Cade (30 page)

Phoenix could only stare up at Trevor.

“Strays are what we call those who chose not to be with us, or those who have been exiled. They don’t tend to live very long, though. They don’t have the rights to hunt like we do, so they have to hunt on
Human
lands, and that is forbidden. The
Humans
catch them and kill them, or worse, enslave them and force them to work against
Others
and so they are killed either way. I worry that my son won’t survive very long out there, Phoenix. He isn’t used to it.”

Phoenix thought to his own experience. Those boys had attacked him for no good reason.
Humans
would make Cade suffer, too, if he tried to live in their world. Cade was strong and he would fight, but when he had an army of
Humans
against him, how long would he last?

“Cade will never let you go,” Trevor continued. “He is too soft. He would find you and bring you home each time, tend to your wounds and make you promise not to leave. So, you see, we have a bit of a problem here. The longer you stay in the pack, the more chance Cade has of being cast out. I am alpha, but there is only so much I can do before they challenge me.”

He sighed and cupped Phoenix’s face in his hands, brushing the fur back on his head. “I know you can hear me and understand. I know you love Cade as much as I do and will help me to save him?”

Phoenix growled and gave a nod in response. Trevor smiled.

“That makes me very happy. It means so much to me.” He leaned in close. “I am not supposed to tell you this—Cade didn’t want me to say—but we have found your maker. Do you know that if you beat him, then you can stay, and Cade won’t be pushed out?”

Phoenix’s heart thumped wildly in his chest. Could it be that simple?

“You’re meant to kill him.”

Phoenix wasn’t sure he had heard right.
Kill?

As if reading his mind, Trevor continued, “But we could fix this together. You just beat him, and I’ll finish it off for you. No one will ever need to know. It can be our secret,” he whispered. “I don’t want to lose my son, and I am sure you don’t want to lose Cade?”

No, he didn’t want to lose Cade. He didn’t want all these bad things to happen.

“You don’t have to answer me now,” Trevor said. “Think about it. You will see Cade in the morning ... see what the cage did. He’s locked in a cage made of silver, and he may not survive it. Lots of
wolves
have died in there. I hope he is strong enough.” He wiped a tear away from his eye. “I’ll put my number in your pocket, and you can call me tomorrow and tell me what you want. We can fix this, Phoenix—we can make it all right.” His expression grew worried. “But you can't ever tell Cade, Phoenix, because I am not really allowed to help you with your maker. But I want Cade to be okay, and I think you do, too.”

Trevor stood then, ruffling Phoenix’s fur one last time before turning and leaving him standing there with so much indecision filling his mind he wasn’t sure he could put it all into any order.

One thing was for certain, though. He’d caused all of this. It was up to him to fix it.

Chapter Thirty-Two

As they rounded the corner to Cade’s house, Phoenix could see that the lights were on upstairs. He said nothing to Trevor as he drove him up to the house, but fear swelled in his gut. There shouldn’t be any lights on at all. Cade was locked in a cage and no one was supposed to be home. As they drew closer, Phoenix spotted Cade’s car parked in the driveway. It was at a wrong angle, but it was definitely his car.

A mixture of excitement and fear rushed over him. “Cade is home,” he murmured breathlessly, forgetting that it was Trevor with him.

Trevor peered into the darkness. “It’s early.”

“He was supposed to be back in the morning,” Phoenix whispered.

Trevor pulled the car to a stop just behind Cade’s awkwardly parked car. “Maybe he couldn’t hack it in the cage. I told you that boy is soft. Malcolm probably let him go early.”

“He can do that?”

“He’s head of the Council—he can do what he wants.” Phoenix was barely able to contain his excitement and relief that Cade was back earlier than he’d expected. He stared at the house with anticipation. “You just go about your things,” Trevor said. “Cade will sleep it off.” He looked him straight in the eye, voice lowering. “And remember what I said, Phoenix.”

How could he forget? Trevor’s words swam around in his mind like a song on repeat that he couldn’t get rid of.

