Page 49 of Savior

It was the dog.

Had he been barking? Where was he?

Usually Max slept somewhere in my room, if not with me.

I turned on my bedside light. No sign of him.

No jingle of his collar. No claws shifting against the floor. Nothing.

The room sounded wrong without him in it.

I moved to stand, but once I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed, I felt suddenly and inexplicably seized with terror. Something was wrong. But what? And why was I so sure?

A noise, I recalled. Some noise at the edge of sleep, or that roused me out of it. I couldn’t quite remember what it was, but it was slowly taking shape in my mind.

I needed to go look, go find Max, and double-check that the house was locked up tight.

But of course it was. My parents were meticulous about things like that, especially when they were going out and leaving me alone.

And two rooms away was a gun safe. My dad was a cop, so of course I knew how to use a gun. I was a good shot, in fact.

But I felt frozen to the spot. I did not want to leave my room.

What was wrong with me?

What had that noise been?

I went with my gut and reached for my phone.

I should have texted Clayton. It made the most sense. Of course it did. He was my best friend. It was the logical thing to do.

But this was not about logic. It was about instinct, and instinctively, when I needed help, I reached out for Declan. I knew how messed up it was, even while I did it.

Piper: I need help. Something feels wrong. Can you come over?

I stared at my phone.

No response. Thirty seconds.

Just when I was about to give up on Declan and text Clayton, the doorbell rang.

The sound made me jump. Wasn’t that too fast to be Declan?

I moved on trembling legs to the hallway. I glanced once in the direction of the study, where the gun safe was. My dad had given me the code years ago, right when I’d been old enough to be left alone at night. I could have a gun in my hand within a minute.

I went and looked out of the peephole instead.

I caught the briefest glimpse of Declan’s scowling jaw before pulling back, trying to catch my breath as relief flooded me.

The doorbell began to ring repeatedly.

Chief had apparently run out of patience.

I suddenly felt so foolish that I didn’t even want to answer the door. What had I been thinking to text him of all people?

At the sight of Declan, the fear loosened its grip on me enough to make room for acute embarrassment.

I couldn’t even look him in the eye as I opened the door. Which was unfortunate, since he was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and sneakers, and my gaze was automatically aimed at exactly the worst spot. I shifted it, and caught sight of the gun clutched down at his side.