Page 60 of Blood and Reign

I rub my chest; the tightness expanding the more I think about it. The thought of losing him makes me feel like my fucking soul is being ripped out.

Fuck. Look at me being all dramatic and shit. I’ve been around Jax too long, and now the fucker’s starting to rub off on me.

Jax picks up a rock, throwing it to the back of the cave. He picks up another, frowning. “What if they make us fight each other?”

I chuckle, looking forward to a good fight. Jax doesn’t hold back like the others. He’s the only one willing to push and pull and keep me right on my fucking toes. “Then you’re getting your ass kicked.”

Jax rolls his eyes before growing quiet. “I mean,reallyfight, like, to the death?”

“I’m not killing you,” I grit out. The stubborn fuck annoys the hell out of me, but he’s my brother, my family. I’d kill for him and if it comes down to it, I’d fucking die for him too.

Jax huffs. “So, if it comes down to it, you’re going to have to make the killing blow. You annoy the hell out of me, but I fucking love you, brother.”

My eyes widen, but I quickly cover it with a scowl. I guess we’re more alike than we know.

Two stubborn fools in a world that’s always trying to beat us down.

But no way in hell am I letting any of my brothers die down here. I’d rather split my soul in half than see anything happen to them. And as for my mate…who better be fucking safe and unharmed… If anything happens to her… the world won’t just burn, it will fucking blaze to ashes.

“Neither of us is dying, so get that fucking stupid thought out of your head.” I look around at the shitty cave again. “I doubt they’d go through all the trouble of setting this up if they just wanted to have us kill one another.”

Jax leans back against the cave wall, sighing. “I’m just fucking sick of always being pulled away from her. Every time we think she’s safe, she gets yanked away from us. I don’t like her being alone. She spent the last six years alone. I thought I could at least make sure that never happened again.”

“Stop being so damn hard on yourself. We’re literally in fucking Hell, and we don’t exactly have control over anything right now. But we will, and when we do, whoever separated us will pay. You have my word, brother.”

Jax slides his hand across his eyes, trying to hide the fact that the little shit is crying. Okay, notactuallycrying, more like a couple of stray tears, and if we weren’t in this shitty situation, that’s making him all emotional and shit, I’d tease the fucker endlessly.

But I guess he’s not the only one missing his mate. Kiarra is more than my world. She’s the fucking air I breathe.

And I can’t take a deep breath unless I know she’s safe and happy.

My dragon growls loud enough for me to hear, agreeing with me. It eases some of the tightness in my chest, knowing I can still hear the moody fuck.

The fucker laughs.

Fine. We’rebothmoody fucks.

He huffs an agreement and I imagine the fucker smirking at me, all smug and shit.

Jax is still lost in his thoughts. The sad fuck. I mean, I’m sad too…well more like fucking angry, but it’s basically the same thing. I glance around the cave, trying to figure out what to say to the fucker to pull him out of it. Luka is normally the one who bounces off him and makes him quickly snap out of it.

I kick the fucker’s feet. He looks up at me, narrowing his eyes, the dim light in them pissing me off. “Look, they put us together , right? I’m guessing it’s the same for the others, so our little mate is more than likely with one of them.” I will myself to believe it too.

Jax’s dimmed eyes start to fade as he nods his head. “You’re right.”

“When am I not?” I give him a smug smirk, but the fucker doesn’t miss a beat replying to me.

“Every other day? Fuck, probably ninety-nine percent of the time if we’re talking statistics.”

And… the fucker’s back. Thank fuck for that. There’s only so much mopey Jax I can take. “When the hell do we… talk statistics?”

Jax shrugs. “I don’t know. I thought it sounded smart.”

“You’re fucking weird.”

Jax laughs, the glint of light in his eyes nearly back to its normal state now. “I’d rather be weird than fucking boring like you.”

“Our little mate doesn’t think I’m boring.” Especially when I make her come so fucking hard, she screams my name.

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