The Society Series Box Set 2

by Mason Sabre

  “Yes.” She cleared her head, her mind going to the scientist she was. “The results showed that the witch had a reduced healing time. Not like the fox. The fox was anything from an hour to a few days depending on the severity, but the witch … healing time was roughly a week.” She looked up at Stephen with a fierce fire in her eyes. “You’ve got to get them out of there. All of them.”

  “I know. I’m going to.”

  “What do you need us to do?” Jody asked. “We’ve got the boys. I …”

  “I’m sending Helena and my son somewhere safe. Your boys can go with them. But it means leaving everything. It means taking this side of the battle and not going back.”

  “We want to,” Kirsty said. Jody went to speak, but she put her hand on his. “What kind of people would we be if we let children suffer? What kind of parents would we be if we didn’t fight for a safer future for our boys? I can go with you to the lab. I know the layout of it. I can—”

  “No,” Jody said. “You can’t …”

  “I can.”

  “No,” Stephen said. “You and your kids go with Helena. It’s better that way.”

  If there were no Helena, then he would have let Kirsty go with him. She was right that she knew the place better than him, because she did, and she'd worked there for a long time. She knew shortcuts and hiding places, but … he was sending Helena away, and so much as he didn't know Kirsty well, he knew Helena, and he knew Helena's reaction to her. She had cared for Helena at the lab. She had helped at the house to keep the babies alive, and she had aided in their plan to escape, even if she hadn't realised it.

  Jody was a father, and a husband, and if he took Helena and Aiden and got caught, Stephen knew, without a doubt, the man would hand them over in trade for his children's own lives. He couldn't blame him for that of course. Stephen would hand over Jody if he came across a situation where he had no choice, but he had seen it in Kirsty's eyes, and he had felt the goodness in her soul. She was a mother. She would fight … she would fight first.

  “I am more use to you at the facility.”

  "You are more useful to me if you look after Helena. I can get into the facility. I can get around it no problem, but I can't keep my eye on her and Aiden from here. Take them for me. Your boys can go too. It is a safe place."

  “How do we know we can trust you?” It was Jody. He was back to the facade of a man with more courage than he actually had. But he faced it.

  “You don’t,” Stephen said. “No more than I know I can trust you. But I trust Helena. I trust Aiden. I …” Stephen’s voice trailed off when he caught sight of Joey. The little boy passed by the door as if he had just walked through the house in solid form.

  “Stephen?” Eden asked.

  Stephen put his hand up in front of her. "Just a second." He went to the door. He knew now from the time being on the other side if he saw Joey and it wasn't because he was sitting with his father or visiting him, then he wanted something; he needed something.

  The shadow of the boy nipped through the closed door at the front of the house, fast enough to disappear before Stephen got there, but slow enough Stephen caught the sight of him.

  “Joey?” He said when he got outside. He’d shut the main door to the house on purpose. He didn’t want to alarm Xander any more than he needed to.

  Joey was ahead, going back toward the place where the rocks and the yard were, but this time, he didn’t wait for Stephen. No. He stood next to what was left of a car and held onto it like he needed it to hold himself up.

  “What’s wrong?”

  The closer he got to Joey, the clearer it was the boy had been crying sometime recently. The dirt streaked his face where the tears had washed down, and he clutched at the car, ground his teeth together and grimaced.

  Stomach twisting, Stephen crouched with him. “Joey, what’s wrong?”

  Joey shook his head, and his image faded in and out. He gasped for air and pulling at his face with one hand, he dared to let go of the car.

  Stephen reached for him, forgetting at that moment that he couldn't touch him, couldn't grab him, couldn't fucking save him. "They're waking you up, aren't they?"

  Joey’s wide eyes pleaded with Stephen, reached for him. His face twisted, his mouth opened.

  Stephen tried to grab him, but all he got was air. “You hold on. Okay? You hold on with everything you have. I’m coming for you. I promise.”

