"Thank you, Sunshine," I whispered when our kiss ended, my arms still tight around his neck and his banded around my waist. "I promise, Dallas and Bree deserve our help. We need more allies anyway, right?"
Archer grumbled a noise but kissed me again in response.
"You guys keep that up and we're gonna have to test Archer's willingness to share again," Kody warned, giving me a sly grin when I looked over at him.
Archer huffed, then shocked the damn pants off me. "I'm not against the idea," he muttered as he dipped his face to kiss my neck.
I swallowed a gasp of surprise and shook my head. "You're in a rare mood, Archer D'Ath," I commented with a laugh. "But it'll have to wait. Our lovely wedding planner is calling in around twenty minutes, remember?"
Archer sucked lightly on my neck, making me groan. "So what you're saying, wifey, is that we need to make you come in less than fifteen minutes? That's easily doable."
I laughed then pushed back from him with my hands flat on his chest. "Did you get fucking body snatched or something?"
"Also, we don't even have fifteen," Kody added, checking his phone. "Zed's on his way over now to discuss floorplans and artillery."
Archer let out a long sigh, then ruffled his fingers through his ink-black hair. "Fine," he growled. "To be continued."
My brows flicked up, but I nodded anyway. I sure as hell wasn't saying no when he was in a sharing mood. My pussy was already damp in anticipation of later.
"If we're expecting company, I better get dressed," I said with a sigh, then reluctantly climbed out of Archer's lap. I was wearing just a baggy T-shirt—one of Kody's—and hot pants underneath—good enough when it was just the three of us, but probably not acceptable for company.
I hurried up the stairs, and the doorbell rang before I reached my bedroom. By the time I’d changed into jeans and put a bra on, I'd already missed half of the discussion with Zed. Not that I fully understood what was going on anyway.
They all sat at the dining table with blueprints of our wedding venue—a non-denominational chapel on the north side of Shadow Grove—spread out between them. They were discussing choke points and lines of sight, and within around two minutes they'd totally lost me. Which was fine because I wasn't going to make them sit there and explain it all to me. I didn't need a crash course in the tactics of an ambush. I just needed them to know what they were doing.
I had one role at this wedding.
Bait.
I tuned back in when Zed nodded his head at me. "What precautions have you put in place for your girl?" His question was aimed at Archer, even if his cold, assessing gaze was on me. "She can't exactly wear Kevlar. First fucking clue that the wedding is a sham, when the bride arrives in a bulletproof vest."
"I'm glad we agree on that point," I murmured, giving Archer an I-told-you-so look.
He rolled his eyes and exhaled heavily. "We're still working on it," he admitted reluctantly. "For now, we just need to focus on ensuring all vantage points are covered by our men so there's no opportunity for Kate to be shot by a ranged weapon. Clear?"
Zed jerked a nod. "Clear. We want to bait the trap, not throw food to the rats." His phone vibrated on the table, and his brows twitched up. "Excuse me, I need to take this. Boss doesn't like voicemail." He rolled his eyes, then brought his phone to his ear. "Hades."
That was all he said in greeting, then he listened in silence as Hades spoke on the other end. Eventually, his eyes flicked up at Kody, and a grin arched across his lips. "Yes, sir," he finally said into the phone, "I'll tell him."
He ended the call and cleared his throat.
"Tell me what?" Kody asked suspiciously.
Zed smirked. "Hades watched surveillance footage from the car crash. Wanted to tell you that your aim has improved vastly over the years, 'cause you used to be a lousy shot."
Kody scowled. "I was not."
Zed glared. "You fucking were. Remember when you shot me?"
Archer snickered a laugh. "I forgot about that."
Kody was sulking now, though. His arms were folded tightly over his chest as he glared back at Zed. "It was only a graze, you big baby. Steele has since fine-tuned my skills."
"How is he doing, anyway?" Zed dropped the teasing edge from his voice. "That was a close fucking call."
"Too close," I murmured, shuddering as I remembered the light fading from his eyes right after the bullet struck his chest.
Archer grunted his agreement. "He was lucky, that's for fucking sure. I sent an extra guy to tail his ass while he's with his parents for Rachel's memorial."
Zed grimaced. "I forgot about that. I'll send a donation in Hades’s name when I get back to the office." He gave me a tight smile, then pushed his chair back and gathered up all the papers from the table. "It's a good plan, boys. Just work out how you're protecting your girl on the day."
With a nod, Zed left the dining room just as my phone rang. I grimaced when I read the display.
Heaving a sigh, I answered the call and clicked the speakerphone button. "Hi Alyssa," I greeted my wedding planner.
"Madison Kate!" She all but sang my name, and I cringed. "My beautiful bride! Are you getting excited? There's only two weeks to go!"
Archer gave me a smug grin across the dining table, and I flipped him off. Kody had gone to see Zed out of the house and reset the perimeter alarms, so I decided to share the fun.
"I'm so excited," I fake-gushed, giving Archer a wicked smile. "Actually, I have you on speaker and Archer is here too. Say hi to Alyssa, honey."
He extended his middle finger back at me. "Hi Alyssa," he said, though, holding my gaze. "I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to this day. It feels like I've been waiting to make this gorgeous girl mine for years."
There was a thread of total sincerity to his statement, despite the act we were putting on for our wedding planner, and my insides turned to mush.
Alyssa squealed in excitement on the phone, then launched into a whole spiel about various spreadsheets she'd created to help manage all the details of our big day.
I tuned her out for the most part because Archer was eye-fucking me across the table and making it damn near impossible to concentrate. I only tuned back in when I realized Alyssa had asked a question that required my response.
My cheeks heated with embarrassment. "Sorry, I missed what you said there," I admitted, "the line broke up a bit." Lies.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm driving, so maybe I went through a patch of bad reception," she replied with a small laugh. "I asked about your bridesmaid? I know your best friend was in a horrible accident, but did you have the name of her replacement for me?"
I blinked down at the phone, my mind blanking. I hadn't even given it a second thought since our first meeting.
"I'll email it over to you," Archer smoothly offered. "Did you need anything else from us Alyssa?"
"Oh yes, let me think." She hummed a tune for a second, then snapped her fingers. "Right. Rehearsal dinner—"