Phantom was chatting with the other members of the Archiva pack.
There were so many opportunities to snatch them up and put them in my pocket with barely a jingle of key against key on the slim metal keyring.
And Sin would like them, right?
So I had, and then when they’d left me alone with my books in my nest, I’d taken them out again to examine them.
Shiny and perfectly shaped and weighted enough that I could throw them if I needed to. Mine, for sure.
And then I’d hidden them in the depths of my nest, inside a pillowcase.
Were those the keys they were wondering about now? Surely they had, like… a backup. I couldn’t have taken theonlyset of keys to the library… Could I?
Peeking out from around Phantom, I winced when I saw Tyler’s pack, ten alphas strong, all standing in the hallway. They were scanning the ground as if the keys could have been dropped and hadn’t been seen yet.
Jared, the grumpiest one who’d barely let us into the library in the first place, stood on the edge of the group with a scowl that was harsh enough to set the recipient on fire.
My cheeks heated, and I tugged on the back of Phantom’s shirt. “Maybe we should come back later.”
I couldn’t admit that I’d stolen the keys right in front of the entire pack. There were too many of them.
They’d kill me.
Andthey’d make me give them back.
Phantom would know how to apologize, right? The keys couldn’t leave the nest; they were a part of it now, but he could smooth it over.
“Yeah, Little Omega, we should,” he said. “They’re not a pack we want to be around while they’re pissed off.”
My body went stiff with fear. “W-what do they do to people who anger them?”
He wrapped his arms around me and turned me to head back to our cell. “Karma and I cut off fingers for them every once in a while. Of the people who don’t return the library books.”
Oh no.
I glanced down at my fingers, wiggling them in the fabric of Phantom’s shirt.
I like my fingers.
He’ll be able to figure out how I can keep them… right?
My footsteps stumbled as I thought about what would happen to me if the librarians found out I had their keys. Would Karma be the one to cut off my fingers? Or would it be the grumpy one from the door yesterday? Maybe they would do it personally so that there weren’t any… conflicts of interest, or whatever.
I wanted to blurt out everything about the keys I’d hidden in my nest, but I kept my mouth tightly shut. They could hear me out here. I couldn’t admit that I’d taken something from a pack that cut off fingers until I was in the safety of my nest.
Picking up my feet, I rushed forward, breaking out into a little jog. Phantom caught my arm and tried to halt me, but Ikept going, pulling him with me. “What are you in a hurry for?” he asked.
“Can’t say.”
“Please stop running. It’s a bit too tempting for all the alphas in here who want to chase you.”
I shook my head, continuing to drag him along. “Ican’t!” I exclaimed, voice wobbling. “I want tokeepmy fingers.”
And the keys, a little voice whispered.
They can’t have them.
Phantom halted so abruptly I wasn’t able to keep going no matter how hard I tugged. When I turned to look at him, his eyes had blown wide, a hard set to his jaw.