Page 109 of Mask and the Magnolia

I don’t think I’ve experienced as much emotional shit as I did the last few hours and Maggie still trying to put our feelings before hers was the icing on the cake.

It was still hard, though.

Hard and fucking gut wrenching seeing her smile a little crooked from the injury to her jaw and the large split in her lip. How she managed to smile so wide with a few stitches in her cheek, with half of her beautiful face still black and blue was mind boggling.

But she did it.

Our girl smiled like us walking into her apartment was the best thing that ever happened to her. Then she started to cry.

It killed me when that happened.

Maggie burst into tears and reached for us, she opened her arms and practically sobbed while she waited for the comfort wedidn’t hesitate to provide. It didn’t matter to her that her arm was in a sling, that the entire thing was full of cuts and more stitches. Our girl didn’t give a shit that most of the joints on the right side of her body are swollen or bruised. And when she cleared her throat and started to speak, Maggie’s voice hoarse and strained because of how hard her throat was squeezed, it was everything I could do to keep myself calm for her.

The bruises there have barely started to heal.

That bastard's handprints are still on her neck.

He didn’t get to do what he set out to, though.

Isaak told us ahead of time that Blackhurst fucker wanted to force a bond between them. He wanted to get rid of our scents, he wanted to cover up Korvin and Des’s marks with his own so he could bond with Maggie and take her away from us.

He failed.

Despite trying for god knows how long, smelling us on Maggie, seeing our marks on her skin, he couldn’t do it. Our bond as a pack is too strong, and not only did he fail when it came to biting her, according to Maggie, that piece of shit couldn’t even finish inside her without almost throwing up.

I’m going to kill him for that.

Beating her senseless, trying to kill her, all of that means he’s dead in the water already but the fact that the son of a bitch assaulted our perfect girl, our goddamn omega? He fucked with the wrong people and it’s only a matter of time before he fully understands that.

That’s why we had to see her.

Isaak went this morning, he left his office right after Evie came to tell him about Maggie, then he gave us the details when he got back. It was a good thing, too, because hearing it from our omega helped us prepare for what we’d be walking into.

Kind of.

We still weren’t really ready which is why we stayed too long and are now leaving her apartment when the sun is already coming up.

I smile and send her a kiss of my own then watch with a grimace as Des slips on the window ledge and proceeds to fall the three floors before landing on his back at my feet.

“Fuck,” he grunts, coughing hard as he rolls to his side. “That fucking sucked.”

I quickly help him up, laughing a little while I check him for injuries. “There’s an easier way to get down, Des.”

He rolls his eyes as he brushes the leaves from his jumpsuit. “Sure, but is it faster?”

“You okay?”

“I’m fine, beta.” He leans in and gives me a quick kiss. “But thanks for asking.”

It’s hard not to worry about Des.

I mean, I worry about everyone in my pack. I’ve never had one before, never had people to love who loved me back, but Des has been kind of off today. Ever since morning meds.

Off compared to his baseline, anyway.

“We have to haul ass if we want to beat the morning rounds,” Korvin grunts as he climbs down the building then jumps the last few feet. “Which is going to be fucking tight as it is.”

He’s not wrong, not at all. We were supposed to leave at least an hour ago, more if we wanted to be sleeping when the morning staff comes in but it was almost impossible to leave Maggie.

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