Page 39 of Tangled Fates

They looked like pirates, and smelled disgusting like pirates too, but they didn’t seem familiar as the ones I had met because of Merrick.

“Ria!” one of them yelled.

“Where the hell is she?” The dark-haired one walked around the kitchen island to look up the set of stairs that led to the bedrooms. “You don’t think she left?”

“That bitch is tied to here, plus without her, that witch has nothing,” the blond sneered.

I didn’t have to look at my brother to know he was angry at how they were speaking about the girl. I could feel it and it made me angry too.

“That lazy bitch is probably in her bed with that ugly-ass cat,” the blond spoke again.

“Maybe we can give her a proper good morning then,” the dark-haired one laughed, climbing up the steps.

My instinct was to run after them and I knew Gray was foaming at the mouth to go to this girl, but we couldn’t risk losing the upper hand. I saw him moving before the blond climbed the steps and thankfully I intercepted him before he could make a mistake.

“Don’t be stupid,” I whispered, holding him back.

I could feel his rage boiling and for once he was the illogical one and I was logical. What the fuck was happening?

“Demetri, get the hell out of my room,” the girl growled, and I knew it was over.

He ran out of my hold just as we heard her scream. I even grew angry as I shot up the stairs towards Ria.

“You don’t know shit,” she snapped. “And if you lay one hand on me, I’m fucking telling Tay.”

“He wouldn’t care,” one of them laughed as Gray charged at the man outside of the room. “You think he would care about you?”

My brother was a decent fighter, could usually hold his own, but right now he was a beast, snapping the guy’s neck before I could reach the door.

“Fuck you, leave Loki alone,” Ria snarled as I entered the room, seeing him crowd her, grabbing her by the throat.

I quickly pulled his hands off of her, twisting to break his arm, before I kicked his legs out from under him. He fell to the ground and the girl was instantly punching him in the face.

“Son of a bitch!” she yelled, pulling her hand against her chest looking up like she wanted to cry.

The guy groaned from the punch she managed to land right on his nose, and I hit him again to knock him out. Since Gray managed to kill the other guy, it might have been a good idea to keep this one alive.

“Are you ok, Sunshine?” Gray rushed into the room, looking over her as she bent down to lift her cat into her arms.

Sunshine? He was giving her a pet name already? I mean she did look like Sunshine and she smiled like it too. She was like a warm fucking summer’s day, so it wasn’t that the nickname wasn’t fitting. A pet name just felt too intimate.

“How the hell did they get in?” She looked down at the man.

“I don’t know, we were in the living room,” Gray said, sneering at the man on the floor.

“This is bad,” she said, looking worried. “Was he the only one?”

“No, there was another man with him,” I said.

“Is he knocked out too?” She looked frantic. “He can’t get away; something is not right.”

“I killed him,” Gray said, looking sheepish.

“Shit,” she said, stepping back and sitting on a bench at the foot of her bed.

“What’s going on, Ria?” I asked, feeling more unsettled.

She looked up at me quickly, then at my twin.

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