Emilia chewed on her bottom lip. “Not exactly. It’s still going to be locked up tight.”
“But if I’m inside at the party, then I’ll be able to sneak around the estate.” Talia curled closer to me.
“I know it’s not an ideal plan.” Emilia twirled a stray strand of hair around her finger. “Alternatively, we could have Jurah send a team to break in and search the place.”
“That sounds like a better idea,” I said. “Why not do that instead?”
Shaking her head, Talia disagreed. “No, they won’t know what could be important. I know Benjamin. I’ll be able to spot things they won’t, and we only have one shot. Even if we don’t get caught in the act, they’ll find out we were there afterward.”
“They might not?—”
My denial was firmly cut off by Talia. “Ronald White is as paranoid as they come. He might not knowwhobreached his security, but he’ll know someone did.”
Shit. She was set on this.
I needed to grab Mercer—he might be the only one capable of actually changing her damn mind.
Fishing my phone out from under the blankets, I sent him a quick text to come back. Talia raised an eyebrow at me, seeing what I’d done, and I shrugged. “They might have input.”
“They might try to talk me out of it.”
“Maybe it’ll be because they actually have a better idea.”
Shaking her head, Talia refocused on Emilia. “How am I getting an invite?”
“Benjamin was invited, and a lot of his coworkers and bosses are going. You can RSVP with his name.”
I held Talia tighter against me. A comforting purr rumbled up when I caught a slight souring of her scent. I could understand her not wanting to use his name—or have anything to do with him at all.
To catch him, she shouldn’t have to play his prim and proper mate. But the world wasn’t fair, and my luck really had run out.
The door burst open, and Mercer and West kicked off their shoes at the door. I felt my packmate’s anxiety, and they would be feeling mine. None of us wanted Talia to have to deal with this mess, but it was inevitable.
“What’s going on with new information about Benjamin?” Mercer stood beside the bed with his arms crossed over his chest.
Emilia sighed. “The gala is this weekend.”
That was too soon after everything that had happened, but none of us would be able to talk her out of it.
“Gala?” Mercer looked to me after being completely ignored by Emilia.
I explained what she’d told us—without the overly technical bullshit. West started pacing, anger coming off him in waves. Mercer had a hard set to his eyes, the wheels turning in his head. He wanted a different plan more than any of us.
He didn’t seem to come up with anything, though.
“RSVP for me,” Talia told Emilia.
I upped the intensity of my purr. She’d tensed when she said those words.
“Will do. Are you going to come home before then?” Emilia paused, gaze sliding off to the side awkwardly. “Mom wants you to be assessed by Dr. Jalisco before you leave the Residence.”
Talia coughed. “Assessed? Does she know I’m not really a patient here?”
“Yeah, I told her that. Want to know what she said?”
“Not really, but yes.”
“You ended up at the facility because you were an omega in distress. That’s exactly the criteria to become an Omega Haven resident.”
