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one of them. She loved facing down bullies.
                    “I assume you’re still a member in good standing of the guild?” Not that she was still a guild member, but she hadn’t lost her ability to bluff.
                    “Of course I am.” His eyes shuttled around, fearful and defensive, as if there were Guild Enforcers crouched in the doorways. “Who says I’m not?”
                    “We don’t steal from each other.” She didn’t need to remind him of the code. It was also bullshit. They were thieves! They stole from each other all the time, but if one member of the Thieves’ Guild actually got caught stealing from a fellow guild member, an Enforcer would snuff them out in a very painful and public fashion, to make sure all the other guild members got the point. It generally happened at least once a year, and news of it always travelled to guild members throughout the world.
                    He went pale and swallowed hard. “I’m not stealing from anyone in the guild.”
                    “When I send money to these kids and you take more of it than we agreed, you’re stealing from me.” She met his gaze unwaveringly, and after a few seconds he looked away. “Of course, we can take it off the island if needs be. I don’t mind taking it up to the next level.”
                    “Fine, fine. Can’t blame a guy for trying,” he whined.
                    “I can’t blame a guy for taking money out of the pockets of hungry kids? Fuck you. You’re going to pay them back all the extra you stole, and you’re going to give them everything I send from now on. I’ll be back to check up on you.” She didn’t know if she would really be able to come back here, but he didn’t know that.
                    Muttering obscenities, he stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He peeled off a few bills from a thick sheaf, handed them to her, and stomped off, with his thugs following him. Unfortunately, she didn’t know exactly how much he owed the kids, but this was better than nothing.
                    She walked back to the kids and handed the money to Pern, and settled back down on the cement block. Now she needed to talk business. As much as she hated to do it,  there were some things she definitely needed their help with.

Chapter Six
     
                    Tyler paced the room, kicking at the remnants of the lamp he’d hurled against the wall.  His mood had been foul yesterday, but today it was a dark black cloud.  He’d found what he’d been looking for after he’d flown to the mainland. Part of him wished he hadn’t.
                    Because what he’d found out was that his fated mate was not just a thief – he could have worked with that, somehow. He could have found her a new job, probably invited her to work for Shifters, Inc. They had plenty of former criminals working for them, including his ex-girlfriend.  He could have found ways to make restitution to anyone she’d stolen from.
                    But the one thing he couldn’t do was bring someone back from the dead.   And she was a killer.
                    How did this happen? he wondered as he paced in his hotel room.  Was fate playing some kind of terrible, cosmic joke on him? He’d always wondered if he even had a fated mate. His father was human, which meant he was only half shifter. It had been a toss-up whether his mother would have human babies or shifter cubs.
                    And since he was half human, he’d never known if there was a fated mate for him.  It wasn’t as if anyone had done a scientific study on it. Human-shifter hybrids weren’t unheard of, but they were rare.  He’d asked his parents when he was younger, and they’d assured him that since he’d been born a wolf shifter,