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A criminal who treated me like a princess. A criminal who’s my mate.She shrugged off the thought like a heavy cloak of snow. He was her only connection to her father too. And Strap really believed in him. Strap had spent timeconvincing her that her dad wasn’t just another lowlife thief. She liked to think that Old Mick would have been a good father.Strap would make a good father too.Maybe he would leave his life of crime to raise a family with her. Little shifter children had a certain appeal.
Zipping up her backpack, she stopped to wipe tears away. These thoughts were going nowhere. She couldn’t rely on “maybe one day.” She had to finish this. All the time spent on her dad’s legacy, she couldn’t falter now. She would get these baseballs back to the rightful owners, not allowing Strap to sell them for blood money.
Slipping on her black runners, Mickey took one last look at Strap’s closed bedroom door before heading out the rear of the kitchen.
* * *
The strainon her arms was killing her, but she was so close to the top she had no excuse to stop now. Mickey let out a sigh and powered through the last few feet of the cliff. Sitting up at the top, she stared back down the long cliff. She had finally made it.
Checking her watch, a feeling of contentment filled her chest. She was right on schedule. She had spent what felt like forever silently observing the guards and figuring out their schedules. The mansion’s kitchen was the best entrance.
Every hour, a guard put in a code and went inside. After thirty minutes, he would come back out. So her timeframe was just under half an hour to get the balls and get out. Easy. Her quick steps were slowed as she closed in on the property’s perimeter.
Doing a scan, Mickey felt less nervous seeing no guards around. She reared up to sprint, but a heavy weight dropped on her back, smashing her to the ground. A low snarl rumbled in her ear.
Instead of panic, a small nudge in the back of her mind told her it was Strap on her back. She pushed up, and his paws pressed down between her shoulder blades.
“Get the hell off me.” She kept her voice low, whisper-yelling at her mate.What the hell is he doing here?She wanted to holler at him. He was ruining her plan. The weight of his body left her as she turned her head to see his panther form shift back into his naked self.
Great, now if they got caught, he was going to look like a crazy streaker. His expression was hard, set in anger, and the sight made that recurring guilt foam up in her gut.
“What are you doing here, Mickey?” Strap glared. Mickey huffed softly, her eyes constantly looking around to make sure no one was there. They were wasting a lot of time out here when she could be taking the balls.
“I could ask you the same thing.” His aggravation spurred her on.Was he planning on leaving me behind?A small strike of sadness clutched her, but at the same time, she was planning on doing that to him.
“We don’t have time for this. Get up.” Strap held his hand out, but Mickey didn't take it. She stood on her own just as the guard walked out the kitchen door.
“Time starts now.” Mickey waved Strap to the door, and she pulled off her backpack to start digging through it.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” Strap confidently strode to the keypad, gently pushing Mickey out of the way.
“I’ve been watching their codes for a couple hours tonight. See?” She watched him enter four numbers, and the screen lit up red. A small grin emerged on her face as he tried again and again. Her excitement faltered as she realized he might be screwing this up for the both of them.
“Hold on,” she muttered, plugging a passcode detector into the wall keypad. After a few moments, the mini-computer input the four numbers, and the screen turned green.
She glanced at Strap, and his face was screwed up in annoyance. “There’s no nuance to technology. But at least it works.” Mickey huffed lightly.
To get the last word, Strap added, “Old school is still better.”
He let Mickey walk in first, and she led him through the kitchen. The silence permeated the house, and only the soft tapping of distant shoes broke the silence. It felt like forever until Strap finally broke it, his hushed whisper barely audible.
“Did you mean it? When you said you wanted a big family?” Mickey’s spine stiffened as she nodded. Realizing only the moonlight was illuminating her body, she stopped her sneak to whisper.
“Yes. I did. Why? Do you want the same?” She continued forward and listened to Strap’s answer.
“I do.” With only two words, it made her heart hurt. She hated that she had to leave him. Their ideals were the same, but their lives could not be more different. She spared a look at him as they came to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the pool.
If she could have it her way, she would’ve bought a house with her money and raised a family with him. They could’ve had a beautiful home like this one and grown old together. But he was a felon, and she committed her life to righting her dad’s legacy.
Strap nudged her toward the back wall covered in shadows, and Mickey hastily pulled herself out of her thoughts to follow. When a sweeping beam of a flashlight swished across the room, fear stopped her.
There was nowhere to hide, and terror hit her as the idea that everything she’d worked for was about to come unraveled. She didn’t want to be disemboweled. All of her limbs froze in place at the sight of the light coming closer to her.
Strap pushed down on her back, and she fell to the ground without so much as a thud. Feeling him shift over her body, the two lay completely still as he covered her.
She had to admit that his panther had been incredibly useful these past few days. The light passed over their bodies, and it paused on them before moving to the other side of the room and then turning off completely. The night engulfed them in the moonlight again.
Pushing themselves up, the office door was in sight. That was the most likely place for Biagini to show off his treasure. It was almost over. Strap took the lead, and she couldn’t help but sneak a glance at his tight, naked ass. Biting her lip, she silently chastised herself for getting distracted by how absolutely sexy he was, but she couldn’t help it. He was her mate, after all.