Phoenix climbed out of the car and closed the door without another word to Trevor. Phoenix tried hard not to squirm under the weight of the other man’s gaze as his eyes stayed fixed firmly on him. Phoenix couldn’t bear the shame of everything he had caused, and Trevor knew it. But Cade’s father had the answers and could help him, and Phoenix was not going to pass up the opportunity. He gave the man a curt nod and then turned and walked along the side of the house to the back.

The house was eerily silent when Phoenix stepped inside, everything on the ground floor in complete darkness. Phoenix locked the back door and hung the key up on the rack as Cade had taught him to do. He crept up the stairs, not wanting to disturb Cade in any way. Pausing outside his bedroom door, Phoenix was unsure whether he should stay away and just let him sleep it off like Trevor had said. He strained his ears for any sound from within, but everything was deadly quiet. The lamp cast eerie shadows in the corners of the hallway, making the hairs on the back of his neck prickle with unease. Pushing the door open quietly, he whispered, “Cade?”

Cade lay on the bed, arms out at either side of him, illuminated ominously by the two lamps in his room. Phoenix took a tentative step into the room, wanting so badly to wake him and hear him say he was all right. He needed to let him sleep, though—let him recover from his ordeal. Shame and guilt burnt deeply inside him as he stared at Cade’s unmoving form. This was all his fault and he knew it. Everyone got hurt because of the things he did, and he didn’t know how to stop it. Hate ripped through him as he caught his reflection in the free standing mirror in the corner of the room. He tore his gaze away, despising the monster that stood there staring back out at him.

With each step he took closer, he could better see the extent of Cade’s injuries. The room smelt like burnt flesh, sweat and blood. Cade wore no shoes but still had his jeans on, his shirt rumpled and splayed open on either side of him. Deep, red lines ran down the curve of his throat, smeared blood making his throat appear like it had been some part of a horror set. Cade’s chest had been gouged several times and looking at his dirty, bloodied fingernails, Phoenix knew that Cade had done this to himself—tried to claw his skin away. It was the state of his palms, however, that made Phoenix gasp in shock. The skin had been burnt raw, the burns so bad that Phoenix doubted
Human
hands would ever have been able to recover from this. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, stifling the sobs that threatened to erupt. Unable to stand it any longer, he dashed from the room and to the bathroom. Flinging the door shut, he cowered down onto the floor next to the sink and put his head in his hands. He couldn’t push the images of Cade from his mind. He let his sobs go, deep and inconsolable as the weight of everything he had caused these last couple of months came crashing down around him. Already he had caused so much pain that his father had cast him out, and now he was just causing more. Sorrow and pain just seemed to follow him around until someone died from it—and Cade nearly had.

He let all his grief pour out, sadness at what he had done to his mother, at what he had cost his family, at the
Human
boy he had killed … and now this. Cade would be right to throw him out in the street just like his father had.

Minutes later, head throbbing and throat sore, Phoenix wiped his eyes and made himself stand up. He had to fix this. Leaning on the counter, he stared into the mirror at the red-rimmed eyes and pale complexion. “Snap out of it,” he scolded himself. “Snap the hell out of it and go fix this.” He washed his face and then dried it on the small hand towel that hung by the side. He pulled Trevor’s card out of his pocket and stared at it. He set his jaw in a firm line of determination, knowing what he had to do. “But Cade first,” he muttered to himself.

Stuffing the card back into his pocket, he went down to the kitchen and pulled out a small bowl, filled it with warm water and then filled another with water mixed with one of Emily’s concoctions. He placed both on a tray and got some clean rags Cade kept, dumping one in each bowl. When he got back upstairs, he pushed the tray onto the bedside table and tried his damned hardest to focus on the task of cleaning the injuries instead of wasting time ruminating on what he had caused. This was not the time to wallow in self-pity.

The bed dipped under Phoenix’s weight as he knelt next to Cade. Cade seemed to rouse slightly, groaning, but his eyes stayed closed. He licked his dry lips, his head falling to the side as he passed out once again.

