by Mason Sabre
“I’m just one person,” Cade murmured. He stared at the boy. “What can one person do?” But Cade knew the answer to that, too. One person was never just one person. You made the decision to do the right thing and took the first step. Then, gradually, others would follow. But someone had to be brave enough to dare. Somebody had to take that first step.
Cade glanced out at the darkened road ahead of him. He could cross the hill and bridge, hand the boy over, and go back to his life as normal. It would be so easy to do. Yet everything inside him violently rebelled against even the mere idea. He knocked the gears into reverse and turned the car around. There was a smaller road, a lane, which led to where Stephen lived. He didn’t stop to question his decision. Stephen was his best friend. He trusted him with his life. Smart and witty, he might like to put on a façade of nonchalance and sarcastic drollness, but no one could ever doubt his acute intelligence, or his great leadership qualities. As future head of the society, their people would follow him unquestioningly when his time came. And as crazy as Cade’s actions might seem to him right now, he knew that he could indubitably count on his friend’s help.
Stephen didn’t live far. Most Others lived in areas together. Stephen still lived with his parents and younger sisters. Cade took the route slowly and cautiously. It would be just his luck to drive straight into one of the Humans’ blockades and screw himself and the boy right over. Luckily, the way to Stephen’s was down the quiet lanes. It was dark. There were no streetlights to illuminate the way. The Humans hadn't come this way yet. The trees here still remained untouched and undamaged. But even with no Humans around, Cade kept his headlights low. He wasn’t about to risk alerting anyone to his presence.
The day’s fog had settled all around like a ghostly mist. Moths fluttered from the darkness and raced one another to the lights of the car as they beamed weakly through the white veil. Cade glanced in the mirror.
The boy was awake and staring right at Cade. His eyes were wide, piercing, his teeth bared. Cade’s heart lurched. “Shit,” he muttered. He knew full well the danger he had just found himself in. The hunger was awakening in the boy’s body, and that meant that the half-breed was very, very dangerous at the moment. His eyes had shifted, wild and bright, and his teeth were now that of his wolf ... Cade swallowed hard and slowly pulled the car to a stop, all the while making certain to maintain eye contact.
He turned in his seat slowly, making sure not to make any sudden movements. His eyes locked with the boy’s, and the half-shifted child growled menacingly. His face contorted as he let out a guttural cry. His hand shot forward, fingers flexing as if they would break, and Cade ducked to the side to avoid razor-sharp claws.
“Breathe,” Cade said quietly, frustrated that all he could do was try and talk the boy down from the craziness going on inside him. Grabbing him or trying to hold him down would only incense him further. “Listen to me and breathe.”
The boy clawed at his face, gouging his skin until angry red lines marred the surface. Cade swore and fought the urge to grab his hands and stop him.
“Listen to my voice,” soothed Cade. “Listen to me. Breathe in,” Cade sucked in his breath, loud, but slow so that the boy could hear, “and out.” He exhaled in the same way. After a moment, the boy followed suit. Relief washed over Cade. “That’s right. That’s it. Keep doing that. Breathe.”
A moment later, the boy’s head snapped back, and a sound that was neither Human nor Other rippled through the air, deep and feral. His claws dug into the upholstery of the seat in front of him and tore chunks away.
“Shit,” Cade muttered. They didn’t have time for this. He closed his eyes and centred on his own wolf, calling to him from the depths of his mind. The wolf rested on the edge, like resting the car at biting point. Cade’s own teeth began to shift, but he didn’t let them out fully. His eyes changed, though, the wolf responding to Cade’s call.
“Listen to me,” Cade rasped, his voice deeper now, a mixture of man and wolf. “Listen to me and calm.”
The boy thrashed about in response, tortured sounds emanating from deep within. Cade’s hands shot out and his palms connected forcefully with the boy’s. The child froze at the contact, his eyes fixing onto Cade’s as if in a trance.
“Don’t fight it,” Cade said slowly. “Don’t fight. It passes. I know what you're feeling ... that thing inside ... it’s a rage in your skin. It crawls everywhere.”
