11. Soren

Ididn't even have a plan, as soon as we stepped into this piece of shit land, I was going to run to go get my brother. I was holding onto all fucking hope that he was still alive. I needed him and I wanted to tell him the one piece of information that Addie had given to me.

I have a mate.

It didn't seem possible, but if Ryder and I were going to share a mate, there was only one person I could think of and that was Serena. What Ryder didn't know was Gray and I were just as in love with her as he was. It was an awful secret we had kept for years, but we hadn't planned on it.

Hell, I thought it was just me until one day I caught Gray staring at her the same way I did when he thought no one was looking. We looked at her like she was the center of our universe, like we would do anything for her. Which is why when she asked for this favor, I immediately said yes.

Gray was more hesitant, but knowing my brother he wanted to keep us all safe and he was intuitive enough that he knew it would probably hurt us.

Katarina was our friend, but like I said, I would do anything for Serena, even find the mysterious source of Oria. Now I wanted to know if Gray was also sharing our mate and if Serena was our answer and if leaving my arranged marriage had been worth it. Gray and I might get our happily ever after and with our best friend too.

"Soren, wait." Ryder grabbed me before I was able to take off. "We need a plan, you can't just go in there, guns blazing."

"I'm going to get Gray out," I snapped, getting angrier that he was making me wait.

"We need a plan, we can't afford to fuck up again," he growled at me.

"We are wasting time, that's how we are going to fuck up." I pulled my arm out of his grasp. "The longer I take to get to him the more of a chance that he gets killed."

"And what if you get killed?" he snapped. "What good will that do for your brother? Especially just hearing we have a mate."

"At least I'm not sitting here, wasting time while I could be saving him," I said, trying to keep up my argument, but I knew he was right. "I'm going crazy without him, I need Gray."

"I know, but we just need a plan so if things go south, you can come back, and we can try again or bring bigger guns." He stood in front of me, like he was waiting for me to run off at any moment.

I took a second to get my shit together, already anxious to take off, even though this would only take us a few minutes longer to plan.

"Since you've been inside, you tell me what you're thinking," he said, crossing his arms.

"I'll run the perimeter," I said, thinking of the layout. "I have a cloaking gem, so I can run as fast as I can without worrying about anyone seeing me."

"Ok, you need a silencing gem too," he said, opening a pocket in his vest and handing it to me.

The gems were no bigger than a quarter.

"Once I can see who is outside, I'm going to make my way to the tower, see if I can get in," I said, picturing the place in my mind. "I'm thinking they'll keep Gray higher up in the tower, but I think I want to check that storage room just in case they put him in there."

"What if there are too many people there? What if you can't get in?" Ryder asked.

"I could possibly climb the tower. I'm assuming each level has a few rooms or a room on it," I said remembering the windows. "I could crawl into one of those and scout to see if I hear or see anyone."

"Those gems only last one hour, you"re going to have to keep a timer," he said looking thoughtful. "If you can't find him by the time your gems wear out, come back out. We can regroup with the information you have, I can go in or we can figure out something different."

"What if I run into someone?" I rolled the gems in my hand. "Are we killing?"

"If it"s only one, knock him out and if you can't find Gray, we can always interrogate him." Ryder ran his hand down his beard.

"Ok, that could work," I said, feeling better with a plan in place.

"Now go, before we waste any more time," he said, moving out of my way. "Don't make rash decisions and for the love of the goddess don't think with your dick."

I chuckled thinking about the beautiful woman, wondering if she was willing to possibly come with us. She probably tasted amazing based on how she smelled. I would be disappointed if she wasn't tasty, but Addie"s words came back to me.

I had a mate.

"I promise I won't think with my dick unless my brother is safe," I said, trying to keep the smirk off my face from thinking about the beautiful woman.

"Good luck." Ryder saluted before I ran into the wall, hoping I wasn't just going to run into a wall.

I shut my eyes waiting for impact but when I went right through, I was relieved. As soon as I crossed the magical barrier, I felt Gray. My body relaxed immediately and now all I had to do was save him, get Oria and get the fuck out of here, maybe with the beautiful woman.

You have a mate, you idiot.

I mentally rolled my eyes at myself, taking a breath.

I activated the gems before moving along the edge of the mountain. It was just as empty the last time I was here, but I knew looks could be deceiving. The total silence was unnerving as I ran the perimeter. I didn't hear anything alarming, but when I passed a window that was at the top of the tower, I noticed a few shadows were in the room. I figured there were at least three people up here.

Three people weren"t that bad, let"s hope Gray was one of those three and I'd only have to worry about two people. I crossed to the nearest tree, listening for anyone patrolling before I moved towards the door, but all I was met with was silence. As much as I wanted to walk up to the door because it seemed like everyone was inside, I didn't want to be caught off guard.

Running the last hundred yards, I pressed myself against the wall looking around, listening to see if anyone had seen me. This was too easy, something was not right. It didn't seem like the type of situation that Gray would be captured in, unless the beautiful woman was a powerful witch.

