10. Gray

10

GRAY

M y eyes opened when I smelled smoke. Shit, I didn't even remember closing my eyes. I tried to say something, but my tongue felt heavy, and I couldn't get a word out. My body felt sluggish as I shook Oria and then Soren.

Her face scrunched up, while Soren stayed unmoving.

"Sunshine," I slurred, shaking her again.

My body felt heavy and every movement took all my concentration.

"Get up!" I managed to yell, but only Oria's eyes opened.

My eyes felt too heavy, keeping them open was a struggle.

"Gray," Oria said, shaking her head.

The smell of smoke was stronger as the air started to get smoky.

Oria glowed, making me close my eyes from the brightness. My fog cleared instantly as fear threatened to make me irrational.

"Shit, what the hell happened?" Ryder got up looking disoriented.

"I think someone drugged us," Soren groaned. "Or casted a spell on us."

"We have to get Oria out," I said, getting off the bed.

"One more round of healing and?—"

"No, out now," Max said, kneeling and shaking his head.

Out of everyone he looked the most out of it. He fell down, the room shook a little and Oria jumped off the bed towards him.

She whispered her words, laying her hand on Max. I expected her to only heal him, when all of us glowed with her light my eyes widened. I didn't know what this meant, it could be nothing, but how did she heal us through him? Or was her power growing?

After Soren and Max told me about his transformation, his confession about being her guard and a very summarized version of what happened before she was taken. This made me wonder if their bond was still intact.

The rest of whatever was affecting me went away.

"We have to get out of here," Ryder said, throwing me some bags and I gave one to Soren. "Gray or Soren you need to go out first to run and tell us what is happening. Is it an accident or are we being flushed out?"

"I'll go," Soren said, opening the door and running out, allowing more smoke to come in.

"No!" Oria yelled out, but Max held her.

"He's fine, he's too fast for anything to hurt him," Max comforted Oria.

She grabbed his hand, staring at the door.

There are men all over. I also see Jordan.

Oria's eyes widened.

"We are surrounded," I said, opening the window because there was too much smoke in the room. "It's Jordan."

"That fucker," Ryder snarled. "Can we fight out or are we sneaking away?"

Soren… fight or escape?

Too many, we run. I'm looking for a way out.

"Soren says escape," I said, looking out the window.

"I have a few?—"

The door busted open as Jordan ran in.

"Get her out, Max," Ryder snarled as he shifted, while I ran towards Jordan. I threw a punch, barely missing him before yanking his arm towards me.

Ryder went for his neck, but he was pushed off. I put my hand on his shoulder, using my other hand to jerk it towards me hoping I could dislocate it. He punched me in the ribs twice, snarling at me. I caught his fist before he punched me a third time, a sickening crunch made Jordan scream and I took advantage of that to punch him again. Ryder bit into his neck and I held him still as we pulled in opposite directions.

We didn't stick around after we ripped his neck off, jumping out of the window to look for Oria and Max. A loud explosion cut through the air, making me think Oria was just blowing stuff up.

Oria, no! Soren screamed, filling my head as I looked around for them.

Gray, hurry. They are headed into the woods.

Soren sounded panicked as I ran towards the woods. A few men spotted me and attacked. One of them controlled fire, throwing flames at me as the other two threw punches.

Call for the scythe. An unfamiliar voice spoke in my head.

Call for the scythe? What do you ? —

A scythe appeared in my hand as I dodged a flame. I spun it around quickly, sliced one in half and then sliced the other's neck. The last guy, the flamethrower, blasted me. I used the scythe as a shield, and it took the magic. We were both shocked, taking advantage of his pause, I sliced his head clean off. I wasted no time, heading to the clearing when I felt her, she was surrounded by men, all alone.

Fucking Max, he left her, except he didn't. He jumped out of the woods as a panther, he blended in with the night and he took out three men. Ryder ran to the guys closest to Oria while I ran around trying to pick them off.

"Get off of me, put me down," Oria screamed, but I was surrounded by too many people and I couldn't see her.

A loud roar grabbed my attention to see an enormous lion running. I hoped he was going to Oria. I fought a few people, getting overwhelmed when a knife hit my shoulder and then another one barely missed my face slicing my cheek. I punched a guy, grabbing him and using his body to knock a few men down, swinging the scythe to push them back. I pulled out a bottle from my pocket, slamming it down on the men. It was a potion similar to acid and I ran away as their screams pierced through the night.

