They’d spend the night dealing with this, and we would spend another night and day keeping to ourselves, planning out every minute of our robbery—which we now had no choice but to do on the night before our appeal.
Fuck.
40
One day until appeal
KARMA
There were less than twelve hours until we got the fuck out of here.
Less than twelve hours until I could see what the world outside was like now—assuming we got these contacts for Sin so he could hide his crimson eyes.
Crescent clutched her keyring close to her chest, her small body huddled under my arm as we waited around the corner from the entrance to the contraband room. The hallway was dark and cold, and goosebumps prickled her skin.
When a thump sounded from ahead, she jumped.
I itched to turn the corner, but I kept my stiff body right beside Crescent.
There were two guards from the Redgrave pack outside their locker at all times—to prevent people trying to lockpick their way into the room. We didn’t need to lockpick, but we did need to take the guards out of commission.
Without killing them, which is why Phantom and Vandle were doing it.
Sin, with his gun, was their backup, in case killing was necessary, and I was waiting with Crescent.
If it all went bad, I would take her right back to our cell—the door ready to lock us in for the night.
The rest of the pack would follow, and we’d close it when we were all safe inside. Or we’d lock ourselves in without them, if I had to, to keep Crescent safe.
And then we’d go to my appeal in the morning, with or without the rest of the pack. Doubt they’d let us out with only me and my unstable aura, but that worst-case-scenario hopefully ended in Crescent getting out of this place, even though it might be alone.
We hadn’t told her about that possibility.
It wasn’t gonna go that way, anyway.
Our heist would be quick with no bloodshed, and we’d get a full night of sleep before hightailing it the second our appeal call crackled through the overhead speakers.
I ignored the scuffling sounds from up ahead, breathing in and out through my nose.
The pack bond was wide open, each packmate’s stress coming through, all overlaid by Crescent’s incessant worry. But I could tell nothing brutal was happening outside the contraband room, especially because the sounds would be more chaotic and squelchy if it was.
Vandle swung around the corner, a glistening bead of sweat dripping down his temple. “Keys.” He held out his hand for the ring.
She hesitated, and his pinched expression softened. “You’ll get them all back in five minutes, promise.”
Crescent relinquished the keyring when Vandle hooked it on his finger, and he vanished back around the corner.
Fuck, I wanted to look.
Which Redgraves were guarding the door tonight?
There was no scent of blood in the air, so I don’t think any had died.
But my moonlight omega didn’t need to see a bunch of knocked-out alphas splayed out on the hard floor, so I couldn’t take my peek either.
I adjusted my arm over her shoulders and rubbed my chin over her head, bathing her in my scent.
PHANTOM