“Is she…”
Opening my eyes, I find Luka holding me up, his warm hands seeping through the cold that has laced my body in shock.
How can I feel him? He feels… real.
But he can’t be. None of this can.
Luka helps me up. His eyes are sad, but with more hope and light than before. I go to pull back, to give myself some space from the storm of overwhelming emotions brewing inside me, but he won’t let me. His hold gets tighter.
“You’re safe.” He breathes, his grip not letting up, but neither does it hurt.
I shake my head, wanting to pull away, remembering the pain from their deaths all over again, knowing this will hurt too much when I wake up.
Luka inspects every inch of my face while I do the same to him, trying to imprint every detail into my brain so I never forget this beautiful man.
“Kiarra,” he whispers in a plea, begging me with his eyes for something I can’t give him anymore.
The rest of the guys slowly move toward me, as if approaching a frightened animal. I want to laugh at their expressions, but no words form on my lips. The shock of how real this feels chokes the words in my throat.
“Baby?” Jax moves beside Luka. He watches me with a wary expression.
“You…” He swallows hard. “You’re here and this is real. It’s not a dream.”
I shake my head, looking from one familiar sad expression to another. Why would my subconscious make up something like this? What would the point be, except to destroy me further?
“This isn’t real….” I choke out. “It can’t be.” Tears begin to run freely down my face as I admit the truth out loud. “You’re… dead.”
“Kiarra.” Luka pulls me to him.
I gasp as he envelops me into one of his warm hugs. A sob heaves my chest, making me want to curl into him and never let go. His calming scent full of chaos and night surrounds me in a warm embrace, but it’s all a lie. One I’ll have to wake up from soon.
“We’re not dead. You saved us.” Luka runs a hand up and down my back, and just like before, I feel his power as it spreads throughout my body, chasing away any cold that’s left behind.
Saved them? I shake my head, pulling back from Luka.
“I killed you.” Admitting it makes everything around me grow small. My chest turns tight, and I can’t breathe.
I killed them the very minute I let them in. When I should’ve pushed them away and made sure King never got close enough to hurt them.
“No. The bond. Our bond saved us.” Luka pushes, trying to make me believe him. Even in my imagination, he’s still trying to protect me.
“It’s true, baby,” Jax says. I stare into Jax’s eyes and see so much longing and affection. “We’d never leave you.”
Luka tilts my chin up to him, forcing me to look into his beautiful turquoise eyes. They capture me whole. Mind, body, and soul, but it’s just a memory. Something my subconscious has re-created to help me deal with their loss.
“It’s us,” he tells me.
I shake my head. It can’t be. This is just a dream, and no matter how much I want it to be more, it’s not. I know that when I wake up, it’s going to be without them, and these figments of my imagination will disappear, making it hurt all that much more.
“No. Please. Stop.”
They couldn’t be alive. I would know, wouldn’t I?
I rub the spot on my chest, trying to feel what was once there, when a small pulse of light starts to spread.
The bond… But it can’t be. It’s just another fabricated lie my mind is making up.
Luka releases me just as Kai reaches me. Taking my hand, he places the other on the side of my face.
“We were dying. Each of us. But you saved us. We healed, thanks to you and our bond, and we’re right here.” His eyes beg me to believe what he’s saying.
The look on each of their hopeful expressions breaks something inside me. I desperately want this to be real, but what if it’s not? What if I open what’s left of my heart only to wake up moments from now and none of it is real?
Kai sees my hesitancy, my fears and worries, and pulls me closer. “If you won’t believe us, then believe this.” He takes my hand and places it on his chest, right over his heart. “Feel my heartbeat. My bond. Our connection. It’s yours. You know it. Feel it, Kiarra. Focus on the bond we have. The love.”
I feel his soft breath along my face as he speaks. “You’re ours, Kiarra. You know deep down we’d never leave you. I’d claw my way up from the Hell itself, just to be with you. Nobody could keep you from us, not even death itself. Don’t give up on us, because we’ll never give up on you.”
