Blood and Reign (Blood and Ruin Series Book 3)
Blood and Reign: Chapter 10

As soon as Lucian is out of sight, the barrier shimmers and the white and gold wall reappears. Luka and I move over to Jax, helping him up.

He looks to me with a pout. “I think I have a boo boo. Kiss it better?” That innocent look he has nailed down is back, making me chuckle.

“And where exactly is this so-called injury?” I ask, knowing damn well whatever comes out of his mouth will be anything but innocent.

Jax’s smirk turns savage. “Well, my dick—”

Luka slaps him upside his head before yanking him up.

“Hey!” Jax narrows his eyes on his brother.

Luka glares at him as he grabs my hand, pulling me over to the others. Jax follows, still pouting.

Kai shakes his head, a small tilt to his lips as he watches us. “We need a plan, and fast.”

I glance over at the wall that was non-existent minutes ago. There has to be a way to control it from the inside. “Let’s take another look around the room. Maybe there’s some sort of escape or backdoor.”

With not much room in the first place, we turn, and each takes a spot to search. It takes us less than a few minutes before we all come up empty.

“Keep looking. There has to be something here.” Kai frowns as he tries to punch the wall. The hard thump causes no damage in the slightest, sending us immediately back to the drawing board.

I’m about to move to another spot when I notice a change in the gold pattern on the wall. It no longer meets up, and the space between the chair and the wall is now closer.

“Is it just me, or is the room getting smaller?”

Kai comes over to me, placing a hand on each side of my face. “Just breathe. We’ll get out here. I promise.”

I’d chuckle if I wasn’t still fixated on the spot in the wall like I’m trying to win a staring contest.

There. The gold pattern shimmers as it draws closer together, becoming more asymmetrical.

I look up at Kai as he frowns down at me, his eyes soft with a glint of worry. I catch the others peeking over, all checking in on me. It warms something inside my chest, spreading out to each limb and lighting the heavy weight that I once carried alone.

Knowing I’m not alone anymore isn’t the same as truly feeling it.

They all think I’m having a panic attack and even though this is a fucked-up situation, having each of them around me eases something inside me, lessening the panic.

Kai’s grip tightens on me the longer I stare up at his green eyes. He’s about to pull me into him when I take his hand, giving him a soft smile.

“No, I mean, I think the actual room is getting smaller.” I point to the chair. “That wasn’t that close to the wall, and the gold pattern on the walls is now uneven on that side.”

“She’s right.” Luka moves over to the wall to get a closer look. “It’s moved inwards.”

“When Lucian said the room would disappear, he didn’t actually mean…” Jax chuckles, but the sliver of panic in his eyes is evident.

Axel rubs a hand over his face, narrowing his eyes on the wall. “Fuck. Okay, let’s think.”

“Lucian said strong emotion would charge these.” Rion lifts his bracelet and looks at it. “If we’re able to charge them, we should be able to get access to our powers and get out of here before the room… disappears.”

“Yeah, with us in it,” Jax grumbles.

Luka gives him a sharp look. Jax glances at me, an apology on his face.

I shake my head, telling him it’s fine. We’re all in a messed-up situation right now. We’re bound to feel a little hopeless. Once we were together, I was good.

Kai looks at the others. “What if we fight one another?”

Rion’s eyes grow distant as he thinks it over. “But will that manifest a true emotion?”

Axel shakes his head. “That dick, Lucian, said nothing short of killing him would do it and as much as some of you annoy the hell out of me most days, I don’t want to fucking kill any of you.”

“Like you could.” Jax scoffs, but there is a soft look in his eyes that wasn’t there a moment ago.

Axel shoves him hard, earning a glare from him. Jax shrugs. “What have we got to lose by messing around? Let’s just give it a go and see if we can charge the bracelets.”

They all agree with Kai, grouping Rion with Luka and Jax with Axel.

“Who will I team up with?” They all turn to look at me like I’ve lost my damn mind.

“No one is touching you,” Kai growls as Jax rolls his eyes at him.

“No one would fucking try.”

