by Mason Sabre
A slight shake of his head and then he tensed again. His body shook as if he were being electrocuted by some invisible force. Stephen unfastened his own seatbelt and grabbed Phoenix’s wrists to try to steady him. But it was a mistake. Whatever it was riding Phoenix fed into Stephen, and the moment his hands connected with Phoenix, Stephen couldn’t breathe, the breath knocked from him. He had to focus himself, remind himself where he was and what he was doing. He was sitting in the car, going to meet Cade. When he got his bearings, he let go of Phoenix and let himself breathe a moment. Cool air wafted in through the window he had wound down, the sounds from the outside helping to ground him somewhat. Phoenix began to calm as well, but his face remained flushed, his eyes watering as he leaned back and sat there silently watching the cars speed by them.
“Are you okay?” Stephen asked after a moment.
Phoenix licked dry, parched lips and Stephen grabbed a bottle of water from the backseat, quickly uncapping it and offering it to Phoenix. Phoenix gulped the water down until he had drained the bottle. Panting as if he had run a marathon, he said, “Something is wrong … his wolf …”
“Whose wolf? Cade’s?”
“I saw it … but not Cade. Like …”
“Like?”
“It’s like they aren’t together.” Phoenix tilted his head and looked at Stephen. “When I see Cade when he talks to me through the bond, I can see whichever one it is, but the other is there, you know? Like in the background.”
Stephen did know. It wasn’t easy to explain, but he knew what he meant. It was like there was a piece connecting them both and they always came together. He nodded for Phoenix to carry on.
“Now it is like they aren’t there. Cade isn’t there ... but his wolf is.”
Stephen frowned. “Are you sure the wolf is his?”
Phoenix nodded. “I know his wolf. I know all of the markings.”
Stephen had no doubt that he did. He reached a hand out to Phoenix, but avoided touching him. He wasn’t doing that again just yet—those shakes and visions were enough. Touch always made the voices in his head worse, opening some door for them to break through. But then again, maybe he could see things Phoenix couldn’t. His fingertips hovered just above Phoenix’s hand, not making that last move.
Eyes fever-bright stared back at him. “Do you want to see?”
For someone who was only sixteen, he seemed to know an awful lot. His eyes took in everything, even though he stayed quiet. He must have caught on to Stephen’s ‘ability’. “I’d like to try if that’s okay.”
Phoenix offered his hand to him and Stephen simply stared at it for a moment. What was going to come of this? He had no fucking idea. “If something happens with me, let go.”
Phoenix nodded and Stephen took a deep breath and clasped his hand tightly. He kept the wall inside up this time—he had been ready for the onslaught in his mind. He let it down slowly, opening the door between his mind and Phoenix’s with caution. Beyond it was what looked like a sterile, white room, but as Stephen gradually let his guard down, colour was added. A bit here, a little there. The wolf was at the far side, but he was faint, more like some faded picture than anything real that he could touch. “Cade?” Stephen spoke in his mind rather than out loud. “Cade, is that you?” The wolf didn’t move nor did it indicate that it had heard him. Something dark and malevolent pushed on the edges of Stephen’s mind, and he tried to throw a shield up, pushing it back and burning the feeling of sorrow with it. “Cade ...”
He walked toward the wolf, a feeling of weightlessness surrounding him, but his chest grew tighter with each step he made. A sense of paralysis seeped into him and spread through his body, starting in his feet, then up his legs. Still, he kept moving, trying not to think about how hard it was to actually move. He focused on the wolf ahead and tried not to make sudden movements. As he approached, he noticed that the wolf wasn’t breathing.
Maybe he is dead.
The thought hit Stephen like a truck. He faltered, gasping and fighting as the world tried to jump into his mind all at once and control him. He dropped onto his knees and clutched at his head, refusing to let it in and take him over. Pain lanced through his jaw and it started to lock into place. He could hear muffled voices ... someone was crying … screaming. His stomach twisted with a sickness that he didn’t understand. Panting, his palms flat on the ground, his head down, he desperately tried to put all the pieces of his mind back into one place.
