Laws and Loyalty

XIX. Rage

Ryder slammed his fist on the table with a snarl, his face twisted in his outrage.

"What do you mean, they're gone?" He snarled.

The tracker reared back, eyes wide. He gulped as he replied.

"The trail goes cold as soon as it leaves the city. They've disappeared."

Ryder sneered, but his father placed a hand on his arm.

"Thank you. Dismissed."

With a scared look at Ryder, the young tracker left swiftly. Ryder was shaking with rage, his fists clenched tightly.

"Father," he said lowly. "What do you think you are doing?"

Gregory Moore raised an eyebrow at his sneer. "There's no point in this, son. She's only a Guard that you wanted to play with."

The fury burning through Ryder's veins wasn't something anyone should mess with. His anger was combined with the Soulbond made him a vengeful young man. He rounded on his father.

"'Only a Guard'?" He spat. "That's what you want to see, you foolish old man."

Gregory narrowed his eyes on his son. 

"Cut this behavior, Ryder. She's no matter."

Ryder wanted to kill him. He had no idea what Ryder was dealing with.

"Get out."

His father tried to protest, but Ryder roared, "Get out!" With that, he finally left.

Ryder stood for a second before he threw the table across the room. The papers flew everywhere in his rage.

Angela Smith was gone. His Soulmate had vanished into thin air.

Ryder had never felt more helpless or full of rage until he was helpless to stop the two men take her. The man had somehow frozen Ryder in place, forcing him to watch as he dragged the limp Angela away.

She had just gone unconscious without being touched. He had no idea what had happened to make her do it, whether she fainted or was knocked out magically. Either way, he had charged after them as soon as he was freed.

But they had vanished, Angela with them.

The worst part was that her side of the link between them was completely silent. Usually, he could feel her direction when they were apart, and feel her emotions softly. 

All that came from the link was silence.

And that scared Ryder more than he liked to admit. 

His chest heaved as he stood in her cottage. He wanted to scream into the sky and murder the two men that had taken her from him.

His eyes landed on the quilt on the bed. Nearly finished, it only needed a few more patches of fabrics. Even the napkin somehow fit the blanket.

The sight of the quilt that she had worked on for her whole life had Ryder wanting blood all over again.

He had already snapped at the maid to find the best healer and tracker she could. She said it would take a few days and sent the only tracker she knew to Ryder while she looked for the other.

His father was less than pleased with the best maid out of the mansion, but Ryder couldn't possibly care less.

His fists clenched tightly as he ticked his jaw, wishing more than anything else that the link between them would wake up, at least assuring him that Angela was alive.

Ryder was turning toward the flipped table when pain suddenly exploded through his chest. He cried out, falling onto one knee as the pain rolled through him, and moved to the back of his head and around his heart.

It was the worst thing he'd ever felt. It split him apart, making him writhe in agony, clawing to tear out the pain in his heart.

As abruptly as it had started, the pain was gone. It faded quickly, and Ryder opened his eyes to find himself on the floor, drenched in sweat. He felt weak, and his own heartbeat felt sore.

Ryder wished he didn't know where the pain originated.

The pain had come from the link. He had felt a part of Angela's pain.

If he had only felt part of the pain, then Ryder dreaded what she was feeling.