The Society Series Box Set 2

by Mason Sabre

  “My father has spoken to you?” Aaron asked. He still gripped Gemma, holding her in place like she might run off.

  “He did.” Malcolm nodded slowly, then he peered at Gemma over the top of his glasses. The green of his eyes was dark now. His usual stoic face echoed with anger.

  “My father asks that you—”

  “I will deal with my daughter,” he said. He met Aaron’s gaze but said nothing else. His eyes spoke for him.

  Aaron gave a curt nod before leaving, but he took the moment to squeeze her arm enough in warning. Gemma scowled at him. If they had been alone …

  Gemma went into the house ahead of her father. It was disrespectful, but right then, she didn’t care. None of them were respecting her or Cade and their needs. It was all about politics and who could tick whose box. She’d had it with all of it. She tried to keep her walk calm as she entered the house, but two steps in and the familiar scent of home, she was bounding into the kitchen to find her mother and throwing herself in her waiting arms.

  Her mother was the one thing that could get through her shields. She was safe, nurturing and a place where she could be who she was without fear of looking weak or useless. Emily held her daughter to her chest, and Gemma sobbed against her shoulder, letting it out … letting it all out. If pain was a physical thing, she was sure she would have bled to death right then … she wished for it even. It had to hurt less than what she was feeling right now.

  Emily stroked a hand down Gemma’s hair, smoothing it. She was the opposite to Malcolm, warm, caring. She did what she had to and only an idiot would forget that this woman was a tiger. A fierce one at that, but she was also a mother, and she had seemed to have enough empathy for them both.

  “Ssshhh,” Emily soothed as Gemma’s sobs petered out, her body weary. Her face felt puffy; her head throbbed.

  “Does one of you have to die for this to end?” Malcolm said when he came into the kitchen. Gemma shifted in her mother’s hold, and although they were tiger and didn’t need touch for healing or comfort, she took it. Some part of her felt like wolf … acted like it and right then, she was taking what she needed in the same way. “Answer me.” Malcolm slammed his hand down against the counter, making it rattle. His face twisted with anger. “You won’t be happy until we are forced to execute one of you?”

  “We did nothing wrong.”

  “He spent the night at your house,” her father said. “All night.”

  “Yes, and that’s all. Nothing happened. We talked.” Gemma pulled herself away from her mother and wiped a hand across her face. She’d done her crying now. Slotted it into a box and shelved it.

  “He has a mate, Gemma. Don’t you care about that?”

  It didn’t matter how many times she heard those words, they would never get easier. It was another slash to her gut, bleeding her out until there was nothing left. “Do you know what Trevor is probably doing to him right now?” she asked.

  “He is his alpha.”

  He wasn’t alpha, not to Gemma. He was a spoilt child. “Don’t you care?”

  “You and Cade have broken the rules, again. This has to stop. Now.”

  “Dad …”

  “No.” He shook his head. “As your alpha, I am telling you. This is enough. Trevor is not my concern. He deals with his family however he deals with them.”

  “That’s a cop out and you know it.”

  “Enough.” He put his hand up to silence her, his eyes blazing. “You are to move back here. There will be no more between you and Cade. No more of this idiotic childish behaviour.”

  She went to speak, but he waved her to silence.

  “I have entered negotiations for a mate for you. You will honour your position within the pride.”

  “No …” The word came out so quickly that she took a second to realise she had voiced her protest.

  “There is no, no. It is your duty.”

  “What about your duty? What about what you should and shouldn’t do? You preach it so much and yet you are the biggest liar there is. You think I don’t know things? You think that everything is hidden? It isn’t.”

  “I honour my duty. You watch your words.”

  “No,” she said, sucking in a breath and moving closer to him, an act of dominance, daring … foolish even. “You are my father. My dad. That is your duty. Not this. Not to sell me off to some tiger, so I can open my legs and spit out an heir for you.” She gripped the edge of the counter as she spoke, vaguely aware of her mother moving behind her. Then she went to stand with Malcolm. “Where is your duty to me?”

