Page 48 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

A moment passes before a blanket is pulled over me and a warm presence settles in behind me.

“What are you—”

Warmth spreads into my back, easing the tense muscles and sharp pain.

Luka’s powers. He was using his heat to help ease the pain.

“Trust me?” he whispers.

My throat feels tight as I try and fail to swallow the lump forming.

“How’s that?” he asks, a hint of hope in his voice.

I clear my throat a couple of times before attempting to speak, my voice raspy.

“Good.”

Luka’s body relaxes into the sofa behind me. His thumb draws small circles on my hip, the warmth from his powers and touch, seeping into every inch of me.

“Do you remember when we were kids, and you decided you were going to climb that rotted tree house?”

I smile remembering the old treehouse that was down the road from Axel’s house. Its dark wooden structure was rotted and hanging on by a few rusty nails.

The guys were always playing around daring one another to climb and jump off it. I always wanted to prove I could be just as brave and daring as them.

One day, I decided I was going to do it. I remember making it to the top, and seeing the small, dilapidated shack inside full of dust and cobwebs. The elated feeling spread across my face when I realised, I had done it.

I couldn’t jump back down, not like them and their shifter abilities. So, I turned around and slowly climbed down. But my foot got caught on one of the old steps nailed into the thick tree and broke.

“I couldn’t get to you in time. Not before you…”

“Fell?”

He shudders as if remembering the moment. “You fell, and my whole world stopped. I thought you were dead. I thought I was going to find your broken body lying on that forest floor, that I lost my best friend and soulmate.” His voice is thick with sadness and despair.

Forgetting about my pain, I turn to comfort him, but his warm hand stops me.

“Luka…” His body leans in closer to mine. My breath speeds up as his arms come around me, pulling me into every hard angle of his body.

A delicious heat unfurls inside me as he places his hand on my stomach. A warmth that is all Luka flows from his palm spreading across and down my stomach. It blends with another heat, making me shiver.

I feel a smile on his lips as he moves closer to my ear.

“But you just got up. A big smile on your face and not a scratch on you.” His chuckle is hollow.

I remember falling, the swift panic I’d felt as I headed toward the ground. A sharp pain rippled through my body but seconds later it was gone, making me think I had imagined it.

Luka’s heat moves along with his hand as he slides it over my hip and down my thigh. He begins a long torturous stroke, the heat from his hand building on the deep pleasure expanding inside me.

“I remember thinking if you had… left us, I would have followed you.” His hand stops, the warmth leaving it as a spear of cold slices through me. The thought of Luka not being in this world, ripped every warmth, every shard of happiness and hope I had apart, and turned them to ash. They whipped away in the harsh breeze, carrying a piece of my heart with them.

“Luka…”

His hand flexes before it moves again. Pulling me further into his body, he curls up behind me, his hand fisting as he holds me tight.

I feel a slight tremble in his body as he leans in to place a soft kiss on my shoulder.

But the heat that was once there was now overshadowed by Luka’s admission, leaving behind a deep-seated cold that could no longer be filled.

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