Page 76 of Piece You Saved

Only now that Harley has gone does Saige lift her eyes from the laptop. “Did you find Dariel? Was it a trap?”

Kade stops glaring at the front door. His gaze visibly softens as he focuses his attention on Saige. “No trap. Well, there might’ve been one if he could have gotten past the backyard gate.”

“Why couldn’t he do that?” Saige asks.

“Keypads require fingers and hands. He’s out there digging now.”

“I don’t understand. He was a wolf before.” Saige frowns. Her gaze returns to the laptop. “I don’t see him. Did he move farther into the garden?”

“And how is he digging if he’s a wolf?” The grief-filled howl from before must have been Dariel. Since it’s usually hours or even days before Dariel can regain control of himself after a shift, he shouldstillbe a wolf. And he shouldn’t be out there alone. He should be behind a reinforced steel door.

Kade scratches the back of his head as his eyes slide to the cupboard where we keep the whiskey, a frown creasing his brow. “Not sure about that.”

“Not sure about what?” I sit up straighter. For Kade to be thinking about drinking means he’s actively avoiding something. Something important.

“I knocked him out,” Kade states, sounding, of all things, proud.

I blink at him. “What?”

“Used a rock.” He mimes cracking the side of his head. “Knocked him clean out. It was impressive.”

Saige and I stare at him.

“Impressive?” she echoes. “He’s not my favorite person in the world, but if he was just grieving…?”

He sighs. “Don’t look at me like that. It was all I could think to do. And to be fair, he was trying to bite my face off at the time.”

“Because?” I ask. None of this is making sense. I’d go look if I didn’t have to take Saige with me. If I let go of her hand, I’m not sure I can control myself.

“He tried to attack before I could shift. So I hit him with a rock,” Kade explains. “He goes to sleep, and the situation is resolved. Easy. Minimal mess. You should be thanking me.”

Minimal mess.

“And?” I prompt when he doesn’t continue. I’m seriously hoping Dariel isn’t lying dead out there with his head smashed to pieces.

Kade’s eyes return to the whiskey cupboard. “He woke up, shifted, and said he’d find a place to bury Leandro.”

“He didn’t try to kill you?” I ask, frowning.

Kade shakes his head. “Strange. I know. His wolf is…” His voice trails off. “Before he shifted, he said his mate fucked his brother on his bed. I don’t think his wolf is well… okay.”

Saige frowns. “You said his wolf wasn’t crazy when I asked you before.”

“That was before I knew about the mate fucking his brother on his bed part of his past.” He shrugs. “Don’t know when it happened. If it was soon after they became mates, that has got to fuck someone up. We wolves are territorial at the best of times. But his mate? On his bed? And then his dad…”

I knew Leandro had betrayed Dariel after Rylan kidnapped Saige and we went to the police station to get her back, but this?

This is new.

No wonder Kade was looking for a drink.

“But he shifted, and he seems okay?” I ask. “He was still breathing when you left him.”

Kade gives me a long look, and it’s clear he’s envisioning smacking me on the back of the head. Hopefully, not with a rock. “Seems like it. Try using that nose and ears of yours.”

I shake my head. “I’d rather not in case my wolf… Well, he might decide to take over my body if I lean too heavily on his senses.”

Kade blows out a heavy sigh. “You share the same body. Or bodies. This isn’t the invasion of the fucking body snatchers. It isn’t you invading his body or him invading yours. You share.”

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