Page 20 of Tangled Fates

“Well, since I don’t have a willing person to offer you their vein, you will just have to suffer,” she said, walking and sitting on the bed.

“Shame, because I am a little thirsty,” I said with a smirk.

Was I flirting?

She didn’t smile back at me as she took a piece of bread and ate it, examining me like I was an animal at the zoo.

“Who sent you?” she asked, after eating for a few minutes.

“How many people are here with you?” I tried to appear calm.

“Does it matter?” she shrugged.

“I think it does.” I looked outside of the room wondering who was listening to us. “I’m not here for any malicious reasons.”

“Then what are you here for?” She stood up walking in front of me.

Her scent wafted around the room, making my body react to her with hunger and my cock started getting hard. Images of us doing oh so delicious things floated in my head, making me flex my arms in hopes of breaking free and touching her.

Mine.

“Oria is scarce, I need a vial for a friend or else she will die,” I said, hoping the truth got me what I needed, and it wasn’t just the Oria anymore.

Her jaw clenched.

“Is that all?” she snapped.

I knew my next words would make or break my situation.

“Yes, she is trapped in a spell, and this might be her only way to survive,” I said, letting my emotions bleed into my tone.

Her expression grew fierce as she cut through my bullshit with one look. That wasn’t the only reason we were looking for the Oria. If we could find the source, we would be the richest men around and the power we would gain would be immeasurable.

“That sounds like a shit lie.” She leaned over me, with a hand resting on my shoulder. “You think that Oria is made here, well think again, because you just walked into nothing.”

She gave me one last glare before she walked out of the room with the stupid grumpy cat.

9

RYDER

Five days. Gray had been gone for five days. Soren was losing a piece of himself every hour his twin didn’t come back. The first day we weren’t worried, but after day two we started to think he had been either caught or possibly killed.

I kept that second part to myself because I didn’t know what Soren would do if his twin had died. Soren had left his arranged marriage and severed ties with their family, so he could be with his brother, and he would do a lot more if he had to.

They depended on each other so much, but I think on Soren’s side he felt guilty that he was always praised and loved more than his twin, even though they were identical to a T. For some reason, his family had put more money and time into raising Soren to take over the family business, among other things. This left Gray to fend for himself.

When Gray and I first worked together, I couldn’t fathom my family casting aside any of my siblings just to make sure that only one of them succeeded. We succeeded when all of us were successful. My family was everything to me and I knew why he had left a family who didn’t love his brother like they loved him.

Soren was pacing yet again on the fifth night he was gone. He had just left to blow off steam as I sat against the wall where Gray walked through. A plan had been forming in my head, but I knew it might be a long shot and I didn’t know if Soren was going to go along with it. I guess there was only one to find out.

“We need to leave,” I said, cringing when Soren turned around to look at me with fire in his glare.

“Leave?” He snarled at me.

“We have to, Soren,” I said, bracing for his wrath.

“No, we do not,” he yelled.

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