9. Ryder

Five days. Gray had been gone for five days. Soren was losing a piece of himself every hour his twin didn't come back. The first day we weren't worried, but after day two we started to think he had been either caught or possibly killed.

I kept that second part to myself because I didn't know what Soren would do if his twin had died. Soren had left his arranged marriage and severed ties with their family, so he could be with his brother, and he would do a lot more if he had to.

They depended on each other so much, but I think on Soren's side he felt guilty that he was always praised and loved more than his twin, even though they were identical to a T. For some reason, his family had put more money and time into raising Soren to take over the family business, among other things. This left Gray to fend for himself.

When Gray and I first worked together, I couldn't fathom my family casting aside any of my siblings just to make sure that only one of them succeeded. We succeeded when all of us were successful. My family was everything to me and I knew why he had left a family who didn't love his brother like they loved him.

Soren was pacing yet again on the fifth night he was gone. He had just left to blow off steam as I sat against the wall where Gray walked through. A plan had been forming in my head, but I knew it might be a long shot and I didn't know if Soren was going to go along with it. I guess there was only one to find out.

"We need to leave," I said, cringing when Soren turned around to look at me with fire in his glare.

"Leave?" He snarled at me.

"We have to, Soren," I said, bracing for his wrath.

"No, we do not," he yelled.

"I don't want to leave him, it's going against everything we've ever done, but I don't see another way." I looked up at the sky.

"No," he spat.

"Look, we need to leave to get another necklace," I said, getting up. "We are wasting precious time to get him back and we know how to get in. We need to go to Lindsey and have her make us a necklace."

"So, leave him here all alone?" he sneered. "What if he comes back and we are not here?"

"If he were to come back, he would have done it already," I said, grabbing my things.

"So, you want to leave him and hope he doesn't come out?" He walked up to me, getting in my face.

My wolf threatened to come out with him blatantly threatening me with his bared teeth.

"Fine, then stay, but it would go much faster if you came with me to get supplies and to feed yourself too," I said, standing my ground. "You need to eat and you need to bring supplies back for both of you. We need to prepare for possibly taking on something bigger than we could ever imagine."

His demeanor slowly lost its dominance and anger. He knew I was right, but that didn't mean he wanted to do it. Leaving Gray was going against all his instincts.

"Fuck," he snarled, walking away from me.

"The sooner we leave the sooner we can come back," I said, slipping on my backpack, checking that my vest was secure and if I needed to I could rip it off if I had to shift quickly.

"One day, maybe two days, and if you"re not ready to come back, I'm fucking leaving you," he growled, as he picked up his own things. "Where am I taking us?"

"Take us outside of Denver and I can go to Linds and then Addie," I said, as my stomach grumbled.

"Ok," he said, looking back at the mountain Gray disappeared into before throwing the vial and whispering the incantation to start the spell.

Once he pictured where he wanted to go, the portal opened and as much as I was happy to leave to go get what we needed, I didn't like leaving Gray either. I didn't like my pack being separated.

"How long doesit take to get a fucking necklace juiced up and ready to go?" Soren growled, pacing right in front of me.

It had only been a day and a half since we left the gorge and I was not looking forward to going back, even though this time we would be better prepared. I had taken the longest shower of my life, grateful for fucking hot water and to be able to fully wash myself properly. No one had wanted to be caught naked, so we all took quick rinses in the river while in the gorge.

"She said she needed a day and it hasn't even been a full day, Soren," I said, walking into Addie's little shop. "If you"re so tense then go back and I can follow you."

He stayed quiet as I walked up to the register, where Addie stood reading behind the counter.

"Yes, and it's going to cost you," she said, without looking up from her book.

Addie was a seer, but she was also an amazing alchemist. She could imbue magic into any object, and it was powerful. Her brain could also dissect most spells so she could replicate them.

"How much?' I asked her, expecting her to say some outrageous number.

"Ten grand and a favor," she said, finally looking up at me with one black eye and one bright blue eye.

Fuck. I didn't mind the ten grand, but the favor; I hated owing people favors and she knew it. I didn't have a choice though, I needed her to replicate the portal spells and she was the only one I trusted enough to do it.

"Deal. Ten thousand for five," I said, knowing that was not what she meant.

She laughed.

"Ten thousand each," she smirked.

It wasn't as expensive as I thought it was going to be, but that favor still irritated me. I looked back at Soren who looked livid as hell before looking back at her.

"Fine, I need?—"

"Give me twenty minutes," she said, holding her hand out to me.

I handed her the vial of the portal concoction. She examined it, looking deep into the black liquid.

"Where did you find this?"

"A job," Soren quickly answered for me. "Can you hurry… please?"

