Page 62 of Piece You Saved

That ends now.

As Greg packs, I take over the clean-up, though I don’t get five minutes in before he makes his way down again, gripping a bulging bag. Apparently, packing goes fast when you never bothered to unpack from your first vacation.

“They don’t need cash,” Greg tells me. He needn’t have bothered. I heard and tuned out his muffled conversations upstairs. “They just want a job when the Cerberus re-opens.”

I nod. “And they’ll have it. Let’s get out of here. I’d give you a ride to the airport, but—”

“I have a cab coming.” He gives me another long look. “I had a feeling you have other things to do than playing cab driver.”

“I do.”

We leave together. I make sure Greg is in a cab and the yellow vehicle has merged with the traffic and the other yellow cabs before I lock up the Cerberus and head for my car.

Time for my second, but no less important task of the day.

Rylan Trevailer.

Just because there’s been no recent news about him in the papers, doesn’t mean I can’t pay him a visit. The cops want to speak to him about the arson on his property, which makes now the perfect time for him to tuck himself in one of his many properties. Properties I know about courtesy of our ‘friends’ who will come looking for payback one day soon.

Who knows, maybe bringing back his head might set me on the path to forgiveness.

* * *

I sit outside Rylan’s apartment for nearly thirty minutes before I realize I’m wasting my time. With a list of Rylan’s known properties still fresh in my mind, I head to the next.

I strike out at his second penthouse apartment, growing increasingly frustrated at yet more time wasted. With no fresh scent leading to the underground parking lot, if he’s stopped by here, it hasn’t been in weeks, if not months.

I glance up at the glass-fronted high rise and debate the merits of forcing the entryway lock to confirm it. The lock would take seconds to break. The elevator up could be problematic if it required a key to reach his floor. But it wouldn’t be impossible.

I briefly consider it.

And reject it.

Rylan could be in them, but both of the apartments he owns are penthouses. Getting caught breaking and entering when the cops are eager to talk to him about why someone would have a reason to torch one of his properties would be beyond reckless. It’s the reason I’m out here and not Kade.

Kade wouldn’t even hesitate.

I start up my engine. The Mercedes purrs to life before I pull away from the stark glass and steel building and into the midday rush, aiming my car east.

Rylan’s next property is an empty building. I don’t cut my engine since it would only be a waste of time. He isn’t here either. From the abandoned shopping carts, trash, and used needles littering the ground, the homeless and drug addicts have been calling it home.

As I drive on, my wolf snarls, making his impatience known.

I snarl back at him to be fucking quiet.

Aden already has a better handle on his wolf, and I left him sleeping, but staying away too long is asking for trouble. And then there’s my wolf. Without the benefit of a reinforced metal door to contain my wolf if I lose control, I’m not just asking for trouble, I’m downright inviting it.

And my wolf is… unpredictable. Sometimes it almost feels like we’re on the same side. Even more rarely, we want the same things. Like on Rylan’s private land, we both wanted Rylan’s throat between our teeth and his blood in our mouth.

Most other times, he wants what he wants—whatever that might be—and I just want him to stop snarling and not kill anyone we love.

A red light stops me. I drum my fingers on the steering wheel, ignoring the continued growling from my wolf as I consider turning back.

I don’t because Rylan has another property five minutes away. If I turned around now and later found out I could have ended this fight here and now, I’d regret it.

The red light changes to green, and I keep going.

Ten minutes. That’s all the time I’ll give it to sweep the last empty building.

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