Page 64 of Piece You Saved

The absence of snarls or growls suggests there’s no fight going on inside.

They’re probably just talking,I convince myself.No reason to think the worst is happening.

Doubt floods my mind, poking holes in my belief that everything is okay. The first comes in the form of a memory. A recent one.

I recall the tension building between Kade and Harley in the hospital. And I remember how long it took Kade to step out of Harley’s way after Harley checked my bruise.

The silence in the house feels dangerous somehow. Charged. Like the code blue intercom warning at the hospital. A quiet danger I don’t understand because I can’t see it.

I’m turning to the back door when two things happen at once.

A piercing alarm shrieks, breaking the ominous silence.

A heavy thump makes me whirl around to the garden, stumbling as I clap my hands over my ears to protect them. My eyes probe the source of the thump.

And then I see it poking through a bush. A face. A familiar one.

The body rolls to a stop, revealing much more than I ever wanted to see. Too much.

Tailored white shirt. Smart black pants. Emerald eyes.

My brain trips and stutters like someone knocked over a record player and broke it.

Dead. Staring. Eyes.

The same three words scratch over and over inside my head. More scars to go along with the ones I already have.

Dead.

Staring.

Eyes.

“Dariel!”I scream.

CHAPTER 18

KADE

Ashrill alarm precedes Saige’s scream by seconds.

I pull the punch Harley was on his way to dodging. He wouldn’t have dodged the kick I’d have followed it up with or the claws at his throat. But Harley can die another day.

Saige is in trouble.

The motion sensor alarm means someone broke into our backyard, and I fucking sent Saige out there. Alone.

Spinning around, I sprint through the entryway and throw myself at the backyard door as I tear it open.

Harley is quiet. The alarm is fucking ear-piercingly loud, but he’s two steps behind me.

I feel him.

I see Saige first. She has her back to me, with her hands clapped over her ears as she stares at a spot beside a tree.

She’s not bleeding, and she’s not hurt. Thank fuck she’s not hurt. She’s alive. Shaking violently, but she’s alive. A little of my panic subsides. I grip her arms, pull her back to the door, and get ready to shove her inside when I see the body.

Fuck.

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