Luka nods, agreeing with his brother. “I’d rather break off my own arm and kill myself with it than lay a finger on you.”

“Even I agree with them. You’re sitting this one out, Siren.” Rion places a kiss on my head before heading over to one side of the room with Luka.

I glare at them all, making them chuckle. But I relent, letting them have this one. I know even with my basic skills; I can’t take them. At least not without my powers.

Axel and Jax both wear matching savage smiles as they size each other up, moving over to the other side of the room. Jax slightly crouches as he eyes up Axel with murderous glee. “Don’t hold back, brother.”

Axel’s smirk grows as he slightly dips his head. “Ditto.”

Kai moves to stand in front of me as we stand in the middle of them, watching both. I raise a brow, giving him a look. “Those two like to make a mess. I’m sure you don’t want to become part of it.”

I roll my eyes at him, doubting either of them would accidentally hurt me, but I knew my answer would fall on deaf ears. Especially with him in overprotective alpha mode.

The room shakes at the force of the slam as Axel and Jax collide. Kai gives me a look as if to say, ‘I told you so’.

I shake my head and glance over at Rion and Luka, their moves more calculated. Rion moves in silently to attack Luka’s left, but Luka swiftly moves out of his way, avoiding it. Rion advances immediately, striking him from the right side, with Luka missing it by inches.

They go back and forth attacking and advancing until both groups are sweating. I watch the room grow another couple of inches smaller just as Axel gets the upper hand.

While Jax is distracted glancing over at me, Axel lands a hard punch to his face. I wince at the impact as Jax goes down. I go to move to him when I hear a low chuckle as he spits out blood. “Fucker.”

Jax frowns as he feels his lip. “It’s healing. Guess they didn’t block everything.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. At least there’s that.

Axel rolls his shoulders back, a smile on his face as he helps Jax up. They come over to us to watch Rion and Luka.

Jax frowns. “I thought my wolf was gone, but as soon as I started fighting, I could feel him. It’s like he’s… caged. Pissed, but caged.”

“Same.” Axel nods as he watches Rion’s movements with interest, his strikes against Luka now coming from every angle.

Seconds later, Rion takes Luka down. He catches him from behind, holding him in a chokehold before bringing him to the brink of unconsciousness. Just before he passes out, he releases him.

“Well? What’s the verdict?”

We move closer and take a look at the beads on the bracelet. Not even a shimmer of a glow is on any of them.

Jax scrubs a hand down his face. “Well, that was a colossal waste of time.”

“I wouldn’t say it was a complete waste of time.” Axel smirks at him. Jax punches him in the shoulder. “I’ll get you back, fucker.”

“Anytime.”

“Why didn’t they even light up a little?” Jax shakes his bracelet like it’s a fucking glow stick that’s broken.

“Because none of us truly wants to hurt the other,” Rion tells us.

“Any other ideas?” Axel asks, turning to kick the end of the bed and breaking it.

Kai shakes his head but stops, whipping his head to me. His eyes widen slightly as if he just realized something. Before I get the chance to ask him what it is, he moves closer to me with a roguish glint in his eyes.

“Do you trust me?”

I nod. “Of course.”

He leans down and presses his soft lips to mine, trailing his tongue along the seam of my lip. I melt into him, getting lost in his kiss.

I swallow his low groan as I trail my hands up his chest to around his neck. It’s not until one of the guys clears their throat, do I realize where we are.

Kai pulls back, his eyes dark as they stare back at me, unblinking.

“As fun as this is to watch, I’m guessing you had a reason to get us all turned on when the room is about to go poof?” I glance over at Axel, replaceing his fists clenched at his side, his eyes as dark as Kai’s as he trails them down my body.

Kai smirks as he lifts his hand. A glint catching my eye. Looking closer, I replace one of the small beads slightly glowing.

“What the–” Luka’s eyes widen when he sees it.

Axel huffs, rolling his eyes. “Guess the dick was right.”

“So, if fighting each other won’t work…” Jax doesn’t finish his sentence as he stares at me, the atmosphere in the room swiftly changing.

Glancing around, I replace five hungry dark gazes staring right back at me.