18. Gray

Iwas five seconds from throwing my twin out of the window. He was being unreasonable and no matter what I said, he couldn't see logic. I was also panicking at my revelation from last night.

"She said she can't leave," I snapped, for the hundredth time.

"And I already told you she's manipulating you," he growled at me.

"I already told you that she is stuck here," I said, trying to keep my voice even. "Why are you pushing back against everything I am saying?"

"Why do you believe a woman you've only known for a week instead of me?" he snarled. "Why is it so easy for you to push me aside?"

I stared at Soren in disbelief.

"What are you talking about?" I wondered how the hell he thought I was pushing him aside.

He glared at me before turning away.

"Dammit, Soren, why won't you just fucking talk to me instead of expecting me to agree to everything you say."

"I don't think you are thinking this through, Gray," he said walking away. "She's done something to you and you"re just playing into her games."

"Ren," I said softly, using the name I used to call him when we were kids.

"Gray," he said, as he stopped walking away from me. "You need to be careful, something is not right here and I worry you"re too enamored with her. I feel like you might only be thinking with your dick."

"As opposed to you? There have been many times where we've been fucked because you've thought with your dick," I retorted, trying to keep my tone playful.

"This is different," he said, turning around.

"How so? I haven't fucked her," I said, bristling from his hypocritical argument.

"She had you tied up here, I don't know what she might have done to you," he said, getting annoyed. "This isn't like you, and don't you smell her?"

"Wait, you"re mad that I'm paying attention to her? What the hell is going on?"

"Gray, when you say it like that, it sounds like I'm an ass," he sneered.

"I just don't understand you," I yelled. "Look I didn't want to say anything because I'm confused and didn't know if it was me being hopeful, but she's different."

I chickened out from saying my revelation out loud. His hesitancy about her made me second guess myself. I was almost a hundred years old without a lot of experience, but this was a feeling I had never felt before.

Amor Aeternus.

I had felt a connection, but until last night, I wasn"t sure if I was being hopeful or if I was just extremely lonely. When she was in my arms, it felt like everything was right in my life. I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be, and even if I didn't know who she was, my soul recognized her immediately. My life was infinitely better because of her, even if everything around us was shit.

"Gray?" Soren snapped his fingers in front of me.

"Yeah?"

I had forgotten what he was talking about, but it seemed every time I thought of Ria, she took over all of senses and I wanted nothing more than to go back to her room and hold her again.

"Gray, what is going on?" Soren's face was filled with concern.

"Nothing," I said, storming off, doubting everything.

I went outside to get my thoughts in order away from my brother and from her. She was getting under my skin and what if Soren was right? Then I needed to get away, but it didn't feel like that. My intuition was pretty good, but I had never put a woman before a mission, this wasn't a fluke. I walked around the mountain range admiring the waterfall behind the tower that fell in the small lake.

She didn"t do anything to me, she was my Amor Aeternus. My mate. My forever.

I growled about the fact that I had let Soren fuck with my confidence. I knew he was trying to come from a good place. He always thought he had to protect me, since my family hadn't protected me from shit, but I wasn't that scared boy anymore. When I met Ryder, I left that life behind, I wasn't that scared young man any more. My family didn't define me any more and neither would Soren.

The sun felt good, finally leaving the cold behind. Spring was finally in bloom with flowers growing and birds singing in the air. It was like a fucking fairy tale. I made my way into the tower instantly feeling like something was wrong. Damn these fucking stairs, but I made it to the storage room to check on Demitri and when he was still there, I ran to Ria's room.

"What the hell did you do to him?" A loud growl reached me before I stood at her doorway to see Soren holding her against the wall.

"Nothing, you fucking brute," she spit out at him, before I lost my cool.

"You did something to him, I know you did," he snarled, leaning closer to her. "What did you give him?"

"Nothing," she whispered. "I have done nothing to Gray, he's been kind to me. Why would I do anything to him?"

"Why do you smell so mouthwatering?" Soren said so close to her face they almost touched. "Who are you?"

"Just a girl, stuck in a tower, waiting to be freed," she whispered, tilting her head like she was showing him her throat.

Soren looked at her throat, his pupils dilating as he licked his lips.

"Take your fucking hands off of her," I snapped, when he leaned in ever so slightly like he was going to feed from her.

They both looked at me like they had been caught fooling around like teenagers before they looked at each other. Then Soren stepped back, still looking at Sunshine with hunger in his eyes. He grabbed her wrist whispering the incantation releasing her from the chain. It landed on the floor with a loud thunk.

They stared at each other with longing in their eyes. Sunshine opened her mouth to say something when Soren climbed through the window and jumped out.

