Betrayed Forced Mate (Rosecreek Special Ops Wolves #4)

I can’t help myself from thinking I told you so as I watch her go down. When we were training as a team with the agency, the commander made us memorize several popular curses so we could avoid them the moment they were uttered. Let the curse get to the end, and you’re fucked.

Cautiously, I put my headphones back on.

“Too much to drink,” I hear the mayor say to a passing couple. Olivia bounces in his arms, and my blood rises a thousand degrees. What the fuck.

This time, I follow my urges, and I move to my other computer, tapping furiously, bringing up the smart controls for the building they’re in.

Aris, I send, pulse skipping, huge problem in Minneapolis. Olivia was just fucking cursed.

It’s late. Aris is probably cuddled into bed with Linnea, watching a late-night show. Or maybe he was asleep. For the first time in my life, I don’t give a fuck how he feels. I just need him to help.

How do you know? he sends back, then, Sending back-up now.

By car, we’re about an hour’s drive to where Olivia is. If we want to get to her, we’ll need to use the helicopter.

It’s urgent, I send, ignoring the question about how I know for now. Send the chopper.

After sending that, I zone back into what I’m doing on the computer. Luckily, my brain has taken over on autopilot and already started executing commands.

To better accommodate all guests, the ballroom has a completely online and in-sync environmental system. This means you can control all elements of the ballroom once you’re in the system.

It allows party planners to control elements like temperature, lighting, and ambiance. I’m using it to stop this mother fucker in his tracks.

Tapping into the safety controls, I do the first thing I know will bring Olivia’s abductor to a standstill, at least for a moment.

I release the sprinkler system, triggering the safety protocols to believe there’s a fire in the ballroom. I hear screaming and squealing through his phone speaker as people cover their heads.

As I predicted, this slows him for a second, but he still slips into the external hallway. I click over to the other camera feed with one hand, returning to the other computer, and typing as fast as I can to execute the command.

At the last possible second, before he slips out the front door with Olivia in his arms, I lock the grand front doors to the ballroom. He reaches out and yanks on the door, but it doesn’t budge.

His accomplice, who hissed the curse, is nowhere to be seen. Our kidnapper is alone, and he’s clearly panicking.

People start to filter into the hallway, and confused looks are exchanged when they see him holding her.

“I think she’s having an allergic reaction!” he says, setting her down on the floor. “Someone unlock the front doors so we can get her help!”

Once Olivia is out of his arms, I turn, pulling down the microphone on my headset and tapping into the communications feed for security at the event. Quickly, I have the computer pull up profiles for all the security members, and, using voice samples from their social media accounts, I’m able to throw a filter over my voice to emulate them.

“Code Black, I repeat, Code Black,” I say, using a filter for the captain of the crew, broadcasted to the rest of the team. I watch as the security detail, who were, up to this moment, trying to find a way to stay dry, start to scramble, realizing they’re still on the job.

“Mayor in the foyer. Believed to be an assassin in that room. Remove the mayor by any means necessary.”

Yes, sirs, chorus into my headphones, and I wonder if this is what Aris feels like every day. Tapping back into the mayor’s phone, I hear him growing more panicked.

“Someone open the doors!” he yells, just before three of the security detail rush into the room, grabbing him by the arms. He thrashes to get away from them, but they pin his arms down, dragging him from the room.

I can’t help but stifle a laugh, enjoying the sight of him being hauled away. I zoom in on Olivia, eyes straining, and see her chest rising and falling, relief flooding through my body.

She’s alive, at the very least.

But I know curses can be nasty things.

Aris?

Bigby, Rafael, and Ado are halfway there. ETA 10 minutes. How did you know?

I may have been monitoring, I admit, squeezing my eyes shut for a moment. When I opened them, several women gathered around Olivia, looking worried.