Page 42 of Piece You Saved

Before Kade can move, or I can decide if I want to intervene to save his life, Detective Morgan leans backs, shaking his head apologetically. “I’m sorry to startle you, Miss Leo. I know you probably don’t have any reason to trust cops.”

I can tell he means it, but I don’t sit down again because this was a mistake.

“A reason?” I snort when I think of all the cops in my past. “Look, I can’t help you. I thought I could, but I don’t think I can. Maybe you should just go.”

Before Kade kills you and buries your body in the backyard.

Detective Morgan slowly gets to his feet, but this time, he stays firmly on his side of the table. “I believe you know something that can help, Miss Leo. His private land burned down, and someone called a bomb threat on his apartment building. Something is going on here. Something big, and now is the time to get him while he’s distracted.”

His private land burned down?

I glance at Kade.

Is that how they got me back from Rylan?

If anyone were to set a fire, it would be Kade. Kade meets my eye blankly. Not a surprise when he’s hardly going to admit to arson in front of this detective.

I return my focus to Detective Morgan, certain of one thing.

Distracted?Rylan is never distracted.

I shake my head. “I’m sorry about your sister, but I can’t help you.”

A flash of desperation fills his eyes, and he takes a step toward me.

I back up. Fast.

And then suddenly Kade has the cop by the arm and is towing him right out. Not toward the backyard to his death, but through the entryway to the front door. Is Kade feeling a little sympathetic toward the cop with the dead sister as well?

“Right, that’s it,” Kade says as he propels Detective Morgan away from me. “She said she can’t help you, and she can’t. It’s time you went back to fighting crime, eating donuts, or whatever else you cops do to pass the time.”

Detective Morgan swings his head back to face me, and his desperate brown eyes lock on mine. He doesn’t fight Kade as he says, “You know something, Miss Leo. Help me. Help me get justice for my sister.”

I wrap my arms around myself and chew the inside of my cheek as I shift from foot to foot. Help a cop? The people who have done nothing but hurt me?

Kade pulls the front door open and shoves Detective Morgan out, slamming the door shut after him before he turns to me with his brow creased in concern. “You okay, angel?”

I blink at him. “I can’t believe you just shoved him out like that.”

“Kade!” Dariel suddenly yells from upstairs. “I need you both up here.”

Kade crosses over to me, kisses me hard on the lips, snags the laptop from the kitchen, and leads the way upstairs. “He had a gun. He could’ve fought back any time he wanted.”

“By shooting you?” I ask, raising my eyebrow.

“Bytryingto shoot me. He’d have learned a painful—and fatal—lesson if he’d attempted it. Let’s go. Looks like Aden is ready for visitors.”

My stomach churns with excitement and dread. What will Aden be like? Will he be different as a shifter? I liked him as he was, and I don’t want him to change.

Outside, an engine starts up. Detective Morgan doesn’t realize how lucky he was that Kade let him walk out of here. Let’s hope he doesn’t come back and tempt fate again.

“You’re safe,” Kade says.

Loosening my far-too-tight grip on his hand, I smile at him. “I’m not worried. I just want him to be okay.”

He gives me a probing look. “He’s okay. Now, when he makes you breakfast, he might snarl occasionally if he burns the bacon.”

A laugh I didn’t know I had in me makes its way out, surprising me. “And that’s the only difference?”

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