The boy’s face had almost transformed, but his fur hadn’t come through. The wolf’s snout was naked and deformed, a mixture of Human flesh on a wolf’s face. The boy raised his top lip, baring his teeth again.
“No,” Cade said firmly, shaking his head at him. “No.” He looked him straight in the eye, trying to reach the rational part inside the boy. “Close your eyes.”
To Cade’s relief, he obeyed. Closing his eyes as well, Cade searched for the young boy. “Follow my voice. Let me in. Picture me there with you.”
He felt the boy’s mind open, saw the wolf in there, small, a mixture of white and grey fur. It snapped at Cade in defiance, and Cade snarled in reply, staking his dominance over the cub. The young wolf snapped again, though a little more inhibited this time. Cade’s snarl became a deep growl, vibrating through them both. It held power and authority, and an underlying warning. The boy’s growl faded to a whimper, head bending in submission.
“Down.” Cade’s voice echoed between them. He stared at the young wolf until he finally lowered himself to the ground in their minds, giving himself in to Cade’s authority completely.
When Cade opened his eyes, the boy’s hands were still palm to palm with Cade’s, but he was slumping forward, his head bowed. Cade let go of one hand slowly and then caught the boy as he collapsed. He was still awake, his eyes open and intent on Cade, but the wildness in them was gone.
“Shhh …,” Cade soothed. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
He lowered the boy onto the seat and then slipped from the car and into the darkness. He couldn’t be as quiet when he was in the form of a man. There was something elegant in his wolf that allowed him to stalk and creep. On two legs, it was much harder, but he lowered himself enough that the scents of the earth filled his nose—rotted leaves, fresh soil, the scents of small animals. He trained his hearing on anything moving close by. To the right, he picked up the small sounds of an animal. He moved slowly, letting himself meld into the darkness.
A small rabbit scampered out of the way—or at least it tried to—but Cade was fast. He snapped his hand out and caught it by the throat. Bringing it up to his face, he stared at the frightened creature for a moment. “Sorry,” he murmured. “Nothing personal.” And with that, he snapped the rabbit’s head. Death was instant, and merciful.
Cade moved swiftly back to the car. The boy had come round once more, and with no hesitation, Cade opened the door and held the rabbit out carefully towards the boy. He caught it with a growl and sunk his teeth into its fleshy stomach. Warm blood oozed down his chest, the scent hitting Cade and starting his own ravenous hunger. He had shifted this evening, but he hadn't hunted. He pushed the hunger away, pushed it right down. He had control—the boy did not.
The rabbit was devoured in a matter of minutes, the boy’s eyes rolling with the pleasure of his small feast. He slumped back into his seat with contentment when he was done, his face gradually returning to that of the boy. His bruises and wounds had healed somewhat, and his features were growing clearer.
Now all Cade had to do was get to Stephen’s with no more problems. He slipped back into the car, took a deep, calming breath and started the engine.
Chapter Five
It was amazing how much blood had soaked through from the boy’s clothes onto Cade’s shirt. Were Cade to be seen, by even just one person, he’d be royally screwed. They would run for the hills screaming bloody murder. In short, he’d be fucked.
He parked the car so that it was hidden in a line of hedges that separated the field from the lane—not that the l
ane really was a lane. It was simply a patch of grass that had been driven on so often, it had become compact and hardened. He parked a little way from the Davies’ residence, not driving right up and parking in the driveway as usual. Although he had debated it, the law of sod would surely be out tonight looking for victims, and Malcolm Davies would be certain to be the one to come out and see who had just pulled up. Then Cade was really fucked.
Malcolm Davies—Stephen’s father and alpha to the Tigers. But he was more than even that. He was the head of the Were Society and he held a seat on the Preternatural Council, which was as close as an Other could get to royalty. The council were the law, and the head of each Other community held a seat. The Society was devised of pack masters. All of these chains worked tightly together, and they acted as if they ran the world. Messing with laws was one thing; getting caught by Malcolm was another. He was a fair but stern man, and depending on which hat he was wearing on the day, would depend on the way he reacted to things. Cade didn’t know today which one Malcolm would be, but he sure as hell wasn’t about to find out and perhaps make the biggest—or even last—mistake of his life.
