5. Soren

5

SOREN

T he sun peeked through the curtains of our room. Oria was laying on my chest, her arm and leg thrown over me as she slept. The bond was quiet, but her emotions had been so powerful lately. I felt like I was being a bad mate. She was worried about Gray, but no matter what I did or said, I knew she wouldn't be satisfied until she actually saw him.

I saw movement on the floor, and I felt a little guilty that Maxton and Ryder had to take the floor, but it was an argument that both of them were willing to die for. I shouldn't have been surprised. They were a man who didn't want Oria as a mate and a man who was so in love with her he didn't know what to do.

When I opened the door to the truck yesterday. I was pissed he had made her cry, but before she went to sleep, she told me she had become overwhelmed and broke down. She was also trying to come to terms with Maxton.

I still didn't trust him, but I knew she did, and I would have to rein in my need to steamroll all of her decisions. I didn't want her to feel like she didn't have any say in what we did, but all I wanted was to keep her safe.

Maxton and Ryder were starting to stir, it was late morning and I think everyone had been asleep for almost ten hours. I knew the guys had to be hungry and Oria needed to eat too. Last night she just moved her food around her plate before giving her food to Maxton who was more than happy to eat it.

Ryder shifted, but Maxton went into the restroom before he shifted. I didn't know if it was because he was shy or he didn't want to make Oria uncomfortable. My guess was the latter because he was so damn sweet with her, but I had heard him the other day. He was in love with her. I couldn't imagine loving a woman and having to sit on the sidelines.

Maxton came out of the restroom in sweats and a tight-as-hell shirt as Oria stirred, nuzzling her face into my chest.

"We are going to go find some food," Ryder said, nodding at Max to follow him out.

"Bring her some tea if you find some," I said, as he closed the door.

"Tea sounds good," she mumbled, holding me closer.

"You need to eat too," I said, kissing her forehead.

She looked up to pout at me, making me smile.

"What about you? Aren't you hungry?" She straddled my lap.

She pushed her blonde hair to the side giving me the perfect view of her long slender neck. My mouth watered, remembering her taste when we mated, but it wasn't enough, and I had thought about it more times than I'd like to admit.

"I'm ok," I said, trying to keep my hunger in check.

I wasn't actually very hungry. I had eaten at the safe house, but she was tempting me again.

"Are you?" She leaned forward. "I think you look hungry."

"I will always be hungry for you," I smirked, loving that she was trying to tease me.

"Then take a little taste," she said, showing me more of her neck.

I chuckled that she thought she was in charge. I flipped her onto her back, setting into her open legs, kissing her jugular that was begging me to take a bite. She inhaled a quick breath, waiting for my fangs to pierce her neck. I kissed her neck again only for her to growl her frustration.

"The neck isn't where I like to drink from," I said, kissing down the middle of her tits, down her abdomen, nipping at the skin that was exposed, until I was at the apex of her thighs.

I bit the inside of her covered thigh where her femoral artery was. Damn her fucking leggings.

"Soren," she gasped.

I grinned at how the tables had turned. "Right here, Blondie, is the best place to bite you, right as you orgasm. I'd bite you here just to prolong it, hearing you scream my name while I taste you."

Her body shivered as I bit into her thigh again, wishing I had enough time to properly taste her. Her sweet arousal tested my will, but I knew we didn't have enough time for what I had in mind.

The sound of heavy boots walked up the stairs along with another set of heavy footsteps. I pulled away from her, kissing her on the nose before I sat up. The door opened as she quickly sat up and both shifters stopped at the doorway looking at Oria with various looks of longing and lust.

Oria's cheeks bloomed pink with embarrassment.

"Uh…" She didn't say anything else while running to the bathroom.

"I was hoping just having one room would be enough for you not to rile up your mate," Ryder grumbled.

"She's your mate too," I countered. "Though, I am sorry, Max."

He was staring at the bathroom door making me feel even more guilty.

Damn, I'm an asshole.

"Can we keep the arousal to a minimum?" Ryder clipped.

"Yeah, I will," I said, looking at Max again whose cheeks were also pink as he sat in a chair in front of a desk.

The chair squeaked in protest as his weight threatened its integrity. Max thought better of it, sitting on the floor instead. He pulled out things from the bags, separating them as Ryder set down drinks and went through another bag.

Oria opened the door to the bathroom looking sheepish and I couldn't help but smirk. She hit my shoulder as she sat down next to me. The guys each gave her something and I noticed Ryder had brought her tea.

"You need to eat," Ryder said to her. "We need to keep up our strength to be prepared for everything."

