Page 72 of The Piece You Stole

I turn to Aden.

His eyes are still tired and red, but there’s just as much determination filling them as there was in Kade’s. “We’re not leaving her with him. She’s ours.”

I recall the happy, grinning woman in pink.

Rylan Treveiler took her and broke her.

I can’t let that stand.

Whatever Saige is to me, my wolf doesn’t know, and neither do I. At least, not yet.

The question of what comes after we’ve saved her can be answered later.

“You said something about a fire,” I remind Kade, as more bottles join the rest on the counter in fast succession. Lysol, drain cleaner, and an aerosol can filled with wood cleaner. Each one more flammable than the last. “This plan of yours is getting messier by the minute.”

And yet, I’m not shooting down the sequence of events that invites the sort of attention no shifter would ever set in motion.

Cops. Firefighters. Swat team. Possibly FBI.

We could have all that and more breathing down our necks if it goes wrong. Even if it all goes right, there’s no reason they won’t eventually trace it back to us.

Yet I’m not ordering Kade to return those bottles back under the sink.

More and more, it feels like I’m waiting for him to convince me to go ahead with his foolhardy plan.

He pulls a large black cleaning bucket from the cupboard and places the bottles into it before peering over his shoulder. “You said a man like Rylan Treveiler was the type who would break his toys to stop anyone else from having them.”

“I did.” It’s a large reason why we’ll only get one chance to get Saige out. If we fuck up, it’s game over, potentially for her, but most definitely for us.

“What would a man like that do if we did the breaking first?” Kade pats his bucket of chemicals so lovingly that Aden snorts a laugh.

The Dariel that likes order, likes structure and control has apparently left the building because I’m fighting to contain my need to laugh. “You want to set his million-dollar plot of land onfire?”

“That plot of land sticks out. A guy as interested in money as Rylan should have offloaded it for the millions it must be worth. Yet he hasn’t. Which means he likes it. Maybe even loves it.” Kade thumps the bucket again. “He’s a shifter living surrounded by shops and restaurants, which means there can’t be too many places to let his wolf run free, so maybe that place gives him something money can’t. Freedom for his wolf.”

We don’t have time to target his money, but we can target something just as valuable. Something too big for him to tuck in a Swiss bank account.

“Why do your ideas always seem to involve destroying or killing something?” Aden shakes his head, but I notice he’s not telling Kade it’s a dangerous plan that won’t work.

Maybe I’m not the only one looking to be convinced.

“We all have our strengths,” Kade smirks. “You have your guns, and I have my ability to make a mess.”

He’s not wrong.

They both turn to me, waiting, I assume, for me to shoot this idea down. “One of us is going to have to make sure he calls the rest of his pack since I can’t see them all living together. We need them to get to that plot of land together.”

“What’s stopping him from hiding out in the suite of a five-star hotel and sending his pack to wipe you out?” Leandro is eyeing Kade as if he’s insane.

“No,” I say, putting myself in Rylan’s shoes. “We’re about to burn his world down around his ears. What alpha is going to tuck himself into a hotel suite when he could be busy tearing into the people who would dare cross him?”

I turn to Kade as a thought takes shape in my mind. “We need to make this a little more personal. The money angle is good, but we need to make him think that he’s already won before he takes one step onto that land.”

Kade nods. “So, we have that brother of yours prove himself useful and call Rylan.”

“I don’t have his number,” Leandro frowns, looking like he might be regretting his decision to follow us.

“Kade, did our friends include numbers to go along with those addresses?”

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