Page 97 of Blood and Reign

Fuck.That’s all we need. King to gain even more power.

Apparently, I’ve no one but myself to blame for it, too.

“What do you want from me?”

“I finally figured out a way to break this little link between us, and you’re going to help me do it.”

King steps back just as the ground beneath us shifts once more. This time we’re in a large circular room, a huge sphere in the middle of it.

King steps up beside it, eyeing it with something akin to lust before turning to me.

I fist my hands, trying to summon up the strength needed. “I’ll never help you.”

King raises a brow, still smirking. He steps back and waves to the floor. “No? Not even for one of your little mates?”

My mates?

My heart stops as Luka appears lying on the ground right beside King. I stare at Luka, watching the small rise and fall of his chest, and wonder if this is real.

“How is he here?”

My eyes widen as King leans down beside him, closing his eyes as he takes a deep breath. “So much pain…”

“No!” I move without thinking, getting a couple of feet away from them before I’m thrown backward, slamming into the jagged wall before hitting the ground.

I gasp, glancing down as blood dribbles down my lip onto the floor. Groaning, I push myself up; my ribs and back feeling bruised and broken.

Still trying to catch my breath, I glance up, finding King staring right at me. “I’ve switched up your little mind game, so anything that happens in here is permanent.” King smiles, glancing down at Luka. “So, if your little mate dies in here…”

He dies out there too…No!

“I may not be able to gain power from him, but that doesn’t mean I can’t kill him. Even with your ability, hewilldie.”

He could be bluffing. Most injuries the guys have been able to heal from…But we’re in the Underworld now and King is a lot more powerful than we thought. There are so many things we don’t know.

If there’s even the slightest chance that he could be telling the truth... I couldn’t take the chance and risk it.

King opens his mouth; it expands unnaturally as he bends back down to hover over Luka.

“No!” I rush forward again, immediately getting shoved back. I try again and again but end up further and further away from them.

King’s shadow snakes slither onto Luka’s body, coiling around it. The minute they touch his skin, Luka turns pale, so pale he’s nearly white.

“Stop. Please.” I beg just as blood begins to drip from Luka’s ears and nose.

He knows I’ll choose my mates, but still, he toys with me, proving how weak and useless I really am. My knees drop to the ground as the tears run down my cheeks.

“Stop, and I’ll do whatever you want.”

King’s shadows slowly lift as he looks up at me, the smile he’s wearing unnerving. It grows as my shoulders drop.

He knows he has me where he wants me.

“Just let him live,” I beg. I’ll plead and promise, whatever he asks, if only to keep him alive.

My mates are theonething I can’t compromise on in this world. Now that I know what it’s like to have them in my life,trulyhave them, I can’t live without them. I don’t want to.

Without warning, King’s shadows fully lift from his skin and join to form a thick tendril. It wraps around Luka, lifting him in the air and slamming him into the ground.

---