Page 31 of Piece You Saved

And he tossed the notes at me, then walked away in the direction of a loudly ringing school bell.

I snatched up the cash before it could blow into the road and ran back to the abandoned warehouse I’d been calling home before I emptied his bag onto the sticky, foul ground.

There wasn’t much in it. Books. A sweater. A couple of granola bars.

I crammed the bars into my mouth and ate them down in two big bites that barely filled the empty hollow that was my stomach. I spent the next hour staring at the notes in my hand, thinking about the boy who’d let himself be mugged, and if that wasn’t enough, had handed over his lunch money because he’d thought I needed it more.

If I hadn’t had the backpack and the bundle of notes in my hand, I’d have believed it hadn’t happened at all. That or I was dreaming the money in my hand from going too many days and nights with a hollow, growling belly.

After I’d used the cash to buy bread and jars of peanut butter and jelly in the grocery store, I returned to eat my feast in my warehouse and thought about the boy with deep red hair and big brown eyes.

I knew it wouldn’t be the last time I saw him again. And I was right; it wasn’t. The next time I went looking for him, it wasn’t to mug him.

I turn the hospital corner. Immediately, my gaze clashes with a man with an expensive haircut and pale blue eyes, stepping out of what was once Aden Shaw’s room. I’ve seen enough expensive suits over the years to know that what I’m looking at is custom tailored.

The man stops just outside the room. His eyes lock on me. His long, straight nose twitches, much as mine is doing.

Is it a coincidence that Saige brings her friend in with injuries sustained from a wolf attack, then hours after they leave, an alpha—from his focused stare—comes looking for them?

Possible.

Is it a coincidence that weeks before, a wolf ripped out my friend’s throat and left his dead body in the hospital parking lot?

Coincidence stretches only so far, and if I listen hard, I’m sure I’ll hear the twang of it snapping.

Whoever this man is, hewillgive me answers about Simon. While he’s at it, he will tell me who put those bites on Saige’s throat, and if either of his answers makes me think it was him… I’m a doctor, but that’s not all I am.

Stuffing my hands in my coat pockets, I paste a calm smile on my face as I continue toward him at an easy pace. Two steps later, the man swings around and strides toward the elevator at the end of the hallway.

Aram, the on-duty doctor, calls out to me, wanting a second opinion about an X-ray result.

“I’ll be right with you,” I tell him, not slowing. “Give me a second.”

And then I keep right on hunting the shifter I suspect played a large part in the bites marring Saige’s lovely throat.

I’m closing the distance when the elevator dings and slowly creeps open.

Fuck.

I walk faster, but I don’t run because the last thing I need or want is to attract attention. If this guy was responsible for Simon’s murder, Saige’s throat, and Aden Shaw’s mauling, I’d like for this conversation to take place somewhere private. Somewhere no one will hear him scream when I rip out his throat.

An orderly wheels a wheelchair out and the mystery shifter steps in, turning around to face me as he stabs a button on his left. Low. The ground floor.

His eyes meet mine, and satisfaction flickers in his blue gaze as the door slowly closes when I’m still feet away.

He thinks he’s getting away.

I swerve right, heading toward the staircase.

His eyes harden, and his lips flatten.

I’ll be waiting for you downstairs,I think to myself as the elevator door swings closed.

I burst through the hospital’s double doors and throw myself down them, hands on the banisters as I take the steps four at a time.

I take the first set fast, round the corner, and take the next set even faster.

And then my pager goes off.

---