His words hit me hard. Is that what I’m doing? Giving up on them. I focus harder on the bond, on the five threads woven together, and imagine it where it sits, right beside my heart.
The thump-thump gets louder the more I focus, just as a lightness fills me up once more. The energy spreads out to my limbs, settling everything inside me and putting it at ease.
Did I imagine it all… their deaths? But I saw them die… didn’t I?
“I couldn’t feel you…” I look at them all. “Any of you,” I tell them, a spark of relief shifting behind their eyes.
The guys share one of their looks before Kai speaks. “We were dying. That’s probably what you felt, but we healed. The bond brought us back.”
Rion steps closer. “Think of this logically. You think this is a dream, but what dream would allow you to feel everything you feel right now?”
I glance around the room, frowning. “But it’s not real either, is it?”
“It’s… complicated but can also be as real as anything outside this place,” Rion says, trying to get it to make sense to me.
“How? Because if you’re real, but this place isn’t, how does any of that make sense?” I ask him.
“We’re real, Siren. This place is just an extension of us. Of our bond as brothers… as family. Without us… this doesn’t exist.” Rion smiles in hope that I’ll understand but doubt creeps in, making me question everything.
I look up and meet Axel’s gaze. “If you’re all really here…”
Axel moves closer. “We are, and we’re not going anywhere.” He pulls me into a tight hug, his smoky scent filling me up.
“Where is here?” Still holding onto Axel, I look around the room. We’re in a kitchen, around a long marble table. The space is open, with the kitchen leading into a wide lounge area with a large white sofa set. There are wall-to-wall windows overlooking a beautiful cityscape.
Axel is still holding me, so it’s Rion who answers. “You’re in our link. A place we created to communicate when we’re apart. The link is built and sustained through the bond we, as brothers, share.”
“A separate bond from ours?” I ask them, wondering how that works. I’ve never heard of anything like it before.
“Yes.” Rion smiles, but there’s a hint of sadness to it.
The guys share the same look, but it’s Luka who speaks up before I can ask why. “We told you that we fell apart when you were taken when we were kids.” Luka shakes his head, frowning. “When we were starting to lose one another, I think the universe, or whatever it was, had other plans and kept us together until we could find you.”
Jax smiles as if lost in a memory. “It wasn’t as nice as it is now, though. This is a mirror image of our penthouse in Manhattan.”
“The first one was a dump.” Axel huffs, leaning back to look at me, but he doesn’t let go.
“We were able to modify and mold it to our liking, and, over time, strengthen it. From what we’ve found, it seems to be an advanced form of astral projection.” Rion frowns as he tries to explain it to me.
Astral projection. “So, your bodies are someplace else, and your minds are here?”
“Yes, but it’s… more. I don’t know how to explain it other than it’s like we are in two places at once, but anything we do here can be reset once we return,” Jax says, sounding more at ease the more questions I ask.
That… just gave me a hell of a lot more questions.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” I ask.
“We’ve been doing it so long; it’s become natural to us. As natural as breathing. It’s not something we talk about a lot; we just… do it. It was never meant to be a secret from you,” Luka tells me.
“That’s not…” I shake my head. I didn’t care or mind that they never told me. I’m just glad they had some way to keep them together, to stay a family.
“Besides that, we didn’t have a need for it when we were at the Cardinal. We were all together, and even if we wanted to, King had spells all over the city. We wouldn’t have risked being overheard,” Luka says.
Sounds damn complicated, but the more they tell me about it, the more my mind opens to this being real and not just something my mind conjured up.
It’s not a dream.
A harsh rush of breath leaves me at the thought. They’re alive.
I feel a smile spread across my face as the tightness in my chest starts to ease.
Axel kisses my temple. “When we find you, you better get used to us being all over that ass. I’m not losing you again, Princess. No fucking way. And if I have to tie my damn self to you to make sure that happens, I will.”
“That so?” I raise a brow.
He narrows his eyes on me, slapping my ass before moving back for Rion.