I almost chuckled at his manners. Addie would chew his ass out if he was a dick and she wouldn"t give a shit if he was a vampire or not. She looked at us curiously before she left to recreate it for us.

"Why is she scary as hell?" Soren grumbled, looking at the herbs and candles she had at the front of the store.

"Because she could kill you with one artifact before you even had a chance to run," I said, looking down at the moonstones bushing against him to calm my wolf down.

"You think we have enough things?" Soren asked, moving around, antsy to get back to Gray.

"I'm more worried about whether you have enough food," I said, going through the list I had made in my head.

"I think so." Soren sounded unsure.

"I would go get more, we don't know what kind of shape we could find Gray in and he might need more than you think he does," I said, thinking of the worst, even though a small part of me was thinking we had lost him already.

"Don't," Soren clipped.

I didn't school my face like I should have and I'm sure he saw the despair I had been feeling lately.

"Don't fucking give up on him." His voice wavered.

"I'm not," I said quickly.

"Then what was that look?"

"Nothing, Soren," I sighed.

"He's not…" Soren couldn't finish the sentence.

"Look, as much as I want to be positive, I have to look at all angles of our problems," I said, hating that we might lose our friend and brother over this.

It's my fault if he was dead.

Soren clenched his jaw looking away.

"I should have prepared us better. I went in too confident and?—"

"We all went in too confident," Soren interrupted me. "We haven't had a hard job in a few years."

"I got too comfortable. We will find Gray, no matter if I have to drain my bank account." Or give my life for his.

I left the last part unsaid.

"Ryder—"

"Ok, I'm done and here is something extra," Addie said, walking out of her workshop.

The vials of the dark liquid were identical, but I had no doubt they would do what we needed them to do and then she gave us a luminescent bottle.

"What's this?" I was suspicious as I gave her a wad of cash.

"To save your mate," she said, grabbing the cash while an ominous feeling came over me. "You'll know when you need it."

Serena?

I stared at Addie, hoping she would give me some more information, but she was quiet.

"Come on, Addie, you have to give him more than that," Soren said.

"It's for your mate too," she said, looking at Soren.

"What?" I was shocked that she would insinuate we had the same mate.

"Be careful out there," she said dismissing us. "I hope Gray is alright."

"Addie, please," I said, ready to beg.

Her dark and light eyes looked at me.

"I have nothing else to tell you," she said looking frustrated. "I have a feeling your mate is going to need it and that's it. I'm going with my gut here."

Was she talking about Serena?Elation coursed through me.

"Thank you," I sighed. "I'm grateful."

"Thank you," Soren said, before we left, walking in silence to Lindsay's shop.

Soren was no longer as tense now that his mind had something else to think about. I was grateful she had given this vial to me, but now she had thrown everything I knew out the window, making me question a million things. Our mate, meaning Soren and I were going to share a mate. It wasn"t that uncommon for wolves to share a mate or have three mates, but I had never heard of different supernaturals sharing a mate.

Was it really Serena?

"You guys ok?"

I looked up to see Linds outside of her shop looking worried.

"Yeah, we have a lot on our plate right now," I said, pushing that bit of information into a box to think about later.

We had to save Gray and then we could talk about this mate we apparently had together.

"Is the necklace ready?" Soren asked.

"Yes, I could only do one for now. I don't have enough supplies for another one. It"s going to take me at least another day to get those supplies unless you want to go get them for me and that will be faster," she said, handing over her one necklace that looked similar to the one Gray had.

"We don't have time to wait," Soren snarled.

"I don't think it"s a good idea that we separate," I said immediately. "I'll be back for it as soon as I can."

I could feel Soren's eagerness to leave already.

"Ok, I'll be waiting," she said with a smile. "I'll call you if I can't get the supplies."

"Shit, my phone isn't working," I said, realizing I didn't charge it like I had told myself I would. "I'll be back soon and hope it will be ready by then."

"Pay the woman and let's go please," Soren said, walking away.

"It's ok, pay me when you come back for the second necklace." She shooed me away.

"You're amazing, Linds," I said, kissing her on the cheek before running after Soren.

He was already standing next to the car, impatiently pacing back and forth. I got in the car without saying anything as I felt our mood plummet. This was the moment of truth and he was afraid of what they might find.

Soren drove us to the outskirts of Denver, so no one would see us walking into a huge portal. He drove to an abandoned safe house, parking behind it, but we didn't get out of the car right away.

"He's going to be fine," I said, reassuring my friend.

"If he's not—" Soren's voice cracked. "I might go in guns blazing and I'm sorry, I'll die getting revenge for him."

"I know, I wouldn't expect anything less." I nodded. "Let"s go get Gray. We have a lot to do after that, especially finding this mate of ours."

"Let's fucking do this."