A roar made me turn around and Max was surrounded by six men. His coat was red and next to him Ryder growled. I was tackled and I felt another knife in my back. I snarled, bucking him off, swinging the scythe in my hand, slicing him in half. He fell into pieces as I looked around for Oria.

I couldn't see her. I felt for her, hoping the bond would guide me, when I felt someone charge me. Before he got to me, a blast knocked everyone on their asses. I got up, running towards where I felt my Sunshine. The closer I got to her, the further she got away from me and I knew someone either threw her in a car or it was a vampire running just as fast as I was.

A small growl alerted me to a panther to my left, grateful it was not just me because I had backup. Running with Max, I was even more certain that we needed to talk about him still possibly being her mate. We worked in sync too well.

I saw the man who had Oria, her bright hair alerted us to her spot and I pushed myself even faster. The panther disappeared, but I knew he was close, trying to get another angle. The moment she saw me, she shook her head.

Wait.

No. I growled.

Wait. She glared at me. Please trust me.

I clenched my jaw, nodding my head. I wouldn't be like her mother or Tay, she needed to figure stuff out on her own and learn. Fuck, I wished she didn't have to learn, and I wished I could just keep her safe and happy. My Sunshine deserved happiness. We arrived at a clearing with one car parked there. The need to save her grew tenfold until he put her down.

"I can't wait to make you scream." He caressed her face and I saw her visibly shiver.

"Please, don't hurt me." Her voice wavered and she tried to lean back.

"I need to bring you back alive so I might as well get something before I return you," he laughed.

"Fuck you," Oria snarled, slapping his dick and flames erupted from her hand.

She pulled back her arm punching him in the face. He yelled, grabbing his junk and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Now, we have a car," Oria said, opening the door and looking in it while the guy still tried to put out the fire on his dick.

"I fucking love you," I said, grabbing her and kissing her.

I needed to do more, but I knew it wasn't the time. My body craved her, I needed to worship her, but a throat clearing ended my dirty thoughts too soon.

"You are magnificent," I whispered against her lips.

"I try," she said with a grin.

We pulled away to see Max watching the burnt dick guy, engulfed in flames.

"Good job, Sol," he said, looking back at her with a grin.

"Blondie." Soren rushed up to her and threw me a scythe as he kissed her.

"Wait, you got one too?" I twirled the scythe in my hand.

"Are you reapers?" Max looked at both of them in my hand.

"No, but I think this is the one I took off a reaper from Taylin's crew," I said, wondering if I inherited his scythe by killing him.

I looked over to see Soren almost eating Oria. The kiss was so passionate that I had to look away, but Max and Ryder were entranced by it. Ryder was covered in blood and mud. I cleared my throat and both of them scowled at me before they looked away. It didn't help that they were both naked, but I don't even think they realized it.

"Soren," Oria whined.

"No, get your asses in the car and let's go," Ryder snapped, looking exhausted as he put some pants on that I had thrown at him.

I smirked when Soren pulled Oria into the back seat and I knew that he planned to keep kissing her.

"Come on, Gray," he said, before going back to kissing Oria.

I didn't waste time getting into the back seat. It immediately smelled like her arousal, making my mouth water. Ryder growled as he got into the driver's seat, but Max stayed outside of the car. The scent of blood warred with Oria's intoxicating scent.

"Soren, stop," Ryder snapped, starting the car.

"No, I've missed my mate," Soren said, in between kisses.

Oria looked blissed out as he kissed her neck.

"I can't drive while…" He pointed at Soren. "You're doing that."

I knew he was pushing his buttons, but maybe we needed to push him a little harder. She moaned, my cock grew hard ready to hear more from her, but I wanted to ride that delicate balance of making them stay in the car.

"Soren." Ryder growled, it wasn't as domineering as he usually was, making me worried that the blood he had all over him was actually his.

Max still hadn't come in. I felt a little bad and worried about Ryder, elbowing Soren.

Stop, it's not fair to Max.

That stopped them quickly, Oria rushed to get off Soren, looking embarrassed. Her lip trembled as she looked ahead. I could feel her sadness, but I knew Ryder's reaction added to it.

