“Maddox left this door open before he and Drix cleared your path. Cameras are covered, emergency exits are deactivated.” Eve holds up a rough map, hand drawn in pink ink.

“We are on the complete opposite side from where the party is being held so it should be pretty dead until you get closer. The hallways are long, they echo, and most have rows of floor to ceiling windows on one side of them. You’ll have to memorize it but if you follow the map, you should be able to get to Maggie just before the obligatory toasts. ”

Maisie looks at me and rolls her eyes before she smirks.

“The masks have comms in them. You’ll be able to hear us, we can hear you, you can hear each other.

It’s a constant stream of communication so it really should be used as needed so the line isn’t jumbled.

If you want to talk to someone outside of the mask, there is a button on the bracelet strapped to your utility belts. ”

I look down at the row of ammunition and other small weapons around my waist, my eyes zeroing in on the item she’s talking about.

It’s little more like a glove than a bracelet with a piece that spreads across the palm and attaches at a piece for the pinky and thumb.

It also seems more like it’s a double tap instead of a button but I get the idea.

“The mouth piece will also distort your voice,” my sister continues. “That way if you decide to add some theatrics, no one will recognize you at all. You?—“

“How the hell did you two get all this so fast?” It’s weird as hell and I find it kind of hard to believe theses two just had this shit laying around.

Maisie shifts uncomfortably in her seat, dropping eye contact with me briefly before Eve jumps in.

“I got the clothes and van as soon as I left the asylum.” She looks at my sister who just shrugs. “Maisie got the rest.”

“Did she, now?” Well, that’ll be a conversation to have once this is all said and done.

Now isn’t the time. Not when it won’t be a quick chat.

Fifteen years and my sister ends up an arms dealer.

Wouldn’t that just be the icing.

“We’ll be waiting on the golf course. Engine running and ready to split.” Maisie gives me a worried look before she forces a smile. “So make sure to let us know when you’re making your exit.”

With a nod that hopefully conveys the words neither of us are saying, I move to the double doors, giving each of my mates a reassuring touch as I do, then get out to make sure there isn’t anyone within range.

I wave them out, Calix and Des moving with Isaak between them as they all jump down next to me.

I look at each of them, my eyes moving over their faces, trying to memorize every detail, to burn every memory into my mind.

I’m confident all five of us will be walking out of here together, all in one piece, but I’ve already decided that if shit goes south, I’ll be going with it so they can get out unharmed.

Isaak looks up at me as that thought runs through my head, an emotion passing over his features that I can’t quite place.

“You good, honey?” I ask as he holds my stare.

My omega nods, lifting his mask with the yellow neon stitching. “I’m good. I’m ready to go get our girl back.”

As he slips that mask down over his face, my alpha and beta following suit, I grin down at the PVC before I do the same.

It’s time to get our girl back, just like Isaak said, and I’m not leaving here until we do.

MAGNOLIA

I lean toward the mirror, dabbing the tissue under my eye before I reach for the concealer on the counter next to me.

I hate wearing makeup.

I’m not very good at applying it, Eve usually does it for me, but I never have much on my face if I can help it. To be honest, the most makeup I’ve ever worn was to cover up my tattoos and that wasn’t even on my face. If I did wear makeup, it was minimal and usually just to work.

Tears well along my lash line again but I quickly tilt my head back and fan my eyes.

If I go back down there upset again, Camden is going to blow his top.

Again.

Once I’m confident I’m not going to cry right this second, I go back to the mirror and swipe on some concealer, adding a little extra around my right eye.

You would have thought, since we’ve been photographed a hundred times and have had multiple events this week, that asshole would have laid off a little.

Be a little nicer, put in a bit of effort to keep up appearances.

That was too much to ask, too high of an expectation.

If anything, Camden has been a thousand times worse and he doesn’t give a shit where we are or what we’re doing.

The only saving grace has, oddly enough, been staying at my parents house all week.

My betrothed hasn’t hesitated to put his hands on me, to correct me as he says, but being locked in my parent’s house when we aren’t in public means he hasn’t been able to violate me again.

