Page 17 of Pretty When She Breaks

I swallowed and pulled my gaze down, trying to calm my breathing.

Get Treated Like Royalty,it read below, directing people to the luxury spa the resort hosted.

I found my eyes trailing back up the banner before I could help myself. What was one more look?

I shook my head and kept walking, feeling a bit warm.

I’d be meeting her tonight.

What were the chances she’d be as pretty in real life? They photoshopped the hell out of those pictures, didn’t they? Maybe she’d look different enough that I wouldn’t be thinking of that banner every time I looked at her.

I walked straight, following the signs for the entertainment suite, though I wasn’t headed for any of the shows advertised on the posters lining the walls.

Soon, the noise and the bustle faded behind me as I took several turns down corridors that started to look more and more drab.

The corridor abruptly ended at a heavy, metal door. I double-checked my instructions to make sure I was in the right place, then knocked on the door.

Right.

Time to see if Finch’s triple-checking had paid off. I held my breath as I waited.

After a moment, it opened, and a burly bouncer looked at me, one eyebrow raised. “Can I help you?”

“I have a reservation in the Duchess Suite.”

He grunted and grabbed a tablet from behind him, checking my name before waving me inside.

Another bouncer indicated that I should follow him.

I smoothed my hair back and smiled as he took me through security, despite my heartbeat thrumming in my chest.

Thankfully, they didn’t detect the bug that was pretending to be my earring or the tiny, concealed camera in my suitbutton. I hadn’t brought my gun, not wanting to seem like a threat. I gave an internal sigh of relief as he led me down a passage, noise and light spilling in from the end.

I fed my elation at the success through the bond before I stepped out into the Blood Well, blinking in the bright lights.

Though I’d heard it described, seeing it in person was something else entirely. If I looked up, I could see the many levels of balconies overlooking the fight ring—the Sink—set into the floor below us. We’d come out on Ringside, and people were already crowded around the railing, drinking and talking.

I hadn’t been prepared for how crowded it would be. This was an exclusive, illegal operation that apparently a lot of people were happy to partake in.

My disgust was visceral, and I swallowed it down as I felt an echo of anxiety from Kaos’s side of the bond. Both my packmates were on the other side of my comms, listening and watching the tiny, grainy camera feed.

I calmed myself, feeding positive vibes toward my packmates, though I doubted it would do much right now. Kaos had spent years trapped here, forced to fight in the Sink. He hadn’t escaped fully intact, but he’d stabilized enough when we’d formed a proper pack around him.

All our work had led us to this point. To me, walking into the den of vipers, trying to take them down.

We’d had a major setback when the trafficking ring in New Oxford had taken a major hit last year, a lot of our leads disappearing into prison cells overnight.

Still, we’d made it.

I followed the bouncer to a gilded elevator right next to the passageway.Here goes nothing, I thought as we stepped inside. The bouncer turned a key and pressed the button for thetop floor.

I breathed.

It was a good night.

We’d made it here.

Everything was going perfectly.