22. Ryder

It had been almost a week since I had been back in this dreadful gorge. I was fucking tired, angry, moody as hell and I was starving. Finding Joseph didn't go as well as I had planned for it to go, but when I found him, I made him suffer and extracted enough information to find out he set us up. Now I would be stupid to think no one would ever double cross us, but Joseph had been getting information for us for years.

He knew he had fucked up too when he saw me. We were supposed to die here in this gorge or stay down here for the rest of our lives. He couldn't tell me who offered him the money, only that he was given one million dollars to give us bad information. It took everything I had in me to not kill him, but I told him I was leaving him alive because if that man ever approached him again, I needed his identity. Joseph agreed to everything I laid out for him. While I didn't think we would sell me out again, I knew it was a chance I had to take in order to succeed in my plan of finding out who wanted us dead.

I'd like to say it wasn't a long list, but I would be lying. We had made plenty of enemies throughout the years and it wouldn't surprise me if any of those people went through these great lengths to end us. But why now? And how the hell did they find out what we needed and what to tell Joseph?

There were so many questions surrounding Joseph that I knew I needed Gray and Soren to make sense of it all. My mind was still haunted from thinking about Serena and how much I missed her, even if we hadn't been together in the last year. Seeing her again brought up all of my old feelings and the possibility that we could be together had crossed my mind, feeding the hope I held on to.

My chest tightened with longing as I fought back my emotions again. It was getting harder and harder to push my grief away. I knew it was only a matter of time before I would have to sit down to process everything. I'd prefer to do it alone in the comfort of my own home without having to worry about anything else. Grieving the woman I'd hoped to spend the rest of my life with was something I was not ready to deal with just yet.

It was night when I arrived. I pulled out the necklace Lindsey had made me, hesitating before I walked in. There was another reason I had taken my time coming back. I was nervous about telling the twins about Serena. There were times where I was pretty sure they loved her too. Telling them might wreck me and I wasn't prepared to handle that.

Since I also hadn't heard from them or even seen Gray in weeks, I didn't know what I was walking into or if they were even alive. I half expected them to leave and call me to tell me they were on their way home, but when that didn't happen, it made me wonder if Soren had been captured too.

Taking a deep breath I walked into the mountain, expecting to hit the wall, but when I felt myself walkthrough, it felt oddly familiar. The magic felt like I had just felt it recently. I looked up thinking I would find a tower that was dilapidated, but the entire area was the complete opposite. It was almost charming.

The tower was enormous, nestled in the middle of the mountains. There was even a waterfall right behind it. It had several windows and the ones on top were glowing from the light inside. I had missed the twins dearly, they had become like brothers to me. We had shared so much of our lives together that it was strange we had been apart these last few weeks.

"Ryder?"

I wasn't sure who it was when they tackled me.

"Fuck, where the hell have you been?"

The deeper voice told me it was Soren.

"I ran into some unexpected shit," I said, hugging him tightly, smelling something absolutely mouthwatering on him that made me chub up in my pants. "But I delivered the Oria."

What the fuck was wrong with me?

"This entire mission has been a big cluster fuck," he said, getting off of me, offering me his hand to he so he could help me up. "I think this might go down as our most challenging one and the most unexpected."

"How are things here?" I asked, looking around brushing up against him, the contact making me calm down a bit. "Is Gray ok?

"Gray is good. He's up in the tower and he"s perfect, man," he said, with a big smile on his face that I wasn't expecting.

That smell was getting to me and I didn't know if it was Soren or something else, but getting hard with my friend was definitely throwing me off.

"I brought you guys some extra supplies," I said, the scent teased me again.

I was ready to leave and find where that scent was coming from.

"Great but… well… just come inside," he said, a little too happily. "We have a lot to talk about. You look exhausted too."

"I am, and yes we have a lot to talk about," I said, as I followed Soren, crossing the grassy part.

"Yeah, we have a lot to catch up on, but it's so fucking good to see you, man," Soren said, opening the door to the tower.

That delicious scent that was on Soren permeated the air. My mouth watered, my dick hardened, and I was read to fucking hump the wall to find relief.

What the hell was going on?We walked up an extremely large staircase in silence. Soren looked at ease here like he had walked these stairs a hundred times.

A loud growl echoed in the stairwell. My hackles rose when the sound turned into a hiss.

"Killer, it"s just our boss." Soren leaned down to pet the cat who had a squished face and looked pissed off. "Come on Catzilla, let"s get you some food, so our boss can feed it to you. Maybe he'll warm up to you faster than he did with Gray and me."

"Catzilla?" I looked down at the cat who looked ready to pounce on me.