  Joey nodded, but his image grew more faded with every second. He was fighting it. Fighting to stay out of his body, and who could blame him. He reached for Stephen, one last attempt to keep himself in the other world. Stephen grabbed for him too, but their hands passed through each other in a cool sweep of clear air. Then he was gone.

  Chapter 50

  Joey left a space in the road where he had stood a second ago. Stephen had to blink to clear his mind, but even then, as he straightened himself, there was a gap where the boy had just been. I’m coming for you, he said in his head and tried to force the thought out into the world somehow. He choked out a breath, but it didn’t reach inside and calm the hammering of his heart. It beat wildly, smashing against his ribs.

  “Was that Joey?”

  Stephen spun. He’d not noticed Xander come out, or how long he’d been there, but the pang of guilt went cold in his stomach.

  "Is he okay?" Xander hesitated with his steps like if he walked to Stephen, he might get an answer he didn't want, and if he kept himself back enough, he'd feel sort of safe. But what was safe? Safe had died a long time ago.

  Tossing a glance back over his shoulder to where Joey had stood just a moment ago, Stephen let out a sigh. “It wasn’t Joey.”

  “You were talking to someone?”

  A nod. "I've had a woman following me around since I was at Norton's, on the other side. She needs something, but I can't figure out what it is." Not the truth, but what was the alternative? To tell Xander his son was there? To give him that image of him trying to hold on while someone at the facility woke him up? It would do no good for Xander to know that his son was suffering right at that moment. He was barely keeping it together as it was. "I need to go and get things ready for tomorrow." He tried to sound cool and calm with his words, but the edge of his lies echoed in his voice and made it quiver.

  "Do you see him, though?" Xander asked as Stephen tried to walk past him and go back to the house. "You see a woman; do you see others? Do you see Joey?"

  The expression of Xander's hope crushed Stephen inside, almost breaking his heart because what Xander was really asking was, did he see him right then? Was he safe? If Stephen could see Joey, it meant he wasn't suffering. If Stephen could see him, he was alive. "Yeah, I see him. He likes to follow you around." It wasn't a lie.

  The space next to Xander was just that, a space, but it didn't stop Xander from peering down at it like he could see his child if he just looked hard enough. Stephen moved back, trying to leave Xander to that moment and get into the house himself where he could drop his guard and let out the breath that was tucked so tight into his ribs, he ached.

  Hours later, it was almost a relief when Kirsty and Jody arrived with their boys. They had gone home to pack up their belongings, pick up whatever they needed and grab their boys from their grandmother's. Everything was good to go. They all just needed to wait until morning to make a move. It would be no good to set off halfway through the day. They’d never make it to Nigel and Mel before nightfall, and by then the sweepers would be out.

  One of Kirsty’s boys burst into the lounge like a little hurricane. He had a box clutched to his chest. “We’re going on a trip,” he told Stephen, then he lifted up a small box. “I got this for Aiden.” It was a small model kit, one of those snap together things that got built into a workable toy. This one was a dragon that doubled as a robot.

  “Wow,” Stephen said. “That’s amazing.”

  He didn’t get chance to look at it, because Aiden thrust himself in the way and took it. “That’s for me?”
<
br />   The box was open before anyone got chance to confirm it was, and he took it into the lounge and settled down on the old carpet with it. Within seconds, all the parts were out and spread around the floor as Aiden studied the instructions and muttered to himself.

  “I think it’s a hit,” Eden said. “I can’t believe it.”

  Kirsty offered a warm smile and folded her arms across her chest as they both watched Aiden. “You’ve just got to find what their niche is.”

  “Well, until a moment ago, I thought Aiden’s was ice-cream. It’s good, though. It’s nice to see him getting to be a little boy for once.”

  “You all okay down here?” Stephen asked after a moment. “I want to go check on Helena.” He knew she was okay. She was upstairs, and while he couldn’t quite hear her from where he was, he could feel her, his tiger could … it homed in on her.

