Shad

by Catherine Lievens

  Shad looked at the pride’s alpha from the safe haven of his mate’s arms. He expected Dominic to look angry, but that wasn’t what greeted his eyes. Dominic looked worried, and disappointed, but not angry. Nate, on the other hand, looked ready to tear Shad apart, and Shad made sure not to look at the beta in the eyes. He wasn’t that stupid.

  “All right. Shad, you don’t know who the man was that who contacted you?”

  “No. He never came out of the bushes he was hiding in. I think I recognized his voice, but I can’t place it.”

  “Where did you meet him?”

  “Right outside the gate.”

  “Those two things make me think that we could have a traitor in the pride.”

  Shame flooded Shad and he looked down again. “You mean me.”

  “No, I mean someone else. The meeting was at the pride’s door, and you recognized the voice. It has to be someone who lives here.”

  Shad was shocked, but what Dominic was saying made sense. He just couldn’t imagine one of his friends betraying them, at least until he realized that was probably what they would think of him if they ever found out what he’d done.

  * * * *

  Gabriel could see Shad was surprised, but he wasn’t. He didn’t like the idea of a pride member being a traitor, but just like Shad had, that person was probably doing it for a very good reason.

  “You can’t be sure of that,” Shad pointed out.

  “No, but if the man doesn’t live here, why did he meet you so close to the house? He could’ve chosen another place in Whitedell, somewhere that wouldn’t have been as dangerous if you two were found out.”

  “It could’ve been for any reason,” Shad insisted.

  Dominic shook his head. “As much as I want to deny it, I really can’t.”

  “What do we do?” Nate asked.

  “We need to find the mole.”

  “How?”

  Dominic leaned back in his chair. “I don’t know.”

  “Why don’t we use Shad?”

  Gabriel growled at Nate’s suggestion. He was ready to do just about everything to find the mole, but not to sacrifice Shad in any way. “No.”

  “He’s the only one who’s had contact with the guy, and the only one the guy will talk to,” Nate pointed out.

  “I don’t care.” Gabriel knew Shad would jump at the chance to redeem himself in Nate and Dominic’s eyes, even if it wasn’t necessary, not at that cost.

  “What do you want me to do?” Shad asked, completely ignoring Gabriel’s words.

  Gabriel growled again and Dominic gave him an apologetic glance, but still didn’t say no to Nate’s stupid idea. “We’re going to decide what info you can give him. We can use that to draw him out as the mole.”

  “Whatever you need.”

  Shad looked so earnest, and neither of the two men in front of him said anything to make him realize he really didn’t have to do anything. So Gabriel would.

  “Is Shad going to be kicked out if he doesn’t do this?”

  “Gabriel!” Shad exclaimed.

  “No, he’s not,” Dominic answered.

  “Locked into the council jail? Punished in any way?”

  “No. I can’t say I’m happy about what he did, but I can understand why he did it, and no one was harmed.”

  Gabriel took Shad’s hand. “See, you don’t have to do it.”

  “But I want to!”

  “You should take care of yourself before throwing yourself into a foolish stunt. You’re still sick, and you don’t have the meds you need to get better. What will happen if the guy sees through your lies and you can’t get away because you’re in pain? Or if the guy finds out about what you’re doing? It could be Nate, for all we know.”

  The beta rose from his chair and growled at Gabriel. Gabriel started to push Shad out of his lap, just in case, but Dominic’s “Stop it. Both of you.” was enough to make him stay put.

  The alpha didn’t look at all happy. “I think we can be sure no one in this room is the mole.”

  “How?” Gabriel insisted. “I know I’m not, but it could be Nate, or even Shad.”

  Shad spluttered in Gabriel’s grasp. “I’m not! Why would I tell you this if I was?”

  Gabriel shrugged. “I know you’re not, but no one can be sure, unless we’re talking about mates, but even then it’s not a certainty. I don’t know exactly how a mate bond works, but I think it wouldn’t be too hard to hide it, since only feelings pass through it. Or am I wrong?”

