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Under different circumstances, he would go to her.
Under different circumstances, they would have been amazing together.
Under different circumstances … the phrase lost its meaning. There were no other circumstances. It was pointless to waste his time thinking about the “what ifs.” As it stood, he was going to leave his mate forever and perform one final crime as a desperate act of a desperate man who just wanted to build a normal life for himself.
Strap heard the shower turn off. Then he smelled the soap she used. Lavender and hibiscus. It rode the air and wrapped around him. He promised himself he would always remember that smell.
When he heard a drawer sliding open, Strap assumed Mickey was pulling on clothes to sleep in. He jumped in the shower and didn’t want to know her last steps. Instead, he cleaned himself quickly and began to mentally prepare himself for the night.
After drying himself off, he made a plan.
Strap had to wait until Mickey was asleep or close enough to it that she couldn’t hear him climb out the window.
His panther form was the best way to do that. The condor was too conspicuous at night. They didn’t tend to fly after sundown. So, panther form would be the stealthiest, plus his black fur would hide him better in the shadows.
Strap flopped himself back on the bed. New thoughts of second-guessing his plans bobbed to the surface of his mind.
Was this the best plan?
Should he involve Mickey?
She was Mick’s daughter, after all. There was gene-given talent. That was where all her intelligence came from.
His thoughts spiraled around the next ones, and Strap always came back to the conclusion that if Mickey got hurt, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.
After the job, she might want to keep stealing.
Was it possible for them to have a future if she cleaned up her act?
Right now, it didn’t seem like she wanted to. She was so focused on the thrills that it blinded her to the realities.
Strap closed his eyes and pictured her. He could hear her breaths slowing and her heart rate drop. She was almost into a deep sleep.
Strap kept his ears perked up as his thoughts rolled around his head.
He bit his lip. Maybe they could try a real relationship if he could visit her in Spain, where she lived. But he couldn’t do that. General Anderson might find out what he was doing and punish Mickey somehow. Rumors circulated around the Supermax that the woman had no heart.
He shook the thoughts away. Speculation was only that. The unknown. Until the job was done, he couldn’t do anything. Strap would worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.
He took a deep breath and rose from the bed. Strap packed his things into his special backpack and opened the window. After attaching the pack to his chest, he shifted into his panther form.
With one deep inhale, Strap took all the memories of Mickey with him.
It wouldn’t be something he would ever forget, but the Granger/Stienkamp/Dubois bloodline partnership would end tonight.
The pain in his heart cracked his chest open. The panther shook his head, resetting the emotions. He would have to battle those demons later.
Now, he needed to go.
With one leap through the open window, Strap pushed off with his hind legs and ran into the night.
TWENTY-FOUR
MICKEY
Dark shadows shaped the bedroom as Mickey sat up in bed. It had been a few hours since Strap had told her he was going to bed early, and she followed. Soft padded steps were the only sound in the house as she grabbed her backpack and dropped it on the bed. She wanted to pack light but smart.
If she was going to pull off this heist herself, she was going to have to be careful. Every time her eyes skirted past the open doorway, she felt a pang of guilt well up inside her. The past hours had already been spent mulling over how much better this was for the both of them. She didn’twantto leave Strap, but he was a criminal.
