She walked away from me, making me feel even worse. I followed, grabbing her small hand in my own, stopping her from walking away from me.
“I’ve always wanted to hold hands with someone,” she confessed.
“I don’t have many firsts, Blondie, but I’m excited for all of them as long as it is with you,” I said, praying to the gods I was doing this right.
She gave me a blinding smile. “I’m glad I can still have some of your firsts, Soren.”
My chest tightened with happiness.
“Come on, if this works, it’s going to change everything,” she said, dragging me to the barrier.
Gray followed us, walking by her with his hands in his pockets, looking at me with a small smirk.
Shut up.
He chuckled. We could always read each other with a simple look. We stopped at the part of the mountain we had entered through. Gray and I exchanged a look that said we hadn’t thought of something. Our mate might be stuck here, but it would be smart that this barrier would keep her inside as well as keep people out.
“Does this mean you want to come with us, Sunshine?” Gray asked.
She nodded. “I’m scared, but yes. I can’t imagine a world where I lived here, and you lived somewhere else. I… You’re my mates and we are going to live this life together.”
“That sounds pretty fucking good to me.” He smiled before grabbing her for a kiss.
Happiness like I had never felt before rained over me and it wasn’t just mine; I think it was theirs too.
“Sunshine, I need to make you mine,” he growled, in between kisses.
“Not now, we need to do this first and then you can have me,” she said breathlessly, and I wanted to say ‘fuck it’ to the fucking barrier and make her ours now. She pulled away from Gray quickly, taking a step away from him.
The sexual tension was thick in the air as we all came down from it.
“Barrier first,” she said, handing the necklace to me before she touched the mountain. The barrier didn’t allow her to leave.
Blondie grabbed the necklace, putting it on, before touching the mountain again and she didn’t go through. Her shoulders sagged as she exhaled harshly.
“Dammit, I was hoping it would work,” she said, turning around to look at us.
“What about this one?” Gray held out the necklace he used to get in.
Her eyes widened.
“Where the hell did you get one of these?” She grabbed it out of his hand, inspecting it.
“We grabbed it from Katarina,” I said. “She’s the one we needed the Oria for. Someone who tried to kidnap her, used this to get into the barrier that surrounded the castle she’s stuck in.”
“Mother made this,” she said, putting it on and hesitantly putting her hand out.
When her hand hit the mountain, I could feel our collective disappointment.
How the fuck were we supposed to get her out?
“Dammit,” her voice cracked.
“It’s ok, we will figure something out,” Gray said, pulling her into a hug.
We shared a look that said, What if we never find a solution?
21