  “You’re not, but we can’t suspect everyone. We’d never do anything about it if we did.”

  Gabriel was skeptical, but he understood what Dominic was saying. “So we’re starting from the assumption no one in this room is the mole.”

  “Yes.”

  “And nothing of what we’re saying will get out?”

  “No. We won’t even tell our mates, but I’ll probably have to tell the other council members, if anything to warn them to be especially careful. The mole wants to know where we are and when. He has to have a good reason for that.”

  “I’m still not comfortable with Shad telling the guy lies. What if he’s found out?”

  “Don’t talk as if I’m not right here,” Shad grumbled.

  “Oh, believe me, I know you’re right here,” Gabriel answered with a wink.

  Shad’s eyes widened a bit but he stayed serious. “As little as you like this, I’m the one who has to decide whether to do it or not, and I want to do it.”

  “But you—”

  “No buts. I’ll do it.”

  “Gabriel’s right on one thing,” Dominic pointed out. “You have to get better, and soon.”

  Shad deflated a bit. “But how? I won’t until the mole gives me the pills I need.”

  “You need to see Jared, and maybe Adrian. We need to get you healthier, or this is over.”

  “But—”

  “But nothing. Gabriel is right, I won’t risk you more than I have to in order to get this done.”

  “They won’t be able to do anything.”

  “How do you know that? Are you aware that Isaiah cracked some new codes a week ago? And that Kameron has links with a pharmaceutical company? Plus, you know Morin would do whatever he could to help, and he’s still the head of the Glass Research Company for now.”

  Shad slumped into Gabriel’s arms. “Fine, I’ll go.”

  “Yes, and you’ll go now.” Dominic’s voice was firm and Shad didn’t even try to protest.

  Gabriel was relieved at the thought that Shad would finally see a doctor. He had wanted to drag his mate to Adrian’s door as soon as he’d realized Shad was still sick, but he’d had to restrain himself. Now he didn’t anymore.

  He tightened his arms around Shad and got up. Shad yelped and hooked his hands on Gabriel’s shoulders as Gabriel strode to the office door. “You know where to find us if you need us. I’m taking him to the infirmary.”

  Dominic nodded. “You do that, and let me know what Jared and Adrian say, please.”

  “Sure thing.”

  “Oh, and congratulations.”

  Gabriel stopped just before opening the door. “For what?”

  “For finally coming out of the attic and for finding your mate.”

  Gabriel snorted. “Oh, I realized Shad was my mate a while ago.”

  Dominic smirked. “For finally having the guts to face it and talk to him, then.”

  Gabriel laughed, “Thanks.”

  “You’re talking about me as if I’m not even here again,” Shad pointed out.

  “Sorry.”

  Gabriel opened the door and stepped in the hallway. The infirmary was just next door, so he kept Shad in his arms.

  “Put me down, I can walk.”

  “We’re already there. Open the door for me, come on.”

  Shad did as he was asked and Gabriel strode in. Jared looked up from the files he was working on in a corner
of the room and smiled. “I’d heard you were finally out and about.”

  “The attic was starting to get boring.” Gabriel put Shad down on one of the beds and scowled when Shad tried to get up. Shad scowled back and crossed his arms on his chest as Jared came closer.

  “So, to what do I owe this honor?”

  “Shad’s sick again.”

  Jared frowned and Shad proceeded to tell him the entire story, minus the part about the mole. And as Shad talked, Gabriel prayed Jared would find a solution.

  “I’ll have to give you a checkup and talk with Isaiah to see if he found anything about what they infected you with. He already has your file out and decrypted, but we must have missed something if I didn’t know about this, and that means we could’ve missed something else.”

  Gabriel stayed with Shad through the checkup, ignoring the curious glances the people walking in the infirmary gave him. No one came to talk to him, and that was more than fine with him, since he was deep in thought. Now that the whole Shad being a traitor thing had finally come out, they could finally move on, and he couldn’t wait to know if Shad moving on included him or not.

