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After a long moment, I nod, my eyes sliding back to Kade’s.
He doesn’t hesitate.
A white wolf bursts from the man and shakes his fur out. I tell myself this is Kade, that the man and the wolf would never hurt me, but my heart still lurches at the thought of being in such a small room with a wolf. After years of being hurt—of being hunted—it takes brute force not to tear the door at my back open and throw myself out of it.
Kade darts a glance over his shoulder. Meets my eyes.
It’s just Kade, and he would never hurt you. He’s only ever wanted to protect you.
The tension stiffening my spine melts away, and I swallow hard, then summon a small smile to let him know I’m okay.
Kade prowls toward Aden’s bedside, puts his front paws on the side of the bed, and rises.
He bares his teeth, and I know I should look, but seeing those teeth, knowing what they’re capable of… I jerk my head away and squeeze my eyes shut.
How long does it take to change someone’s life forever?
I count the seconds.
Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine—
A hand grips my arm, and my eyes fly open. Dariel is standing right in front of me. Close. But my eyes don’t settle on him. They dart around him to find Kade, who’s human again and is stepping into his sweatpants. Aden looks the same, except now he’ll have a bite on his throat just like the ones that line mine, but fresher.
“It’s done,” Kade says.
Nine seconds.
That’s how long it takes Kade to kill Aden the man and for Aden the shifter to take his place.
I hope.
CHAPTER 7
DARIEL
“Stay here, I’ll be right back,” I say.
Saige blinks big stormy blue eyes up at me. Slowly. As if she’s in a daze.
Is she in shock?
After all the times Rylan bit—or savaged—her throat, how could she be okay with watching this?
“What?”
I should’ve made her wait outside. Or locked her in a janitor’s closet.
I stare down at her, willing myself not to react to her closeness as I battle to ignore the wolf snarls filling my head. Claws rake my insides. He wants out. And he wants outnow.
What is it about you that makes my wolf so desperate?
“I said, stay here,” I repeat, fighting back the urge to bury my hand in the waves of rich, dark hair hanging over one shoulder. There’s nothing I can do about her scent: the sweet peach from her skin, smothered by blood from our night of hell. Then there’s the barest hint of something alluring that makes me want to press my nose to her neck and drag in deep, hungry breaths.
She’s standing in front of the door I need to step out of. If she were any other woman, I’d move her. I don’t trust myself to touch her. I don’t know what my wolf wants to do to her, but I know exactly what the man does.
The same thing he’s wanted to do since her soft moans drifted from the bed she was sharing with Kade and Aden, down to where I’d cloaked myself in the shadows at the bottom of our garden.
Saige blinks rapidly now, coming out of her shocked state. Her voice, usually low and husky, is stronger. She loses that breathiness that made me picture her stretched out on my bed with my cock buried deep inside her.