  “Sure. Go ahead,” Eden said, but she was already in the lounge and kneeling beside Aiden. Like she had said, it was nice to see him being a kid for once.

  Helena was in the front bedroom, the one that had been decorated for the babies. They'd all know it probably wouldn't get used by them, but at the time, the painting was more for Helena than anything else. They'd not done anything else with it. The walls were all painted, and there were even a set of curtains that had been hung, but the dusty wooden floor hadn't been touched, and in the corner of the room, anything for the babies was stacked in bags. Nappies and things—things Xander and Eden had managed to pilfer from houses and places before the rescue.

  “There you are.”

  The room itself was just one big square with a large window at the end. Helena sat on the floor close to it and leant against the wall. The way the house faced meant this room got the afternoon sun, and its warm beams shone lazily through the window and rested on Helena’s shins. She wiped her face and turned her head.

  “Kirsty is here.”

  She nodded. “I know.”

  There was a small gap between Helena and the window. From where she sat, and the distance meant she could see out of it, not that there was much to see. Other empty houses, trees, the chimney. Stephen put himself in the gap and angled his head, so it was in her field of vision.

  She bit down on her lip and let her gaze drop. “Eden told me you used to be a soldier.”

  “I was, once.”

  She shook her head and then raised her gaze again to meet his. “You have an entire life that I know nothing about.”

  “I have an entire life that’s history now.” It shocked even him to say that. He’d never imagined he’d reach a point where he didn’t want to go home. He wanted to see his family, his sisters, parents, Cade … all of them, but the rest? Most of it was just a farce, Society was a farce … a bunch of people acting like they could make a difference by controlling those who thought they couldn’t. Society was no better than the Humans, and he was sure, they didn't even realise it themselves. "I'll tell you about it one day when all of this is over."

  "What if you can't? What if you don't make it back and I know nothing about you? What do I tell our children? That I had kids with a man, I didn't know? That I was in love with some stranger?" She swiped at her eyes. "I didn't even know your name until yesterday." She tore her gaze from Stephen's and put her hand on her belly. "When we fell from the bus … I thought you were dead. I can't … I can't go through that again." She leant forward as best she could and sat with her head bowed.

  Stephen tucked a finger under her chin to lift her face. “You’re not going to lose me.”

  “I might. You don’t know. You might have been this big warrior back home, but you can’t tell the future. What if Lee gets you? What if he captures you and then gets another woman pregnant?”

  He shook his head. “Maybe I can’t see the future, but I don’t need to.” He let go of her chin and lowered his hand to her belly. “I’m going to see these two come into the world. I’m going to stand right beside you, and have you shout obscenities at me. I’m going to be there for every second. I promise.”

  She had her hand on his, but she moved it away. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

  “Helena …”

  "No. Don't you understand?" She shook her head and took in a ragged breath. "I'll probably end up feeding them vegetarian quiche or something when I should be giving them prime rib, and then they'll probably die."

  It was too hard to hold back the instant laughter at her comment, but he still reached for her face and wiped away the tear that had managed to escape, even if she was trying her best to hold it all in. "You're worried about feeding them quiche? I can tell you now if you feed them something like that, they're gonna start biting the postman." He leant in to kiss her.

  “I might. You don’t know. You’ve no idea what my skills as a mother might be. I couldn’t even keep a goldfish alive when I was a child.”

  Without notice, he pulled her into his arms and wrapped them around her. “I’m going to be around until we’re old. I’ll bug you like shit, till you’re sick of me, okay?”

  He shuffled them both around so he could lean against the wall, and she could sit at the side of him with her legs draped over his thighs and her head resting on his shoulder. They laced their hands together across her baby bump. "Promise me you won't do anything stupid," she said, angling her head up to look at him.

  “That all depends on your idea of stupid.”

  “Something that will risk your life.”