Cade walked to the back of his car and popped the boot open. He kept spare clothes for shifting in there. The Humans were ever amusing. They took great pleasure in burning or trashing a shifter’s clothing when they came across them—like it was some stupid Capture the Flag game. Stephen had once come back to his pile of clothes, only to discover that someone had defecated on them. Real smart those Humans sometimes ...
So they learnt the hard way and took spares with them. For this, Cade was at least thankful as he pulled off one shirt to replace it with another. He balled up the dirty shirt, took a bottle of water from his bag and poured it onto the cloth, using that to wipe the blood from his hands and face in a feeble attempt to make himself somewhat presentable. The shirt came away dark with blood, although Cade knew that it wasn’t his. He hadn't realised just how much blood had covered him.
Taking what was left of the water in the bottle, he bent over and emptied it onto his head. He preferred to have to explain why his hair was wet rather than why it was covered with blood.
After throwing everything into the boot and closing it, he locked all of the doors and then stood there, just staring into the car. Behind him was the lane. It wound all the way down to the farm on the corner. He couldn’t see as far as the Davies’ house. The lane he was on was well-hidden from the main road. It was missed often, even by those who knew that it was there. Cade, himself, had sailed past it many a time, much to his disgrace and Stephen’s amusement. It was no more than a break in the hedgerow. Others weren’t important enough to need roads, so they didn’t get them. They got dirt roads instead. It wasn’t so bad this time of year, but in the spring and autumn, when the rains began, the lane was just a stream of mud, and then, in the winter, it became a path of ice.
Cade closed his eyes and reached into his mind, summoning his wolf. When he appeared, he tried to locate the young half-breed. Deep in the hidden recesses of his own mind, he found the young wolf lying motionless with his head resting on his front paws. Cautiously, Cade padded over to the fledgling. Sadness hung in the hair, seeming to permeate his very soul. In the way of the wolves, Cade bowed his head and rubbed it along the top of the cub’s, his dominant wolf seeking to mollify the young wolf. “I’ll be back soon.” The words were spoken between their minds. “Breathe.” His wolf licked along the small wolf’s head, the act an ultimate expression of parental nurture.
When Cade opened his eyes, sadness still flowed around him, the shroud of darkness threatening to consume him. “I’ll be back,” he whispered, trying to appease his guilt for leaving him for even a second. “I promise. Just hang in.” He took a deep breath and forced himself to walk away from the car. His heart tore at the thought of what the young boy must be going through to emanate such pain.
He walked swiftly but stealthily, not wanting to set the animals off in the fields, although they were probably used to Others by now. Still, it wasn’t worth the chance. Gravel, which the farmer had thrown down to help with traction, crunched under Cade’s boots. It must have been a real pain for him, Cade mused, the road being just a mudslide some days. The farm, like Billy’s, was filled with sickly or small animals, but they produced milk and cheese and eggs. It was better than nothing. Mostly, Others didn’t like to consume those kinds of foods; Human foods. It never really sated the hunger inside. Sort of like drinking a glass of water to make the hunger pangs go away for a moment.
The Davies’ house had a majestic beauty about it, impressive in size, grandiose in its intricate design, it was a display of incontrovertible power. Vast fields and lands, where the Davies family liked to run, made up the backdrop. The house comprised seven bedrooms, one of which had been converted into a study, and another into a library where all the Society records were held. Another was used for storage—much like some used their attics. Downstairs, the house afforded two lounges, a summer lounge, and a dining room that led off to an office. That was the room Malcolm used the most. It was to the back and out of the way, but it was downstairs and one of the lounges doubled as a meeting room for the Society once a month.
