Dark Veil (11 page)

Grant glanced over to their father, but his father was too focused on Stephen to be bothered with him. Grant shook his head slowly, the fear in his eyes clear. Phoenix’s heart sank, knowing he was leaving his little brother in the hands of their cruel father.

Phoenix stood still at the gate for a few seconds—he saw his father for the first time,
really
saw him. He was nothing more than a pathetic drunk and a bully ... not the father he had known or grown up with. Maybe he was dead to him, too. He wasn’t something to fear any more—he was something to pity. Stephen had proved that. Phoenix walked back past him to Grant and wrapped his arms around him one last time before leaving.  “The offer is always open,” he whispered to him. “I’ll always be here for you.” He squeezed him tightly before letting him go. He turned to their father, who stood there gritting his teeth at the brotherly embrace. His eyes kept shooting to Stephen, fear flickering in their depths. Phoenix stared at him without fear this time. “If you ever lay another hand on him, I will take him away from you and you will never see us again.”

Without waiting for a response, Phoenix turned and walked back to the car, shoulders pulled back. He didn’t spare his father another look—he wasn’t going to let him see the hurt he had caused.

Stephen followed Phoenix to the car, fury coursing red and hot through his veins.
Humans
. He could never understand them—never understand how they could do things like this. It didn’t matter how loving they were to their children; they could change in a matter of a heartbeat.

Funny … it was
Others
who had been christened monsters.

Chapter Twelve

If there was any place in the world that Gemma loved to be, it was lying beside Cade with his arm around her and her leg resting across his. It was the place that felt the most right. She snuggled against him, revelling in the warmth of his hard, naked body beside hers. This was the first time they had managed to be alone since she had told him that she was pregnant. Her lips curved into a smile as she thought about how gentle and protective he had been with her when they had made love during the night. He had made her feel safe—like nothing could harm her or the baby.

According to the digital clock on the bedside table, it was five in the morning— too early to get up yet. They still had a couple of hours before they had to meet Stephen, who would be bringing their papers. Gemma tried not to think about it so much. The more she did, the harder and more impossible it seemed to become. It still wasn’t real yet—more like a dream than something they could actually do.
Could they do it? Could they really leave?

She thought about her mother the most. Surely Emily had dreams of her own about her grandchildren and when they would come. Gemma was sure as hell that they didn’t involve secrets and her daughter running away. It wasn’t meant to be like this—it was supposed to be a magical time, when a mother passed down the lessons she had learnt to her daughter to prepare her for the pregnancy and the birth. Gemma hated the idea that she would miss all that. A sudden longing for her mother filled her—she would miss her so much. She would miss her dad, too. He might be the Alpha, he might be head of the Council, but inside, he was still her dad. She remembered how he would play with her when she was young; he hadn’t always been so serious. Maybe the years as leader had done that to him, or maybe she just had never really recovered from her parent-hating teenage years. It made her face flush sometimes when she thought back to the way she had acted. God knows what had been going through her mind back then, though Stephen had been far worse. Maybe their dad had just got hard to it all.

Cade rolled onto his side and dragged Gemma closer. “Not sleeping?” he murmured, his voice thick with sleep.

“Thinking.”

He peered at her through half opened eyes. “Uh, oh. That doesn’t sound good.” He breathed in deeply and tucked her closer to his side, his strong arms bands of steel around her. The sleepy warmth of his body seeped into hers, his scent so typically masculine and musky, a fine blend of man and
wolf
that she loved so much. Sometimes, she couldn’t get enough of it. “It’ll all work out, you know? You’ll see.”

For someone with such a logical mind, Cade was always the one who relied the most on things happening as they were meant to, some hand of fate that would push everything into alignment at the right moment.
Maybe that’s just how he deals with fear,
Gemma thought. She could be wrong, but when he couldn’t control the situation, that was his go-to thought. Maybe she should do the same— putting his life in the hands of fate seemed to save Cade a lot of worry.

It was such a vast contrast to her brother. Stephen was a fuck-it-and-see-what-happens kind of man. The two men were so different in temperament that it had always amazed Gemma that they had ended up being best friends. If something was a high risk, likely to go very wrong, Cade would reconsider his options and try to find a more rational approach. Then, he’d take the one that he thought best in the end—even if there was still a certain amount of danger involved. On the other hand, Stephen would grab the bull by the horns, say fuck it, and do it anyway.

