Page 385 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

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.

I jump forward, forgetting about the barrier only to be thrown back again, this time harder as I slam into the wall, leaving a cracked imprint.

I slide down to the floor as Luka coughs, spewing up blood.

Squeezing my eyes tight, I reach down and try to drag up any sliver of power. I pull and pull, feeling the drips of sweat slide down my face. But no matter how hard I tug it; I can’t access any of my power.

“Please…” I beg again, watching the rise and fall of Luka’s chest making sure he’s still alive.

King stands up, fixing the cuff of his shirt. “You’re going to pull the power from the core into you. It will break the link between us.”

The core? I glance over at the large sphere in the middle of the room.

“And then what?”

“And then… I feed.” What he says hits me like a ton of bricks and what it means.

He’s going to feed from me, taking that power into him, making him much stronger than he is right now.

King glances at the sphere, smiling. “You will do what I say… or he dies.”

I swallow hard, looking over at Luka, his face now completely white, the circles under his eyes dark and hollow.

I try to stall to come up with something, but I know I’m running out of time. “I can’t use my powers. They don’t work here.” If they did, you wouldn’t be standing there with that smug look on your face.

King smirks. “This isn’t your mind anymore… It’smine, and I make the rules here. I will release us whenIchoose.”

Damn it.

The longer I stare at Luka, the more blood I see until my mind imagines him bleeding out and leaving this world. I grab my chest as the tightness nearly chokes me.

I can’t lose him. No matter the consequences. And if that makes me selfish or evil or the monster here, then so be it.

King smiles, seeing the answer on my face. Using his tendril he pulls Luka to him, the dark tendril wrapping around his whole body, keeping him in place. “One wrong move and your little mate is never waking up.”

King closes his eyes and just like before, I feel the shift beneath my feet.

I blink and I’m lying down in the room I was in moments ago but whereas that was an illusion, this is not. I feel my power pulse inside me, calling out to the familiar energy in the core.

I look over and find Luka in the same spot, still out cold and bleeding with King right beside him, his shadows coiled around him.

“No tricks or he dies.”

I get up and glance around to see that our surroundings are still the same. The core is still in the middle of the circular room. The only difference is the energy and power I feel inside it and around me.

It’s vast. So vast, it feels infinite.

And something this powerful should never be in the hands of someone like King.

But I can’t lose Luka either. I can’t lose any of them.

I try to think of something else. To come up with another way out of this, but I keep drawing blanks, my thoughts scattered between Luka and my other mates.

Where are they? Did King get to them, too?

I glance at the core just as a pulse of energy spans out around me.

“Why not just take it yourself and break the link?”

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