2. Ryder

Thief. I had been called every name in the book that was related to thievery. My business was built upon it, thrived on it and my success was because of it. What started out as a way to survive, to help feed my family, grew into something I couldn't believe.

My contracts were small at first. Stealing back money or stealing prized possessions grew into stealing fortunes, antiques, paintings, rare items and the odd princess or two. You needed a dangerous rumored artifact or maybe a rare magical item, then I was the guy you called, along with my best friends Gray and Soren.

And right now, we were about to look for the most sought-after item for the last hundred and fifty years. Oria. It was the most expensive item you could purchase at two hundred thousand dollars an ounce. People were willing to pay it because a vial of Oria could save your life and possibly bring you back from the hands of death himself.

In the last fifty years, the production had slowed down, making it even harder to find and more expensive. Those who did carry Oria were often ransacked for their supplies unless you had the power to defend yourself. Last month the supply had dried up, no one had it, no one knew what had happened, until we found a man who had done a pickup once. He was under a magical oath, but I knew powerful people and we were able to break the oath and make him talk.

A tower on a mountain in the middle of nowhere is what we were looking for. He didn't know the exact location of it because all he did was follow the guide but we did have a general idea of where to look and that was the best start we could hope for. This was the best kept secret of the twenty-first century.

It was shocking no one had found it yet, but so many rumors had surfaced over the years as to how vials of Oria were made. Many people speculated that it was the fountain of youth that was being bottled up or it was a special herb that had been given to someone by the gods. There was even a speculation that Oria was a person and this was their power being mass produced, which didn't make sense because you couldn't just bottle someone"s magic.

A knock on the door made me look up from the backpack I was packing.

"Hey, I'm going to see Addie, do you need anything else?" Soren asked me, leaning against the door frame.

"No, but I think we should talk with Gray before you head out," I said, putting another change of clothes in the bag.

"Good, he has a few ideas he wants to run by you before we leave," he said.

"Alright, I'll be down in a minute," I called out as he left.

I finished putting in a few magical items along with a healing kit before zipping it up, setting my bag by the door before leaving my room. I headed down to the basement where we had our office set up.

Gray was sitting at our big table looking at an enormous calendar we had up with his brows furrowed.

"You look like you"re taking a shit," Soren laughed, throwing something at his twin, which he caught without looking.

"I was actually thinking about you," he said, scanning the calendar.

"You see something we don't?" I asked sitting down.

"We got an inquiry about possibly stealing a princess of some sort. She was adamant it had to happen in the next couple of months before Beltane, but didn't give any other information," he spoke while still looking at our schedule. "I don't know if we will have time to do it, but I was just looking to see what we could push back."

"How much?" I leaned my forearms on the table.

"Fifty million," he said, as his brother whistled at the amount.

My eyebrows shot up at the amount, they really wanted to have priority.

"What did you tell them?" I asked.

"I told her I'll call her back when I can have some stuff moved. So, let"s decide when we want to do this so we can make sure we have time for it when we get back," he said, finally looking at me with his emerald eyes.

"I say let"s do it when we get back. Depending on where we need to kidnap this girl. It should be an easy in and out thing, unless we need to battle a dragon or some other creature." I chuckled because if she was willing to pay that much, there had to be a catch.

"How long is it going to take us to do this job?" Gray asked, opening up a notebook to take notes.

He was the most organized out of all of us, so when it came to scheduling our clients, he was the most efficient at making sure our time was spent well.

"I don't know," I said truthfully. "Our priority is five objects and out of those five, I'm worried about two."

"Just two? I'm worried about all of them. Gadolinium from the mountain of the gods is extremely rare and so are rubies from the garden of death," Soren countered.

"Yes, but I have a contract for those. It"s going to be expensive, but I can have those delivered. Lindsey said she would get them for us as long as I completed the money transaction," I said, leaning back in my chair. "The Oria is going to take us the longest because we have to look for it, but I don't expect it would take us more than a week to get done."

"I think that's being overconfident," Gray said scribbling in his notebook.

"I say at least two weeks," Soren said, looking down at some papers. "Maybe three just in case things go wrong."

I rolled my eyes. "We have a general idea of the place and we have the amulet that should let us on the property. The man said there were no guards, just a powerful witch."

"And if we run into the powerful witch?" Gray raised his brows.

"We will deal with her like we have every other person guarding what we need to take," I said, knowing I was coming off as overconfident, but we had done this plenty of times, it was muscle memory at this point.

"Yeah, but no one in over a century has even gotten close to finding the source of Oria. What makes you think we are equipped to do it?" Gray snapped at me.

"Because we have no other choice," I growled, standing quickly as the chair fell back.

The twins looked at me with a mixture of concern and sadness. The mission we needed to complete wasn't like any others before it. This wasn't for some random paying client, this was for a dear friend—ok she was my ex Serena—and her sister Katarina.