But Gemma couldn’t be like either of them. Her mind simply turned things over and over again until she was ready to scream from it. There were just so many things that could go wrong. “What if we get caught?”

Cade kissed the top of her hair. “What if we don’t? Have you thought about that?”

Legs intertwining with his, she buried her face into the crook of his shoulder and closed her eyes. Maybe she could sleep for another hour. “I don’t want anything to go wrong.”

“It’ll all be okay, you’ll see,” he reassured her softly. His hand slid up her back and strong fingers tangled in her hair, pulling her head back gently to capture her mouth in a sultry kiss. No matter how much he kissed her, how much he held her, it was never enough. The
wolf
demanded full possession of her, wanting to be mated the same way Aaron was about to be, so that everyone knew that she was his and no one else’s. He deepened the kiss and she opened to him willingly, his tongue sweeping in to taste the sweet recesses of her mouth. She moaned softly as he broke away so that he could trail hot kisses along her neck and nip his way down to her full breast. She let out a small gasp when his mouth closed over the turgid peak and sucked her nipple into his mouth, rolling it with his tongue until it hardened enough for him to take between his teeth and bite down gently. He let out a low growl of approval when she arched her back, pushing herself more firmly into his mouth. She let out her own growl as desire overwhelmed her senses and she was burning up for him. His hand slid down along her back, leaving a trace of goose bumps in its wake. “Cold?” he whispered against her skin.

“No,” she breathed huskily and tried to pull his head back onto her breast. She felt him smile against her before resting his hand on the curve of her back and pressing her closer. He opened his mouth wider to take in more of the lush fullness of her breast, the hot wetness of his mouth and the flick of his tongue sending lightning through her body. She moved her hand down between them and wrapped her fingers around the rock hardness of him. A groan escaped him and his entire body tensed. With a tight hold, she started to stroke him, slowly at first, and as his attention on her breast became more eager, she sped up.

Another growl tore from his throat, deeper this time. His hands moved down to squeeze the soft flesh of her buttocks. His
wolf
was there, ready, waiting, wanting. The world had shifted when he opened his eyes—new colours, deeper, richer clearer—every sense suddenly alight within him.

He pulled her hand from him abruptly and Gemma tugged her hand back in protest. Any objection died on her lips as he lifted her, both hands on her smooth backside. She gasped at the sheer strength of him as he lifted her up and rolled at the same time, bringing her with him. In the next minute, she was straddling him, breathless as she looked down into his handsome face. Fingers gripping onto the tops of her thighs, he tried to push her down onto him, but her legs tightened around him and a devilish grin spread across her face. Pushing his arms up over his head, she looked down at him and smiled seductively.

“Not so fast.” Cade groaned in frustration and craned his neck to capture a taut nipple in his mouth as she leaned over him She gasped and nearly lowered herself down onto him. He thrust up in response, but she quickly pushed up off him once again. “Uh, uh. Not yet.”

He growled, not happy with being denied what he was aching for. “I guess you’re done with the thinking part?”

“I need a distraction.” She leaned down and nipped at his bottom lip before pressing her mouth to his for a searing kiss. A deep growl rumbled against her lips, demanding more. God she loved him so much, it overwhelmed her at times. She wanted to crawl inside him and stay there forever.

His head back fell back as she kissed along his jawline and this time, when he slid his hands down to cup her bottom, she didn’t stop him.

“How about this?” he murmured, slipping one hand between them to the slick heat at the apex of her thighs—she was so wet and ready for him. She sucked in a breath as he slid his fingers through her drenched folds, her heart thumping loudly in her chest.

“Cade …”

His mouth was on hers again, cutting her short. “Yes?” Her body tensed when his fingers found and circled that spot that brought her the most pleasure.

“Cade … stop it.” Her words came out weak, breathless, with no conviction. “You’re cheating.”

“You want me to stop this?” He pressed harder, circled more firmly, then thrust his fingers inside her. She arched her back and cried out. God, she was so ready for him, so wet. Gemma breathed his name over and over again as his fingers continued to tease and flick and stroke. “Doesn’t seem to me like you really want me to stop.”

“Cade, you need to …”

She didn’t get to finish what she was saying—her body had others ideas. It didn’t help that Cade was holding her in place. He felt it coming, felt the build-up in her body. He pressed his mouth to hers as her body shuddered and her pleasure rode her. She threw her head back with a cry and he groaned from the sight of her coming apart in his hands. She nearly gave in and sat herself down just where he wanted her. But as she tried to push herself up again, Cade grabbed hold of her hips and pushed her down so that she took all of him in— deeply, completely. Gemma’s eyes grew wide and she gasped.

