Oh… he might be really mad about the keys.
I guess it’s still hard to tell, but he might be.
“Take me back to the room?” I begged.
He swept me up in his arms and I clutched his neck, huddling against his chest. Phantom didn’t run, but his strides were so long that it was basically just as fast as my jog was. We took a side hallway to get to our wing without going through any of the major areas, and he slammed the room door behind us when we entered.
I dove into my nest as soon as he let me down, patting around to find the pillow where I hid the keys. There they were—heavy metal on a little keyring. I’d found one or two others from around Anarchy to hide in my nest, but no one had missed those. I didn’t know the librarians would be furious enough to hurt me over it.
And I couldn’t really help it, anyway.
Clutching the precious keys to my chest, I peered out from the bottom bunk at Phantom. He stood, tall and imposing, his arms crossed over his chest. I couldn’t see his face until I peeked out a bit further, and then I caught his frown.
I winced.
“C-can you convince them not to steal my fingers?” I asked.
My grip on them was white-knuckled, and I didn’t want to give them up—my fingersorthe library keys.
Phantom folded himself down onto the mattress, holding his hand out for them. I tentatively passed them over with a little whine.
“Why did you take these?” he asked.
He was obviously angry, and I fought against the tears beading in the corners of my eyes.
“For the nest,” I whispered. “I was keeping them safe.”
“You needed keys… for your nest? Do you have others?”
I reached out possessively to pull a pillow to my chest. This one had another set of keys in it, but these weren’t missed. I wasn’t going to give them to him for no reason. And I definitely wasn’t going to reveal the key I carried around constantly in my pocket.
Phantom’s frown softened as he watched me, though the wrinkle between his eyebrows didn’t smooth over. “Where did you get those from?” he asked.
“People’s pockets.”
His eyebrow wrinkle deepened again. “Whose? You don’t get close to many of the alphas here.”
I shrugged. “The Emerald pack didn’t really need them… right? And then when Sin and I were at the rut cages, I got a set there.”
Phantom’s hand landed on my thigh and squeezed. “Just to be clear, you’ve stolen keys from our allies to put in your nest?”
I really wish he wouldn't use thathorribleword. “I-is itstealingif they didn’t notice I took them?”
“Yes, Little Omega. Still stealing. And you also stole the keys to the rut cages?”
“It was the one they used for the cage I was in with Sin. I needed to take them.”
“Can I see that set?”
I clutched the pillow closer, knowing exactly what keys were in this pillowcase. They were a memory; I definitely couldn’t give these keys up. That’s why I’d snatched them in the first place.
“Are you going to give them back to me?” I asked defensively.
He looked up at the ceiling for a second, releasing a long, heavy breath. “Yes.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to figure out if he was lying. Would my alpha lie to me? I would be mad if he did.
In the end, I decided he must be telling the truth. I fished the set of keys from the pillowcase and dropped them into his waiting hand.