29. Gray

When Ryder said someone was coming through the barrier, I knew our day was going to shit and I was scared this was our last day with Oria. My own well-being wasn't of any concern. I worried about hers, and if she"d be ok with possibly losing her mother.

My heart ached at the thought that it might come down to defending ourselves and in turn, killing or hurting her mother. Would she forgive us? She had to know that was a possibility and if she didn"t, maybe she was as naive as I first thought she was. It also worried me that she might choose her mother over us.

When we saw the men, we put a quick plan together. When we had to get her away, I thought it was going to be easy until Tay—the douche canoe who had used our mate—froze us and no matter how hard we tried to get out of his hold, it wasn't going to happen.

I didn't know what kind of magic he had, but one thing for sure was, Tay was fucking strong and unfortunately good looking. It would have been easier to say Oria took interest in him because she had slim pickings, but this asshole was Fabio, pretty with his long Viking hair and bulging muscles.

Goddammit, I was ogling a man who was trying to kill us. I was hoping he wasn't such a threat, but now I didn't know how we were going to break free. It was silent when we were all trapped with his magic, but I could see the strain it put on him.

I didn't expect to see Sunshine yelling as she threw a vial of something at Tay. It hit him square on the chest. The smell told me it was that potion that stripped us of our magic. We immediately were let go, not letting these precious moments of surprise go. I ran to one of the men in the back snapping his neck before a shock of electricity zapped me, slowing me down but it wasn't enough to stop me from grappling with the man. I yanked his arm out of his socket, smacking him with his arm before snapping his neck too.

Ryder"s wolf ran past me as the wind blew me back. One of the men threw a fireball at Soren, catching his shirt on fire. I ran in the opposite direction, keeping an eye on Sunshine, seeing her punch a guy in the face while Ryder bit the guy, and she kneed him in the balls.

I was so engrossed in my mate when a punch landed on my face, they grabbed my shirt and hit me again. I shook off the surprise, grabbing his wrist when he procured a scythe out of thin air. This man was a reaper and if he stabbed me with it, my soul would be his, only adding to his strength.

My body went limp, throwing his balance off which gave me a chance to pull his arm out of his socket, barely moving out of the way of his scythe. He rounded his arm, coming straight down on me when I stopped it with my hand. We struggled until I punched him in the face. Grabbing the scythe, I sliced off his other arm and then his head.

Shit, this was fucking cool.

I twisted the blade in my hand, getting a feel for it, when another man came towards me and I cut him in half.

Everything was quiet when I looked up. We had taken out all of the men leaving Tay alone staring at Oria.

"Ria, please," he pleaded with her. "We don't have much time."

He took a step towards her, making me angry. We all growled, alerting him that we were not happy.

"Look, asshole, they are my mates," she snapped at him. "You just made me waste that potion on you and I was trying to use that so I could escape."

We circled them like sharks in the waters, waiting for the kill.

"Ria," he whispered, looking at her like she had ripped his heart out. "I know you want to escape, but not with these guys."

"They are my mates," she said to him.

"They are manipulating you," he countered. "They've made you believe this lie so they can take you from me."

"That's rich coming from you," she said, her eyes blazing with fury but I saw the small flicker of uncertainty.

"Ria, come on," he pleaded.

"No, you and Mother manipulated me," she snapped.

"What are you talking about, I've been trying to help, bringing you things from the outside world," he said looking hurt.

"That's not what Demitri said. He had a lot to say, and he said Mother and you orchestrated everyone one of our interactions. He also said "Mother sent him for me."

"Son of bitch," he snarled. "Where is he?"

"Why would she send one of your men for me?" She stepped towards him, the fury on her face and the glow of the sun on her reminded me of the power of the sun.

"Can I talk to him, Ria?" he pleaded with her.

"Answer the question!" she yelled, her heartache and anger enveloped me.

It was enough to make me want to rip him limb from limb just for causing her stress, but most of all, for stealing her innocence.

"No, Ria, I did not send him," he said defeated. "He must have sided with your mother, maybe acting as her eyes and ears on my ship and within my crew."

"Why would she send him to take me?"

"I don't know. She always has an agenda, but I'm privy to only what she wants me to know," he replied. "I came back for you, Ria. I saw an opportunity and I wanted to take you away."

Her face softened, but morphed into anger quickly.

"Liar! Don't lie to me," she snarled.

Tay stayed quiet. He looked at each of us like he was accessing the situation.

"You brought us here, gave us ‘sanctuary', but was it all a game to you?" Her hard, tough exterior was cracking. "Did you laugh with her after I gave you my virginity? Did she pay you to do it? Did you decide to fuck with me while you were inside of Mother?"

Her lip trembled as her sadness bled to me.

Tay sighed. "Ria, can we please sit down and talk?"