He slowly lowered himself onto his stomach, and then he was moving slowly, slithering rather than a crawl. He had to get to the wolf—he didn’t know why, but he knew that he had to. When he reached out to it, he expected to feel nothing more than the cold tiles of the floor, but what he touched was warm fur, the softness of it wrapping around him. “Cade?” he said, his voice hoarse. “Cade, is that you?”
The wolf moved slowly, turning its head to the side so that Stephen could see its eyes. They were Cade’s eyes, blue, but not the wolf Cade, but Cade as a man. It was like they had swapped somehow. Was this what happened inside when they shifted? Did the animal become the man? Shit. He had a temporary shift somewhere. Stephen caught the wolf’s face in his hands, pulling him around by the fur so that he could look right into his eyes. Maybe he could reach Cade through Phoenix. “Are you there? Cade? Can you hear me?”
Silence. Absolutely nothing—not even the sound of his own breathing. Maybe it was the shields that he had thrown up in his mind. He let them down a little, using everything he had to control them and prevent the world rushing in. Running a hand through the wolf’s thick fur, he brought the wolf closer to him so that his snout rested against his shoulder. He held him in an embrace and closed his eyes, taking in the familiar earthy scent that was Cade and his wolf. He let his mind slip into Cade’s. It was dark in there, the opposite of Phoenix’s mind. There was something else in the darkness … something sinister …
Shit. It was silver.
No sooner had the thought entered Stephen’s mind than his skin started to burn. His mouth filled with water and suddenly he couldn’t breathe. He clutched at his throat as his chest constricted and his airways shut down.
Stephen’s eyes snapped open and met with Phoenix’s panicked ones, his face sickly pale. His mouth was dry, not wet, his heart pounding loudly in his ears. He hadn’t moved, still sitting in the driver’s seat of the car. Phoenix sat there watching him, not saying anything. Stephen let his eyes close and when they did, it was all there again—all of it. He was in a cage ... the cage? He couldn’t be back there. Maybe this was just a bad dream. Nothing more than a memory of the time Cade and Gemma had spent at Malcolm’s.
But no, it wasn’t the same. He cracked open heavy and tired eyes. Gemma was there, next to him. She was sitting, up, but her eyes were filled with unshed tears. Her matted hair clung to her face and she had a bruise across her check. Stephen tried to reach out to her, but he couldn’t make his arms move. Someone else was there, too. Someone darker … someone Human. He squinted to try to focus better, but it wasn’t working. Two men—no three—none of them made any sense. One of them came closer, the thick fog making it hard to distinguish any features.
Suddenly, Stephen’s head snapped back, gasping as he came free of his mind’s hold, his heart beating wildly in his chest.
Phoenix started and let him go. “What is it?”
The rush of air made it too hard to speak.
“Stephen?”
“Did you see? Can you see what I did?” he rasped.
Phoenix hesitated then nodded slowly. “What was it?”
“Humans ...” He swore violently. “Fucking Humans have Cade and Gemma.”
Chapter Sixteen
The car wouldn’t move fast enough for Stephen. He had the pedal jammed to the floor of the car as he manoeuvred his way around the cars that filled the motorway. He shot a look at the speedometer. “Come on. For god’s sake, move.” He swore and slammed his hand down on the horn several times. “Get out of my wa
y,” he yelled at the cars blocking his way. Stephen didn’t give a shit how many laws he had just broken or how many road violations he had just committed. All that mattered was getting to that damn hotel and finding what had happened to his sister.
He had no idea how the Humans had found them there. It was meant to be a secure place—one that helped strays. Maybe they hadn't been careful enough and someone had spotted them. Whatever it was, he needed to get there and fix it. Guilt urged him forward, cursing every time he had to slow down so as not to plough him and Phoenix into the back of some slow, dawdling driver. He was the one who had booked this room for them. His mate, Raven, a panther, rare in the shifter world, had told him about the place. He was one of the few friends he trusted with his life.
