Page 128 of Piece You Saved

And that’s the crux of the problem. Exposure.

“We shield her,” Aden says. “Because Saige is right. Rylan will expect an attack from us, but he won’t be looking for one from Saige.”

“You think you can do it?” Kade closes his fingers on Saige’s chin and angles her face up, so they’re eye to eye. “Killing a man face to face isn’t for everyone.”

She doesn’t hesitate. “It is for me.”

Her voice is quiet but determined.

Kade nods once and kisses her hair. “Good girl.”

I raise my brow at that.

Aden sighs. “Kade…”

Kade’s eyes widen. “What? She already said she had no problem with it. Not my fault she likes to make a mess too.”

Saige turns her head to hug Kade. She’s smiling as she hugs him, but for a moment, her gaze locks with mine. I remember how close I came to kissing her in the garden, and the look in her eyes that told me she wanted me to.

Her smile fades, and she turns away.

I lift my gaze to discover Aden is watching me.

We hold our stare, and I try to read him, wondering what he thinks. His expression is thoughtful. I get the impression the thought of me sticking around doesn’t bother him as much as it does Kade. But I’m notjustlooking to stick around. I’m looking to be with Saige. For the long term. Forever, if she’ll have me. If that means I have to share her, so be it. The question is whether Aden, Dariel, and Kade would accept me if Saige stopped fighting her feelings for me.

“What happens now?” Saige asks quietly. “Do we go to the bridge early and wait?”

Dariel briefly considers it before shaking his head. “By now, Rylan has to know Aden isn’t at the hospital, and if Harley chased him from it, he’s going to assume he has another person who wants to see him dead.”

“He won’t know about me,” Detective Morgan says, speaking slowly.

Dariel nods. “Exactly.”

“We can lure him away from his vehicle,” Detective Morgan suggests. “If we get your friend, we’ll be forcing him into a defensive position.”

Saige shakes her head. “Won’t work. He won’t let Sam go until I go to him first.”

Detective Morgan frowns. “We could—”

Saige peels her face from Kade’s chest and meets Detective Morgan’s gaze. “He will tell me to go to him first, and if I don’t, he’ll threaten to snap Sam’s neck. If I take too long to agree, he’ll do it, and he’ll do it so fast no one on that bridge will see him but us.” She pauses. “If he hasn’t killed her already.”

“You think he has, angel?” Kade slides a hand around the nape of her neck and turns her to face him. She leans into his touch, as if she needs it. Craves it.

A pang of something unfamiliar hits me low down in the gut. Not jealousy but… longing.

I want Saige to need my touch the way she needs his.

“He likes to think he’s always in perfect control of himself, but he isn’t. At least, not as much as he’d like to think he is,” she explains.

“The moment we let you go to him, we lose control of the situation,” Dariel rumbles, folding his arms across his chest as he stares down at her. “He can grab you and still break Sam’s neck.”

Her gaze latches on Dariel’s. “I know. But we can’t leave Sam with him.”

They stare at each other, and no one speaks.

Finally, he pulls his gaze from hers and fixes his stare on the wall opposite. If anyone has any ideas about how to rescue a human woman from an alpha who’s left signs of his abuse all over the woman sitting at the table, no one voices it.

We all watch Dariel. Waiting.

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