Page 47 of Pretty Savage: Defy

“You know that won’t work,” Sam says calmly. “The Order will track her down. Drag her back.”

I stare down at the table. “I know, and now it’s more complicated.”

“How so?” asks Thomson.

“Turns out her dad’s from The Order. His real name is Stanson Bellefleur.”

Samantha sets her glass down so hard I’m surprised it doesn’t crack. “Bellefleur? Like that spooky estate in the woods?” She points out the window to the dense forest that makes up most of my father's property. “The one we used to dare each other to go into when we were kids?”

Thomson joins in. “We were too scared to ever do it. Even you, Carrson.”

“That’s the one. It belongs to Laurel, although The Order seized it when her dad was removed from the path.”

“Wow.” Samantha’s eyebrows climb toward her hairline. “How’d she take the news?”

“Like Laurel,” I say. “She asked questions. Stayed brave.” I wrap my hands around my mug. “But it took a toll. I can tell. Now she’s one of us, at least partly. Even if I can get her away, there’s no escaping that.”

I tell them the rest of it. How Laurel was abducted by Silas. What he told her. Jackson’s addiction. Once I’m done, we’re quiet for a minute, all of us contemplating.

“You’d better hurry whatever you’re planning to do with Laurel.” Sam breaks the silence. “The bonding is only four days away. The prebonding masquerade ball is the day after tomorrow. Families are flooding into town. Have you seen the ballroom?”

I shake my head. “We just got here last night.”

“Your father’s having it repainted. Dark blue this time. The chandeliers cleaned and the floor polished.”

She points out the window, where work trucks have pulled up so they can unload supplies. One has a yellow bumper sticker. Bee Happy, it says. Whoever drives that must not have a father like mine. A hawk-nosed man gets out and grabs a ladder, swinging it over his shoulder.

“In another day or so this house will be swarming," says Sam. "This is going to be the biggest party The Order’s thrown in fifty years. Bigger than the President’s inauguration celebration last year. Everyone wants to see Laurel, the outsider the prince chose.”

“They’ll be disappointed,” I say. “Not so much of an outsider now.”

“Are you kidding?” Sam leans forward, a gleam in her eye. “This’ll make them more feral. It’s like fate. Kismet that she came back to us. They’ll see it as proof that we’re superior. Like blood always finds its way home.”

Brickson enters the room. “Your father wants you in his office,” he tells me. He nods to Thomson. “You too.” Then, because he’s an asshole, he adds on a snarled, “Now.”

I lift a hand in dismissal, a gesture I’ve seen my father use a hundred times. “We’ll be there in a minute.”

He leaves and I turn back to my friends.

“Don’t worry,” Sam says. “I’ll stay with Laurel. Show her around. Entertain her. Make sure she stays out of her own head.”

“Thanks.” I manage a shaky smile. “I appreciate it.”

She tosses her hair. “It’s the least I can do, since I did try to kill her that one time.”

“One time?” I growl, my mood darkening at the memories.

She grins. “Okay, maybe it was more than once. The point is she’s safe with me now.”

Thomson and I head toward my father’s office, which sits just off the kitchen.

The room is dark, with wood-paneled walls and thick curtains. Father’s desk is tidy as usual, holding only a couple of neatly stacked piles of paper and a single pen illuminated by the lamp.

“Come in, boys.” He beckons us closer.

Thomson and I take the two upholstered chairs in front of him. I slouch while Thomson sits ramrod straight.

“I have a mission for you two,” Father says, steepling his hands and resting his chin against them.