We are so screwed.
“Guy’s shift. Marian, come here,” Robin said, motioning for everyone to grouped together.
Will and Munchie shifted so they could attack from above. As I joined Robin, I scooped up the dagger that Sherwood had given me for the blood oath. Robin slid a small knife out of his boot.
For the first time in my life, I wished I was a bigger, deadlier type of shifter.
Having tiger claws would be perfect right now.
Someone shouted outside the door, and I tilted my head. That voice sounded female . . . none of the shifters who’d left this room moments ago were female.
An ursine growl, followed by a whine, cut through the air. My skin tingled as the truth of what was happening dawned on me.
“Guys!” I squealed. “It’s the others.”
No sooner had the words left my mouth than the door flew open, and Tinker filled the doorway. Behind her lay the bodies of three wolf-shifters, one still twitching.
“Of course, it’s us!” Tinker popped her gum. “I watched that bloodsucker bring you down here, and we’ve been trying to save you ever since. Did you think we’d leave you hanging?”
Laughter bubbled from me, this time an equal mix of nerves and elation. I hurled the dagger to the ground.
“Never,” Robin said, wrapping his arms around me, “We’re the Merry Men, we stick—”
I nudged him. “Considering Tinker did a lot of the heavy lifting tonight; you might want to consider renaming your group to something more inclusive.” I shot Tinker a pointed look, and she returned it with a smug nod.
An amused grin split Robin’s face. “The Merry MenandWomen,” he amended, “stick together.”
“Right. We’re all one happy family.” LJ appeared in the doorway, covered in blood. “Now let’s get the hell out of here, before security figures out what’s up. Tuck is scouting the stairs already, but if we get caught in the stairwell, things get tricky. I’d rather not deal with that shit.”
I scooped my necklace out of the pile of ash that was all that remained of Sherwood, and we were off. As we neared the top of the stairs, we righted our attire, and once outside the stairwell, assumed a more modest pace. My heart continued to beat über fast.
Tinker led the way, and ten minutes later, we emerged outside. Only once we got down the street and around the corner did I exhale a massive sigh of relief.
“How was that so easy?” I asked, unable to believe it. “There are cameras everywhere. Someone should have confronted us.”
Tinker smirked. “The cameras are still on loops but they’re really long ones, like twenty minutes a loop. That makes the replay less noticeable.”
“You’re amazing.” I beamed, grateful for Tinker’s ingenuity. It had gotten us out of the Oasis alive.
“If only we’d gotten that money,” Munchie said.
My smile vanished. We’d gone through all that, almostdied, for nothing. Without the money, the orphanage would close.
“Oh yeah, about that—I might have saved the day there, too,” Tinker smirked. “I tried a few times before and never had any luck, but at one point or another, I always succeed. You can now officially add the Oasis to my list of places hacked.”
My mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”
She shrugged. “While you were busy with the heist, I gave breaking into the Oasis’s bank account a shot. It was relatively easy, but then, that’s not a huge surprise. Clearly, Sherwood isn’t into technology, and didn’t research the online security rating of the casino’s bank.” She turned to Robin. “I transferred most of the funds to an offshore account, a tidy sum of twenty mil. Give it a day or two and we can send some to the orphanage. Another five million is waiting in an account for us, so we can divide it up and donate some later.”
Twenty million?!My heart soared. That was money beyond what I could have imagined. Cash that we could not have fit in our compression pouches.
“Tinker, you’re a damn genius!” I pulled her in for a hug.
“Finally,some recognition,” she laughed.
Chapter Fourteen
Three days later,everyone gathered in the orphanage’s dusty backyard. The kids were running everywhere, screaming and squealing with delight. Staff members chased them, while others served up lunch. Ada couldn’t stop wiping joyous tears from her eyes.