  Malcolm remained still. If her words hurt him, he didn’t show it. His expression went back to the usual not giving anything away pose. “You are alive because I am your father. You and Cade should have been executed for your crimes. In the laws of Society … I may not do things you like or agree with, Gemma. My actions may not make sense to you, but do not question my duty to you. I do what I do because I am your father.”

  “Yeah?” She raised her eyebrows. “What about Stephen? What about your duty to him? He’s alive, isn’t he?”

  A tick started in Malcolm’s jaw and he pulled his glasses off, taking a moment, but his eyes didn’t leave hers as he did. “I have told you—”

  “No. It wasn’t an answer. Stephen is alive. Isn’t he?”

  Malcolm said nothing.

  “Answer me,” she said in almost the identical tone he had used earlier. She glanced to her mother and her eyes went wide at the lack of reaction her mother had. She frowned, furrowing her brow. “You know, don’t you? You know …”

  “Gemma …”

  She could hardly breathe. She could hardly stand. Suddenly, trying to suck air into her lungs was like she had a bag over her head. Her eyes flashed hot green, she felt them. “You knew … all this time. You knew …”

  It was one thing for her father to play these games, but her mother … she trusted her.

  “Gemma,” Emily said, hand out, coming closer.

  No. She shook her head. “You knew.” She pressed a hand to her tight chest, gasping, heaving to get air into her body. Her mother couldn’t have hurt her more if she had punched her along with Trevor. “You knew …” She trailed off, her voice breaking.

  “Stephen was protecting you,” Emily said. “He killed some Humans. They would kill him for it. We had to …”

  “No.” Gemma shook her head and stepped back. She put her hand up in front of her, trying to deflect the words her mother was saying. “Don’t you make this about you or me.”

  “You and Cade … the baby. We had to …”

  “Where is he?” Gemma asked, her face hardening. She squared her shoulders and stiffened her spine. “Where is my brother?”

  “Everything your relationship caused …” Malcolm added.

  “Where … is … my … brother?” she spat out each word, anger sticking to them like acid.

  “You have to let each other get on with life now. Too many lives have been lost. I can’t protect you if you keep putting yourself in danger.”

  “Then don’t.” She faced him. “You protect me for yourself. Not for me. Where … is my brother?”

  “Exile,” Emily said, lowering her shoulders.

  “Emily …”

  Emily placed a hand on Malcolm’s arm. “She knows.” She took in a breath. “He is somewhere in Exile, but you can’t look for him. It’s too dangerous … too dangerous for him.”

  “I can go there.”

  “No,” Malcolm said. “I forbid it. You have a duty here and responsibilities.” Her father moved around the room, his usual calm back in place. She watched him as he went to the sink, took a glass from the drainer and then filled it with water from the tap before drinking it down in one gulp. He turned to face her afterwards. His eyes were ringed with deep green. “We will select a mate for you. You will do as I ask. As my position as the alpha and the head of the Council, it is within my power to seek the execution of anyone who breaks the procreation laws.”


  Disbelief flooded Gemma, and, in that moment, she didn’t care what her father’s reasons were, she hated him. She heard the threat in his words. If she didn’t do as he said, he would have Cade executed.

  “I have a potential,” she admitted, holding onto the last scrap of control she had. “I can choose myself. He is tiger.”

  “He is Society?” her mother asked.

  “Yes. His name is Karl Ellis. He is one of our pride.”

  Malcolm nodded. “You will bring him. We will begin proceedings immediately. In the meantime, you do not leave this house.”

  Chapter 15

  Cade

  Trevor’s voice was a dull murmur on the outside of Cade’s head, obscured by the pain flooding his body. He held on … held onto a deep part of himself that could fight this … fight for them. How dare his father barge in like that? How dare he touch Gemma? That sight burned Cade more than any silver could ever manage to. She was his and his father had struck her.