"No!" she yelled, looking out the window.

"He can survive that fall," I said, wanting to ease her fear.

I peered out of the window behind her to see him walking towards the waterfall. It was eerie how similar we were and some of my earlier anger faded.

"Why does he think I did something to you?" she asked, turning around, looking up at me with her hazel eyes, and I knew I was fucking right.

"I'm easy on you even though he thinks you need to be punished for holding me captive," I said, not knowing how to navigate this revelation.

I wanted to kiss her until she was breathless in my arms.

"I had to, I didn"t?—"

"You don't have to explain yourself to me," I said, interrupting her. "I know this entire situation is messed up, but I think I'm understanding a little bit."

She bit her bottom lip, like an invitation. I wanted to jump on, but remembered she had been here for two hundred years. How innocent was she? Had had a first kiss? Fuck, was she still a virgin?

"Gray," she said hesitantly. "I?—"

She pursed her lips as she looked up at me.

"You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to," I said, hoping to ease her discomfort.

"If you find the source of the Oria, what would you do with it?"

"Truthfully, we would probably take it and sell it," I said, walking away from her. "Ryder, Soren and I are in the business of stealing, finding and selling. I'd like to say we are good men for the most part, but in this world you have to…"

If she was really mine, she would understand, right?

"You have to do bad things in order for you to survive, and in our line of work, some people think we are the good guys, and some think we are the bad guys," I said, turning around.

"Do you kill people?" she asked softly sitting on the bed.

I didn't know how to answer that without sounding heartless. "I don't kill for money, but if our job requires someone to be taken care of to complete it, then we do it."

"Would you have killed me if I was in the way of what you needed? Or would they have?" Her gaze was hard like she wanted to be mad.

"No, I don"t think any of us would kill you," I said quickly. "We kill when someone is hostile, or we know they are a horrible person. With you, any one of us would have neutralized you and gotten what we needed."

"You don't know how Oria is made?" Her questions were throwing me off.

"No, it"s a mystery to the world, no one knows," I said, wondering where her questioning was going. "Look, do you know who makes it? Is it the witch who left?"

Uneasiness coursed through me as I studied her. She sat on her bed with her hands playing with her long blonde hair.

"Ria—"

"That's not my name," she said. "Well, it's not my full name."

I searched her face for something to go by, when fear shot through me, and I realized it wasn't my own.

"What is your name?"

"My name is?—"

A small tremor vibrated the room.

"You don't have a dragon that protects you in this tower, right?" I chuckled.

"No, but Demetri is a shapeshifter and I have heard he can change into a dragon," Sunshine said, with no humor in her face.

"Shit, stay here, Sunshine," I yelled, before leaving the room.

I ran down the steps feeling the tower shake again. It was subtle, but just enough that I worried Demitri was up to something bad. Passing the main floor, I ran to the storage room where we had him with the door splintered open and Demitri already going down the stairs.

Shit.

"You know you can't escape." I followed him, letting him think he had the ability to get away.

Give your captives false hope and take it away.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw Soren waiting for Demitri, he grinned, thankful our twin thing was still ok.

"Ah, Demitri leaving without thanking us for our hospitality." Soren grinned as the crazy cat hissed at Demitri.

"And here I thought you liked our accommodations." I closed the door.

"She's going to rip you to shreds when she finds out what you have done," he coughed, wincing from the broken ribs he had received during an interrogation. "If you take her, she will stop at nothing to find her. She is her property."

"Who?" My twin looked at him confused, glancing at me.

"Laima will make your death the most painful possible," he chuckled "And I'll be there watching?—"

A vial broke on his chest making his knees buckle immediately.

"Her property?" Sunshine's voice was lethal.

"You know this truth serum won't work on me, she's put me and the men, including Tay, under a spell," he sneered at her. "Did you open those pretty legs for them, is that why they thought they had to save you?"

I punched him immediately, but the psycho laughed.

"Tay says that even though her cunt is old she's still tight as ever. He's the lucky fucker who gets to fuck the mother and the daughter," he said, before I punched him again. "He said the only reason we haven't gotten the chance to run a train on her was because of the witch, but she did tell Tay to sleep with her so maybe it"s a possibility for?—"

Soren snapped his neck, his body falling to the ground in a loud thump. It wasn't the smartest idea, but he deserved to die with all the vile shit he had said. For added measure, the grumpy cat was batting at his face. Glancing behind me, Ria stared at Demitri as a single tear ran down her face. She looked devastated. It seemed she wasn't as innocent as I thought, but I hoped it was all consensual.

Goddess, I prayed that she had said yes to him because the day we ran into Tay was the day that man would stop existing.