Blood and Reign (Blood and Ruin Series Book 3)
Blood and Reign: Chapter 9

Hordes of demons, unlike anything I’ve seen before, span out across the battlefield with six large demons spread out between them.

The destruction is on every surface of the battleground, the demons more vicious and powerful as they attack, leaving nothing but pieces behind. They tear into Ivor’s men like they’re nothing before moving on to the next.

The fight between Ivor’s men and the hordes of demons makes Manhattan look like a fucking joke. But we’re in their domain after all. It makes sense that they would be more powerful down here.

Axel’s eyes widen. “What the—”

“Hell? Yeah, this is definitely not Kansas, Dorothy.” Axel is still in shock at the scene in front of us that he doesn’t even snark back at Jax.

“We thought Manhattan was bad, but that wasn’t anything close to… this.” Luka frowns at the chaos ahead of us.

“And this is what our world will look like if we don’t stop King,” Kai tells us.

“Worse.” We all turn to look at Soren as he stares out at the battle, a somber look on his face. “This isn’t even a patch on what your world will look like if we don’t stop this soon.”

Ivor appears out of nowhere, standing right next to Soren as if he’s been there the whole time. He glances at all of us, a glint of intrigue in his eyes before his demeanor quickly changes.

“The demons have disarmed the barriers and are working together to take down the next one. If they manage to get past it, they’ll rip through the other realms and head into yours. Do what you can but pull back if it gets too much.” Ivor gives us all a strange look before disappearing again.

“Kiarra—” Kai starts, but I cut him off, not wanting to hear his speech of, ‘let’s all protect Kiarra.’ I think I’ve proved myself over and over that I can not only take care of myself but them too.

“Don’t even think about trying to exclude me from this. I’m more than capable of fighting in this battle.”

Kai smiles softly. “I was going to say, be careful… please.”

“Oh… you too. All of you. Don’t even think about trying something stupid.” I narrow my eyes on Jax and then Axel, knowing the two of them are the most likely to try something reckless. “And if any of you get hurt, the horde of demons will be the least of your worries.”

“Stop fucking flirting with us, babe. I can’t go out and fight with a fucking hard on.” Jax sighs loudly, as if he’s really struggling.

“I have to agree with the idiot. Your vicious streak is turning me on, and I need to go fight.” Axel adjusts himself, proving just how much my little speech is affecting him.

“You’re both crazy.”

“And you love it. Watch my back, babe.” Jax winks before running into a shift.

“Nobody wants to watch your furry ass,” Axel tells him, but he’s already heading straight for the battle. Luka looks on, his face drowning in worry for his twin.

“Go, ” I tell him, but he hesitates, not wanting to leave my side.

I glance around at the guys, but they let me take the lead on this. “How about another game? First one to kill most of the demons gets whatever they want?”

Luka smiles. It turns soft as he reads right through my reason for playing this game. “Whatever they want?”

I nod. “Whatever your heart desires.”

He chuckles, quickly coming over to me and wrapping me in a hug. “Be careful.” He turns without a backward glance, his entire body tense as he shifts into his shadow wolf.

Axel nods before following them, shifting into his dragon as flames burn a path for Jax and Luka to head straight into the middle of it all.

Kai steps up to me, his hand cupping my cheek and placing a kiss on my forehead. “Give us a head start?” He turns, running into a shift, his huge three-headed hound emerging and bulldozing his way through the hordes of demons.

That little…

Rion chuckles, seeing my expression before following Kai, jumping straight into the fight. Using hand-to-hand combat, he slices through the demons as he makes a move toward one of the larger old ones.

I stay back a moment, watching all my mates look for the best angle to attack from that will weaken them the most.

I spot Jax and Luka taking on a large group of demons, holding their own easily. Axel and Kai are holding their own, attacking the larger demons while using a tag team formation similar to back in Manhattan.

I replace Rion just as he shifts into his basilisk. It looks like it’s doubled in size as it coils its enormous body around one of the large demons, squeezing it to death. It bursts into a mass of flames and ashes before Rion uncoils and moves over to the next one.

That’s enough of a head start. I smile to myself as I let my power rise up and take over. I move toward the hordes, releasing my power outward as I do.

Once I step into the chaos, the power ripples out of me in waves, turning the closest demons to ash as I walk through them.

None of them get close enough to touch me, let alone hurt me. Some of Ivor’s guards spot me, their eyes widening as I move past them, but I ignore them, focusing on the demons closest to me and my mates.

Kai, Rion, and Axel have four of the six demons already gone by the time I make it to the middle of the battleground, with them both heading on to the last two. Jax and Luka are ripping through the horde, making up for missing out on the larger demons and taking out as many of them as possible.

More smaller demons appear trying to join the rest of the horde, but they won’t get that chance if I have anything to do with it.

It was time to end this.

I pull up my power from what feels like the very core of my soul and push it out toward every demon around me, including the larger ones Rion and Kai are attacking.

Within seconds they begin to burn, shrieking into a mass of black flames before turning to ash.

The battlefield turns quiet as all of Ivor’s men look from me to my mates. They give me a wide berth as I move toward my mates.

They’ve already shifted back and meet me halfway, each wearing a smile. Kai is in front of them, coming up to me first. “You knew you were going to win that bet.”

I smile, looking at Luka. “Maybe.”

“So, what does the winner want?” Luka asks, a small, knowing smile on his face.

I’m about to answer when Ivor comes up behind us. “Well. That was—”

“Impressive?” Jax asks with a raised brow.

Ivor nods his head. “She was right. But let’s see how far your power truly goes.”

Red flags go off upon hearing his words. “Who was right?”

“What are you—” Kai reaches out to him just as everything slows down to a stop. The world shifts on its axis, dissolving into darkness before swallowing us whole.