She sat down on the floor looking at him like she was waiting for him to talk.

"Not here," he grumbled.

"I won"t be alone with you."

"Think again, asshole, you won"t be alone with her ever again," Soren snarled.

"That's what you think," Tay smirked.

"Tay, she's never needed you and she will never choose you," Soren clipped. "You were just a means to an end by getting rid of her virginity to the first asshole she knew. You are nothing to her."

I glanced at my mate, expecting her to say something, but her silence was an admission to whatever Soren was saying. I spun the scythe in my hand, liking this weapon way too much.

Tay and Soren stared at each other. Tay's power saturated the air, I could taste it and feel it along my skin. Ryder and I shifted. ready for anything. I slipped my hand into my pocket to pull out an artifact, ready for anything.

It was so slight, I almost missed it. Tay flicked his hand as a jolt of energy crashed into Soren. I expected for him to be thrown back, but Sunshine had weakened him. Tay growled in frustration running to Soren.

Oria sat up and walked to me. Ryder had gotten closer to us, still on alert. I smiled when I realized he had called her his mate, and he was protecting her.

"Please don't hurt him." I raised my brow at her. "Ok, maybe not too bad, we need to find out how he planned to get me out," she said, looking a little worried for Soren and Tay.

"Ok, Sunshine, I'll try to keep us in line." I looked over to see Soren holding him by his neck, trying to pin him down.

"I'm gonna go make that potion again just in case. I'll be right down," she kissed my cheek.

"Pack a bag just in case," I said, running my nose along her cheek. "We might have to make a quick getaway and it is best to be prepared."

The snapping of bone made me flinch, but only for the sake of Oria. They could break all his bones and I wouldn't care one bit. As long as he could talk, that"s all I cared about.

I walked toward the guys, seeing Tay laying on the ground with his leg at a weird angle.

"Fuck you guys," he said through clenched teeth. "If you love her or care for her then you need to let her leave with me."

"That's awfully convenient." Soren stepped on his chest as Tay turned red from anger or the amount of pain he was in.

"You don't understand, if her mother has an inkling of your existence, she will kill you and make Ria believe that it was her fault," he panted. "She's off trying to help her sister's son who made a mess of this situation with the Belladonnas, and this is maybe the only time we may have to set her free."

"Wait, what did you say about the Belladonnas?" Ryder grabbed him by the throat. "What the hell do you know about the Belladonna's?"

Tay stayed quiet as they stared off.

"Ok, can we, for five minutes, forget about everything outside of this mountain?" I snapped, pushing Ryder so he let go of Tay. "Look, we all want what's best for Oria, but that also means we need details about the Belladonnas and why the hell her mother is there."

"Are you really her mates?" Tay looked at each of us as we nodded until he looked at Ryder who hadn't confirmed.

I stared at Ryder hoping he could feel my stare.

You know she is your mate.

Ryder looked at Soren and then at me before he nodded.

"It doesn't seem like you're her mate." Tay glared at Ryder. "She needs someone who is willing to die for her and if that's not you, then stay away from her so that someone?—"

"I was willing to die for her when you showed up, but it"s not that simple," Ryder snapped. "You don't know shit about me."

"I know you're a fucking coward," he spat.

"Fuck you." Ryder lunged for him, shifting mid-air when I tried to intervene.

He landed on me instead, his claws dug into my side as I gritted my teeth against the pain, throwing him off me.

"We can't kill him," I snarled, feeling the blood ooze out of my side. "Yet. We can't kill him yet."

Ryder growled at me.

"He needs to tell us how to get her out of here. He had a plan, and if we have any luck getting her out of here, we need him," I said, hating the words on my tongue because I did not like the fact that we needed him.

Ryder snarled, not liking my answer.

"Goddammit, start talking," Soren demanded.

"I'm not telling you shit," he coughed. "She's going with me, and I won't say shit to you three."

"She won't leave without us." Soren smirked.

"That's what you think." Tay looked unsure, but he tried to keep up his bravado.

"Just tell us," I sighed, feeling a little woozy from the blood loss. "You don't get to win this. We are her mates and there is nothing we wouldn't do for her. You've already lost. She doesn't trust you anymore."

Tay's face fell for a moment.

"Ok. I'll tell you, but you need to go get her." He grunted in pain. "She needs to hear this before she leaves. All of you need to hear this."

"Only if she wants to talk to you, but if she refuses to speak to you, then you need to tell us how to get her out of here," I said, hoping she wouldn't want to hear him out.

"She needs to hear this, whether she is mad at me or not. Her life depends on it," he said ominously.

Soren and I glanced at each other before I looked behind me to Ryder.

We were all wary, but my gut feeling said I had to go get her. The sooner we were able to leave, the sooner we could get on with our lives. I just wished it was that easy.