"Maxton," Ryder clipped.

He didn't react immediately, but he finally got into the small sedan. I had to look away, the poor dude looked crammed inside this car and it was comical. Ryder took a shaky breath, rolling down the window to get rid of Oria's scent and put the car in drive.

The scent of blood was still strong and I worried Ryder or Max was hurt more than they were letting on. He pulled out of the clearing and followed the tracks the car left getting in. He pulled out onto the highway, keeping the windows slightly open and I knew he was doing it so we didn't smell the blood.

"Ryder, let me drive," I said, patting his shoulder.

"I'm fine," he snapped.

"If you're hurt, I can heal you," Oria said, leaning forward to inspect Ryder.

"Not here," he said, looking around. "We don't need the car to glow, giving us away."

"Pull over, and I can do it," Oria said, leaning over the middle console.

"Ryder," Max's voice was stern.

"No," Ryder snapped.

The car was quiet as we all looked at Ryder.

"I'm fine," he said again.

He's not fine. Oria said. His blood pressure is decreasing, he's losing too much blood.

Since I was behind him, I looked around him to see if I could see where he was bleeding from. It was subtle but I saw a trickle of blood on his right side.

Do we have anything we can staunch the bleeding with? I asked.

Yes, me. Oria snapped. Sorry, that was uncalled for. He needs to pull over.

Max looked back at us with worry. He shook his head, but I didn't know what that meant.

"Ryder, please pull over," Oria begged.

"We can't afford to pull—" he hunched forward.

"Ryder?" Max pushed Ryder up. "He's out!"

"Shit," I said, going in between the seats when we started to veer off the road and I had to jerk the wheel back before we ended up in a ditch. "Soren, you and Oria scoot over. Max push your seat back and lay it flat, there should be a handle underneath your chair, pull up and push back or there is a button on the side."

Everyone listened to me, and Soren helped Max put the seat back.

"Max, pull Ryder to you and?—"

The car swerved to the side, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to get into the driver's seat. I lowered my window and the driver's window as we slowed.

"Soren, hold the wheel," I snapped, looking around making sure we weren't being followed or looked suspicious. I climbed out of my window sliding in the driver seat just as Max pulled Ryder completely out.

I hit the gas, checking my mirrors again, thankfully we hadn't caught anyone's attention. Max and Ryder looked so crammed together in the front seat, I almost laughed. Ryder was on top of Max as he laid down on the seat.

"Can we move him back here?" Oria said, leaning over the middle console to check on Ryder. "We need to get his bleeding under control."

"Sunshine, I don't think we can maneuver him back there, I'm surprised Max even got him over there," I said, still checking our surroundings and trying to decide where we were going to go.

"Fine," Oria huffed as she leaned over the middle console.

I couldn't see what she was doing, but I heard her gasp. Then she muttered, under her breath, about how much he was a pain in the ass and how she could have healed him and then finally called him a big idiot.

"I have to heal him or he's gonna die," she said, in her professional tone, but she wasn't fooling anyone, I could hear the fear in her voice. "So, we need to either stop now or figure something else out to keep me hidden."

"You don't have a charm?" Soren asked, as he looked around in the back seat.

"My charm won't be able to keep my magic invisible," she said.

"There is a lot of blood," Max said.

Fuck, this wasn't good.

I looked around, seeing us on the empty road.

"How long do you need, for just a quick repair?" I asked.

"It's not a quick repair," she said softly.

"It has to be or if you do heal him, we might be caught and that makes everything we did for nothing," I said, trying not to let her feel my anger.

We couldn't lose Ryder; I don't know if any of us would survive.

"So, what, we just let him die?" Oria snapped.

"Sol, we just have to be careful," Max said.

"We don't have time to be fucking careful," she said, full of anguish.

"All you get is five minutes, Oria, and if we can, we'll do another five," Soren said, looking at me in the rear view.

"Fine, tell me when," she said.

"Everyone keep a lookout," I said, as we all looked around.

"Now, Blondie," Soren said, throwing his shirt over her.

"Flos nitor et rutilans tua virtus luceat," she whispered.

I hoped this wasn't a giant mistake, but losing Ryder wasn't an option.