My mouth drops open at the shithead. I move to go after him, watching the spark light up in his eyes, when Rion steps in front of me.
“Siren.”
“Rion, I need to kick Axel’s ass. Move.” The guy’s chuckle around me.
“I’ll do it for you later,” he says, pulling me into him. He holds me just as tightly as Axel did.
“Fine.” I let myself get lost in him, in his scent and warmth. I feel a tremor work its way through his body just before he pulls back. We stare at each for a moment.
He gives me a soft smile. “I know you have a million questions right now and probably still don’t fully believe this is happening, but just remember our promise. We’d never leave you, you’re ours.”
There was still this seed of doubt inside me, but the longer I’m here with them, the smaller that seed becomes.
Jax narrows his eyes on Rion before giving him a playful shove to move out of his way. Rion doesn’t move an inch, but smirks at me, shaking his head, and steps out of the way for Jax.
“My turn.” Jax picks me up and twirls me around. Warmth fills me at seeing his and everyone else’s smiling faces.
“Knew I’d be the one to make you smile.” Jax smirks while the others roll their eyes and scoff.
He places me down, yanking me to him and lining my body up to his. “I fucking missed you, baby, but you know I’ve always thought actions were better than words.”
Without a moment to wonder where Jax was going with this, he slams his lips to mine, awakening a whole other kind of heat.
His lips explore mine, tasting, as his tongue teases mine, dragging a moan from my lips. Jax is addictive in every sense of the word, making everything inside me feel alive. He runs a hand down my back, leaving a delicious trail of heat behind. He deepens the kiss, his lips and tongue more urgent, as if this moment could end any minute.
My hands wrap around his neck, pulling him closer, wanting to absorb every inch of him and hold his body to mine. I feel his thick hard length grow against my stomach. Heat spreads from my core, building and wanting relief.
The feel of Jax’s solid body against mine is undeniable, and although dreams can feel real, something about this goes beyond what should and shouldn’t be and just feels right.
“Damn,” he pulls back. “Tell me you don’t think that was real.” He smirks as I lick my bottom lip. “Tell me, and I’ll prove it to you again and again. I’ll drag every moan and plea from your lips before I make you scream my name.”
Jax leans closer, his lips brushing off mine as he speaks. “Tell me, baby, and I’ll make sure you leave this place, remembering exactly who you belong to.”
Just as he leans in to kiss me again, a throat clears from beside me. We slowly break apart. Still feeling the heat from Jax’s kiss and catching my breath, I glance around at the guys. Each of them wearing a look full of pure carnal lust and desire.
“I think we should move on to more… pressing topics.” Rion gives Jax a look.
Jax adjusts himself, and I find myself drawn to it. His smirk grows when he catches me watching him.
“Does—” I shake my head, not wanting to ask a silly question.
His eyes narrow as he steps back into me. I hear Axel’s groan across from me but can do nothing as Jax draws me back in.
“Does what, baby? Finish your question.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I smile, biting my lip.
“Everything that comes out of that pretty mouth matters.” His eyes drop to my lips before moving back to my eyes. “Tell me, or the guys are going to get really pissed at what I do next.”
The threat does nothing to sway me; instead, it excites me.
Jax chuckles at my expression. “We’ll explore that later, but right now, I want to know what you were going to say.”
I clear my throat, avoiding his eyes. “I can feel everything here. As if I were standing right in front of you.”
Jax’s smirk grows. “You are standing right in front of me.”
I roll my eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“I do. Please, continue.” Jax’s smirk is wide and full of mischief.
I glance around at each of the guys. Kai’s eyes darken when I land on them. “I was just wondering what else I could feel…”
My eyes move to Rion. He gives me a savage look, knowing exactly where I’m going with this. I look back at Jax. My eyes trail down his body to his hard length as I speak. “…here as well?”
“Damn.” Axel exhales, adjusting himself.
