Page 138 of The Piece You Stole

Prick.

Since his words are nothing but a taunt, I don’t let myself rise to the bait. “Now isn’t the time for sex, Kade.”

“I could say the same thing, because unless I’m mistaken…” his voice trails off, and he subtly sniffs, “Looks like your timing could do with some work, Alpha.”

“He’s going to hit us soon.” I turn to Kade and find him smirking at me. “Now wasn’t the time.”

He snorts. “You’re just jealous cause you keep fucking things up with Saige. Apologize.” He cocks his head and studies me, his silver eyes glinting under the moonlight. “She’ll forgive you.Eventually.”

Fucking prick. He must be eating up being in her good books.

“Has she been asking you any more questions?” I ask before Kade drives me to deliver a fist to his jaw.

When his smile widens, it’s clear I could do with working on managing my expressions. “She has. She’s persistent, I’ll give her that. But don’t worry, I’ve been keeping my mouth shut.”

“And Aden?” I prompt.

“Same. Though if anyone is going to be the one who breaks, it’ll be him.”

He’s right.

He’ll tell her believing that it will make Saige trust him, but it won’t. All it will do is increase her desire to get involved, and I can’t allow that to happen. She has her part to play in what’s coming. We all have our parts to play.

I glance at the house. “I’ll speak to him tomorrow. You need to remind him as well that—”

“The less she knows, the less she can get in our way when shit hits the fan. Got it, boss.” He salutes, but it’s an action so full of mockery that if I didn’t think it would be the exact response he was hoping for, I’d punch him in the gut.

“This is important, Kade.”

“You think I don’t know how important it is?” Kade’s smile slides off his face. “Just because you refused to see Saige for who—and what she was—until you’d fucked up, doesn’t mean the rest of us didn’t.Weknow how important she is.”

Yes, I’ve fucked up. I saw a girl with the potential to break us apart and assumed she was trouble. I was wrong.Now,I see her crawling into Aden’s bed.Now,I see the smile on his face. Content and real. A smile I haven’t seen in years. If ever.Now,I see Kade focused, not busy drinking and fucking every day. I see a woman who cares about whether Kade gets enough sleep. Who cares abouthiminstead of as someone she just wants to fuck.

I see, and now I know I was wrong.

She wants nothing to do with me, and I can’t say I blame her.

I grab the handle to return inside.

“We could have ended all this days ago.” Kade’s voice stops me.

I pause with my back to him. “And where would we have kept Saige while we were hunting out Rylan’s new hiding place, severely outnumbered? Which safe place would she be in while we were busy getting ourselves killed?”

I wait, but the argument brewing in Kade must fizzle out because he makes no response.

Yet another change in Kade to lay at Saige’s feet.

Before Saige, he’d have gone out there and done whatever the fuck he wanted, regardless of what I said. But now he’s thinking about something more than himself. He’s thinking about her.

I pull the door open. “Sam was telling her about Monica. If she comes to you with questions—"

“I know what to say,” Kade interrupts. “We all know what to say.”

Nodding, I head back inside.

“You haven’t told her the only reason I could save her at all was because you knocked Rylan away. She might be in a more forgiving mood if she knew how big of a part you played in her rescue.”

“She might,” I admit.

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