  Disgust bit at Cade’s mind, at himself and his inability to protect her. He had promised. He had told her that no matter what, he would protect them. Fear chewed on the corner of his hope … fear that he had been so close to getting Gemma to dare to believe, and now it would be snatched away again. Not by Trevor, or Malcolm, but by her. Trevor had given her an almost full demonstration of what would happen to them had they been caught in a worse situation. The memory of it burnt a raw fire in Cade’s gut, and he glared at the back of his father’s head through clouded vision, scowling. He’d never wished anyone dead before, but he did right then.

  Trevor drove over a speed bump in the road, and Cade was certain it was on purpose as the car shook and rattled his body and the silver that held him. He ground his jaw, knocking back the natural need to call out from the pain. He still wore the collar and the cuffs, but Trevor had added silver shackles to his bare ankles and made him walk to the car. The only good thing about his bleeding out from the wounds was that the blood gave some protection between his skin and the silver. Either that, or he had broken the pain barrier and was no longer feeling it to its full extent.

  The collar hurt, though. It held shifters and prevented them from changing. It caused pain and suffering. It worked. If Cade kept himself still enough, the pain ebbed away to a manageable annoyance against his skin, but as the car jarred over a bump and Cade’s entire body shook from it, fresh pain coursed through him, almost bringing him to heel. The silver raided his body and infected his blood cells like tiny creatures roaming under his skin—a disease. He was sure if he were to look down, he would see them moving inside his flesh.

  He leant his head back and let his eyes close for one peaceful moment. His jaw ached. It throbbed where his father had struck him, and it already felt twice the size. The silver was slowing his shifter abilities. Subduing them … a lot like Trevor wanted his wolves to be. It made Cade’s lip twitch. He’d die before he ever bowed to his father.

  Pushing his mind out into the world, he searched for Gemma. She was close. She was a blink on his radar—his northern star. His home, and when his mind latched onto hers, she made his heart beat faster. Even his wolf reached for her and let a low grumble roll in the pit of his gut. He pushed out a message to her. He wanted to calm the worry coming across their connection.

  A frustrated growl bloomed from his wolf and almost ran through his vocal cords to become a warning sound to Trevor. He would challenge his father one day. He had seen that earlier when he had looked into his father’s eyes. It would not be for alpha, but for freedom—for his and Gemma’s.

  Trevor was afraid, desperate. All of this, it wasn’t because Cade had broken pack laws. No. It was because it was a threat to Trevor’s leadership. He couldn’t control his own son; how would he be fit to control an entire pack?

  The car turned off the main road and onto a lane. It banked hard right, and the movement sent Cade sideways. He tried to brace himself, a curse spilling from his lips as he grasped for the back of the seat behind him. His hands were still behind his back and his fingers were useless … weak, like him and he fell on the seat and slammed his face into the leather. He let out his growl that time, raw and feral, so filled with the pain of the silver it echoed around the car. His father spoke, but Cade didn’t hear him … didn’t want to. Trevor would be gloating.

  When the pain lessened and went from raw sharpness to something more tolerable, Cade breathed. He remained lying on the seat. The effort to get up was just too much, and although the angle he lay at was less than comfortable, it would be much worse to move. Closing his eyes, he reached out for Gemma again in his mind and searched for her. She wasn’t as close as before, but she was out there. Her emotions were something he could touch … could reach … could soothe. If he could just get out of this car…

  He gasped for breath when the car hit a rockier road. One of the back lanes that hadn't been paved in a while. Every touch of the silver sent fresh waves of pain through his body and along his spinal cord to his brain. The silver was getting so far in now it would take weeks to heal from this, but he pressed his face into the seat and tried to focus on the clamminess his breath caused.

  Every time he blinked, it seemed like miles had gone by. From where he lay, he could see the familiar trees and signs out of the window. He could trace this journey with his eyes closed, but bits of it were missing. Maybe he had passed out. Each time he opened his eyes, it was like waking up. That jolt in his mind reminded him everything was real. The car stopped quickly. His father did it on purpose so that the momentum of it sent Cade rolling off the seat and landing on the floor with a jolt.

