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TWENTY-THREE

GOTTA HAVE FAITH

KORVIN

T he first time my sister has ever been allowed to come visit me, and this is what’s going on when she does.

I haven’t even said anything to her.

She hugged me when she came in, Maisie hugged the shit out of me for a long time, but when she let go and took a good look at my face, I didn’t have to worry about conversation.

Not when she tore out of here like a bat out of hell looking for Isaak.

Maisie didn’t even notice Des and Calix sitting on the floor against the wall across from me.

“Probably because you sitting there pouting like a baby is acting like a vacuum,” Des grunts as he throws another paper airplane. “It’s sucking the manners out of here right along with all the fucking life.”

Jackass.

Must have read that on my face since I didn’t say shit out loud.

Either that or Des suddenly gives a shit about introductions and niceties.

“Who even says that? Niceties . Are you seventy five years old all of the sudden?”

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?”

My chest squeezes at that, the way he still feels like Magnolia is our girl despite the fact that she’s not here. I guess we all do, and maybe we need to start figuring out how to move on from that.

“No.” Isaak points in my face as he stands in the middle of the three of us. “We are not moving on from shit. Magnolia is still ours and we have to go rescue her.”

“From what?” I scoff. “Living it up with her new husband?”

He swallows hard as he looks up at me. “We have to save her from the Harden twins.”

It takes about three seconds for what he said to sink in, and when it does, my goddamn vision goes white.

I don’t even realize I’ve ripped my bed from its mounts on the floor, the bolts flying as I wind up, ready to launch it across the hall.

“Whoa there, killer.” Des grabs my wrists as he plants his feet, stopping me in a deadlock because he’s the only one who can. “Take it easy. You make a scene and it’s gonna fuck up anything we want to do to help our girl, right?”

I grit my teeth in his face, growling low in warning. Now really isn’t the time to fuck with me. Not when I feel like my head is going to explode after what I just heard.

Slowly, and without taking his eyes off my face, Desmond slides his hands from my wrists down my arms, placing one on my chest over my heart while he cups the back of my neck with the other.

“Clear minds.” He presses his forehead to mine as I start to calm down. “We have to have clear fucking minds if we want to get her back. Don’t do anything stupid. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

“Good,” Isaak says as I put the bed down. “This is good. You think you can try to reach Maggie?”

Why the hell not.

Who needs cellphones when we’ve got bond links?

“Don’t be such a smart ass. Just get our girl.” Des grins before he pats my ass then gives me a little space.

I have no idea if that’ll make a difference.

I don’t know how to do this.

I didn’t even know I was doing this until ten minutes ago.

How am I supposed to work some weird mate bond mind link magic shit if I don’t have a clue when I’m actually doing it?

I close my eyes and start to pace, trying to keep a clear head like they said while I think about Maggie.

She’s so far away from us. I don’t know what kind of radius this shit has. I might not be able to reach her if she’s far enough away.

But I keep trying.

I control my breathing and relax my body, I try to block out the peanut gallery around me. I stand still as I picture her face, specifically the last time she smiled at me, just before she went to Eve’s new place.

That’s when it happens.

A slice of fear and sadness stabs me right in the chest, a pain I can feel as if it were mine but I know it isn’t.

Neither is the crying that gets louder the longer I focus on it.

I have to get a hold of myself.

My heart starts to beat a little faster as I hear her, as I hear Maggie’s voice inside my head.

I can’t go down there a mess, not if I don’t want to get my ass handed to me again. Remember why you’re doing this, Magnolia.

If she means that literally, I’ll kill that asshole twice.

I hear her snort. Yeah, twice might not be enough. Not to keep someone like him down but it’s a nice thought.

Did she hear me? She must have. She had to.

I miss you, she whispers, tears filling her voice again. I miss the four of you so fucking much but that’s why I’m here. That’s right, Magnolia, you’re here so you still have living breathing mates to miss. You’re doing this for them.

What the hell does that mean?

I push myself harder, trying to send my love through the link to see if she responds to that, to see if Maggie can hear me tell her we’re coming for her. She needs to know that we love her, and we’re coming for her.

I love you, too.

My eyes pop open as I swing my gaze to Isaak. “You know, don’t you?”

He nods. “Eve left my office right before I came here. Magnolia didn’t leave us because she wanted to, she did it because she had to.”

“For us,” I growl before I stomp through the doorway with the three of them on my heels. “I don’t know what that means, not exactly, but the fact that she’s willing to sacrifice herself for us is more than enough reason to get the fuck out of here.”

“This way,” Isaak grabs my hand and leads me to the emergency exit, not even trying to hide the fact that he’s about to break us out of here.

“You know what this means, right?”

He nods as he smiles. “I know. None of this matters if I don’t have my pack. I’d rather be on the run and with you, than sitting in a stuffy office without you. It wasn’t a hard decision to make.”

“I fucking love you.”