“Sorry,” I mutter.
He sighs, glancing at the ceiling as if praying for patience, before repeating himself. “I was saying we’ve decided the gala is an opportunity to grab both Vane and Imogen from right under Cain’s nose.”
“Yeah.” I run a hand through my hair. “Eve, if you’re okay—”
“I’ll do it,” she cuts me off.
I smirk at Gideon. “Good. Now, it’s pretty obviously going to be a trap.” Everyone at the table nods. “So we’re going to spring it. We’ll split up. Silas, you’ll infiltrate the staff. Finn, you’ll coordinate from outside, as normal. Gideon will take his rifle and cover us from above if we need it; and Draven will be attending as a guest.” Draven raises a brow at that, but I meet his unimpressed stare levelly. “As will Eve and I. Cain will assume she’s there to hand me over, but as soon as we’ve located Vane and Imogen, Draven and Silas will launch a distraction and we’ll get out of there.”
“I don’t like this plan,” Finn mutters. “There are too many unpredictable factors. What if Imogen isn’t there? What if Morwenna doesn’t bring Vane along? If it’s a trap, Cain will have the bait locked down.”
“Not to mention, she might not come with us willingly,” Silas adds, frowning. “If she’s anywhere near as afraid of him as you are...”
Evie gnaws at her lip. “She’s worse,” she finally admits. “Cain has always hated my sister, and she’s always done everything she can to please him... If we get her out of there, I can talk her around to seeing sense. Or else, I’ll die trying.”
“We’ll take something to knock her out with,” Silas mutters, “It’ll keep her from doing anything unexpected and ruining the plan.”
“We’ll need tickets.” Finn already has his tablet out and is tapping away. “And staff passes to give Silas and Gideon access.”
“Can you do it?” Gideon asks.
“Already done,” the omega replies absently. “I’m shopping for your outfits. Evie’s going to need a dress.”
Eve shakes her head. “I have to wear the red one.”
The corner of Finn’s mouth turns down, but he doesn’t contradict her. Instead, the omega leans over and pulls her into him until her head is resting on his collarbone. Jealousy sears through my veins at the casual intimacy she allows him. My hands ball into fists until my claws are slicing into my palms, but I don’t allow the emotion to show on my face.
I chose this. Sharing her is better than losing her forever.
My mantra would work a lot better if Eve even looked at me that way. If the thrall bond between us showed even a tiny hint of her affection.
But it doesn’t.
Gideon takes over the planning, working on our exit strategy while I wrestle with my own demons.
I refuse to accept that everything we had is completely gone. I was fucking made for Eve. Every inch of my soul belongs to her, whether she wants me or not.
“How are we sneaking into the city?” Silas asks, cutting off my train of thought. “After your stunt with the sewers, Cain ordered them purged and bolted up tight. We’re going to have to find a different way to get around undetected.”
It’s a good point, and I grin as I consider my answer. “Hey, Gid...”
“No.” My co-alpha shuts down my idea with an instant frown.
Finn grins as well, grasping my meaning immediately. “We have it. It would be a shame not to—”
“No.”
Fuck, is healwaysthis much of a killjoy?
“What are you two wittering on about?” Draven growls.
“That beat up old spycraft we captured from Cain a few years ago,” Silas groans. “Frost and Finn have been trying to fix it up so we can use it.”
“Itcloaks.” Finn basically glows as he thinks about our project. “Do you have any idea how much more challenging it is to cloak an aircraft than a land based vehicle? Maintaining a convincing projection refresh rate when travelling at that speed requires…” He glances at the rest of us, sees our bemused expressions, and rolls his eyes. “It’s a miracle we managed it. Even Cain only has a handful of cloaked planes.”
His pride is palpable and justified. We’ve been working on the jet for years, as something to keep our minds distracted during our down time while the others were undercover. It came into our possession from a different cell in the resistance after it was shot down in a small but violent uprising in Mexico.
The omega is right: it can take us, undetected, into the centre of the city, as long as we’re careful.
