Page 105 of Tangled Fates

Not now, we have to get to the forest.

He’s bleeding. She argued.

Ryder growled as I heard someone coming close. I didn’t give her a chance to protest when we took off, but we weren’t fast enough. A loud boom sounded before we were launched into the air. I held onto her, turning as we landed so she fell on me.

“Fuck this,” she murmured, the sound of her necklace clinking was the only sound I heard before she slammed a gem on the ground.

Soren you better be out of the house! she screamed.

The ground exploded from the point of contact. Dirt flew up about fifteen feet high, anything in the pathway was destroyed, including our house.

I didn’t wait to see the aftermath. Ryder and I ran away, not stopping once. The more distance we put between Tay and us, the better.

“Shit, stop… stop!” Oria started to panic. “We have to go back for Loki.”

My heart dropped.

“Stop, please,” she cried out.

Ryder growled like he was saying no.

“Sunshine, we can’t,” I said, holding onto her tighter.

“Gray, please,” she cried.

I clenched my jaw feeling her worry and sadness. It gutted me and I slowly brought us to a stop.

Ryder growled.

“I know,” I said to him, because I could feel his disapproval. “Take her to the rendezvous point and I will go back to see if I can find him.”

“Thank you!” she cried out, hugging me tight.

“I can’t promise anything, but?—”

“What the hell are we doing?”

Soren ran up with Loki in his arms.

“Oh my god!” Oria shouted, launching herself at Soren. “I thought we had left him behind.”

“We almost did, but he was scratching the shit out of someone when I scooped him up and got out of the house like you said.” He squeezed her tight.

Another growl from Ryder kicked us into gear. We ran for about an hour, stopping twice when Oria needed it. We made it to a safe house, or more like a back-up supply house, in case anything happened to our home.

When we first set it up, I thought it was a waste of resources, but Ryder was nothing but efficient in having multiple back up plans. He always expected the worst and I was so glad he had prepared for it. He shifted before unlocking the spell on the house, getting us in before he locked it again.

Soren immediately took Oria to the sofa, setting her down before going to the kitchen. While he took care of our mate, I checked for weapons and to see what supplies we had. Ryder walked back into the living space heading straight for the kitchen.

He pulled out various food items from the freezer before popping them into the thing that fries stuff with air—I had no idea how it worked, but Ryder said it was great. Once the machine beeped, he grabbed a plate, setting food on it before taking it to Oria.

The moment was tender as she looked up at him, surprised.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He gazed down at her, guarded, but his eyes softened. His longing was palpable when he nodded and walked away. I went back to cataloging our things, but peered back at her, looking at the food with a small smile on her face.

Her happiness slowly came through the bond as I glanced at Ryder who was staring at his food on the counter. He looked wrecked. Even though I couldn’t feel him, sadness was bleeding from him. One last glance at her and he dug into his food.

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