Raven ran one of the bars that was a balance between Society and strays. He played both sides and he played them well, but he was honest and decent and trustworthy—qualities scarce in a person. The lack of spots in panthers was considered a leopard deformity, one which made panther shifters die off quickly. They didn’t tend to make it through infancy, but Raven had.
Stephen screeched the car to a halt in the courtyard of the hotel—it was more a stately home than a hotel really. The restaurant built to the side of it was for Others who weren’t shifters, although some restaurants did specialise in raw meats, but they were expensive and mostly under the radar of Humans. Eating there was usually by booking only. It was where he was supposed to be meeting Cade and Gemma this morning. Stephen stopped the car right outside the reception office. Who cared if it blocked the way ... Stephen certainly didn’t. Stephen knew the room number so he didn’t bother to check with reception. He took the stairs two at a time with Phoenix close on his heel. When they got to the room, he found the door locked.
He pounded on the wood with his fist, even though he knew there was no one inside—he could feel it. “Cade? Gemma?” They had been there, though; he could smell their scents. They hung in the air like a trail of invisible breadcrumbs for him to follow.
“They’re not there,” Phoenix said, his face full of concern.
The putrid stench that Humans always left behind like some kind of toxic bio marker was rife in the air. Without preamble, Stephen twisted the lock with his bare hand and broke it. The door swung wide open to reveal an empty and clean room—too clean. The scent of bleach was suffocating—only Humans would think that it was enough to cover up scents. The bed had been made, the sides polished and fresh towels hung on the rack in the bathroom, all the patterns lined up perfectly. New cups sat on the side and a fresh toilet roll had been placed on the back of the cistern.
“Smells like they were just here,” Phoenix remarked.
“Yes. That’s what I was thinking.” Stephen laced his fingers together behind his head as he paced for a moment. “Shit.” He turned back to Phoenix. “You know your link thing? With Cade? Did you see where they were? Did you see the Humans?”
“No. I tried when you were driving, but it was like he is gone.”
Stephen struggled to keep his frustration in check. He rubbed at his face. Think, think … “When Cade was in the cage two years ago, you couldn’t feel him then, right?” At the time, Cade had been stuck in Malcolm’s cage for twenty-four hours for breaking Society law.
Phoenix was busy rummaging through the drawers in the room. “No, but it was like he was gone.”
“Like now?”
Phoenix contemplated that for a moment before shaking his head. “No. When he was in the cage, it was like before the bond. Just me in my own head.”
“And right now?”
Stephen knew the answer, but he had to ask anyway.
“He’s here. I can feel him, but it’s what I said. It’s just his wolf, and the Cade part is missing.”
With a colourful oath, Stephen went back to his pacing. Cade couldn’t be in a cage of silver, maybe that was the difference. Maybe this was just a plain cage. But if that was the case, why didn’t he break out? Others were strong enough to manipulate and bend man-made iron or steel bars. Why was Gemma crying? He tried to piece everything together—a jigsaw puzzle.
The hotel management had to have answers. They’d know if they had checked out or whether people had come looking for them. Stephen turned abruptly and strode out of the room, leaving Phoenix to follow.
There was a woman sitting behind the desk at reception. Pretty little thing—blonde hair, long nails, perfect kind of bimbo look—but only a fool would believe her harmless. She wasn’t shifter, but she was Other—Fae. They were magical “hippies”, creatures that could control the elements—earth, fire, water and wind. They might not have the physical strength of shifters, but their powers were great.
“Excuse me, miss.”
She looked up from where she sat delicately filling in some paperwork, and Stephen vaguely wondered how her long nails didn’t piss her off when she was trying to write. Her gaze travelled over him appreciatively and she sat up a little straighter, a sensuous smile spreading over her face. “Yes?”
“My friends were in room 103. Have they checked out?”
The smile turned to a grimace at Stephen’s cold, no-nonsense tone. The woman sighed loudly and flipped open the ledger in front of her. She located the number and then shook her head. “One hundred and three is empty.”