She was burning up, need spreading through her like wildfire. She slid herself up and down again, the thick fullness of him inside her making her breath catch. She bit her lip at the sheer pleasure of it. “I hate you,” she panted and then whimpered as he thrust upwards to match her movements as she rode him. He placed strong hands on her slim hips and pushed her down again so that he was buried deep inside her once more, picking up speed and setting the rhythm. She leaned onto him, hands flat against the solid wall of his chest, her breathing ragged as she moved with him. When he lifted his head to flick his tongue over the sensitive tip of her breast and then take it into his mouth, Gemma thought she would explode. She dug her nails into the smooth skin of his chest, her senses on overload. When he turned his attention onto the next breast, a husky cry escaped her and she begged.

He reared up suddenly so that she straddled his lap and her legs were wrapped around his lean hips. “Oh, god,” she whimpered as the new position pushed him back into her slick heat to the hilt.  He bit down gently on the fullness of her breast, growling possessively against the lush mound. She groaned and dug her fingers into the hard muscle of his back. The pressure built and grew until she couldn’t hold on any longer. Cade thrust deeper, harder, faster—relentless in his devastation of her senses. Gemma’s head fell back, her body clenching like a hot fist around him. A scream tore from her, his name ending in a hoarse whisper on her tongue. Cade felt his own climax rise, unable to hold his own need at bay. He let go, his fingers tightening on her buttocks as his own release came with a guttural growl. His arms slid around her trembling form and he held her tightly to him, the aftershocks of her orgasm still rolling through her. When his own body eventually stopped shuddering, he continued to hold her close, burying his face in her neck and breathing her in. They stayed joined together for a moment, panting and damp with perspiration until they both caught their breaths.

Gemma pulled back slightly to look at him, a soft smile playing on her lips. She brushed his damp hair back and stared into his eyes. His face was beaded with perspiration, his cheeks as flushed as hers felt, but his blue eyes were bright. “Do you promise that it will all be okay?” she whispered, still trying to catch her breath.

He gripped her chin gently with his fingers and drew her to him for a hot kiss. “I promise. Together, remember?”

She nodded and gave a small smile, wanting desperately to believe his words. “We need to get ready and go to meet Stephen.”

“You shower,” he said tenderly. “I’ll go find us some breakfast.”

She smiled and kissed him before getting up. She didn’t bother to dress as she walked to the bathroom, and Cade let his eyes travel appreciatively down her soft curves, wishing he could pull her back to bed and spend the whole day there—just him and Gemma and their baby. His hunger for her seemed insatiable. She disappeared into the other room and a minute later, there was the sound of water running. His mind drifted to Phoenix, wondering how he was doing. In just two years, the kid had come to be such a huge part of his life. But soon, he would grow up and move on—he was almost an adult now. It scared Cade a little if he admitted it. When Phoenix became a man, would he leave and disappear? Walk out of Cade’s life as easily as he had walked in? Cade had got used to having him around these last couple of years.

But Phoenix wasn’t his …

Gentle knocking brought Cade from his thoughts, and he frowned. His
wolf
snarled, uneasy and wary. Something was off. It was too early for any kind of maid service, and there was no familiar scent from whoever was standing on the other side of the door Senses alert, and his
wolf
warning that something wasn’t quite right, Cade slid out of bed quietly and pulled on his jeans from the chair beside the bed, careful not to make any noise. The door handle moved down slowly and his
wolf
growled a warning. He crept to the door and the next thing he knew, a loud echo sounded through the room and he was suddenly falling. In the next moment, he lay crumpled on the floor, clutching at his throbbing shoulder. He stared down at his torn flesh where a silver bullet had just pierced his flesh.

Someone had just shot him through the fucking door.

Two
Humans
and an
Other
—a male he recognised from reception—entered the room, the lock splintered. Confused and weak, Cade tried to call out to Gemma, but his jaw locked tight. The fucking silver had already snaked through his veins and up along his spine, paralysing him as it went. He fought the pain and numbness and grated out her name. One of the
Humans
stepped over him, unconcerned, and headed towards the bathroom. Cade tried to crawl along the floor, but his body wasn’t responding. He heard Gemma scream before he saw the man dragging her wet and naked from the bathroom. “D-Don’t hurt her,” Cade rasped. “Please … sh-she’s pregnant.”