Page 121 of Piece You Saved

I stretch my fingers toward it. My fingers are grazing the wood when a heavy weight crashes into my back, taking me down. I fly forward, puncturing the silence with another piercing scream. I land hard, almost on my face, just missing going through the glass shower screen door.

Kade curses, “Fuck!”

A wolf snarls, a wet, vicious sound.

Footsteps pound toward me.

The bathroom door slams shut.

In the darkness, my gaze collides with a furious emerald stare.

He lunges at me.

“Kade!” Throwing my hands over my face, I curl into a ball and try to protect my throat.

But I’m dead.

My body just doesn’t know it yet.

CHAPTER 32

SAIGE

The bathroom door explodes open.

“Kade. Stop!” I yell.

Flat on my back, I stare into the eyes of a wolf standing over me, his teeth far closer to my throat than I’d ever want them to be.

But he’s not savaging me with them.

He’s staring down at me.

Maybe deciding where to bite first?

Please don’t have more thoughts like that,I tell myself. They are not the least bit helpful.

A soft tread of footsteps moves toward us. The wolf snarls, blowing hot breath into my face.

“Kade, don’t move,” I whisper frantically, my eyes locked on the wolf’s green stare.

All movement stops, and then new footsteps hurry toward us from farther away. The hallway, I think.

A long, indrawn breath announces Aden has just walked in on Dariel standing over me with his teeth inches from my throat.

“You lock yourself away,” I whisper. “Don’t you?”

The wolf doesn’t respond. He can’t in any way I’ll understand.

“Aden said you’re so worried you’re going to hurt someone that you lock yourself away.” I don’t know what compels me to, but it’s the same thing that compelled me to turn back to Dariel and hug him.

Slowly, I lift my hand.

The wolf stares down at me, not biting it off. I release a quiet sigh of relief and hope I’m not doing the wrong thing.

“After Rylan would go for runs with the rest of his pack, they’d sleep in a pile.” I stretch my fingers closer. “He said there’s a reason a wolf is never alone, and why it’s so important that they have a pack. Wolves are social. More social than people.”

Briefly, I think of Harley, who said he only had Simon. Now Simon is dead. Who does he have?

---