19. Oria

19

ORIA

M ax was lifeless on the floor as I pushed as much power into him as possible. It was reckless, but I was too panicked to regulate my feelings. All that mattered was I could heal him quickly and we could get out of here.

His body was broken in several places, but I was most worried about his ribs puncturing his lungs. I cried out when I started to work on repairing his bones and muscles. Ryder's stab wounds were just as bad, but this was so much more extensive. I was reckless pushing all that power into him, but Gray gave me five minutes and that was not nearly enough.

"We have to leave now," Ryder said, wanting me to stop, but Max wasn't nearly ready to be moved.

"Sunshine, we have to go now."

Someone touched my shoulder, and it was like a rush of power flowed from where he touched me.

Quickly pulling away from Max, I looked over my shoulder at a wide-eyed Gray, who had the same expression as I.

"Did that?—"

"We've got to move now," Soren said, lifting me up.

Panic took over my senses. "No, not yet!"

"I'm sorry, Blondie, but if we don't leave now, someone will find us and then we will have to protect Max," he said, kissing my temple. "We can't protect him and you."

"He needs more healing," I said, looking over his shoulder to see Max being carried by Ryder and Gray.

They were illuminated by the fire that Max had unleashed. He was magnificent and when he first shifted, fear hit me because he was so big. In my wildest dreams I never thought Max would be able to shift into a dragon.

Ryder picked up Max's torso and Gray grabbed his legs, following us with no signs of exertion. I had seen Soren holding Gray before so I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised.

"Give me the potions and let me get us out of here so you can heal Max," Soren said, as I reached into my bra to pull out the potion, thankful it didn't fall or break against me. "We won't let anything happen to any one of us, ok Blondie. We are a team. There is no us if there is no you, and that rings true for all of us. It's always us."

His words released the tension I had been holding. He uttered the word for the portal, opening it up for us and we rushed through it. The sound of rhythmic whooshing was the first thing I noticed and then the smell of salt. We were in another forest that had trees so tall I had to tilt my head up just to look at the tops of them which were hidden by darkness. Soren set me down, grabbing my hand, keeping me close.

I followed him until we came upon a very nice house with large windows. It was brown and black, very clean lines and looked like nothing I had ever seen before. It was beautiful in the dark, I couldn't imagine what it looked like during the day.

"Where are we?" I asked, glancing behind me to make sure my other mates were still behind us.

"In California, by the ocean." Soren looked at me with a smile.

"Is that what that sound is?" I wanted to jump from excitement.

"Yeah, Blondie it is," he said, walking up to the door and hitting the numbers until it opened. "I remembered you saying, you had never seen the ocean."

I cupped his face, bringing him in for a quick kiss before I looked inside. It was so dark until he flipped a switch, bringing a soft light to the big room.

The outside was beautiful, but it was nothing compared to how gorgeous it was on the inside. The high ceiling gave the room a bigger feel and there were windows on the opposite side of the house.

"Just beyond the house is the ocean," Soren said, walking to the windows and I followed.

"Oh my god," I said, as goosebumps rose on my arms in anticipation.

I spent years wondering what the ocean looked like, and I didn't think my imagination even came close. Tears sprung to my eyes as I realized I was so close to seeing what I had been missing out on. Everything that happened over the last month was worth it, and I would do it all over again if I got to experience this moment.

My focus didn't waver until Soren pushed open the windows and the sound was louder. The ocean's melody hypnotized me as I walked outside. Beyond the porch was complete darkness. Once I reached the edge, I held onto the small wall, closing my eyes and listened to the ocean. My tears came full force while I let myself feel.

I was free.

The breeze caressed my skin, the ocean's song soothed me, and I was at peace for once. I don't know how long I was there for, but I felt rejuvenated, and I felt better than I had in a long time. I hadn't laid eyes on the ocean yet, but hearing it was just as good.

I opened my eyes, dying to see the ocean and no matter how tired I was, there was no way I wouldn't rest tonight. Commotion behind me brought me back to the urgent matter. Max was still hurt. Turning around, Ryder was at the door watching me. I took a step towards him, ready to go into his arms for comfort, except Laima's words came back to haunt me.

They do everything for their own gain, they have no morals, they take any job if it's the right price, even stealing a lonely woman in a tower.

He knew something was wrong. "Would you like to talk about it now?"

"No, after I heal Max," I said, wishing we didn't have to talk about anything.

He nodded at me, walking into the house as I followed.

"He's upstairs, second room to your right," he said, walking to the stairs, glancing at me. "In every lifetime, Heaven, it's always you."

He walked away from me and all I wanted to do was scream for him to come back. The accusation that Laima had said against them loomed over us and as much as I would like to find out the truth, Max was more important.

Climbing the stairs felt heavier than when we first got here. I found the room where they had placed Max; Gray and Soren were adjusting Max on the bed. They had covered the lower half of his body. It warmed my heart that they were taking care of Max, and we weren't even mated.

"Do you need anything?" Soren asked, looking up at me.

I shook my head walking into the room.

"I'll get some water for you and Max for when he wakes up," Gray said, passing by me with a look of longing and questions.

I crawled into bed with Max settling on a pillow next to him, setting a hand on his chest. His breathing sounded a little labored, but better than I expected.