I wake with a start, my dreams endlessly dark, begging for some light to filter through. When the light finally filters around me, it reveals a plain room with no windows or door.

My racing heart starts to slow when I see each of my mates around me, the rise and fall of their chests telling me they’re all alive and okay, for now.

Shaking the remaining slumber from whatever spell Ivor used, I sit up and glance around getting a better view of the room.

The walls are white and gold. There’s a small two-seater gray sofa with a black table across from me. There’s a wooden bed beneath me, large enough to fit all six of us, but Jax and Axel lie on the floor as if placed there. Luka and Kai on each side of me, with Rion by my feet.

Kai is the second to wake, while the others slowly stir around us.

“What the—” Kai’s eyes widen before he replaces mine. He releases a harsh breath before glancing at each of his brothers. His panic turning to rage as it slowly builds behind his eyes.

“Where’s Soren?” Kai grits out looking around the room.

“He probably double-crossed us, just like Ivor. Dick.” Jax rubs his eyes and gets up to come over to the bed beside me.

Axel scoffs. “I fucking told you we couldn’t trust him.”

Rion rubs a hand down his face, his eyes replaceing mine. “Let’s just focus on getting out of here.”

“There’s no door or windows.”

Luka’s eyes trail over me before he stands up stretching his body. “Maybe it’s some sort of illusion or spell. They brought us in here. There has to be a way out.”

We all get up and start searching for a hidden door or anything at this point.

After a couple of minutes with no luck, Kai looks to the others. “Luka? Rion? Can either of you sense any build-up of energy?”

Luka shakes his head but stops, looking down at his wrist. “What’s this?”

A black bracelet with a line of beads is on it. Rion has the same one. I glance down at my wrist and replace the same bracelet on me, too.

“We all have them.” I try to pull mine off, but it won’t budge. “It won’t come off.”

They all start pulling at their own and short from ripping their hands off, it doesn’t budge.

Kai frowns down at his. “Neither will mine.”

“Shit. Same here.” Jax yanks at his with no luck. I inspect mine, noticing the beads looking completely dull with not even a sliver of light to them.

“Guys?”

“Why would he put us in a room with no window or door and put some strange ass bracelet on us? I mean… it’s not even my style.” Jax glares at the thing as if it insults him by existing.

Kai ignores Jax’s humor. “It has to be spelled.”

Axel scoffs. “He must know by now that we can just—”

“GUYS!”

We all turn to Luka and the panicked look on his face. “I can’t shift.”

The guy’s eyes turn from pissed to panicked in seconds. “Fuck.”

I reach down inside but feel… empty. Like someone has flipped a switch and made my powers disappear.

Panic chokes me, twisting knots in my stomach as I realize how vulnerable we all are now. “My powers don’t work either.”

“Damn it.” Axel slams his fist down on to the black table, breaking it in two. “I’m going to rip Soren and Ivor apart when I see them. They’re going to wish they never met us.”

“Get in line.” Jax growls, his focus on the bracelet as he continues to try to rip it off.

“How is this possible? How can they just block us from using our abilities?” So much for being super powerful. A shit lot that’s done when all it took was a snap of Ivor’s fingers, and here we are. Imprisoned in some room with no way out.

Rion sighs. “It could be the bracelets or the room itself.”

Kai folds his arms. “Let’s think. What did Ivor say before he knocked us out?”

I rummage through my brain for when I last saw him. His face flashes before me, a smile across his lips as he mentioned our powers.

She was right.

That’s what he said. Or maybe I misheard him? Maybe he meant he?

“He said something about him seeing how far our powers really go. Maybe he wants to test them?” I glance up at the guys as they steadily grow angrier.

“They could’ve just fucking asked,” Jax growls, narrowing his eyes around the room. “I would’ve given them a personal demonstration.”

They’d deserve it, too.

The wall to our left begins to shimmer before disappearing, revealing a hall. We head over to it only to stop before it, a translucent barrier shimmering in place.

“No one tou—”

Jax curses, shaking his hand as he pulls it away from the barrier. “That fucking stings.”

“I wouldn’t try it again if I were you. It gets stronger each time you try.” A guard wearing Ivor’s crest reveals himself.

“Who are you?”

His dark eyes narrow on me. “Lucian, second in command of the Infernal army.”

“Like we give a shit. Let us out of here now.”

Lucian ignores Jax. “I’m afraid that will not be possible. You’ve caught the attention of one of the Guardians. They want to see just how powerful you really are.”

“Release us and we’ll fucking give you a first-hand demonstration,” Axel growls.

He ignores him, glancing down at our wrists. “Each of you has a bracelet that you will need to… charge.”

Charge? I glance down at the black bracelet and dull beads. How are we supposed to do that?

Axel voices my thoughts. “And how the fuck are we supposed to charge them?”

“In order to move onto the next trial, you’re going to need to charge those pulling true emotions from within each of you until they’re full.”

“I’m feeling some pretty strong emotions right now, and nothing is happening.” Axel grits out.

Lucian chuckles, looking at Axel like he’s an idiot. “Getting pissed off isn’t a strong enough emotion. You may want to kill me, but unless you actually perform the act and fully commit to it, those beads will remain empty.”

Axel stalks closer to the barrier. “Come in here and we’ll see how long these beads stay empty.”

Lucian smirks. “I’m afraid I can’t help you with this. You’re going to have to figure out another less violent way to gain power.”

Lucian glances at me before looking at the others. “You’re going to need it for the next trial… That is, if you survive this one.”

Jax rushes forward, forgetting about the barrier as he heads straight for Lucian. Before we have time to stop him, he’s thrown backward cursing as he slams into the side of the bed.

“I’d hurry if I were you. Time is ticking and once the room disappears, so does anything that’s in it.” Lucian chuckles as he walks away.

“Let the games begin.”