Page 16 of Tangled Fates

The inside of the tower was massive. I wasn’t paying attention enough to think this through, but the need to follow her, to see her, was overriding everything I knew. It felt like she had cast some sort of spell on me and I was useless against it. I didn’t care if she was luring me to my death. All I wanted was another glance at her, another lungful of her scent and a chance to be in her presence.

“Could you stop being such a pest,” a voice traveled down to me. “Look, just because she’s gone doesn’t mean anything.”

Her voice was soft, sweet, melodic and just imagining my name on her lips made my body flush with desire.

I slowly made my way towards her. The winding staircase traveled up over several floors until I came to a floor that looked like storage, but I smelled it immediately.

It was Oria. What we had been looking for and what we thought we still needed to find. Stress that I didn’t even know I was carrying, eased slightly; this was fucking perfect. I hated that we missed the portal, but it was fate. We were meant to find this place.

As much as I wanted to go after her, the Oria took priority. Stepping into the room, I opened a few boxes, finding nothing but packing supplies and vials. But my eyes caught a box left half opened in the back and something shiny inside.

Opening it, a vial of metallic liquid sloshed inside. Shit… this was what we needed to create a portal out of here. The box was full of them and I grabbed a few knowing this would be our way out. Loud stomping made me hurry. It was stupid to come here alone, but now that I knew what we were looking for, this was going to be easy.

I left things as they were, making sure everything looked like it was supposed to be. Listening for anyone in the stairwell, more loud stomping from above made being here alone too risky.

Getting out, I kept my eyes open, looking for anyone around, but I saw no one. That didn’t mean they weren’t there. I finally made it out of the tower, running towards the tree I was behind and ran up the mountain to the opening I had come through.

Passing through the illusion, expecting to see Ryder and Gray right away, I was met with a quiet night. My mind immediately thought of the worst-case scenario and I instantly felt horrible. I put them in danger because of a woman.

“Where the fuck have you been?!” Gray ran to me with Ryder in wolf form behind him.

“That part of the mountain is an illusion. I think I just found our ticket home and what we need. Oria.”

7

ORIA

The first day after Mother left, I thought I was seeing things or hearing Loki, but when I went into the work room, things looked like they had been moved. Then the feeling of being watched started on the second day. It felt like the same feeling I had gotten immediately after she left before I walked into the tower.

I was out in the garden checking on the stones, setting more out and turning them so we’d get even more energy in them. The hairs on my neck stood straight up as I leaned down grabbing some carrots out of the ground. My body flushed immediately as a rush of adrenaline coursed through me.

Prey.

That’s what I felt like out in the open. It excited me, scared me, but for some odd reason it didn’t feel like I was in danger. The need to turn around was unbearable, who was watching me? No one could possibly come through the barrier. Mother re-enforced it before she left, unless it was one of the men who came with Tay or maybe it was Tay?

I glanced over my shoulder keeping my face hidden in my blonde hair as a weird shield. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but the feeling of being watched hadn’t gone away. It was almost magnified. I should have been scared… but I was mostly curious.

A thought formed as I grabbed my supplies and the vegetables for tonight’s dinner. Entering the tower, I climbed up the steps to the workshop to leave the stones and brew what I needed quickly. It was a potion that I learned how to make when mother decided we needed to sell more things so we could keep up our lifestyle. It was called a void potion.

Mother had attempted to make it a few times, but was unsuccessful. Once I played with it, I had perfected it and was told that a few magic shops used it for their defenses. Tay had said it was genius.

I should have infused the moon water, but this felt more important. My potion was done quickly. I bottled it up, securing the top with a cork that would make it easier to pour out or throw on someone. Grabbing a few more items, I set up a magical trip wire and a pendant that removed all magical enhancements the moment they passed the trip wire.

Looking down the stairwell, I hoped they hadn’t come up yet and were just watching or listening from below. A jolt of fear made my heart beat faster. What if they found me? What if this was it?

Panic flooded my senses. My vision became blurry, my breathing was coming in shallow pants and my palms felt clammy. This is why I wouldn’t survive in the outside world. Mother was right. I had no common sense, but why hadn’t they come after me yet? I was outside, easy to get to and dumb enough not to run inside.

Tears welled up in my eyes; I was so naive. Tay had shown me some self-defense moves, but nothing amazing enough that I would survive multiple people attacking me. How did I allow myself to be a defenseless woman? I clenched my jaw, holding back the tears as I walked up to the kitchen laying another trip wire at the entrance before laying my vegetables on the counter.

Loki rubbed against my legs as I squatted down, picked him up and held him against my chest. He usually hated to be picked up, but today it seemed like he was giving me the comfort I desperately needed. He purred against me before he quickly looked towards the stairs. His body tensed and his ears twitched as he heard our guest.

He looked back at me before jumping from my arms running towards the stairs. I was about to run after him, but I couldn’t alert the person I knew they were here. Loki hissed before walking back towards me, his neck was puffed up and he paced in front of me like a sentry.

Taking a deep breath I got started on dinner, chopping vegetables and sautéing them. The faintest thump attracted Loki’s and my attention. We stayed still, wondering if we would hear them again, but we heard nothing except the sound of the food cooking on the stove.

That's when I felt the snap of the first trigger. My heart felt like it was in my throat from how fast it was beating. I should have grabbed a sword, but I was liable to stab myself instead of the intruder.

Loki hissed again and I knew they were slowly coming up the stairs. I quickly stirred the vegetables, making as much noise as I could so they would think I was oblivious, turning off the stove, just in case. I took out a frying pan thinking of the worst-case scenario. I could hit them with this heavy pan, but I went back for another one because two is better than one, right?

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