I guess it lost some of the appeal since I willingly agreed to marry him this time.

Blowing out a breath, I carefully cover the nasty purple and blue ring around my eye and where it touches my nose. I reapply some mascara and check over my reflection, making sure I’ll pass the inspection once I’m downstairs.

Red.

He made me take out my piercings, wear a skintight, silk, way too revealing dress with sky high heels and the flashiest jewelry he could buy me.

I had to dye the purple streaks in my hair a natural color, blond being his choice even though it looks awful with my natural black.

Even the hairdo is horrible, some stupid updo that required my hair be blown out and curled, then riddled with bobby-pins and hairspray.

I look like my mother and I absolutely hate it.

But this is my life now.

Meaningless events, shallow people, and masquerading as something I’ll never be.

As long as I know my mates are safe, that’s all that matters.

Which is why I steel my spine and hurry out of the bathroom, quickly making my way down the hall and to the stairs where I know Camden is waiting for me.

“About fucking time,” he hisses in my ear the second I’m close enough. “I hate to be kept waiting, Magnolia.”

I bite my tongue as he grabs my arm, squeezing tightly as he leads me down the first two.

He’s hurting me .

Even as he dons his trademark smile and makes like he’s escorting me to my devoted followers, Camden’s grip is painful, and I doubt he gives a shit.

He probably likes it.

“If we’d have missed your father’s toast, I would have pushed you down these goddamn stairs and played the part of devastated fiancé while they scooped your brain off the marble floor at the bottom.”

Well that’s cute.

I bet that’s part of his wedding vows.

Plastering a fake smile on my face, I nod to people as we descend, wave when I need to, and keep pretending like there isn’t a gaping hole in my chest where my heart used to be.

If Camden doesn’t kill me, being torn away from the men I love definitely will. It’s just a race to see which happens first.

“Magnolia,” my father says between clenched teeth. “We had to postpone my toast for you.”

I stop on the bottom step as Camden stands below me, working the crowd like he was born to do it while The Dean gets in position to say his piece.

He taps the side of his champagne glass as he lifts it in the air, making sure the attention is on him and nowhere else in the room.

“Thank you all so much for coming. It means the world to Camden and Magnolia to see all of you here, joyously helping celebrate their love.” My father lowers his glass and turns to me, pretending like he gives a shit as his lips twist into an awful smile.

“From the moment you were born, I knew?—“

A deafening crack echoes throughout the room, a loud pop that has everyone ducking and covering their heads.

“You knew she’d be a fucking goldmine.”

I look around from my crouched position, searching the part of the crowd I can see for that distorted voice.

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, humans of all genders, identities, designations, and everyone in between. May we please have your undivided fucking attention.”

I lift my head as the group starts to split down the middle, two groups of terrified socialites parting like the Red Sea.

“We are here for one reason and one reason alone,” the voice says and I find myself trying to stand, still searching for a source. “If everyone cooperates, this should be nice and smooth for all parties involved.”

I have no idea what the hell is going on but as I straighten up and look toward the back of the room, my heart skips a beat.

There are four men dressed in all black and wearing masks, each with a different color neon stitching covering their eyes and mouth. They’re moving in a diamond formation, spread out but in sync, and all four of them are armed to the teeth.

The two on the outside, the ones in green and yellow, have some kind of rifle at the ready, maybe a semiautomatic but I have no idea, and they’re using them to keep the crowd of old money at bay.

The one at the back wearing the blue neon stitches has a Glock in each hand, I know what those look like from working at the asylum, but they’re a little more threatening than I’ve ever seen.

Especially since he’s using them to reinforce the rifles as well as cover the back of their formation while the one in front starts speaking again.

“We’ve come to crash the party since there won’t be a wedding,” he says, the pink neon stitching moving across the crowd as he cocks the shotgun in his hand. “Hell, who am I kidding, we are the goddamn party and we can go all night if we have to.”

The closer they get, the faster my heart starts to beat, and if it wasn’t completely impossible, I’d think these were my mates who came to rescue me.

My father takes a step in their direction, raising his hands in surrender as the one in front spins on him and takes aim. “What is it that you want?”