I shake my head, still reeling.
Icarus is Chief Alpha of the Sinner pack. He has been the protector to every Beta and Omega for years. He has suffered so fucking much for everybody.
I should have known that he would make this decision.
I don’t know any other Alpha that would think a HO’s opinion mattered on anything.
Icarus tips up my head. His intense gaze meets mine.
Snow lands on his eyelashes and halos his golden hair.
“Every single one.” Icarus’ face becomes soft in a way that it rarely is. “They’re all in, despite the fact that I told them they had no obligation to be. It was overwhelming.”
I brush a snowflake off his cheek. “You’re their Alpha. They have seen you take beatings and isolation punishments for them. You have cut up your clothes to make sure that the Omegas have something to nest with. You’re dedicated to each and every one of them. They trust you. If you say that you have a plan to save them, of course they believed you. And of course they would want to support you any way that they could. They would have your back because they’refamily.”
“I better not fuck this up then, had I?” Icarus’ cheeks flush, and he looks happy in a way that he rarely does. “Standing in the garage, looking out over so many people and realizing that we were responsible for saving or condemning them, it made merealize both why we’re taking this risk but also, why it can’t go wrong.”
I tilt up my chin. “Fuck that. No more keeping in our place because of being scared of flying too close to the sun and crashing into the sea, remember? It’s time to rise up.”
Dominant pheromones roll off Icarus in waves; his eyes gleam. “Chaos goblin.”
“Proud of it.” I lean closer to Icarus with a smirk. “And you love it.”
“When did I deny it?”
I kick the changing bag with my foot. “Where does this come in?”
“Careful.” Icarus stoops to pick up the bag, before grabbing me by the waist and turning me to face the balcony again.
He holds the bag in front of us to block any view of it from inside the suite.
“Are you about to reveal diapers?” I arch my brow. “Because I’m pretty fucking familiar with those.”
“More like a heist kit. But camouflaged. People are used to seeing you and me with this bag. Security, Ellington, or Maya wouldn’t question us about having it.” He unzips the bag with the same efficiency as he writes schedules for staff shifts or Zoe’s routines. “Your stethoscope is in here. Thewhenof the heist is Christmas Eve. Midnight.”
I itch to reach out and peer in at my beloved safe cracking kit, only holding myself back with difficulty. “Zero will be in the middle of his set for the ball. People will be drunk, obsessed with their new matches, or mesmerized byImmortal’sperformance.”
“Lashonda and the other servers will put on an extra distraction for you.”
Of course Lashonda would offer that.
“What about the other security measures?”
Icarus looks smug. “It’s lucky, Robin Hood, that your?—”
“Maid Marian?”
“King Richard,” Icarus growls, “has the keys to the kingdom. I have access to the keycards that grant access to both the penthouse and the Frost private elevator. It will alert security, however, when I use it. And the private security company is hired in from outside the hotel. I happen to know that they will be tempted to leave the monitors at midnight to watch the climax of the concert since they are big Immortal fans.”
“Tempted byyou.”
“What an accusation.” Icarus flashes his canines. “By Michah, actually. You know how good he is with creating buzz when he wants to be. The alarms on the safe, however, they’re another matter. Once you start to disable the security systems, it will send an instant notification to the team’s phones. You’ll have precisely seven minutes from that time.”
I clench my hands over the frozen edge of the railing, staring down at the lush, evergreen guest gardens that grow dizzyingly far below. “It’ll be close.”
Fucking close.
“You can do it.” Icarus sounds too confident in me. “After all, you’re an Omega safe cracker. You told me that you were talented. That this was your lifelong dream. I’ve set this up. Now, you’re going to do it.”
