Page 63 of Tangled Hearts

“She said she needs space,” I said, trying to stay level headed.

“Move,” Ryder growled, his eyes flashing yellow.

“Give her ten minutes and I’ll go out to check on her,” I said, trying to stay calm.

I tried to give Gray a look to help me out. If anyone could stay relatively objective, it would be him.

“We don’t even know what happened to her,” Gray said. “Can one of us just go check on her?”

“I’ll go, but she asked for space, and I expect us to respect that,” I said.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” Gray said, as the others agreed with him.

“I know, but we have to trust her,” I said, feeling the same way.

Soren clenched his jaw, barely hanging on from doing something stupid. He glared at me.

“I’m not doing this to be mean,” I snapped, hating his hostility. “You might make this worse by smothering her.”

No one said anything as they digested my words.

“Go to her,” Ryder stepped away. “Something is not right, I had to use that potion Addie gave me to bring her back to us. This feels like interference from Taylin or Laima. I don’t like her being out of the house while it's dark. No matter if we have some protection.”

Soren grumbled something, but it was too hard for me to understand.

“Just bring her back to us.” Gray clapped my shoulder looking hopeful.

“Of course,” I said, turning around to go find Oria.

As soon as I stepped outside, I knew something was wrong. Darkness covered the forest as I looked around for her. Panic ignited in my chest as I realized who I felt. I couldn’t see him right away, which made me think I was too late until I spotted them off to the side of the house.

Taylin was pleading with Oria.

“They can’t protect you, Ria,” he said, taking a step towards her.

Anger exploded in me. My own brother was behind all this with that vile witch. I didn’t think about my next move and instead of alerting the guys, I did what I had wanted to do for years.

“Stay the hell away from her,” I growled, walking towards them.

Taylin looked up at me with a bored expression, but I saw his fear.

“Brother,” he said, glancing at Oria before watching me again.

“You are no brother of mine,” I snarled, getting in between Oria and Taylin.

Oria’s hand settled on the middle of my back as silent encouragement.

Taylin almost looked sad. “I know you don’t understand this now, but this is out of our hands. I can see she probably knows the truth, but she will only be safe with me, brother, so let me take her before Laima comes back to finish you off.”

“Why would I ever let her go with you?” I looked at him in disbelief.

“Because if you love her, you will let her go so I can keep her safe. There is no other way,” he said, stuck in his delusion.

“You think she will want to go with you?”

“If she wants to stay alive,” he said confidently.

“I will never go with you,” Oria said, her voice strong.

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