Page 13 of The Piece You Stole

“We need more than just east. We need—”

“A door number? A fancy doorbell to ring? A fucking butler to open the door, bending at the waist to invite us in-fucking-side. Is that what we need, Aden?”

Shit, I have to stop him.

Abandoning the map, I take a step toward him. “That’s not what I’m saying. Just—”

“So, we leave her.” He offers me an empty smile. “Is that what you’re saying?”

I shake my head. “We need a plan. And Dariel…” my voice trails off, and I angle my head toward the doorway, “… has been quiet for a while. Do you hear him?”

Kade stares at me through narrowed eyes as if he suspects I’m just trying to distract him.

Dariel shouldn’t be able to get out of the office. Not the reinforced steel it’s made from. Not as a crazed wolf.

In the silence, a door creaks open.

I don’t know who moves first, Kade or me, but suddenly we’re both sprinting to the kitchen doorway, Kade getting there just ahead of me.

We hurtle down the apartment hallway, out the front door, and down the stairs, going so fast it’s a miracle I don’t fall and break my neck.

I trip over the remains of a broken table in the bar area and stumble, cursing under my breath. Meanwhile, Kade flows over and around the obstacles as if he were the one to place them there.

It’s one of the few times in my life I tell myself I wouldn’t mind being a wolf.

Kade gets to Dariel first. But since he’s powered by an animal with superhuman strength and speed, I wasn’t expecting to beat him.

At the Cerberus foyer, I skid to a stop, my eyes wide with astonishment. “Dariel?”

Dressed in his usual uniform of an all-black shirt, dress pants, and leather shoes, Dariel is stretching a hand toward the lock.

At my call, he pauses with his back to me.

What the fuck is going on?

“You shifted,” Kade breathes, as if he’s having just as much trouble believing what he’s seeing.

Not two hours after he lost control of his wolf, he’s regained enough of it to shift back to human.

Which hasn’t happened since his wolf started going feral.

Years ago.

Dariel reaches a hand to the door.

“Where are you going?” I take a few steps closer, my boots crunching over the destruction spilling into the foyer from the main room. None of us have talked about what we’re doing about repairs and cleanup yet. But soon, we’re going to have to figure something out.

After Saige. When she’s back, we’ll deal with it then.

Dariel pulls the front door open, and bright midday light filters into the black and indigo blue space. Kade is suddenly there, gripping the edge of the door with one hand. He slams it shut, seeming not to care he nearly took Dariel’s nose with it.

Bang.

The thud echoes and is still echoing when Kade snarls, “Where the fuck are you going?”

I tense as I wait for the expected growl, punch, or a crazed wolf to burst free from Dariel.

But this must be a stranger because all Dariel does is yank the door open once more.

---