There would be no trading them—not this close to our appeal, and not with them colluding with omega-stealing packs.
Of course, heisting the most heavily guarded room in Anarchy wasn’t exactly simple. Even with the key.
The contraband room was guarded by two of Dominic’s pack—or allies—around the clock. We’d have to break in after the doors locked, when fewer people would be walking around and there wouldn’t be any backup. Sneak up on and silence the guards so no one would know who’d stolen from the vault. Then we’d have to make it through our entire final day and night before our appeal was called in the morning.
And hopefully not called late, like the Leo pack’s was.
It sounded easy in theory. Harder in practice. Harder still when you considered that we needed to take Crescent along with us on the heist.
Sin had told me what happened with the Leo pack’s allies.
They hadn’t done shit.
Now the Leo pack omega had a new pack that paraded him around, showing off his bite marks and bruises. They’d fucked him in the middle of the square yesterday, and I was glad Crescent hadn’t been with me to see it.
I doubted his new pack would last long—they were too cocky for a pack that weren’t dwellers—but their damage was already done. And his next? Probably wouldn’t be much better.
Seeing that, there wasn’t a soul outside our pack I trusted enough near Crescent this close to our appeal.
“You didn’t come by.” An annoyed bark broke through the chaos of the cafeteria.
We were on the outskirts of the room—our entire pack, half the Emerald pack, and a few guys from the Wakefields. Trying to stay quiet and out of trouble.
And yet, trouble always finds us.
My gaze rose to meet Jared’s, trying to gauge exactly how grumpy the Archiva pack alpha was today.
“I dropped the books in the returns slot.” I shifted closer to Crescent on the bench seat.
She was staring down at her plate, her cheeks pink. Probably not regretful—though maybe still holding onto a slight bit of worry for her pinky fingers.
“That’s not what Tyler told you to do.”
“Uh, sorry.” I exchanged a look with Vandle across the table. I thought I’d handled the key thievery, but apparently I’d missed something… somehow. “What else did you need?”
“Tyler wants to see her. You didn’t bring her around.”
Crescent sat bolt upright, head whipping around to look at Jared. “I’m sorry!” she squeaked. “Really, I am. I promise, I’ll never do it again.”
Her plea fell out in a rush, and she was hiding her hands behind her back. Keeping her fingers safe.
Jared narrowed his eyes, his wrinkles deepening. “Not about that. Come on.”
Hesitating, I assessed him one more time. If he was going to punish us for keeping the keyring, he would have done it already.
And, actually… I glanced around. The walls were closing in on us.
If there was one thing the Archiva pack could be trusted on, it was that they kept their noses out of drama. They had age-old alliances that didn’t demand anything too disruptive, and they were happy with their library.
If we wanted to keep our omega out of sight, in a territory that was about as neutral as it got down here, that might just be the perfect place.
I helped Crescent up from the bench seat, winding my fingers through hers. They were chilled, and when I stared into her trembling golden eyes accented by pale lashes, she looked unsure. Like she didn’t know whether to be scared or not.
I kissed her nose. “I’ll protect you.”
“You act like I’m going to splatter your brains all over the library books,” Jared scoffed from a few feet away.
Vandle and the others stood up, and he glared at Jared like that’s exactly what he thought the librarian might do. But he didn’t know this place like I did. He’d been feral too long.