“Can’t say we’ve ever tried…” Jax smirk grows. “But I’m definitely willing to find out. How about w—”
“Another time. Right now, we need to focus. We don’t know how long Kiarra is here with us. She could be pulled out any moment,” Kai says. He gives me a look to say he’d also like to explore my idea further before moving on.
“Cockblock,” Jax tells Kai but relents and steps back, sending me a wink and promising that this is far from over. “Next time, baby.”
It takes a moment for Kai’s words to hit me. The reality of not knowing where my actual body is, and the time ticking over our heads.
“Where are you?” Kai asks.
I release a harsh breath, my mind still reeling from Jax’s kiss and this whole crazy situation.
“I don’t know…” The table and machine flash into my mind, making me cringe. I can’t see beyond the room but know there’s one next to me, if not more.
“What is it?” Rion asks, missing nothing.
“I’m in a room, but there’s no window. At least not from what I can see.”
Kai and Rion narrow their eyes. “What does that mean, from what you can see?” Kai demands.
I hesitate, debating how to tell them.
Something flashes across Kai’s eyes, demanding the truth. “No more lies or hidden truths to keep us safe. We need to know everything.”
“It’s not…” I shake my head, releasing a harsh sigh. “I’m not trying to keep anything from you.”
Axel scoffs at me, raising a brow.
“This time…” I grit out. “And last time, I was only trying to protect you all.”
Axels smirks at me like the dick he still is, while the others look at me like I’m crazy.
“Baby, you know we’re all-powerful alphas, right? And you’re…”
I narrow my eyes on Jax when he stops all of a sudden. “I’m what, Jax?”
“Yes, Jax, what is Kiarra?” Luka adds, the smirk spreading across his face.
“Perfect, obviously.” Jax gives Luka a look, telling him he’ll get him back for throwing him under the bus. “But you know… small and fragile.”
My eye twitches slightly. I am far from fucking fragile, and as far as being small, it isn’t my fault they are all freaking giant-sized.
“You know what I mean,” he tells me like I should know. But all I’m thinking right now is that he’s an idiot.
“Rion?”
“Yes, Siren?”
“You can add Jax to that list of people you need to deal with until I can take care of it myself,” I tell him.
Rion smirks, his eyes turning warm. “Yes, Siren.”
Kai gives me a look full of amusement. “Stop trying to change the subject and tell us what you meant… Please.”
It’s the please that makes me lose any defensiveness I was holding on to. “I can’t exactly… move,” I tell them.
“What exactly does that mean?” Kai steps forward, his hands clenched at his side. Nothing about him scares me, though. I know his anger isn’t aimed at me.
“King has me strapped down to a table in a room that’s more like a… cell.”
The temperature in the room drops as silence shatters the good mood.
“That son of a—” Axel turns and slams his fist into the counter behind him. It smashes before fixing itself.
What the fuck?
“Damn it! We need to get her out of there,” Jax pleads with the rest of them, as if they have an answer for him. But none of us know where the hell King has me. I don’t even know what country I’m in. I could be on the other side of the world for all we know.
The guys start to unravel in front of me as anger spears through the room like thunder.
Jax takes my hand. “Kiarra, baby, think. What does the place look like? What sounds do you hear?”
“I haven’t got much to go on. The room is quiet. There are guards that come and go but only to… turn on the machine.”
“What, machine?” Kai grits out.
Shit. I wince.
Rion notices it, sighing. “I have a feeling none of us is going to like the answer.”
“It basically… electrocutes me,” I tell them.
The guys’ expressions switch from shock to rage so quick I barely catch it.
“Fuck,” Axel breaths.
“That fucking—” Jax vibrates with anger. Even in here, I can see his wolf slide over his face, cutting it close to the shift.
“When I get ahold of that bastard!” Kai’s eyes turn hard as he clenches his fists tight.
“I mean… it’s not the wors—” I start.
Kai cuts me a sharp look, cutting me off. “Nothing about being fucking electrocuted is good. In any world.”
As far as deaths go, it’s not the worse one I’ve had, but after his outburst, I am not about to tell him that.
