by Mason Sabre
When he was done, he shifted back and got dressed, then stretched. He always felt so good after a shift, his entire body brand new.
“We’ll go and meet up with Cade and Gemma now?” Phoenix asked, plonking himself down on the ground and leaning against the trunk of one of the trees. Dark circles had formed underneath his eyes, even though he claimed to have slept.
“Yes,” replied Stephen, pulling his watch from his pocket. “Be about a four-hour drive, three maybe if there is no traffic and we make good speed.”
Phoenix was quiet. He had said very little about the incident with his father, but it had to be on his mind. Anything he spoke about was Cade or Gemma, and even that was just on the surface. Stephen guessed it was his right, though. “Shall we go?”
The car was parked along the embankment. Stephen almost couldn’t believe it when he had managed to find a place for Others. It wasn’t the best of places, he had to admit. Shabby at best, but there had been rabbits to catch, so that was something. What he wouldn’t give for fox, though. Stephen was glad to see that the roads were quiet. Everyone was still tucked in at home, the day’s commuters not having hit the road yet. It meant that he could put his foot down and maybe they would make good time.
* * *
They made only one stop on the way, and that was to use the bathroom and to grab coffee. Stephen used the break to call his dad and check in with everything. He knew he’d be up. He was always up at such an ungodly hour. The best way to keep Malcolm thinking that everything was normal was for Stephen to act normal—and calling early would be normal. Stephen wasn’t much of a sleeper himself, which was why he knew his dad would be up. “We’ll be home in a day or two,” he told him. It was enough to buy Cade, Phoenix and Gemma some time, he hoped at least. He would meet them later and send them on their way, then take a long drive home. It would be strange to go home and the three of them not to be there. He could feel the emptiness of it just waiting around the corner to catch him.
Phoenix fell asleep half an hour into the last stretch. Stephen watched as the world went by him and the sun rose high in the sky. The roads began to get busy again, the exhausts and revving of engines filling the air as cars started to pour onto the motorway. He didn’t wake up until Stephen slowed the car down and took the exit for the motorway services where they were to meet. “Are we there?” he asked, yawning.
“Just about.” Stephen squinted. “I can't see Cade’s car.”
Phoenix pushed himself up in his seat. “They’re not here yet?”
Stephen reversed the car into a spot just in front of the coffee shop so that he could see any cars coming in. He cut the engine and put the brake into position. “No.” He yawned then pushed his seat all the way back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m going to close my eyes while we wait.”
Phoenix was left sitting there staring at a slumbering Stephen. He scowled then rummaged through his bag to pull out a book. He might as well read. There was nothing else he could do really.
Stephen heard the flap of pages and smiled inwardly. The damn kid could devour an entire library. He certainly was the child that Cade had not had yet, he mused as he started to drift into sleep.
The car door banged closed and Stephen jumped awake and had his hand around Phoenix’s throat in a matter of seconds.
Phoenix gasped, staring at him, wide-eyed. “Sorry,” he croaked, hastily holding up two paper cups. “I went to get coffee. “
Stephen let go fast, swearing softly. “You had money?”
Phoenix suddenly looked sheepish as he rubbed his throat. “No … but you did.”
Stephen patted his pocket where his money had been. “You pickpocketed me?”
Phoenix grinned and then pointed to one of the cups. “It’s nice coffee. I got you one, too.”
The scowl that crossed Stephen’s features wasn’t because he was mad at Phoenix—it was mostly for show. He took one of the cups and sipped the hot liquid. “You’re damn lucky it is,” he muttered. It wasn’t that Phoenix had taken the money that bothered him, it was that he hadn't woken up when he had done it. In fact, he hadn't woken up when Phoenix had left the car, either. That, on its own, was worrying.
He rubbed his eyes then glanced at the clock. They had been waiting there for an hour now. “No Gemma or Cade?”
“No. I haven’t seen them.”
“You’ve been awake this entire time?”
“I was reading.” Phoenix picked up some paperback he had open in the middle.