  Chapter Four

  Jared looked like he had bad news, and Shad wasn’t sure he was ready to hear them.

  “So?” Gabriel asked, obviously not privy to Jared’s bed news face.

  “Shad, do you want Gabriel to leave?” Jared asked.

  Gabriel looked offended, but Shad reached for him and shook his head. “No, I want him to stay.” He wasn’t sure what was happening between them, but he did know that Gabriel’s presence was enough to make him calmer. He felt close to Gabriel in a way he’d never felt with anyone but his brother.

  Gabriel gave Jared a smug smile but Jared only nodded. It had to be even worse than what Shad had thought.

  “Just get it over with, doc. I already know it isn’t good.”

  Gabriel’s smile instantly disappeared and he sat on the bed next to Shad. Shad felt Gabriel’s tail slide behind his back as Gabriel pressed his arm around Shad’ shoulders and pulled him close.

  “Your liver is failing, Shad, and if I’m right, your other organs won’t be far behind. It’s a very slow process, but if we don’t find the meds you need soon, the sickness will be too advanced to do anything, even with the Nix’s help. We’ll ask Noem to heal you as frequently as he can, but it really is only a way to slow it down, not to cure it. It’ll fail sooner or later.”

  “And then I’ll die.”

  “Yes.”

  “What are you doing to find the meds?” Gabriel asked, his arm tightening almost painfully around Shad.

  “Everything we can. Isaiah’s looking through the list of viruses the company created and Adrian and Joshua are about to leave to go interrogate Glass.”

  “What if he doesn’t talk?”

  “We’ll have to hope Isaiah can identify the symptoms on the list.”

  “Isn’t the disease mentioned in Shad’s file?”

  Jared shook his head. “Not that we can see, but we’re really having a hard time identifying all the codes used in the patients’ files. Glass and his scientists did their best so that it’d be hard to put everything together if someone ever put their hands on the patients’ files. And even if Isaiah is working as fast as he can, the Glass Company used hundreds of people in their labs and coded their files in several ways.”

  “What else can we do?”

  “Shad, I’d like to hospitalize you to keep everything under control.”

  Shad shook his head and straightened. “No. I want to stay here.”

  “But in the hospital we can help you as soon as something happens and take some more tests I can’t do here.”

  “If you want me to go and have those I will, but I want to stay here, in the mansion.”

  Jared looked almost desperate, and it wasn’t a look Shad had often seen on the man’s face. Still, it didn’t change his decision. He needed to stay in the mansion.

  “You could worsen and need immediate help.”

  “Jared, I get what you’re saying, but I can’t.”

  Gabriel moved next to Shad and leaned closer. “Dominic will understand, you know.”

  “Yeah, I know, but I don’t care.”

  “He’ll be the first one to push you to go if he finds out.”

  “But he won’t.” Shad narrowed his eyes at Jared. “You’re not going to tell him. You can’t.”

  “But I can,” Gabriel declared.

  Shad tensed and moved away. “You could, but you’re not going to.” Gabriel opened his mouth and Shad held a hand up to stop him. “No, you won’t because if you do, I won’t ever talk to you again. I know this sounds childish, but whatever. You already pushed and pushed when it came to talking to Dominic, and you were right, but this is different. This doesn’t hurt anyone but me. It’s my life, and I’m the one who makes decisions. I decided Dominic won’t know, and he won’t.”

  Gabriel gave Shad a curt nod, and while it was obvious he wanted to protest, Shad was glad he didn’t. He turned to look at Jared again. “So, what can we do while we wait?”

  “I’ll give you painkillers and I want you to take them.” He shut Shad up with a glare before Shad could protest. “I know you don’t like taking them but they aren’t the ones I gave you the first time, okay? You shouldn’t be feeling out of it as much as before.”

  “The pain is manageable,” Shad insisted.