“When I get my hands on him, I’m going to gut the fucker,” Axel grits out, his expression murderous.
Jax looks at Axel like he’s an amateur. “Yeah, okay. But only after I peel his skin off and slit his dick in half.”
What the hell?
“We all want a go at him. We can take turns, make him bleed slowly enough to drag it out,” Rion tells them, nodding his head. He has a crazed look in his eyes, one I’m not used to seeing.
“You were dying…” Luka says. The guys stop their savage plans to listen to him.
They share a knowing look. One I don’t understand.
“What?” I ask.
It’s Kai who answers, rubbing his chest. “The bond, it would cut off. Disappear for hours, sometimes longer. We thought…” He swallows hard, looking sad again.
They thought I was dead, at least for a few moments, until I healed.
Kai swallows hard. “But you’d always come back to us. Just like we would you. We’d never leave you, and even when you thought we were dead, somewhere deep down, you knew that, too.”
Maybe he’s right. I couldn’t let them go. I couldn’t see anything beyond them, but maybe that was my mind and heart trying to tell me something. That they were still here, and all I had to do was look closely enough to find that out.
“Right now, you need to tell us as much as you can about where you are.” Kai’s eyes turn focused.
“I don’t know. Being strapped down to a table in a windowless room doesn’t exactly show me much.”
Jax is the one to give me a sharp look this time. I roll my eyes but continue with what I know.
“There are plenty of guards. The building might be an old facility of some kind. But I’m grasping at straws here. I know I’m at the bottom level and that there’s at least a few above me.”
“How do you know that?” Kai asks.
“Malik told me,” I say without thinking.
“Who the fuck is Malik?” Jax spits out.
I ignore Jax’s possessive ass and answer the rest of them. “He’s a demon in the next room to mine. Or cell. There might be others in the building too, but I haven’t heard any of them.”
“But you’ve heard this… Malik?” Axel pushes.
Before I get to answer him, Rion asks his own. “And you know he’s a demon? How?”
I sigh before answering, knowing they won’t like my answer.
“Apart from telling me, he… escaped his room in his demon form and came into mine.”
They all jump in before I get the chance to explain further.
“If he—” Kai starts but stops, a dark glare shadows his eyes, expanding into his irises. He clenches his fist as he pushes back his hound before looking at me. “Tell me he didn’t—”
“Did he hurt you?” Luka comes over to me, checking me over for any injuries, making me smile.
“He just stared at me…” I tell them. It reminds me of the new ability I used when he tried to attack.
Kai releases a harsh breath, running a hand down his face.
“Because that’s not fucking creepy at all.” Jax looks at me like I’ve lost the plot, making me laugh.
Silence surrounds me, as soft smiles grow on each of the guys’ faces. I give them a questioning look, but they just shake their heads.
“You’re like a fucking beacon for trouble,” Axel says, still with that soft smile.
“Tell me about it. I attracted you lot.” I give him a smile and leave the conversation of my own new abilities for another time, not wanting to break this moment.
Jax gives me a smirk. “Yeah, but our danger is the kind you’ll enjoy.”
“Is that so?” I ask, knowing damn well that I would enjoy every minute of whatever they threw at me.
“Have you seen Kane?” Kai asks, moving the focus back on the task at hand.
I shake my head at Jax, forgetting where we are and what we’re talking about. Jax seems to have a way of doing that. A way of making me forget the bad stuff and to remember everything good that’s still here.
I look at Kai. “No. I’ve seen no one…” The guys sigh. But fragments of a fractured memory or dream cross my mind. “Wait… I don’t know.”
“Kiarra?” Kai pushes.
“I thought it was a dream.” Kane’s face flashes over me as he tells me he’s going to get me out. “He was trying to get me out. It might still just be a dream.”
“Someone might’ve caught him.” Kai shares a look with Rion before turning back to me.
“When was this?” he asks me.
“I don’t know, maybe a few days ago? I don’t exactly have a watch or window to guess.” I don’t even know how long it’s been since King took me, just that it’s felt endless.
