Page 129 of Blood and Reign

I thought I let the hold King has over me go, and in many ways, I have. But I’m also still trying to escape him. Mentally, he still has control over me and that’s something thatIallowed.

I have a choice. I can choose to accept this and suffer the outcome, or I can fight. I can fight until I have nothing left in me. Until my last breath leaves my lungs and the world fades into darkness.

I’m not as weak as I once thought I was. To go through what I did and still come out fighting makes me stronger than I ever thought I could be.

Stronger thanKingever was.

I used to think he was invincible, his power too strong to go up against. But everything he has, he stole.

Whereas I wasbornwith this power. It’s always been somewhere deep inside me, waiting for the right moment to break free. Waiting for this moment to take back everything he stole, and every piece of control he thinks he has over me.

I may have given him that control, that power, but now it’s time to take it all back. It’s time to show him what it means to be truly powerful.

“No, my end is not coming…” I stand up as my strength slowly builds inside me. As if my heart accepts what my mind has realized, warmth spreads throughout my body, slowly pushing the pain away.

Someone born of darkness does not fear it. They embrace it.

“Butyourend is already here.” I smile to myself, embracing the familiar power around me, feeling calm and centered.

Stepping through King’s dark mass, an icy sensation washes over me, brushing against my heightened senses and lighting every nerve in my body. Stepping clear of the shadows, I’m met with King’s look of horror.

My own shadows pour out of me and swirl around him, encasing him whole, just like he did me.

But unlike me, he won’t get the chance to escape.

I start pulling the energy from him and, just like the core, it flows straight into me. I give it an extra yank, hoping it’s as painful as when he did it to me.

It takes seconds before I’m brimming with energy. Once it builds enough, I push it out around me, focusing on every demon closest to my mates.

With the extra power surging through me, it shoots out, burning through each one of them and turning them to dust.

I sense my mates as they shift and move closer to me. Just as more and more power flows into me. So much so that it starts to turn painful just like last time.

But this time, I won’t let it go too far.

I sense more demons around us. There are still so many of them. It’s time they go back to where they came from.

Using the power now seeping out around me, I focus on every sliver of connection from the demons and pull it to me.

“Return to the Underworld and never leave it again.” My voice echoes out the command around us, just as their connection slowly disappears from my mind.

“They’re all gone…” Luka’s awed tone filters through my hazy brain as more power fills me.

I focus back on King and let the power continue to flow into me.

I feel Jax step closer, his woodsy scent grounding me. “Kiarra, baby, that’s enough.”

But it’s not. There’s still so much power that King should never get his hands on again. I need to make sure this ends here.

Axel’s smokey scent hits me. “Please, stop.”

But I don’t. I knew when I agreed that I wouldn’t be able to stop once it started, but I also didn’t come without a backup plan.

“Kiarra!” Kai shouts, the panic in his voice ringing out around us.

“I can’t… but you can all help me.” They might not be able to take the power from King, but with our bond, they should be able to take some fromme.

I focus on each of their connections as they move closer to me. I feel Rion’s strong presence behind me. “How? Tell us. We’ll do anything.”

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