  “I’m sure that’s what you’re trying to convince yourself of, yes. I still want you to take it. We can start with a dosage and decide to increase or lower it depending on how you’re feeling.” He waited for Shad to nod to continue. “I also want you to come here every morning and have Noem heal you as much as he can.”

  “Will that really have results?” Shad was skeptical. He’d seen how the Nix healed wounds, of course, so he knew it did work, but he’d never heard of it happening with internal problems. He wasn’t wounded, even if he was sick.

  Jared sighed. “I hope so. Even if they’re minimal, it’ll help us.”

  “Yeah, okay. I’ll come, sure.”

  Jared took a bottle of pills from his white jacket pocket and handed it to Shad. Shad took it reluctantly, but he knew he wouldn’t win this one.

  “Start with one and tell me how you’re feeling. We’ll adjust the dosage as we go.”

  Shad got up from the bed and slipped his shoes back on. “I’ll be in my room. I need to do some work.”

  “You should rest,” Gabriel said from Shad’s side as they made their way to the door after saying goodbye to Jared.

  Shad snorted. “I’m fine. Really,” he insisted at Gabriel’s expression. “I’ve been in pain for a while and I won’t let it stop me.”

  “All right, but you don’t need to work. You could read or something.”

  “I want to work. I actually like doing what I do and I like to help support the pride. It’s not like I even have to stand while I work anyway.”

  Gabriel looked like he wanted to say something, but he pressed his lips together instead and stayed silent. He followed Shad all the way to his room, ignoring the few people who gaped as they passed and waving at Keenan when they passed in front of his office’s open door.

  Shad paused when they got to his door. He opened it and turned to face Gabriel and say goodbye, but changed his mind and pulled him inside instead. “Come on, spill it.”

  “What?” Gabriel said with a mostly innocent expression, but his ears were twitching.

  “I know you want to say something.”

  Gabriel sighed. “I just wanted to spend some time with you. I know the entire situation is still messed up, and I don’t even want to think about what will happen if we don’t find a way to make you get better, but...”

  “But if I really don’t have all that long to live you want to spend as much time with me as possible.”

  “Yes.”

  Shad cupped his mate’s cheek and
pressed a soft kiss on Gabriel’s lips. Gabriel’s eyes widened and he leaned forward to kiss Shad again. He kept it mostly chaste, but it was enough to make Shad’s knees go weak.

  “I want that too, you know.”

  “Do you really have to work?” Gabriel whispered with a rough voice.

  Shad shook his head.

  “Please tell me what you want.”

  “I don’t know. I want everything, but I’m scared to death, and I know I can’t do that to you.”

  “So no claiming.”

  “No claiming.”

  “What about sex?”

  Shad breathed sharply when Gabriel snaked a hand around him and squeezed his ass. “That... yeah. Sex is fine.”

  Gabriel chuckled. “I hope it’ll be better than fine.”

  “Why don’t you show me?”

  Gabriel looked at Shad’s queen size bed and wrinkled his nose. Shad had never noticed it, but from where he was, he could see Gabriel’s nose looked a bit like a cat’s, although not so much it would be noticeable unless one looked for it.

  “What do you think about moving this to my room? My bed’s bigger.”

  Shad laughed. “Sure. Let me pack some stuff.”

  “But for that I have to let go of you.”

  “Think of the reward, though.”

  Gabriel kissed Shad one more time and let him go. “Hurry up.”

  “I will.”

  * * * *

  Shad kissed Gabriel as soon as they closed the attic door. Shad’s bag fell on the floor when he locked his arms around Gabriel’s neck. Gabriel hauled him up, putting his hands under Shad’s ass while Shad wrapped his legs around Gabriel’s waist.

  Gabriel’s mind was too full of thoughts and questions, and even if he’d been the one to propose sex, he knew he had to stop things before they went too far. He needed to explain something first, and he wasn’t looking forward to it. Still, it might be a deal-breaker for Shad, and he needed to know.

  Gabriel removed his hands from under Shad and slowly put him down. Shad’s lips were reddened and shiny and he looked a bit bewildered. “What’s wrong?”