“I know that,” Stephen bit out. “I asked if they had checked out.”
“Well, if it is empty, it would suggest they had, wouldn’t it?”
Stephen ignored her scornful tone. “When did they check out?”
She lifted the ledger and put it in front of him. “See there? No one has been in that room all week.”
“No, that’s bullshit. I booked the room myself.” Phoenix shifted from one foot to the other from beside him, uneasy and anxious.
The blonde took the book back, closed it and shrugged. “Maybe they had a different room.”
He gritted his teeth and tried to keep a lid on his temper. Flying off the handle was not going to help him. “What time did you start? Switch over is 8:00, right?”
“No. I came in at 7:00, then Andy left.”
“Andy was the guy on last night?”
The woman gave him an exasperated look. Stephen simply stared back at her and waited. She rolled her eyes. “Yes.”
“Do you know where I can find this Andy?”
“I can’t tell you that. I’m sorry.”
Stephen was sure she wasn’t. “The hell you can’t. This is important.”
“It isn’t our policy to give out details like that.”
“I don’t give a shit if it is in your last will and testament. I need that address.”
“I’ve told you …”
“I don’t care what you’ve told me. Now, where can I find this Andy?”
“I …”
Stephen leaned over the counter, his eyes locking with hers. She froze and a flicker of fear flashed over her features. “Do you know what I am?” he said in a dangerously low tone.
She gave a meek nod.
“Good, then you know that I will get that information from you. Now I can come behind there and find it for myself, or you can tell me where he is. Because my sister was here last night and now she isn’t. I need to talk to Andy.”
“Maybe she stayed in a different hotel,” she croaked weakly. When he didn’t back off, she quickly added, “He lives on the grounds. There are some staff quarters at the back. He lives in room six ...”
Stephen was already heading towards the door before she could finish her sentence, a bewildered Phoenix quickly running after him and wondering what the hell had just happened.
The staff quarters looked like they had once been some kind of barn that had now been converted into flats. There was a main door at the front—basic, but big—going all the way to the next level. Beyond that was a flight of stairs. Stephen tried the handle and found it unlocked. The stairwell, which went up three floors, was in the middle, and on either side were two doors, room number
s one and two.
Great. The guy’s room was at the top.
Stephen raced up the stairs, and Phoenix followed. There was no response to his loud knocking, or any answer when he called out the man’s name. “He’s not here,” Phoenix said, breathing in. Stephen agreed, but it was better to check. He grabbed the handle and twisted the lock, this one stiffer than the one in the hotel room. It cracked in the carriage, the wood splintering. “Whoops,” he said to Phoenix.
An empty, untidy room greeted them. Stephen swore.
“Maybe he works the night shift tonight,” Phoenix offered.
That wasn’t good enough for Stephen. “We don’t have until tonight.” Something in his gut told him there was a clock ticking over all of their heads. “Come on. I’m going to go and chat to my mate … see if he knows.”
They were at the last set of stairs when the door to the building opened and in walked a young-looking shifter—a tiger. “Shit,” he muttered under his breath, and that was all Stephen needed to hear to know this was the man they were looking for.
He turned and bolted out of the door, heading for the main carpark. Stephen raced after him, long, heavily-muscled legs carrying him quickly and effortlessly towards his mark, covering the distance between them within seconds. Did these little shits never learn that they couldn’t outrun him? Stephen lunged forward and tackled the tiger. They fell to the ground and landed in the dirt and gravel, rolling from the momentum with which Stephen had thrown himself on the man.
Stephen gripped the man’s hair and then slammed his face down into the ground.
“I don’t know nothing,” the man spluttered.
“If you don’t know nothing, why are you running, Andy?” Stephen yanked him up by his hair. He clutched at Stephen’s hands and let out a howl of pain.
“I-I don’t know. You m-made me afraid ...”
Stephen swore then muttered, “It’s I don’t know anything.”
“What?”
“And that is pardon? Doesn’t anyone know how to fucking speak properly anymore? Room 103 ... there was a couple staying there last night. What happened to them?”