  “I’m going into Norton’s facility. That alone risks my life. I can’t make that promise.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “I mean, no unnecessary heroics. No waging war with the Humans just to prove a point. No stopping to beat Lee to a pulp. Just get the kids and get out of there.”

  Lifting his hand from hers, he put his finger under her chin again. He loved doing that. He loved the way she looked at him when he angled her face just right … all wonder and beauty. “I promise.” Then he kissed her and breathed her in all at the same time. She was his addiction … his. She was every hunger he’d ever felt, every beating of his heart, every moment in the future … all of it, she was his. Narrowing his eyes at her, he still held her chin. Her eyes held a whisper of something, something more … “What is it?”

  Sucking in her bottom lip, she raised her hand to his arm. “Turn me,” she said. “Bite me and make me like you.”

  “Helena …”

  “No.” She pushed herself to sit up properly. “I mean it. I want you to turn me. I want to be able to spend every minute with you and the kids, and I can’t if I’m Human.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” She shot him an accusing glare.

  “It’s not as simple as that.” It wasn’t like he’d never thought about it himself, especially when they were locked up in Norton’s place. If she’d have been tiger, too, they’d have got out sooner, but then she wouldn’t be pregnant now. “It could kill you. Not all bitten Humans make it. Most don’t.”

  “I’m carrying tiger cubs. I’m mated to a tiger … I’m strong enough.”

  “Not necessarily.”

  “Will you at least think about it? I don’t mean now. I mean when the babies are born. I’m not asking you to commit, but I want you to think about it.” She paused. “I trust you.”

  It was such a big ask, a risk, but every protest that his brain fired to his mouth died before they even reached his lips, because Phoenix had made it. Phoenix had been a scrawny kid, and he’d come through it okay. “Okay,” he said in the end. “But right now, we need to sleep. It’s a big day tomorrow.”

  As she nodded at him, and his okay calmed her, she lay back against him. His tiger snarled, though, stomping his protest. He agreed. He wanted Helena to come over. If she could fight, she could protect her young, and if she could protect the young, they would live. It was just the risk …

  Running his hand through her hair, he leant himself back against the wall and closed his eyes. He’d think about
it. After tomorrow, if he lived … he’d think.

  Chapter 51

  It was easier to use Kirsty’s car, they had all decided. She had one of those big people carriers, that had more seat space than it did luggage space. Any luggage could be taken later, by Stephen, Eden and Xander when they followed, but the main priority was to get Helena and Aiden out of there. It was also handy because Kirsty’s car was licensed and not just some old, beat-up banger they could have grabbed from any ditch. If they drove past any scanners, it would come up with the right details and not raise any suspicion.

  “The moment you get there, you send word that you’ve arrived,” Stephen said, holding onto Helena’s hand. “I don’t care if you need the bathroom, you let me know you’re all okay.”

  “I’m thirty-four weeks pregnant with twins, you really think I can hold my bladder?”

  With a smile, he pulled her into an embrace, and she rested her head against his chest. He breathed her in. "I just need to know you're okay. I can't rest until I know that much." He wasn't overly worried, just enough … enough that it made him ask for promises. But she had Aiden with her, and he was a little fireball who'd smite anyone who got within spitting distance. The boy was coming into his powers, all right. They grew every day. When they were all safe, Stephen was going to teach him how to use them. Not that he had experience being a fire-demon, but he sure as hell knew how to control his body.

  Perhaps it was wrong to expect a child to protect an adult, but Aiden would do it without request. Stephen had seen that the moment he'd chosen his spot in the car. He didn't care where he sat, as long as it was next to Helena. They had thought he'd sit with Jenson and Alex, but when Kirsty had suggested it, he was adamant he wanted to stay at the back where he was needed. She was his mother now, and he had declared that too.

  “I’ll message you, and you do the same,” Helena said. “Keep me up to date as much as you can. And remember, you promised, no stupid heroics.”