Page 47 of Piece You Saved

And then I wait.

Not a minute later, a chair leg scrapes along the kitchen floor, and footsteps jog up the stairs. Kade appears at the top, his eyes darting past me through the gap over my head. “Something wrong?”

I pull the door open a little wider and step out. “I need to call Leandro, and my cell is dead. Can you—”

Kade is already squeezing past me and into the bedroom. “Use mine. It’s on my desk.” He pauses just inside my room and raises a dark brow. “I thought we didn’t give a shit whether he lived or died, you know, given he fucked that ho of a mate and made grabby hands at Saige.”

I stop and stare at him. I’m not sure what I want to do more, laugh or smack him in the face. “Ho of a mate?” I choke out as I battle to contain my laughter.

Even my wolf, not usually amused by a damn thing, pauses his almost ceaseless snarling to chuff in amusement.

“What else would you call a woman who fucked your brother and your dad? Unless you’re going to tell me it was love?” He arches a brow.

My wolf is no longer amused. “Claudine? It would be a sports car. She has a thing for flashy cars.”

“She sounds like she has a thing for riding.” He cocks his head, thinking. “You don’t have a credit card she used, do you? I think the money for our windows should come from her riding habit.”

“Two hundred dollars an hour just to board up windows?” I echo what I overheard him tell Saige hours before.

“Two hundred,” he repeats, scowling. “Nearly a grand down, and it’s going to be more when the glass comes in. I sold some shares to cover it, but we need to put the rest toward the repairs for the Cerberus. Maybe your brother can pay for it? Sounds like he has a riding habit, too.”

“And you don’t?” I ask.

“I did,” he corrects me, darting a glance over my shoulder and down the stairs. “But I wouldn’t fuck over a brother to get that itch scratched. Keep your voice down. Saige is sleeping, and I’d rather she didn’t wake up to that.”

“Have you forgotten a hooker was giving you a lap dance when she first saw you?” I remind him.

“That was before. This is now.” He turns away. “Go. And tell that brother of yours if he even thinks about coming back here to make grabby hands at Saige, I’ll twist his nuts into the shape of a pretzel.”

“We need to find time to talk about the cop.” I lower my voice. The plan was always to keep her safe. That hasn’t changed, so the less she knows, the less she can endanger herself by wanting to put herself front and center. “And Rylan.”

Kade shrugs. “Easy fix. We kill them both.” He pulls the door closed.

I stare at the white wood. I need to do something about that cop, and I need to be the one to find Rylan, because if Kade gets to him before I do… he’s not going to be thinking about survival. He’ll want Rylan dead, regardless of the danger he puts himself in. I can’t let that happen. I failed with Aden; I don’t intend to fail with Kade, too.

“Kade,” I say.

The door creaks open, and Kade sticks his head out. “Please tell me you don’t have a problem with us ending those threats to Saige?”

I lower my voice further. “What I have a problem with is you ending them in a way that creates a mess that explodes in our faces.”

His eyes narrow, and he flattens his lips.

Before we can get into an argument, I shake my head. “What have you dug up about Rylan?”

After a long stare, Kade says, “According to news reports, cops are looking to speak to him about why some crazy fucks would commit arson on his property.”

I raise my eyebrow. “Crazyfucks?”

His lip twitches. “Crazyfuck, then. No one has seen him. Cops are after him for hunting wild animals on account of all the dead wolves they found. But when you have a fancy attorney to fend off questions, apparently dodging cops is a cakewalk.”

Shit.

Which leaves him plenty of time to come after us—and Saige. “We’re going to need to hunt him.”

Something dark skitters in his eyes. “I know.”

The problem is when. Aden is too new a shifter to be left alone for long, and Saige? There’s no way we can leave them alone, even if we could find somewhere Rylan couldn’t track us. But home is here. We know its weak spots and its strengths. I want this fight to happen here, where we’re stronger and where Rylan can’t ambush us.

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