34. Gray

After Cora left, the room felt heavy. The enormity of our situation was about to get worse and I don't think any of us were prepared for what was ahead of us.

"Come on out," Ryder called out.

The door to the bathroom opened, exposing an empty bathroom.

"Sorry, I used an invisibility charm," she said, appearing before us. "Who the hell was that?"

"A very desperate succubus," I said, pulling her towards me. "Thank you for letting us know she was here and that she was trying to take advantage of Ryder."

I kissed her forehead.

"What's a succubus, is that like an incubus?"

She looked up at me with her big hazel eyes. Her expression was innocent, looking every bit the sheltered woman she was.

"Yeah, it's a female incubus," Soren said, kissing her head. "After what just happened, I think we need to leave."

"I agree," I said, seeing Ryder looking out the window. "I think we need to go back home, regroup there."

"We might not be safe there," Ryder said, studying Oria.

"Then we grab what we can and take her to a safe house until we know what we can do or come up with a plan," Soren said. "But we need to get out of here just in case Cora decides to betray us."

"We leave in ten minutes," Ryder said, grabbing his bag and taking a shirt out.

I looked down to see Oria taking him in. A tendril of arousal came through the bond.

"Come on Sunshine, let"s grab our stuff and look for Catzilla," I said, grabbing her hand as the cat walked into the room like he had been summoned.

"Come on, Loki, let's go get our things," Sunshine said, picking him up and walking out with Soren.

"You ok, man?" I knew being under a succubus' spell felt like an invasion of privacy.

"I'll be better when we get the fuck out of here," he said, not looking at me.

"Yeah, me too," I said, walking out the door, glancing back to make sure he was ok.

Ryder's face was stoic as he looked out the window. He looked like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. My heart ached for my friend, but I had no idea of how to help him.

After we packed up everything,we used our last vial to create a portal to our home. The moment we landed, I took a deep breath. I didn't know how long it had been since we had been home, and god I had missed it.

"It's beautiful here," Oria said, taking in everything.

"Wait till you see the house." Soren grabbed her hand, leading her to our home.

She kept looking around and her happiness was contagious. I knew the road ahead of us was dangerous, but to see her so happy, it was going to be worth it.

Ryder and I walked in silence to our home. The tension was radiating off him as we walked in the field with the afternoon sun beating down on us. Spring was in full effect and the forest around us was beautiful. As we got closer to the house, Soren and Oria were standing in front, but she was behind him when panic hit our bond like a lightning bolt.

I ran to them when I noticed the door was open.

"Shit," Ryder murmured walking past them. "Stay here and use that charm again."

He nodded at Oria. She didn't waste any time making herself invisible when I followed Ryder inside our home. The moment I walked in it smelled like witches. I tensed, wondering if it could possibly have been her mother and if she knew we had taken her.

I ran through the house twice, seeing no one inside. The house was destroyed and most of our things had been taken like our gold and some artifacts we had lying around.

"This had to have been recent," Ryder said, standing next to me in front of our office. "I came here before I went back for you guys."

"Were they looking for us or looking for loot?"

"It looks like loot, but I have a feeling that might not be the case," he sighed.

Coast clear?

Soren asked through our bond. It seemed my new bond with Sunshine bridged the gap between us.

Yeah. We are in the office.

"We need to get any supplies we might need and get out of here," I said, walking over trash scattered all over the floor. "If they were really looking for something specific, let"s see if they knew about the vault."

I walked over to the wall that had our calendar on it. The wall didn't feel disturbed, but the witch could have resealed it. I moved the calendar, pressing my palm against the wall, whispering an incantation to drop the spell.

The safe looked undisturbed and when I opened it, everything was still there.

"Well, looks like they didn't find the good stuff." Soren's voice came into the room.

"Wow." I heard Sunshine, it made me smile at the wonder in her voice.

"Let"s take whatever we can," Ryder said, tossing me a bag. "Soren, go get some clothes for us and whatever you and Gray need."

"I'll be back, Blondie," Soren said, before running upstairs.

"Can I help?" she asked Ryder.

"No, there's not much left," he said, almost dismissively.

"Ok." I turned around to glare at Ryder for being an asshole.

Someone just arrived, at least fifteen men.

"Shit, we gotta go. Soren said fifteen are on the property," I rushed to Sunshine whose panic had spiked. "Come on, I got you."

I picked her up.

"Let me go first, then make your way out to our rendezvous point. We can take a car out of there," Ryder said, rushing in front of us.

A loud boom came from upstairs and I crouched over her to protect her from the debris.

"Go!" Ryder yelled.

I ran up the stairs when Sunshine whispered her incantation and I felt the invisibility spell cloak us. Once we made it to the main floor, I tasted magic in the air before I was knocked back by a gust of wind.

We fell onto a chair, shattering it on descent, alerting everyone we had an invisibility charm on us. Quickly getting us up, I looked around to see if I could sense where they were at.

Behind the wall, by the door.

She shifted in my hold, getting something off her nifty necklace.

If we can make them move, I can hit them with a stun charm.

I grinned.

You got it, Sunshine.

