Page 38 of Savage Surrender

I let him go and test the bedpost again. Not super trustworthy. Owen could drag half the room out the window with him just because he won’t be gentle going down. Unfortunately, it’s the only anchor we have.

Cool air pushes up the ripped front of my dress and flicks the skirt against my bare legs. The necklace Montgomery put on me presses against my throat, suddenly heavier than the collars.

“Unclasp this, Tris.”

His fingers find the catch. They linger against my nape after the weight falls away, and my body tries to arch into the touch like we are not seconds from running.

“You could keep it,” he murmurs. “Probably worth millions.”

I toss it onto Whitney’s frilly bed. “I don’t want his money. I definitely don’t want his creepy old shit.”

Freddie backs through the door with one end of a wooden crate. Owen carries the other, three more stacked on top and every one packed with fireworks.

We’re doing it.

“That’s all of them.” Freddie lowers his end, breathing through his mouth. “We blocked the doors downstairs with heavy furniture.”

“Hale moved most of the guards to the front and south sides.” Owen braces a palm on the top crate.

A bottle rocket rolls free and disappears beneath a little floral chair. For one dark, completely useless second, I imagine all four of them fucking me into her bed before we burn it.

She came back to haunt me.

Freddie fishes the rocket out and drops it into the crate. Owen watches him, blackcurrant flooding my mouth as his aggression fills the room.

“Fuck outside,” he says. “I’m lighting them here. Let the bitch burn.”

My omega presses toward him while my attention keeps snapping to the open door, waiting for Weller. “Agreed.”

Owen holds my gaze. “Remember the plan, Princess. You stay with them. I follow. You do not turn around.”

“You better come find me.”

“I will hunt you to the ends of the earth, Princess.”

Weller appears with the small bag we packed, and the part of my body tracking him finally shuts up. He crosses to me, his hand closing around my elbow before he tells the others Hale is occupied with police at the front of the property. A few guards remain behind the house. Enough to ruin plans if we hesitate.

“We don’t know what escaped the ballroom,” he adds, looking at me. The footage. “Montgomery will try to contain it. Law enforcement may decide you acted in self-defense. They may also decide you are wanted for murder. We won’t be here when they make that decision.”

Tristan gathers the sheet rope. “I’ll go first and test it, then Bianca, Weller, Freddie. Owen lights it up and follows.”

“And if they reach Owen first?”

Weller steps between us before I can get closer to him. “You don’t stop. You run for the trees.”

“Weller. I asked a question.”

His fingers close around my wrist. He is scared. I can hear it in how precise he becomes, every word locked down before it leaves him. “If one of us goes down, you keep moving.”

Owen’s broad hand settles at my nape, gentler than it has any right to be. “Promise, Princess.”

Heat cinches between my legs at both touches. Humiliation burns up my throat. I dig my bare toes into the carpet until my legs lock.

“I promise.”

“Good.” Owen releases me and shoves a pair of sneakers into my hands. “Now put these on. I’m not rescuing you from a splinter ten feet into the woods.”

I catch his wrist before he steps away and press my mouth to the heel of his palm. “Don’t be too long.”