She pursed her lips like she wanted to argue, but she opened the wrapper that had an egg sandwich in it. She took a small bite, making a little moan that had all of us pausing for a moment. I'm sure that sound had gone straight to our dicks and surprisingly, I was ok with Maxton being here.

I assumed anyone else, outside of my twin and Ryder would make me angry at them hearing her sounds, but Max felt like one of us. It was an odd feeling because just twenty-four hours ago, I was wary of him but shit, was he her mate too? I looked at each of them back and forth wondering why I wasn't too possessive with him here.

"Soren?"

I realized I was staring at Maxton when I looked over at Oria's beautiful hazel eyes.

"What?"

"You, ok?" Ryder gave me a look.

"Uh… yeah, I was just thinking about some stuff," I said, glancing back at Maxton, who was looking at me with a raised brow.

"Okay, I think we need to talk about finding Gray," Oria said, before biting her sandwich.

"I was thinking of visiting a friend to do a locator spell for us," Ryder said, inhaling his sandwich. "I tried calling him, but his phone was off."

"Glad your phone is charged," I said, opening one of my pockets to see that my phone was dead again.

He shrugged, but I remembered the deal he made with that woman, he was still waiting for a call. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he just stared back like it was no big deal.

"Ok, so let's go to get that locator spell," Oria said, stuffing her mouth, then standing up like she was ready to leave now.

"It's not that simple, Oria," Ryder said, not moving. "At this point I have to assume everyone is against us and I'm going to need to make some calls and plans before we leave. Gray also knows to come here if the safe house is compromised.

"Don't patronize me, Ryder," she snapped.

"I'm not," he frowned. "I'm just telling you how it is and what I need to do."

"How is no one worried about Gray?!" she yelled, stomping her foot.

I couldn't help the smile that surfaced and that made her even more upset.

"Do you guys not care about your twin or your friend?'' She looked like she was on the verge of having an anxiety attack. "My mate is out there and you are acting like nothing is wrong."

"Blondie—"

"Don't, Blondie me, Soren," she snapped walking around the guys. "I just can't be with you guys."

She opened the door, walking out, when Ryder and I jumped up to follow her.

"Maybe let me cool her down," Maxton said, standing in front of us. "I don't think you will solve anything since she is upset with you guys."

Ryder scowled at the idea, but I shrugged.

"I'll just keep an eye on her," he said, leaving the room too.

Ryder and I looked at each other, the silence was uncomfortable.

"He's fine, right?" I asked, letting my nerves show.

It was one thing to keep a positive attitude with Oria, but inside I was a mess. She didn't need my added stress.

"The bond is still intact so I'm hoping he just got held up with Katarina and her men," he said, nodding like he was trying to convince himself that was it. "He's also the worst at keeping his phone charged."

I nodded. "Ok, let's go with that," I said. "He might barely be getting to the safe house and we should see him in the next day or two."

My chest ached with fear, and I didn't know if it was mine or my mates.

"It will be fine, we've had one of us get away from the group before," he said, grabbing everyone's trash. "It took me a couple of days to get back to you guys and he's probably being extra cautious coming back to her."

"Or he could have been caught," I said, expressing my worst fear.

"Caught by whom? The Belladonnas?" He scoffed.

"We don't know what happened to Katarina and her men; for all we know, they captured her or killed her," I said, finally letting it settle in that something might be wrong with Gray.

Ryder clenched his jaw. "Let's not go there. It would have taken him at least a day to get to the cabin and we might have just missed him. He's on his way here."

"I think we should get that locator spell just in case," I said. "We have to ease our minds and hers too."

"I think we should do it too," he said, walking to the door. "I'll make some phone calls and see who I can trust out here. I might have to head to the coast. Really wish we had one of the portal potions so I could just get my ass back to Addie."

"Maybe we can have her make us some.. Oria is great at making things," I said, getting up too. "It would be easier to get all the things she needed so she could just make it. We definitely need more for our ‘just in case' situation or if we get separated."

"She probably needs a place to work at, but it's not like someone is going to let us use their workshop." Ryder rubbed his jaw. "I'll be back to see what I can find."

"OK we?—"

The door opened abruptly, Oria walked in with a stoic expression, with Max in her arms as a grumpy cat. She set him down before walking to the bathroom, the water turned on shortly after she closed the door.

Max changed into his human form looking wrecked.

"We better find her mate," he said, grabbing a pair of pants from his bag. "The stress of everything is weighing heavily on her shoulders and it's causing her to crack under the pressure. She's not used to this and it's hurting her being away from Gray."

I took a deep breath, hating that my mate was hurting, and I wished I could take all her pain away.