"Are we too close to the situation?" Gray asked, like it hurt him to say those words.

"Of course we are, but if we don't do it, who will?" I snapped. "We can't fail Serena and Katarina; their lives depend on this."

My throat grew tight with emotion.

"There are a few people I could think of, like Merrick," Soren suggested.

"Merrick?" I scoffed. "Merrick never leaves the sea and you know he won't handle this with importance."

We stared at each other in silence while they tried to find something more to argue with me about. They knew I was right, it had to be us to complete this task.

"We will leave tomorrow morning, go to steal slate from the Laima's magic shop and then go look for the tower," I said, looking at both of them expecting to hear a rebuttal.

"I'll go see Addie for some supplies and see if she's heard anything." Soren stood up quickly, leaving the room with his vampire speed.

Gray sighed audibly.

"Look, we all care for them, but I'm worried that it is going to hinder our ability to think with a clear head," he whispered.

I looked away before my emotions could get the best of me.

"It won't," I said, with all the conviction I could muster, but I knew it wasn't enough to fool Gray.

I walked out of the room, and headed to my room to finish packing supplies I knew we were going to need. Being inside wasn't what I needed or wanted. Heading out the front door, I stripped quickly or as quick as I could manage to get my jeans off. Once I was free of my clothing, I jumped off the porch, shifting mid-air into my wolf. I ran into the forest that was close to our home.

The weather was still cold, but not enough to deter me from running for a few hours. My fur was thick, but after a while the cold seeped into my bones. I made my way back to our home seeing a car parked outside. The car excited me and caused dread to pool in my abdomen.

Slowing down, I walked up to the porch to see Serena, sitting on the steps, fidgeting with something in her hands. She was gorgeous, making my heart twinge with longing for a different past and present.

She looked up at me immediately with a hurricane of emotions shining through her eyes.

Instead of shifting, I gave myself a few moments to lick her face, pulling a giggle from her pouty lips. I missed that sound, it always made my heart swell with pride at making her happy.

"Ok, ok, ok." She tried pushing me away.

I gave her one long lick on the side of her face before she screamed getting up.

"Ryder! Don't be gross!" she yelled, trying to get away from me.

I shifted as she opened the door to the house, slipping my jeans on before I followed her.

"You shouldn't be out in the cold," I said, closing the door.

Serena turned to glare at me. She glanced at my bare chest for a moment making me want to puff out my chest for her, to give her an even better look. Her cheeks reddened before looking up at my face. I couldn't help the smirk that had formed.

"Ugh, you're insufferable." She tried to look mad, but I could see the softness in her eyes.

"Always," I chuckled.

We looked at each other for a moment, so many words left unspoken between us, but it was better this way. I was in love with her, she was in love with me, but she was a Belladonna. She was a part of a powerful coven of witches that had strict rules on who they married. Not rules but they were auctioned off to the highest bidder and the most powerful witches.

I was surprised when her father allowed her to date me when I asked her out on a whim, assuming I would get shot down. Two nights later, I took her to dinner. We were inseparable for two years. Seven hundred and thirty days together full of memories, fights, love and the worst heartache. She ended it after I asked her to marry me, telling me we were never going to get married; her family would never allow it.

It had been a whole year since I had seen her. Her sister was trapped inside of a castle with three shifters who were only human for one hour of the day and vicious beasts the rest of the day. It was the curse of the Belladonna's against the pack of shifters that had started over two hundred years ago. The entire situation was confusing but the only way she could leave was to break the spell. Katarina needed a variety of items to do it and this is where we came in.

When Serena called, I almost didn't answer, but I stupidly thought this might be our chance. Maybe she was willing to go against her family for me because even after a year, I still had hope. Little did I know this was my chance to break open a wound that had slowly started to heal.

Serena begged us to help her sister and even thought we were no longer together, I had to help her. While Serena and I dated we would all hang out together. The five of us grew close, so there was no way I could say no and neither would the twins.

"I'm sorry," she said, breaking my thoughts. "I know this has been rough, but you were my only hope."

"I know," I said, clenching my fist from the need to touch her. "It was only a matter of time before we crossed paths."

She took a step towards me as I took a step back. I had seen her a few days ago when we had spoken to her sister. We touched, we cuddled. It was like old times, but the moment we left her at her home, the cold reality of what I had let myself feel hit me.

We were never going to be together, but my heart didn't care.

"I… I can't Serena," I said, my voice cracking with emotion.

"Fuck. I know, I just wanted to tell you that… actually, I need to tell you everything," she said, looking angry. "Katarina's life depends on us, and our future is in a delicate balance. Everything I do or anyone else does can push our future into the unknown. This spell needs to be broken, not just for her sake, but for the sake of my family and the future of supernaturals."

Serena looked terrified as she continued to speak. Her confession of everything left me even more worried as understanding dawned on me. Serena was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, and I had promised I would share the burden with her. I just didn't realize how heavy it would be.