Stephen swore under his breath. “You might have missed them?”
“No. Every time I heard a car or something, I checked. Couple of cars, some big lorries and vans ... that’s about it.”
“Shit.” Stephen shoved his cup into the little holder near the handbrake and climbed out of the car. The car park was pretty much empty, like Phoenix had said. It was too early for people to be stopping just yet. “Shit.”
“This is the right place?” Phoenix asked as he got out of the car after Stephen.
Stephen nodded. “Yep. We meet up here all the time.” He leant on the bonnet of the car and rubbed at his face.
“Maybe we can go to where they're staying? You know where it is, right?”
Stephen narrowed his eyes at Phoenix. “Can you feel Cade?” He was referring to the bond Cade and Phoenix shared. When Cade had found Phoenix, he had bonded with him, making them inextricably linked.
Phoenix shook his head slowly, fear suddenly flitting across his face. “There’s nothing there.”
“Fuck, we need to go. Get in the car.”
Chapter Fourteen
Cade rolled onto his back and tried to stretch out his arms and legs, but they were as heavy as lead. With great difficulty, he managed to open his heavy eyelids. Flashes of light came in, stinging his eyes. His jaw ached from where someone had kicked him in the jaw. A shiver ran down his spine from the cold air around him. He blinked a few times and forced his eyes open, but he couldn’t focus them. The world had been transformed into flashes of white and silver.
Despite his weakness, his senses prickled. There was someone else in the room.
“I think he might be waking up,” a voice said from somewhere on his right.
“Gemma …” He tried to push himself up into a sitting position, but it proved impossible. His body was so heavy, a deadweight he couldn’t move, his mind fuzzy.
“Let me help him,” another voice drawled. Cade cracked his eyes open and squinted towards the unfamiliar male voices. There was a blur of movement and then something cold and wet splashed into his face. He sputtered as water gushed into his mouth and streamed down his chest, soaking him. In a weak attempt to shield himself, he lifted unsteady hands up in front of him, but they got brutally knocked away. He tried to turn his head to breathe, but the powerful spray was relentless.
“Maybe we woke up the big, bad wolf,” one of the voices mocked, which brought with it a chorus of laughter. Three people—Cade was able to distinguish the number of voices when the water ceased. With great difficulty, he finally managed to roll onto his side so that he could get up into a sitting position. His back ached, his head so heavy he was unsure how he was even holding it up himself.
Metal clanged to one side of him and something squealed—rusty hinges perhaps. He was in a cage? He peered through weary eyes to take in his surroundings. The gate was open and a man crouched down in front of him, a lopsided smile on his face. He had a scar just along his chin, making it look like some kind of deformed dimple.
Cade gulped for breath, his body shivering from the cold and weakness. “Wh-who are you?” Cade’s teeth chattered from cold. The man sneered at him and rose, giving him no reply. “Where’s Gemma?”
“Did I give you permission to speak to me?”
Cade had no strength to react as the man brought his booted foot forward and kicked him square in the jaw. Cade reeled back, the world spinning around him.
“You dare to fucking speak to me again, and
I won’t be so easy on you,” the man barked before turning the water onto Cade once again. His heartbeat pounded in his temples as he tried to breathe and get air, spluttering as the water hit him hard and fast. His wolf thrashed inside, pushing against Cade’s skin, wanting out, the need to protect and to fight consuming. He did not cower in the face of danger, least of all to Humans who stood behind weapons. His wolf was ready to eliminate any threat. Cade gritted his teeth and tried to hold him back—he couldn’t risk getting himself killed before he had made sure Gemma was safe and sound.
Cade rolled onto his stomach, head down. The water pounded onto his back, whipping his flesh. His fingers and face began to shift, his claws and teeth elongating. “Oh no, you fucking don’t,” the man said when he realised what Cade was doing. The water stopped instantly, the gate swung open again and something heavy pressed Cade down. A sharp sting in his arm told him he had just been injected with something. He growled, the sound half animal, half man as pain tore through him. He slumped onto the wet ground and then everything went dark.
