Page 80 of The Piece You Stole

Cursing, Aden tumbles sideways right out of the tree, taking his big, expensive rifle with him.

I grab his hoodie with one hand and haul him back before he learns he can’t fly.

“You didn’t think to warn me he was there,” Aden mutters as he resettles himself and tucks his rifle back into position.

I shoot him a smirk. “And here I thought anything I saw, you saw too.”

Aden shakes his head, but I can tell he’s trying not to smile. “Did you see her, Dariel?”

“No. They have underground parking. I was watching the entrance, so I saw his Lexus pull out and join the other cars waiting nearby.” Dariel is busy stripping out of his shirt and pants, but pauses to glance up at us, his emerald-green eyes glinting in the night. “I caught her scent.”

There’s a rumble in his voice before, suddenly, feral intelligence is peering up at us.

I feel Aden freeze beside me as Dariel’s wolf makes his presence known.

“Just her scent?” I ask, angling my body, so if he attacks, it’ll be me he hits first. We’ll take a tumble from the tree, but better that than have him tear into Aden.

Dariel’s slow blink reveals he didn’t miss my subtle move. “And blood. It was faint, but it was hers.”

I forget about defending Aden as rage floods my mind.

My claws burst free from the tips of my fingers, and I battle to silence the furious growls in my head.

You knew they’d be hurting her, so hold it fucking together. They’ll be dead soon enough.

“And you didn’t—” An engine thunders toward us, bringing bright headlights that flood the patch of grass below us.

I spare one last glance at Dariel. The last time he saw Saige, he was a wolf lunging at her.

Twice.

Will it be three times lucky? Or will Dariel force Aden to put a bullet in his head to stop him?

Dariel is back to stripping, so I angle my head toward Aden and find all his attention is on the approaching sports cars. It’s like Dariel and I no longer exist.

Aden liked to say handguns were for self-defense, but a rifle was fun. When I saw what he could do with a rifle at the range, I dragged Dariel out so we could get Aden the best for his twenty-first birthday.

That’s where the McMillan TAC-50, a rifle that set us back nearly ten grand, came from. The things that Aden can do with that gun had even Dariel looking impressed.

Eight speeding European sports cars hurtle toward us. Custom rims. Tinted windows. None of them spared any fucking expense. No wonder Aden was so sure they’d be rich enough to be living in the fancy east of the city. But it’s the matte black Lexus I focus on. Both targets will be there tonight.

They scream to a stop and cut their engines, but for a long moment, no one moves.

I dart a glance at Aden and raise my eyebrow. This is one part of the plan I wasn’t happy about. Aden could take them all out now and all we’d need to do is leap from the tree, pick through the remains of Rylan’s pack and grab Saige.

Aden must feel me looking at him, but he doesn’t move. His finger is on the trigger, and he’s lined up his first shot.

When I turn back to the assembled cars, I curse myself when I notice something I don’t know how I missed before.

They didn’t park at random. The matte black Lexus at the back has all the room in the world to get away if shit goes down. It also can’t be a coincidence that a black Hummer has parked up just in front of the Lexus. Rylan can’t know we have Aden up here with a rifle pointed right at him, but he’s come prepared for an ambush anyway.

Fuck.

Use your fucking eyes next time.

The car doors fly open, and shifters spill out, two to three out of each vehicle, their eyes glinting. They don’t even try to hide what they are as they get to work stripping out of their designer clothes and tossing them aside. They quickly drop to their hands and knees, shift, and move to circle the black Lexus. Overhead, the moonlight makes their eyes glint all the brighter.

Aden could take some or most of them out, but when my gaze returns to the Lexus, I realize that not only is it parked at the back, it’s the only car with its engine still running. We’d get some of them, but not all, and not the ones we came her for: Rylan and Saige.

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