Page 64 of Tangled Fates

“Stop!” I whispered, still mesmerized by Ryder's yellow eyes. “He’s mine too.”

Something made a loud noise, but I couldn’t look away, not with my mate this close to me and looking at me like he wanted to devour me.

“Who are you?” His voice was rough, almost otherworldly.

“I’m yours,” I said, running my hands up his large chest into his longish hair.

His eyes lost the yellow, quickly turning into a honey color. He snapped his head back like I had slapped him, making space in between us before he walked away from me rushing out of the room.

I instantly felt cold, the loss of his body close to me sent shivers through my body. Did he just reject me? My cheeks grew red from embarrassment and even though I felt the twins' eyes on me, I didn’t dare look at them. My lips trembled from the surge of emotions that threatened to escape me. Had he rejected me? A loud howl came from outside the tower, and I rushed to a window to hopefully catch a glimpse of Ryder.

Even from up here, he was huge and all brown. It was like he knew I was at the window as he passed. He looked up at me as a loud whine escaped him. I had no idea what had happened, but I felt sadness surrounding the encounter.

“Sunshine?”

I looked over to see Gray standing next to me, but still giving me some space.

“Did I imagine it?” I asked.

“No, you didn’t,” Soren’s voice was behind me.

“Why did he run away?” I tried making sense of what the hell I was feeling, the rejection stung, and I had no idea why. It was illogical.

“I don’t know,” Soren replied. “But I do know that he is your mate. I didn’t remember it until now, but a seer said we had the same mate.

I saw Gray quickly look at his brother, like that was news to him. Another howl made me jump and my chest ached feeling his anguish.

“I’m going back to bed,” I said, before they could respond, I rushed upstairs.

I laid down, wishing for sleep to take me, but it wasn’t restful. All that haunted my dreams were yellow eyes and a growl that said, mine.

I woke up abruptly with intense anguish. My breathing was labored like I had been running and a sense of sadness hit me tenfold. Tears welled in my eyes; the emotions were that of losing someone. I clutched my shirt, trying to make sense of this sadness.

Gray and Soren.

This had to be their sadness. It was overwhelming and it made sense if it came from both. It was almost suffocating until it eased away, leaving me emotional and raw. I took several deep breaths to gather myself, but the sadness lingered for a moment before disappearing.

Looking around the room, it was starting to lighten up, but it was still early in the morning. The whiplash from the emotions lingered with me, but hurt stood out when I realized the bed was cold and it didn’t look like the twins had come to bed at all. My stomach dropped wondering if this was our turning point. They would realize that I was too much work or that they were better off without me.

Was the intense sadness because they wouldn’t stay here with me?

I bit my cheek to keep my emotions at bay. If they left, I would have to accept it and realize that this was my life. Whatever memories I had made with them would have to keep me sane for the rest of my existence.

Hiding out in my bedroom all day sounded like a good idea, but I knew if I laid here, it would only make my thoughts worse and probably obsessive.

Meow.

Loki walked into the room, jumping on my bed and I felt like a bigger asshole for ignoring him so much these past few days. He walked onto my lap, breaking the small hold I had on my emotions and I cried while I held him.

“I’m so sorry, Loki,” I sobbed.

He purred in my arms, pushing his head against my chin. I laid down with him in my arms, letting myself release all these emotions. Today was the only day I would allow myself to cry for them. After crying, I dozed off with Loki laying on my chest. His presence was comforting.

I woke up with the sun lighting up the entire room. Loki was still nestled against me, but I was starting to get hungry. Rolling over, I got out of bed to get ready to go downstairs. My room was a mess, laundry desperately needed to be done. Before I knew it, I had gone back to my old routine.

I did a load of laundry, cleaned up my room before going into the common area. I expected to see one of them, but it was empty. I immediately wanted to go looking for them to assure myself they hadn’t left yet, but I made myself stay inside. Once I finished making breakfast, feeding Loki and cleaning the kitchen, I walked down to the workshop.

It had been too long since I had been here and if I was staying, I needed to get back on track with my work. My two weeks were almost up. I picked up my iPod, put on my earbuds, and pressed play. I didn’t care what I listened to as I organized the workspace, testing the water I had in a bowl feeling my magic in it. It had yet to be bottled up, but I infused a little more power in it just in case. This time I wasn’t as exhausted, feeling grateful that maybe my power was ok and I had just been stressed lately.

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