I growled, letting my wolf come forward so my growl was deep and menacing. The cat didn't back down, hissing at me even louder. I wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of this situation, but Soren kept walking, so I followed him.

"There are five levels, the top two are living quarters and there is a workshop and storage."

"Who lives here, Soren?" The way he talked about it sounded familiar.

"A woman and her mother, but things are a bit more complicated," he said, glancing back at me. "We need to sit down because there is a lot to talk about."

"Yeah, sounds like it," I grumbled. "Are we secure here?"

"Yes, at least for the time being," he said, but it wasn"t very convincing.

"What the hell does that mean?" I snapped.

"Are you hungry?" he said, turning into a doorway that led into a living room and kitchen.

"Starved," I said, smelling something delicious in the air.

"There"s braised short ribs left over," he said, walking into the kitchen.

"Braised short ribs?" I raised my eyebrows. "Did they issue a welcome mat because I don't think that's what went on."

"No, they didn't, but it was just a girl who was here," he said, popping the plate into the microwave.

The kitchen was a lot more modern than I expected. Actually, the entire inside of the tower was not what I was expecting. That scent was making me feel edgy.

"Soren, who the fuck lives here?"

He looked up at me, like he was choosing his words carefully.

"Holy shit, you"re finally here!" Gray yelled, coming down another set of steps. "I heard you, but I thought I was dreaming."

I met him in the middle of the room, and we hugged. The moment we threw our arms around each other, my emotions ran high. The stress of the last few days was catching up to me. My grief was rearing its ugly head. It was only a matter of time before the dam of my sadness broke.

"I'm so glad you are ok," I said, taking a deep breath.

There was that damn scent again.

My body reacted to it and I pulled away immediately.

"Whoa, Ryder," Gray said, holding his hands up. "It's just me."

He was trying to appear non-threatening, but that scent was doing things to me that I couldn't ignore. My wolf was ready to shift, to find that scent.

"What is that smell?" I growled, trying to stay in my human form, but my wolf was adamant about shifting.

"What smell?"

Gray looked at me confused, as Soren silently moved next to his brother.

"Ryder, your eyes are yellow, man," he said calmly. "Maybe we should head outside."

"I feel like you are keeping something from me," I snapped.

My wolf was making me irrational, he was pushing at me to shift.

I shook, trying to get him under control, but he was pushing for me to shift and find that scent. That delicious scent that smelled like a sunflower field and the summer rain.

Stop it.I commanded.

Ours.

"Ryder, can you please calm down?" one of the twins asked, sounding like they were in a tunnel far away as my arm started sprouting fur.

Ours.My wolf growled, pushing forward against my consciousness.

"Ryder, you need to calm down or get the fuck out of the tower," Soren snarled, and my wolf growled at him.

We locked eyes in this battle of dominance.

"Don't antagonize him," Gray said, getting in between us.

The sound of walking above us made me snarl.

"Ryder, can we please go outside?" Gray pleaded with me, looking nervous.

"No, you tell me what that scent is and who the hell is upstairs," I snapped, my wolf changing my voice. "You better do it quickly before he takes over."

"Ok, look we came?—"

"Get the fuck outside," Soren interrupted Gray. "You're going to hurt someone."

Soft footsteps came from the stairs.

"Stay upstairs, Blondie," Soren ordered.

The footsteps stopped immediately.

I growled, stepping up to Soren.

"Who the fuck is upstairs?" I clipped, barely hanging on to my human form.

"Step outside and I'll tell you," Soren gritted.

We were chest to chest, almost nose to nose, but I was taller than him. His vampire speed and strength were going to be tough to beat, but I could do it. The scent wafted into the room. It was potent, succulent and made me hard as a rock.

Ours. Ours. Ours.

My wolf was chanting in my head. I was focused on the stairs as a few footsteps came closer to us. My heart was pounding, blood was rushing in my ears, and I was panting. I took a deep breath and savored the scent.

"Gray? Soren?" The melodic voice eased my wolf.

We all looked towards the stairs, seeing a small shadow on the wall. I lunged towards the woman, but Gray and Soren stopped me. They created a wall between her and me, and I was two seconds from ripping my best friends to shreds.

"Go back upstairs, Sunshine," Gray called out to her, over his shoulder.

A piece of blonde hair peeked out of the corner along with a sliver of her face.

The moment I saw her, my wolf pushed us forward. Gray and Soren tried to hold me back, but I outmaneuvered them, throwing one of them off, and punching one of them in the gut.

I ran to her, pushing her into the wall and taking a lungful of her scent.

Fuck, she smelled like mine.

"Mine," I growled, making our bodies flush.

Her hazel eyes brightened with my admission.

"Get the fuck off of her." Soren charged at us.

"Stop," she whispered, and he obeyed. "He's mine too."