I grabbed the legs of the chair and threw it to the other side of the room when the figure in all black peered through the door. Blondie threw it at the intruder, hitting them square in the chest, knocking them back.

We left the room before they landed on the floor. Shouts and snarls came from outside, making me direct our exit through a different part of the house.

"Find her!"

Tay's voice made Oria still in my arms.

"Kill the men," he snarled.

It's Tay, Soren. Get out, he's looking for Oria and has ordered his men to kill us.

Dammit. I wished that Ryder could hear us. I ran in the opposite direction from Tay, climbing out of a window when the coast was clear.

A large wolf jumped down in front of us and I was ready to attack when I realized it was Ryder. He was drenched in blood and Oria pushed out of my grasp.

Not now, we have to get to the forest.

He's bleeding.She argued.

Ryder growled as I heard someone coming close. I didn't give her a chance to protest when we took off, but we weren't fast enough. A loud boom sounded before we were launched into the air. I held onto her, turning as we landed so she fell on me.

"Fuck this," she murmured, the sound of her necklace clinking was the only sound I heard before she slammed a gem on the ground.

Soren you better be out of the house!she screamed.

The ground exploded from the point of contact. Dirt flew up about fifteen feet high, anything in the pathway was destroyed, including our house.

I didn't wait to see the aftermath. Ryder and I ran away, not stopping once. The more distance we put between Tay and us, the better.

"Shit, stop… stop!" Oria started to panic. "We have to go back for Loki."

My heart dropped.

"Stop, please," she cried out.

Ryder growled like he was saying no.

"Sunshine, we can't," I said, holding onto her tighter.

"Gray, please," she cried.

I clenched my jaw feeling her worry and sadness. It gutted me and I slowly brought us to a stop.

Ryder growled.

"I know," I said to him, because I could feel his disapproval. "Take her to the rendezvous point and I will go back to see if I can find him."

"Thank you!" she cried out, hugging me tight.

"I can't promise anything, but?—"

"What the hell are we doing?"

Soren ran up with Loki in his arms.

"Oh my god!" Oria shouted, launching herself at Soren. "I thought we had left him behind."

"We almost did, but he was scratching the shit out of someone when I scooped him up and got out of the house like you said." He squeezed her tight.

Another growl from Ryder kicked us into gear. We ran for about an hour, stopping twice when Oria needed it. We made it to a safe house, or more like a back-up supply house, in case anything happened to our home.

When we first set it up, I thought it was a waste of resources, but Ryder was nothing but efficient in having multiple back up plans. He always expected the worst and I was so glad he had prepared for it. He shifted before unlocking the spell on the house, getting us in before he locked it again.

Soren immediately took Oria to the sofa, setting her down before going to the kitchen. While he took care of our mate, I checked for weapons and to see what supplies we had. Ryder walked back into the living space heading straight for the kitchen.

He pulled out various food items from the freezer before popping them into the thing that fries stuff with air—I had no idea how it worked, but Ryder said it was great. Once the machine beeped, he grabbed a plate, setting food on it before taking it to Oria.

The moment was tender as she looked up at him, surprised.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He gazed down at her, guarded, but his eyes softened. His longing was palpable when he nodded and walked away. I went back to cataloging our things, but peered back at her, looking at the food with a small smile on her face.

Her happiness slowly came through the bond as I glanced at Ryder who was staring at his food on the counter. He looked wrecked. Even though I couldn't feel him, sadness was bleeding from him. One last glance at her and he dug into his food.

I started packing bags with various things I thought we would need. I went upstairs to pack clothes and then headed down to the basement to grab a supply of blood. My mouth watered when I remembered the taste of Oria. She tasted like sunshine or something citrusy like lemonade or decadent, like lemon macarons.

She demanded that she be able to feed me, but I was worried about how taxing that could be for her. I packed as many pouches that I could fit in the small insulated bag. We would figure out what to do when we got to our destination.

I left the bag by the door when Ryder finished his food.

"I need to head back to the castle. I promised Serena I would go back on Beltane." he said, leaning against the counter. "Let's figure out where you guys are going to take her so I can meet you there afterwards."

"No," Oria said quickly. "I don't think it's a good idea that we separate."

I wanted to immediately agree with Sunshine, but if this was Serena's wish, I didn't think we could convince him not to go. "Is it imperative you go back to the castle?"

"I told her I would. She made me promise because if Katarina broke the spell, then she would need me," he said with conviction.

"Then we have to go," Oria said, standing up. "If Serena said her sister needed help, then I say we all go."

"No, absolutely not." Soren stood up, shaking his head. "You can stay here and we'll go."

I felt her anger before she spoke. "I will not stay here. You can't make me stay."

"Tay is looking for you. Do you think it would be wise to have you somewhere unprotected?" Soren raised his voice.

"If it means helping Serena's sister, yes!"

We all stared at her in disbelief. I glanced at Ryder expecting him to look upset, but he looked at her in awe.

"We don't deserve you, Oria," Ryder said softly. "We go in and then we leave as soon as possible, but you stay in the car."

She clenched her jaw. "I don't?—"

"No, that's my condition; you either take it or leave it," Ryder said, crossing his arms.

She pursed her lips looking at Soren and me.

"Fine, I"ll stay in the car."