Chapter 90
NINETY
FINCH
I followed Laurel through the door as she led me and Kaos into the staff dorms. I could hear Jade’s quiet voice coming from up ahead but couldn’t see the small beta yet.
“You should go set up the cot. Get some proper sleep,” she was saying.
“I’m all right,” another sleepy voice insisted.
“Hush. I know you’re staying out here for my sake,” she replied. “I’ll be fine.”
“What if there’s an incident while I’m gone? Then you’d have to deal with it on your own…” the other voice said. We rounded a corner, and I could see Casey and Jade on some old couches.
“I know you worry about me,” Jade was saying. “You worry about everyone. But I worry about you, peaches.”
They looked up, finally clued into our presence, and Jade dropped Casey’s hand.
“Glad to see you’re all right,” Casey said, standing up, genuine relief on his face.
“Come on. We can talk in our room. Then Casey can go to sleep after,” Jade added, turning and leading us into a small room with two twin bunks. We all filed in and closed the door.
Casey sat on one side, stifling a yawn, and Jade dropped down next to him. Laurel sat on the other, Kaos climbing behind her and wrapping his arms around her protectively.
I took my place beside them and looked at Jade. “What’s the situation with the pens?”
“Well, you busted up the outer door pretty good,” Jade said.
“They ended up having to take it off completely. Apparently, someone cheaped out on the materials—it should have been made fully from alpha-proof vycron steel, but the handle wasn’t.
Probably not anticipating an alpha trying to bust their way into the pens.
Anyway, it’s looking like they won’t get another one for at least a week.
A real shame, from a security perspective. ”
“That’s good,” I said, nodding. “Because we’re making our move tonight.”
I explained our plan step by step, pausing for questions every few minutes.
Casey looked slightly alarmed as I went on, but Jade’s face lit up exactly as Laurel’s had.
“Everyone understand their role?”
I made eye contact with each of them in turn until I had gotten their assent.
“Right. Okay, now leave Casey be and let him sleep,” Jade said, shooing us out of the room.