Slowly opening the door, I quickly moved inside as I was met with more silence. The stairway was dark, so I used it to my advantage. I climbed to the storage room I had walked into previously. The room was empty with no sign of Gray anywhere. I did a quick look around to see if any Oria was placed down here since the last time, but found nothing.

The lack of sound was unnerving me. A whole barrage of bad thoughts entered my mind, making me think that one, they already knew I was here and two, I was about to be handed my ass. I just needed to find my twin so I could run us out of here.

The stairs were the worst place to be in as I continued going up. Any moment someone could be coming down with a silencing gem and then I would be fucked. Thankfully the next two floors were met with no issues. I didn't find my brother or the Oria.

On the next floor I could smell the mysterious woman and my brother. The room on this floor was filled with her scent. It made my mouth water even though I was not hungry, but I definitely wanted a taste. This room also smelled like Oria as if the woman's scent and the Oria were mixed together.

Moonstones, jugs of water that had labels of moon water on them, along with a variety of other things, were on shelves in this room. Empty vials sat in boxes, but when I walked closer to a bowl of water, it smelled like Oria. I had just hit the jackpot, we had found a gold mine. This could change everything in our business, once I found my brother and we took over this place.

That's when I found a box of vials.

I fucking found the Oria, and once I got Gray out of here, things were going to change. My mind was in such disbelief that I didn't hear anyone enter the room and I wasn't ready for the hit to the head. Something broke against me, the smell immediately made me snarl. It was the same potion we were hit with outside of the magic shop, immediately reducing me to just a man.

Another hit to the head almost made me drop the vials, I had swiped, in my hand. Turning around I only saw one person dressed all in black with the lower half of their face covered. My vision was spotty from the consecutive hits, but I was able to push them away and head for the door. I didn't have a choice but to leave.

They grabbed my arm, swinging for me again, but I pushed them against the wall and heard their breath come out in a woosh. They punched me in the face, but I got a couple body hits in before they swung something at me. I pushed them back forcefully, not wanting to let go of the vials of Oria and deciding I really needed to leave.

I ran down the stairs feeling the tendrils of magic on the stairs wondering how I missed these traps. Whoever set these must have put a concealing spell on them and I didn't feel them. Reaching the door, something else was hurled at me, a thundering sound came down the stairs and it sounded like more than one person.

Running out of the door quickly, I barely missed whatever was thrown at me before slipping on a rock. I caught myself before I could really tumble, heading for the cover of trees. They didn't follow me outside, but I knew they must be looking for me from the protection of the tower.

Minutes passed by as I decided what I wanted to do before the door opened and I caught a glimpse of my attacker. The person was still dressed in all black holding two round objects in their hand.

Was that a frying pan?

My eyesight wasn't as good since I had been hit with that fucking potion. I had gone almost a hundred years without ever encountering one and here I was getting my power zapped twice in less than a month. A nagging feeling entered my mind, thinking that it wasn't coincidental. The person who owned the magic shop we were going to steal items from all those weeks ago had to be connected to this place.

I looked down at the Oria wondering if the person who made the Oria was also the person who owned the shop. So many questions were going through my mind when I slowly made my way around the perimeter to the piece of rock that would lead me outside.

"That was fast," Ryder said, coming into view when his face fell.

My mind was so preoccupied that I didn't say anything for a second.

"Shit," he said, turning away from me.

"No!" I yelled. "He is fine, I felt him as soon as I entered, but I think I found what we were looking for and not just the Oria."

"Goddess, Soren, I thought Gray was dead," he growled at me. "You could have led with saying he was alright."

I pulled the vials from my pocket, showing Ryder.

"This is what I could get before someone found me, but Ryder, I think we found the place where they make it," I said. "We just stumbled upon the biggest secret and I think if we play our cards right, this could be ours."

"Who makes it?" He grabbed one of the vials.

"I don't know but from the looks of it, it's not very well protected," I said, thinking of the one person I ran into. "Not like I thought it would be. I think they are relying on this gorge to do most of the protecting."

"Why did you come back without Gray?" He held the vial up.

"My gems got knocked out and I didn't feel comfortable going for him when I didn't have the element of surprise and they hit me with one of those magic canceling potions," I said looking around. "I think you should take this to Serena, while I figure out a way to get Gray out and a way for us to take over this tower."

"I can't leave you," he said quickly.

"We've been gone for so long you need to go to her," I said, wanting to tell him that I thought Serena might be our mate, but deciding against it. "They are probably freaking out."

"What if those people come back? I?—"

"Ryder!" I interrupted him. "You'll be back in a day or two, I'll be fine and once I have Gray it will be even easier. Worst case, I take the enormous batch of Oria and we make a run for it."

Ryder looked at me like he was running all the complications in his head that I might run into. Being the leader of our operation, I knew he felt responsible for us.

"Fine, I'll be back in a day, but if you get into trouble, you run," he growled at me. "Here, take everything I have."

"I will, and tell Serena, I said ‘Hi'."

I wondered if she might really be ours.