With trembling hands, Phoenix took the cloth from one of the bowls and squeezed out some of the excess water. He squeezed the rest lightly on Cade’s throat, blood and water running down the side of his neck. Phoenix caught it with another cloth and wiped it away. He was careful not to touch Cade’s wounds with any of the rough cloths. Cade’s throat was bruised under the blood but most of the other wounds were just scratches. Phoenix soaked the other cloth into Emily’s emulsion and dripped some onto Cade’s skin. Cade flinched as the first one dropped, his eyes fluttering. Phoenix held his breath, anticipating Cade opening his eyes. When they remained closed, he continued his cleansing, working down Cade’s body. He cleaned the wounds on his chest the same way, leaving his hands to last.

When he had done everything else but those, Phoenix went down to change the bowls and cloths and found some crepe bandages in the cabinet in the kitchen. Once he was back in the room, he pulled one of Cade’s hands into his lap and squeezed the foul-smelling liquid onto his palm. He didn’t want to touch the flesh there at all—it seemed like it would come away with even the slightest contact. He held Cade’s arm by the wrist, putting his hand over the water so that the blood ran into it. When the wounds were cleaned as much as he could manage, he gently patted it dry and then took one of the soaked bandages to dress the wound. He placed a dry one around the outside of that, making sure that while he was gentle, the right amount of pressure was being applied. When Cade’s hands were finally wrapped, Phoenix stared at them for a minute, praying it would work.

Putting everything away, Phoenix sat at the side of the bed near Cade’s head and watched him resting. His breaths came deep and even, and he almost looked as if he were sleeping peacefully now that all the blood and grime had been washed away. “Cade,” Phoenix whispered. “Cade, do you want something to eat?” Phoenix wanted to give him a small shake to wake him, but there didn’t seem to be anywhere to touch. He eventually placed a hand on Cade’s shoulder and shook him gently.

Cade sighed and lifted his hand to his face, but Phoenix caught it and put it back down so that he didn’t hurt himself. Cade needed to eat—that was the thing, right? That’s what Cade had done with Phoenix. Food was vital in building his strength back up … that’s what he had taught him. He remembered the frozen meat Cade kept in the freezer. He had shown Phoenix how to defrost it so that it wasn’t cooked, just warm as if it were a fresh kill still. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he said as he slipped away from Cade’s bed.

Phoenix moved fast, doing everything just as Cade had shown him. Running it through his mind so that he didn’t get anything wrong, he chopped the meat into small bites and then took the bowl upstairs to Cade’s room.

Cade had partially rolled onto his side while Phoenix was gone, but he was still completely out of it. He hoped he’d be able to get him to have some food. Phoenix climbed onto the bed beside Cade again and took the tiniest of the cuts from the bowl to gently push it between Cade’s lips. Cade’s canines were half down, and they had pierced his bottom lip. When Cade made no move to take the meat into his mouth, Phoenix pushed the morsel inside and waited. There was no response and Phoenix felt his heart sink.

“Cade?” He pushed at Cade’s shoulder again. “You need to eat. Cade.”

After what seemed like forever, Cade murmured something, and much to Phoenix’s relief, he began to chew on the meat that was sitting in his mouth. He rolled onto his back and raised his hand to his face again—Phoenix caught it, gently placing it down on the bedcovers once more.

“Phoenix?” Cade croaked. Phoenix hadn't realised he was crying until a tear rolled off his face and landed on Cade’s arm.

  Cade peered at him through slitted eyes. “Phoenix … god … you’re okay …” he rasped, his breathing heavy as he tried to speak. He reached out a hand to him and Phoenix grabbed his wrist gently and held it. 

“I'm sorry,” he whispered. “I make everything so bad.”

“No,” Cade gave a weak shake of his head. “No, you don’t.” He started to cough with the effort of talking.

When the coughing fit had ended, Phoenix asked softly, “Do you want some more food?”

Cade nodded slowly and opened his mouth for another piece, his drooping eyes fixed on Phoenix as if he couldn’t believe he was sitting right there with him, alive and well. It took a good hour to feed Cade the entire contents of the bowl, with Cade drifting in and out of sleep. When he was done, Phoenix sat cross-legged on the bed next to Cade and watched him fall back to sleep. He took the dishes downstairs, and by the time he came back up again, Cade was asleep properly. He didn’t wake him this time. Instead, he turned off the lamp and curled himself up in the bed next to Cade and went to sleep.