going to be more than dead when I get my hands on him. No one hurts my mate and gets away with it.

My hound rises up, demanding we find her and destroy those that hurt her.

But the burn intensifies, turning sharp like a whip. Slashing out, flaying my skin open. My tar-black skin ignites, turning to lava, and cracking like kindle on a flame.

The pain is like nothing I felt before as it grows and lingers like death.

Growing weaker by the minute, my mind dips, thinking King might have succeeded in killing us off.

Forcing open my bloodshot eyes, my fading vision finds each of my family members, my brothers, as they all struggle to hold on and push back whatever poison King shot at us.

We’re all holding on, fighting until the very last minute. All for one person, our mate.

Kiarra.

Her name sparks a warm flame inside my soul. It reaches out trying to find its missing piece but comes up empty.

She needs us, just as much as we need her.

I can’t die here. None of us can.

Death will have to come up here himself to take my rotted soul before I gave up.

And I will not go quietly into any fucking dark night.

I own the dark and all its darkness. Made from hellfire itself, I will become dust and shadows to get my girl back.

Death will not keep me from her.

My mind starts to play tricks on me as the pain starts to ease and ebb away. I glance down, thinking I’m hallucinating as the breaks in my skin slowly fall away like ash, revealing raw, healthy skin beneath.

What the hell?

The black tar wipes away like slime, falling to the ground beside me.

Lifting my head, I look around to see the others in a similar state of shock, glancing down at their own injuries as they heal right in front of them.

My body gains strength the more time that ticks by. Soon I’m able to lift myself up, going over to my nearest brother to help him.

“We’re alive,” Rion says, grabbing my hand to pull himself up.

“How?” Luka asks, leaning on Jax as they make their way over to us.

Kiarra.

“Our mate,” Rion speaks aloud, confirming my theory. “Her ability.”

“She saved us,” I tell them. Without her, we would be truly dead, fighting off death and his army of reapers.

“But she’s gone,” Axel says, looking lost. “That sick fuck has her.”

“She’s ours, she’s belongs with us.” Jax snarls, his wolf wanting his mate back.

Luka drops to his knees, his brother falling beside him. “What if we never find her?”

“We will,” I tell them, confident that we’ll have our mate back in our arms soon. A small humming in my chest reassures me.

“She could be anywhere,” Luka replies, still lost to his despair and not seeing what’s right in front of him.

“It doesn’t matter, we’ll find her,” I tell him with utmost surety.

“How are you so sure?” he demands, the shadows in him threatening to challenge me. I know better than to push him any further, his quiet nature only hiding the dark side he likes to keep hidden.

“I can feel it… Can’t you?” I give the others a look. Rion, as always, picks up on my subtle hint.

“The bond.”

Tapping the place above my heart, I give them a savage smile as a small thrum of power pulses inside my chest.

“Fuck. How did I not notice that?” Luka rubs his chest, a small smile tilting his lips.

Jax joins him, a glint of hope in his eyes. “Too busy trying not to die, brother.”

Luka shakes his head as the air of hope grows around us all.

“We’ll find her and then we’ll destroy King and everything he owns,” Axel bites out a promise.

“Yes. We’ll have her back with us soon, even if we have to burn the entire city down to get to her.”

We’ll find you Kiarra.

…We’re coming.