A while passed before he roused and started to feel his body once more. He lay perfectly still, though, not about to alert anyone to the fact he was gradually regaining consciousness. He could sense people there, and he wasn’t about to set off another onslaught of whatever shit this was. He needed to be ready for them this time, not half-dazed and helpless. He moved his toes slowly, pins and needles shooting up his legs. Keeping his breathing slow and even, he listened carefully for any sign that the men had realised he was awake. He needed to find Gemma, and that wasn’t going to happen if he didn’t get the hell out of there.
The ground beneath him was solid and hard, concrete no doubt. Warmth flowed through his limbs as his circulation came back and the blood began to flow properly. It travelled along his arms, then through his entire body, and despite the heaviness in his body, he was sure that if he wanted to, he could move. He peered through hooded eyes, fighting the urge to look for Gemma. He let the world slowly into his vision, just enough so that he could see his surroundings and what was going on. One man came into view. He was sitting alone, his back to Cade, reading a paper. Cade moved deftly so as not to alert him.
There was another cage next to him, not like the ones in the Society basement, which were made of silver, but a normal iron-barred cage. The silver that had been injected into his veins, however, ran through him like fire. In the cage next to him, a mass of auburn hair splayed out across the concrete. Gemma ...
Cade shot up without thinking, his heart thundering in his ears. The man sitting outside the cage turned, and then his face broke into a malicious smile. “Hey, you’re up.” Cade vaguely realised that he was still wearing his jeans, but they were dry now. How long had he been out of it?
The man headed to the door of the room they were in, and Cade twisted himself to reach into the other cage. “Gemma,” he muttered. “Gem ...” She was lying on the floor with her back to him, her body deadly still. He reached in and stretched out, almost touching her. He tried to get a grasp on her top—she was dressed at least. That was lucky for the Humans, he thought, not for Gemma. If they fucking touched her, they would pay for it, and it would be a long, slow, painful payment.
A man came into the room, clean-shaven, square jaw, with the kind of smile that put you on guard and told you not to trust him. His voice held the charm of a snake. “Patterson,” he introduced himself.
Cade’s hands balled into fists. He fucking should have known it.
“Don’t worry about your little girlfriend there. She’s quite okay. Just sleeping. Women,” he smiled insidiously, “you know how they are. Get in these places and start screaming like bitches.” Paterson adjusted the cuffs to his shirt, pulling his suit sleeves down in place and flattening out the creases.
“What do you want?” Cade ground out.
Patterson smiled. “Straight to the point. I like that.”
Cade’s wolf had perked up, ready, but he was biding his time, knowing the leaping out right now would cost him. Patterson was like prey—watch him slowly, learn his movements, learn what will spook him and what won’t. Patterson was a coward, Cade knew that from dealing with him before, but today he had a sense of bravado—the cage. But it wasn’t so much the cage that held Cade back, but Gemma in the cage beside him and what they might do to her. “What have you done to Gemma?” he demanded.
“Relax, wolf. She’s fine. Just sleeping.” He leaned close the bars, his eyes locking with Cade’s. “Don’t worry,” he whispered conspiratorially, “the baby is fine, too … for now.”
Cade lunged for him and Patterson laughed and took a step back. He tsked, smoothing his suit down once more. “What do I want? Well, that is the question, isn’t it? In good time, my friend. All in good time.”
“I am not your fucking friend.”
Patterson put his hand to his chest, taking on a mock expression of offense. The Humans with him sniggered and laughed. “Do you know what strange thing happened to me last night?”
Cade scowled.
“No? Well, I was sitting down with my wife having dinner when I got this phone call. Now I don’t normally take calls when we are having dinner, as I consider it rude, but I was very pleased that I decided to take that one. It was one of your type—an Other who works in one of my hotels.” He paused, watching for an expression on Cade’s face, but Cade wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of any kind of reaction.
Cade stood quietly, listening. He’d landed in a god damn Human hovel. Figured.
