Page 128 of Mask and the Magnolia

My brow furrows as my stare slowly shifts to Des’s face, his pale green eyes focused on his hands as he tears another sheet of paper from my notebook.

I haven’t said one fucking word in almost four days.

How the hell is he answering me?

Slowly, like he heard that, too, my alpha lifts his head then looks me dead in the eye as he says, “I can hear you.”

What the actual fuck?

We both turn to Calix at the same time, not speaking but waiting anyway as he looks between us and shrugs. “I thought it was normal.”

“You thought what was normal?” Des shifts around and scoots closer. “What, sweetheart?”

“Hearing you guys in my head.” His eyes go wide as his expression turns from confusion to surprise. “I don’t know about things like this. I didn’t mean to keep it a secret. I wasn’t trying to. I just, I mean I figured it was a mate thing and didn’t want to look stupid by asking.”

Well, now I have to open my mouth.

“Calix,” I grunt as I get off my bed and crouch in front of him, resting my hands on his knees for a little reassurance. “Sweetheart, you’re not stupid and nothing you could say or do would ever make us think you were. You’re not stupid, okay?”

He nods and gives me one of his shy smiles that makes him even prettier than normal. “Okay, Vin.”

“Asshole,” Des says as he shoves me off balance so I land on my ass. “It’s been a real fucking banger with you radio silent until now. Would have been nice if you’d have flapped your gums sooner, you know, maybe so we didn’t think we were losing you, too.”

I scrub a hand over my hair and blow out a breath.

He’s not wrong.

I should have been more supportive of my mates, should have closed ranks and brought us together while we were hurting instead of shutting them out.

It hurt too fucking much, though.

Trying to process the thought of Maggie choosing to leave us. I still can’t wrap my head around it.

She loves us, I know she does. I knew Magnolia loved me before she did. It only grew from there, got bigger and better as we were able to find all of our missing pieces and put them back together. The five of us together, that’s what makes us whole. That’s not the kind of shit you can walk away from.

But she did.

Maggie left us in the dust after cutting ties with everything and everyone. Couldn’t even do it in person. Didn’t bother saying goodbye.

Hell, Magnolia didn’t even give a reason for any of it, not really. Isaak read that text to us a hundred times, played the voicemail just as many, and not once did she explain why she felt the way she did.

I couldn’t believe it then and I barely believe it now but she’s gone, she’s gonna marry that motherfucker, and there’s not a goddamn thing any of us can do about it.

“Can you hear Korvin in your head, too?”

I follow Calix’s line of sight to my door, Isaak standing there as white as a fucking ghost, but one who is now confused by what our beta just asked him. “What?”

“Des and I can hear Vin up here”—he taps his temple—“I was just wondering if you can, too.”

“Perfect,” Isaak blurts as he rushes in and starts trying to pull me up. “The bond link. If you’re able to use it then you should be able to communicate with Magnolia.”

I pull my arm away from him before he yanks it off, arching a brow as I get to my feet. “What the fuck is a bond link? And why would I need to use it to talk to Maggie?”

Isaak helps Calix up then tries to get Des to move but he’s a jackass and still mad at me so he’s not going to. Something our omega realizes as he drops his hand with an annoyed huff.

“A bond link usually doesn’t take so quickly, at least not that I’m aware of. I don’t actually know how long it takes but you were answering questions we never asked and anticipating our needs from the very beginning.” Isaak walks around to get behind Des, grabbing him under his pits to get him to stand that way.If there wasn’t so much shit going on right now, it’d be pretty adorable to watch.“I was waiting for this part. Speaking to each other through a mind link of sorts. It’s based in our mate bonds, which is where the name comes from, but it’s the same idea. You need to use it to see if you can reach Magnolia.”

“Take it easy, doc,” Desmond says as he finally gets up and faces our omega. “Why would we need to get a hold of our girl?”