"Flos nitor et rutilans tua virtus luceat," I whispered, glancing at Soren before I closed my eyes.

I directed my power to his injuries, feeling my magic work through his breaks and tears. I took a sweep of his injuries when I felt something dark trapped inside him. It was a piece of dark magic, it was almost symbiotic. I pushed my power against it, and it pushed back.

My entire body felt like it was shocked, but the more I focused on it, the more I had to get it out or dispel it. Taking a deep breath, I pushed against it again, feeling it push against me and I aimed even more power at it. I gasped at the pain I was feeling as I tried to push the dark magic out. That's when I realized it was Laima's magic.

I gritted my teeth, pushing against it even more. Whatever this was, it was toxic, and I needed to get it out. But no matter how hard I pushed, nothing was working. Exhaustion was seeping into me. I needed to try one more time; Max deserved it. I prepared to push all my power to it when an enormous amount of power rushed through me.

At first it was too much, until I pushed exactly where I needed it to go. The dark magic pushed back against my light, but it was no match for my magic and when my power completely took over, I was knocked back from the black magic's hold as it broke.

I gasped as I was thrown back, but instead of hitting the floor or wall, I was pushed against a body who righted us before we fell. Ryder looked down at me and so did my other mates.

"Are you ok?" Soren asked, coming into my view.

He touched me as if he needed physical confirmation.

"I'm fine, but what are you doing here?" I looked over at Max, thankful he didn't look any different or that I might have hurt him with my magic, but I felt it. That tendril of magic tying us together.

"You called for us," Ryder said, as I walked to the bed to check on Max.

"What do you mean I called for you? I was healing him." I looked over my shoulder at them standing close to each other.

"Blondie, we heard your call and when we got up here, you were whimpering," Soren said.

"We thought you were struggling to heal him and when I touched you last time it felt like I had amplified your power," Gray said, standing next to me. "So, we all touched you thinking you needed the extra power."

"He had dark magic in him, it was eating away at him," I said, sitting on the bed next to Max. "I don't know what it was, but it felt like Laima's magic."

"Could it be a remnant of the spell she had on him to make him live as a cat?" Gray asked.

"Maybe," I said, unsure.

"Sol?" Max croaked.

"I'm right here." I grabbed his hand. "I'm here."

"Safe?" he coughed.

"Yes, we are safe," I said, brushing a hair off his face.

"Don't be mad at them, Sol," he said, his voice cracking on the last word.

I squeezed his hand because I didn't want to make any promises.

The silence in the room was awful, it sat heavy between us, getting more and more uncomfortable the longer I didn't acknowledge the elephant in the room. Taking a deep breath, I leaned over to kiss Max on the forehead.

Expecting that they would follow me, I walked downstairs to the comfortable looking chair in the main room. It was still dark outside, and I itched to see the sun over the ocean.

It was cooler in the house now that the windows had been opened, letting the cool breeze air out the stuffiness. I sat in the big comfortable chair leaving the guys to sit on the sofa. My nerves were making my stomach hurt as I felt their gazes on me.

"What happened, Sunshine?" Gray asked in a soft voice.

I almost laughed because I could feel the tension from Ryder and Soren, but it was Gray's softness that cut through it.

"I'm going to ask this only once; was I a job?"

My gaze landed on them, and they looked equally confused.

"Blondie, what are you talking about?" Soren looked perplexed

"Did she hire you to take me?" My voice lacked the confidence I thought I had for fear they were going to lie or tell me that I was a job.

"Shit," Ryder said under his breath.

My body froze.

"We had a request before we found you?—"

Ryder spoke, but I stopped listening. Closing my eyes, I tried to keep my tears at bay, but my heartache was too much.

"Blondie." Soren's voice was close to me, making me flinch. "We didn't know it was you, she didn't give us any details other than we needed to steal a princess and that she needed it done by Beltane."

Soren knelt in front of me.

"She didn't give us many details and she never said her name," Ryder said quickly. "We didn't know it was you, I swear it."

"Sunshine, we came for our friend. The one you met at the castle," he said looking panicked. "She was the reason we looked for the Oria, it was just a coincidence that we had been hired to take you."

Their feelings were varying degrees of panic and fear.

"How did you get that necklace? The one Gray wore to get in?"

"We took it from Katarina and her mates. A man tried to take her with that necklace since she was trapped just like you. Our information about Oria came from a man saying there was a barrier and we needed something powerful to get through," Gray said. "So when we saw what the necklace did, we took it in hopes that we could use it to get the Oria for Katarina."

What they said sounded true, but she had put the seed of doubt in me and now I couldn't even trust my own feelings.

"Feel the bond, Blondie," Soren said. "Trust it. Whatever happens, this is what she or Tay wants. We would never hurt our mate."

Closing my eyes, I felt the bond. It was strong, tinged with worry and unease, but if I searched a bit more, I felt their love. It tied all of us together and now I felt a faint pull to Max.

The bond tied us together, our tangled hearts were always supposed to be together. I opened my eyes as a few tears escaped.

"In every lifetime," I said, trusting the bond.

He was right, they wanted us apart and would say anything to make me doubt them because we were stronger together.