Free Cade by Mason Sabre Page A

bedside table with a small lamp on it. Many of the rooms didn’t have lights in them and Cade relied mainly on table lamps and candles until he got round to installing the actual lighting. It was all a work in progress.  
    “Do you know anything about the boy?” Gemma asked from the doorway, the boy’s bag in her hand.
    “I didn’t check. Maybe there is something in there?” He nodded towards the bag.
    She shook her head. “No, just stuff. There’s a notebook.” She pulled it out. The corners were a little damp, but it hadn't been damaged with the swim.  She leafed through the pages.
    “What’s in it?”
    “No name,” she said. “Numbers, drawings ...” She turned the pages and stopped on one of them. “He’s pretty good,” she said and showed Cade the book. There was a drawing of a rose with drops of blood spilling from it.”
    “It’s bleeding? The rose?”
    “Crying, I think,” she said softly as she inspected it closer. “ I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. Please forgive me. I’m sorry. I'm sorry .” She glanced at Cade, her expression a combination of pity and concern. “That’s what it says, over and over again. Maybe I shouldn’t be reading this.” She closed the book and took it over to the chair in the corner. Taking his clothes from the bag, she piled them on the seat and then put his book on top, hanging his bag over the back of the chair. “It can dry out for him for when he wakes up,” she said. Walking over to Cade, who stood staring at the wolf , she rested a gentle hand on his shoulder. He tensed under her touch, muscles bunching under the flimsy material of his shirt. He didn’t dare reach up and place his hand on top of hers.
    “You saved his life, you know. I think it’s wonderful.”
    “Not yet I haven’t,” he replied. “We have to get through tonight first.”
    He closed his eyes and hoped.
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Ten
     
    Closing the door was perhaps the hardest part for Cade. He paused with the door slightly ajar and watched the young wolf for a few seconds more. The boy was awake, his eyes unfocused, staring out at nothing.
    Perhaps it was the bond that made Cade stand there and watch him. Whatever the reason, Cade’s heart was heavy with the weight of things he didn’t really understand. It was only when the boy’s eyes snapped wide open and his head jerked up, that Cade took a quick step back and pulled the door closed with him. He held onto the door handle and listened. The boy had got off the bed, the thud of his paws vibrating through the floorboards.
    “What’s wrong?” Gemma’s voice was filled with concern behind him.
    “He’s up—and getting restless. He doesn’t know how to fight the hunger yet.” Cade knew this would be one of the hardest obstacles to try and overcome. “No Stephen yet?”
    Gemma shook her head solemnly. “Not yet.”
    The door rattled, and Cade instinctively gripped the handle tighter even though the boy wouldn’t be able to get it open. He turned the key in the lock—they needed to keep him contained until they could get him his quarry. He didn’t want to reach out with his mind and connect again, but something inside called to him, a curiosity perhaps to see what was going on. He gritted his teeth and forced the need down. Communicating with the half-breed this way was draining him—he could feel his body being sapped of all its strength. He couldn’t remember the last time he had ever felt so weak. His body was that of an Other , meaning he had incredible strength, more than any Human could ever comprehend, so to feel this powerless was just not normal.
    “Will he be okay in there?” Gemma whispered.
    “As long as he doesn’t figure he can smash the glass and get out, he is.”
    The door rattled once more, and then there was the sound of claws against the bare wooden floor. They heard the creak of the springs on the bed, then a thud onto the floor, and pacing anew. It grew louder and faster until