Page 93 of Piece You Saved

The front door swings open, and a low whistle draws my attention. “Am I to assume dead bodies are a daily event in this house?” Harley says, stepping into the entryway and nudging the door closed behind him.

He left the hospital scrubs at home and is dressed in black jeans and a long-sleeved black t-shirt. Yet the pager he’s clipped to the waistband of his jeans reveals he still expects an emergency.

“Have you forgotten where you live?” Kade turns on him, snarling. “Get the fuck out.”

“Door was open,” Harley responds, nodding at me.

I return his nod with a smile.

“That wasn’t an invitation to make yourself at home.” Kade stalks over to the front door, presumably to open it so he can shove Harley back outside.

Harley doesn’t seem to notice. His eyes linger on the dead wolf. “Is that what she did to merit getting her throat ripped out? Invited herself into a place she wasn’t welcome?”

“Technically,” I reply.

Harley’s turquoise eyes find mine, and he arches a dark brow. “Technically?”

“It’s a long story,” I say. One that started years ago when Dariel walked away from his family. Now we know why that was.

Kade yanks the door open, flooding the entryway with sunlight. It’s a good thing the road we live on is a quiet one, since Kade seems determined to flash the outside world. “And one that has nothing to do with—”

“Are you okay?” Dariel’s soft question draws my focus from Kade.

Dariel is still standing in front of Saige, but he’s backed up a couple of steps and fisted his hands into knots. There’s enough of a space between them that it’s clear he doesn’t trust himself to move any closer to her.

He lunged at her before, scaring her so badly it had her shaking in my arms in the shower for nearly thirty minutes. Then he stood by and let Kade rip out his mate’s throat after making a token attempt to get her to leave.

And itwasa token attempt. Dariel could’ve picked Claudine up and launched her out of the front door if he wanted. He could’ve walked down the stairs faster. He did none of those things.

More significantly, he didn’t give Kade one warning to back off.

Because he wanted her dead and couldn’t do it himself.

Kade reaches for Harley. “So you need to get the fuck—”

A car speeds down the road. I give the open door a significant look. “Kade?”

He yanks the door shut before the driver gets a glimpse of something that would have them calling the cops. Between the blood covering his face, his naked body, and the dead wolf, they’d have plenty of reasons to dive for a phone.

“Saige?” Dariel asks quietly, seemingly blind and deaf to everything else.

Minutes before, Kade and I were telling her about how he can’t trust himself not to hurt the people he loves after what he did to Mona. And now this. Did he hear all that as a wolf, or had he shifted by then?

Saige nods once and glances over at me.

For help?

I move toward her, not sure what she wants from me, but determined to give it to her.

“Take your hand off me.” Harley’s voice is mild.

Dariel gives Saige one last look and backs up a step.

“Then get the fuck out—”

“Stop.” Dariel’s voice is a lash, cutting through Kade’s order.

My back stiffens, and I eye him warily. He isn’t just my friend, but family, and my Alpha. Any order he gives, the wolf in me will want to follow it. Will becompelledto do so. If he tries to hurt her and orders me to step aside, what then?

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