Page 35 of Tangled Hearts

“I remember these. You used to make these quite often when I left for training. You gave me an entire bag of these in case I ever needed them,” Maxton looked at her with fondness. “One on each corner of the house, right?”

She nodded.

“I didn’t even know I missed you until you became a human. I know that sounds weird but?—”

“It doesn’t sound weird, Sol. I missed you even when you were right next to me.” He bent down to kiss her forehead.

I turned around from the intimate scene; I hoped they would eventually find their way back to each other. I checked the cabinets for food just in case we were smart enough to leave something behind, but there was nothing.

“I’m going to make a run for food and water,” Gray said, coming into the house. “There's a town about a few miles away; I think I have enough time to make it before he wakes up.”

“Ok, don’t take too long,” I said, as we did our twin thing where we said everything with just a look.

He nodded, walking to Oria and kissing her forehead.

“If you need anything, I’m going to check the perimeter, Blondie.” She nodded as she whispered her incantation for her power and she started to glow.

A warmth in my chest gave me comfort, I was addicted too. As much as I didn’t want to leave her, I needed to check our surroundings and make sure we were safe. We all needed some time to regroup, clean the blood off of us and eat.

“You run that way and I’ll check this way?” Maxton leaned against the house grabbing the stones. “After Gray comes back, we can bury these stones.”

I nodded as he looked up at me with those blue eyes, he was filthy, just like Ryder. He was just as brutal as us and I found it comforting and grateful that he was with us.

He shifted into a wolf before we took off. I wasn’t as fast as usual, but it had been too long since I had had blood. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t fed since the last time she fed me and that had been a while.

I mulled over that piece of information as I ran through the forest. It was silent, it seemed no one had been here in months making me lose some of the tension I had been holding onto. How long were we going to be like this? We needed to stay one step ahead of everyone and I didn’t know how to do that.

I came back, sitting on the front porch waiting for Max. He showed up not too long after me, shifting and putting his pants back on. He looked exhausted, not just physically, but emotionally.

“What do we do now?” Maxton sat next to me.

“We need to figure out how to stay one step ahead of everyone,” I said, resting my elbows on my thighs.

“I think we need to go home,” Maxton said.

“Your home?” I looked at him.

“Our home. At least to see if anyone is still alive,” he said with a sigh. “Her best chance is with her people and if they might be alive, I think we owe it to her to get her somewhere safe.”

“What if we spend all this time looking for your home only to find out it's in ruins and we wasted all that time,” I said, running a hand through my hair. “What if, while we are looking, she gets caught.”

“Shouldn’t we give her an opportunity to find her family?”

“I think we all need to discuss it and go from there,” I said, looking back at the house. “We all should agree on it, and we should hear her opinion too.”

“Of course; I would never do anything without her approval,” he said immediately. “I would never want to take away her choice. She never had much say growing up and I knew that bothered her.”

“Would her parents still be alive?” I knew she would love to see her parents. She had been alone for far too long and even if she hadn’t said anything, I knew she had longed for a family.

“Yes, well, maybe assuming there was no sickness, they should be still alive.” He rubbed his chin. “Our life spans aren’t as long as yours, but the king and queen generally live a little longer due to their magic.”

“She’s been alone for too long.” I felt for our bond. “She deserves to be with her family or at least try to find them.”

“I agree,” he said.

“What about your family? Would they still be alive?” I turned to see anguish in his face.

“I don’t believe they would be,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I fear Taylin possibly… He killed them or they died trying to find us.”

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