  The car door beside him opened. “Get up.” His father kicked against the shackles with the tip of his shoe.

  “Fuck off.” Cade pushed against where his father had kicked and tried to separate it from his skin. Sweat trickled down his face and went into his eyes. He closed them.

  Outside, gravel crunched under boots—many of them. There were wolves all around. He was surrounded, but he didn’t care. Gemma was safe, away from here. They could do what they wanted to him.

  Someone grabbed him by the legs, but kept their distance from the silver shackles. He let out a growl when he was yanked out of the car and dropped onto the gravelled path of his parents’ driveway. Thick, meaty fingers grabbed for his jaw, angling his head and Cade stared defiantly into his father’s eyes.

  “You’re pathetic,” Trevor said, peering down. “If I didn’t have to face your mother, I’d have ended you.”

  Cade sneered at him, hatred burning in his eyes, almost as hot as the silver against his skin … almost as raw. “You have to tie me up and handicap me with silver just to control me.” It was a blow to Trevor’s ego, and one he took with great pleasure. “Which one of us is pathetic?”

  “What did you say?” A hard fist came down onto Cade’s already swollen jaw. Hard bone smashed against his, snapping his head to the side. He rolled with it and spat out blood. “Get up,” Trevor demanded. He moved back, giving Cade room and held off the wolves. The message was clear, no one was to help his son.

  Cade rolled onto his stomach and brought his knees up, so he could move and push away the agony of the silver. Blood and saliva drooled from his mouth, and as he came up to stand barely on his feet, he wiped his mouth against his shoulder, wobbled back and fell against the side of the car. “You know you’re worthless. You do not deserve to be alpha. You are weak.”

  Trevor took a step closer.

  Cade curled his lip. “It is why you hit me. You are afraid I speak the truth.”

  Trevor held Cade’s gaze for a long time. Hate and disgust fired between them, but no words were said, instead, they hung heavy in the air around both men, making the air palpable. Trevor moved back, and the corner of Cade’s lip twitched at the slight victory over his father. He had nowhere to go with this. He couldn’t prove anything. Couldn’t hurt Gemma, and that was all Cade cared about. Trevor knew nothing of Connor’s existence. His guesses were
purely that, guesses.

  Hands grabbed Cade’s arm, digging in and pulling him along. They half dragged him, as he shuffled behind his father. He had no shoes on and the rough stones of his parents’ driveway bit into the soles of his feet. He hobbled when they burst through the skin, cutting him, but blood already oozed down from the shackles, and he left bloody footprints as he moved.

  They didn’t lead him inside. He had known they wouldn’t. Instead, they took him around the back of the house. Every shifter family had a system, especially those like his father who ran packs. They had places built to punish Others … built to knock into every shifter the laws they had to adhere to. Cade had been there many times as a child, but it didn’t scare him. Never had.

  As a boy, his father had pushed him almost beyond the limits of his boundaries, but he had come up fighting—every time. He’d refused to bow to his father then, just as he refused now. But it was this very place that had taught him pain, and why he never would bring that to another. It had never made Cade cower for his alpha, instead, everything in that basement had taught him control, and he had it in spades. Only a fool would think otherwise—would think Cade was weak, easy.

  Suddenly, the collar was yanked off and Cade’s hands and feet were unbound, and someone pushed him from behind, making him fall. He went to brace himself, but his arms were weak and tired. His shoulders ached from being bound behind his back. The effects of the silver would take too long to wear off.

  One wolf muttered something to Trevor as Cade used the wall to struggle to his feet. Trevor’s eyes were on him as he answered. He nodded at whatever they had said. Cade couldn’t hear; his senses were dulled by the invasion of the silver. His wolf was somewhere in his mind, passed out and unresponsive, and he was using all the energy he had just to stay upright—to stay strong. He would never … never be below his father again. Any shred of respect he might have had, had now gone.