“Anyway, the guy at the desk called me. He couldn’t believe it; the queen of the crop had walked in with this wolf.” He leaned closer. “That would be you if you don’t know. And guess what? She’s pregnant—fucking pregnant.” He laughed, a gleeful, nasty laugh. “He could smell it on her like a whore in heat in the middle of a summer’s day. Boy got so excited he could hardly speak when he called me. And then you book into a double room and shit, even I got excited. It was easy to work things out from there on—you, her, a pregnancy, secret room, not one in your Society. It made me wonder, what had I done to deserve such good luck? To be handed you both and not only that, you’ve broken the god damn laws of your own people.” He chortled with delight. “What would you give to avoid persecution, to save your whore from execution? Do you know what I realised?”
Cade didn’t answer.
“Anything. That’s what you’d give. Do you know that Norton industries would be very interested in a mix-breed baby? All I’ve got to do is call wee daddy up and tell him the predicament and offer to fix it for him. What do you think he is going to say?” He leaned in closer, a smug expression on his face. Cade’s arm shot out of the bars and his fingers wrapped around the surprised Human’s throat. He yanked him forward and slammed his face into the bars. Patterson clutched at Cade’s wrist as the other Human in the room scrambled for the keys to get the gate open, yelling for help all the while as Patterson gurgled and choked from the might of Cade’s hold.
“Let us go,” Cade said to him. “Right now. Or I’ll make sure you regret it for the rest of your life.”
The Human got the gate open, but he paused. Patterson’s eyes had grown huge from his struggle to breathe, his eyeballs bulging and he tried to suck in desperate lungfuls of air.
“Come on in, I dare you,” Cade growled at him, his eyes at a half-shift.
Another Human came barging in, his eyes quickly taking in his boss’s dire situation. He rushed past Cade’s cage and went straight to Gemma’s. Cade’s heart skipped a beat. Fuck.
“You let go right now, or sleeping beauty gets put to permanent sleep.”
Cade and the Human locked stares, then with a curse, Cade let go of Patterson abruptly and he staggered back, clutching at his throat as he wheezed and coughed. The Human at his cage charged in, bat in hand, knowing he was safe with the threat of Gemma hanging over Cade’s head. He swung the bat and Cade’s arm took the brunt of the blow as he lifted it to protect himself. Cad
e kept his eye on him, showing his dominance despite being unable to fight back. The bat had been coated in silver and Cade’s arm burnt where it had hit him. The man swung again and hit Cade in the side on his bare ribs, slamming him into the bars at the back.
Gemma‘s eyes fluttered open with a start and met Cade’s just as he slid down the bars. With terror on her features, she reached out for him but the man caught him with the bat against his face. Pain shot through his cheek as he pitched to the side. “Please, stop it,” Gemma cried. “Please don’t hurt him.”
The Human stood over Cade, bat hanging at his side and beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. “Your bitch is going to watch us kill you for that little stunt.”
Cade swayed where he sat and tried not to pass out from the blow to the head. He called to his wolf but the silver had slowed him down and dulled his wits.
Gemma’s cage opened and the Human entered. It was all Cade needed to wake his wolf, silver or not. His mate was at risk—nothing would hold him back.
Cade snarled as the man lifted his bat again.
Chapter Fifteen
Stephen didn’t know what was happening. One moment he was driving along the motorway, and the next, Phoenix was having a convulsion next to him. His head lolled and his eyes rolled back in his head, choking sounds gurgling in his throat. Stephen’s arm shot out to hold him in place, a steel barrier against his chest. He pulled the car onto the hard shoulder abruptly and quickly unfastened the boy’s seatbelt. Phoenix wheezed, his eyes open wide, unfocused.
Stephen gave him a firm shake. “Phoenix.”
“I can’t breathe …” he managed.
With an oath, Stephen pushed Phoenix’s head down and ordered him to take deep breaths. He had no idea what the hell was wrong.
Phoenix’s head jerked back up after a minute, his face contorting in pain. “I … Cade ...”
Stephen’s blood ran cold. “Something’s wrong with Cade?”
