Page 73 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

“Ask and you shall receive.” Jax’s smug smirk is a mile wide, the glint in his eyes full of mischief.

“I’m also open for other requests.” His smile turns wicked.

Shaking my head, I ignore the innuendo, wondering how the hell he did it.

“How did you do it? And how the fuck did you get access to the shifters’ suites?” Even I couldn’t do that.

Whereas Kaladar was overconfident, thinking no one would dare try steal from him, the shifters guards were always focused on their next threat, making sure they covered every angle. Even they didn’t wholly trust King, telling me they were a lot fucking smarter in the grander scheme of things. I steered clear of them when I could.

Jax winks, looking all too smug with himself.

“Talent, sweetheart. Pure fucking talent.”

Luka elbows him in the stomach, giving him a look. Jax rolls his eyes, a playful glint in them.

“This fucker might have also helped.”

“There was no might about it.” Luka narrows his eyes on his brother, ready to start up their usual bickering.

“Nice work,” I cut in, knowing this wasn’t the time for it.

Jax winks as both he and Luka now wear smug smiles.

“Where’s everyone else?” I look around, just finding the two of them.

“We’re here.” Kai, Axel and Rion come around the corner. Kai’s angry face relaxes when he sees us, whereas Axel looks even more pissed off. Rion sends me one of his signature smirks, as if knowing I would be here all along.

“Everything ready?” Kai asks me, as if I have a clue about what I’m doing. But like the stubborn hot-headed fool I am, I just nod my head and tell him, of course.

“Good. Don’t worry about the guards, we’ll keep them busy.”

“I can see that.”

“Call us if you run into trouble?” Luka asks, his playful mood turning serious.

“I mean it, Kiarra, any problem and you call us. Got it?” Kai says, his tone full of demands.

“I’ve got this. I’ll meet you on the third floor with Luna like we planned.”

Kai narrows his eyes as I evade answering him. The rest of the guys hesitate, sharing a frown before looking at me.

What now?

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Jax asks, making me join in on their frown club. Did they doubt I could do this?

“You’re having second thoughts?” Now? Seriously?

“No. Just… Let one of us go with you?” Jax pleads, thinking I’d give in. But even if I wanted to take one of them with me, I couldn’t.

The protection spells that Kaladar had wouldn’t let them pass, not without killing them. And then if they saw what I had to do to get through them, there would be a shitload of questions about my ability.

It would be a waste of time. I was better off on my own.

I shake my head, taking a step back. “I’ve got this.”

I needed to get onto Kaladar’s floor while everything was still full of chaos. The sooner we did this, the sooner we could get Luna out.

“Kiarra—” Luka starts, but I cut him off, feeling the time ticking like a clock hanging over me.

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