Cade walked across the cobbled driveway and up the small steps to the porch. He didn’t use the front door—that was for the mailman and people who didn’t know the house. Instead, he headed straight for the door to the kitchen … and stopped. He stood there, staring at the brass knocker in the centre of what felt like a giant door suddenly. Never in his life had he hesitated before knocking on the Davies’ door, but tonight he did. .
“They haven’t developed telepathy yet. You have to knock,” said a soft voice behind him.
Cade spun around, his heart lurching as he looked for the owner of voice. The voice that had the power to ignite fires deep inside him.
“Gem?”
She stepped out of the shadows, grinning at him. His breath stopped. God, she was so beautiful. With feline grace and agility, she came to stand in front of him, still grinning. She stood close enough that all he had to do was reach out and he’d be able touch her; close enough that just one step would bring him flush against her, supple curves yielding to the male hardness of his body. Gritting his teeth, he slammed the lid shut on that train of thought. Gemma was out of bounds. This was his best friend’s little sister. He had watched her grow up, for god’s sake. Protected her as if she were his own sister. He shouldn’t be thinking of her in any kind of sexual way at all. What was wrong with him?
“What are you doing out here?” He hated the way his voice came out hoarse. He cleared his throat and tried to regain his composure.
“Just sitting.” She walked to the small wall of the porch. Perching on it, she stretched out her long legs in front of her, crossing them at the ankles. Cade had to drag his gaze off them. The gypsy style top she had on flowed over the top of her denim shorts, her legs bare all the way to her small tennis shoes. “Some council crap going down. Evie’s in bed.” Evie was her younger sister. “My mum’s faffing in the kitchen, and my father’s trying to make as many calls as possible all at the same time. He’s got Stephen running around like an idiot.”
“Something’s happened?”
She shrugged. “I’m not important enough to know that, am I?” Sarcasm belied the seeming nonchalance of her words. “I was shoved out after some call. Apparently some Human got himself chomped on this afternoon.”
Cade’s skin went cold. “Oh?”
“In Preesall. “ Gemma’s eyes narrowed. “You look awfully pale. Are you okay?” When he didn’t reply immediately, she pushed herself from the wall and came towards him, worry playing over her features. Cade backed up a little. He wasn’t sure if it was because she’d find something incriminating on him, or whether he was afraid he’d lose control if she came too close again and do something really stupid—like grab her and kiss her.
“Your hair’s wet.” She breathed in deeply. Her eyes widened, flicking
up to meet his. “You smell like Humans. Cade? What’s going on? Is this to do with what my father is dealing with?”
He ignored her question. “The Society is coming?”
Gemma nodded. “I’d imagine so. What’s going on?”
“Can you get Stephen for me?”
Gemma’s jaw set in a stubborn line, clearly unhappy about being disregarded and asked to play messenger. “Go in and get him yourself.”
Cade leaned back against the wall. He rubbed his face, tension radiating from him in waves. His head was ready to explode. The Society would be arriving soon. As second-in-command, his father would be here.
“Cade?” Gemma said gently when she got no reply yet again. She touched his arm softly, her fingers warm and delicate. Electricity shot through him at the simple touch, threatening to melt any resistance. He pushed away from the wall, putting a good distance between them. Being this close to her was not a good idea. His hunger raging as it was and the chaos that was just about to break out was a lethal combination.
“Can you just grab Stephen for me?” He sounded desperate now. He couldn’t have her putting her hands on him again. He didn’t trust his control. “Don’t tell your dad I am here.”
He could see that she wanted to ask why, watched her wrestle with it for a moment. “Okay,” she finally whispered, then disappeared into the house.
Stephen was outside moments later, his tall, muscular frame seeming to dwarf Gemma at his side.
“We need to talk,” Cade told him sternly, already walking out of earshot of the house. “Away from the house.”
“You're breaking up with me?” Stephen joked, as they trailed behind him.
Cade stopped walking and turned to face them. Stephen’s cocky grin slowly faded when he saw the expression on his friend’s face. “Something wrong?”
“What’s going on in there?” Cade asked.
“I have no idea. Some kid got himself eaten. They think it’s Other.”