“It’s okay. We might have a lead.” Kai gives the guys a hopeful look. “He might be still there. Draven is going to try later today. We’ll have more news then.”
I’m about to ask him more about this Draven person and what lead they have when Kai whips around, as if seeing something or someone. He stays in the spot for a few seconds longer before turning to us. A look of urgency slashed across his face.
“We have to go. There’s another attack.”
Wait, what? “Attack? What attack? Where are you?” They’re worrying about me, but I never got to ask them where they are or if they are safe.
Kai walks up to me, placing his hands on each side of my face. “We’re going to find you, and when we do, I’m never fucking letting you go. Get used to having five extremely possessive alphas around. We’ll be on top of every little move you make.”
“On top of, under, between… so many options.” Jax sends me a wink.
Kai places a kiss on the top of my head before stepping back.
“Wait. Are you safe? Maybe you should just focus on yourselves,” I tell them, but they look at me like I’ve lost it.
“Don’t be stupid, Princess.”
I narrow my eyes on my favorite dickhead. “Remember that promise of kicking someone’s ass when they’re annoying me…” I give Axel a look, reminding him of his promise.
He gives me a smirk. “I promise you can kiss my ass later. Right now, I need to go have play time with some ugly motherfuckers.”
“Kick. I said, kick your ass. I won’t be kissing any part of you.”
His deep chuckle warms something inside me. “We both know that’s a lie. Those lips were made to wrap around my—”
“Enough!” Kai sends Axel a glare. “We need to get going, and working us up will do nothing but frustrate the hell out of us. Especially when all I want to do is fucking hold her and not let her go.”
“Hold her? I want to do so much more than hold her. I’m going to fucking destroy every inch of her,” Jax tells him, looking straight at me with a savage look on his face.
Fuck. I was getting whiplash from their hot and crazy emotions.
Axel doesn’t let up, though. He comes over and tilts my chin up to him, running a thumb down my bottom lip.
“I fucking bite,” I warn him.
He smirks, leaning down, and his lips meet mine in a punishing kiss before he pulls back slightly.
“So do I,” he whispers, biting on my bottom lip, then dragging and sucking it, sending a bolt of lust straight to my core, making me wet.
Fucker.
Axel moves back, wearing a smug smirk. Before I get the chance to say anything, Kai is there. He leans down and gives me a slow, sensual kiss, pulling away far too quick for my liking, leaving me wanting more, and by the familiar tilt to his lips, he knows it.
“We’ll explain everything later.”
Any warmth I felt moments ago shatters with his words. What if I can’t come back here again? What if this is the last time I see them for a while? What if…
“Don’t. I can see your thoughts going into overdrive.” Kai looks at me, giving me one of the hard looks he gives the guys.
“Kai?” There’s so much I want to ask him. To say to them all.
Kai gives me a smile, running a finger down my frown. “When you wake up and start to doubt yourself…” His eyes soften. “Just remember… Always, Kiarra. Always.”
Just like he promised me when we were kids. That he would always protect me. That we’d always be family. That we’d always be there for one another.”
“Always.” I nod my head and try to push my doubts to the back of my mind.
Kai steps back, his eyes not leaving mine as arms come around my waist from behind. A familiar calming warm scent wraps around me. I lean back into Luka and let his warmth soak into me.
“It will all be okay. Trust us,” Rion tells me.
Swallowing hard, I nod my head. I couldn’t constantly think of the worst thing. I needed to have more faith. In them and in us.
Rion walks over, taking Kai’s place. “If I kiss you right now, I won’t be able to stop.” He instead kisses my forehead, letting his lips linger a moment before pulling back. “We’re going to bring you home to us. Soon.”
He looks over every part of my face, reluctant to leave. I reach up and take his hand, squeezing it tight.
“Soon.”
Reluctantly, he pulls back and goes over to Kai and Axel. With one last look full of heated promises and determination, they disappear.
“Guess it’s just us three.” Jax gives me a wicked smile while Luka leans his chin on my head.
