Cade (25 page)

“Fuck,” he rasped, the metal under his hands squealing in protest as he gripped on hard. Gemma sucked him in deeper, taking him all the way down and making his eyes roll back in his head. Curling her fingers around the base, she squeezed lightly as her mouth slid back up and then down again. His hips jacked up off the bed, the wet silkiness of her mouth around him turning every nerve in his body into a mass of sizzling, erotic sensation. She continued her onslaught until his ragged breaths turned into long, desperate moans.

“Gemma … fuuuck …”

A light rapping on the door made Cade and Gemma both freeze. Cade struggled to focus, his mind lost with what Gemma was doing to him.

“Cade?” Phoenix’s quiet voice drew a soft curse from Cade, his head falling back against the pillow in frustration. He gritted his teeth and stifled a groan when Gemma slowly slid her mouth back up his hard length before releasing, licking her lips as her smouldering gaze met his.

“Yes?” Cade croaked, thinking the boy had to have the worst timing in the world. Gemma bit down on her lip to suppress a laugh.

“I thought maybe you wanted to know that Stephen just pulled up outside.”

They both shot up, any amusement evaporating in an instant.
Fuck
. This was not good.

Gemma leapt from the bed first, dragging the covers around her, and Cade scrambled to his drawers to pull out jeans and a t-shirt. Their clothes from the night before still lay in a damp heap on the floor. “Go and meet him and tell him I’ll be down in a minute, okay?” he shouted to Phoenix.

Phoenix didn’t reply, but Cade heard him walk down the hall and descend the stairs. Of all the times Stephen would decide to come around, why now?

“I have nothing to wear,” Gemma wailed, staring at her damp clothes. “I can't wear these.”

Cade rummaged in his drawer and pulled out a shirt. “Throw this on.”

She caught it. “And say what?”

“That you slept here. Got caught in the rain … borrowed my clothes,” he ran off a list, hastily dragging on his jeans and t-shirt. “Shit, I don’t know ... anything.” He strode over to her, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, hard. “Just because we know, doesn’t mean he does. You both stay here overnight all the time. This isn’t any different.” It wasn’t Stephen Cade was afraid of, or that he regretted what had happened with Gemma. He wasn’t afraid of Stephen’s wrath or anger—it was the disappointment and sense of betrayal his best friend would feel if he found out about Gemma right now. He didn’t want to do that to Stephen. 

“This is Stephen,” Gemma breathed shakily. “He knows everything.”

“Then wearing my shirt won’t make a blind bit of difference,” he said smiling, placing another quick kiss on her lips. If Stephen found out, then they would have to find a way deal with it—because there was no chance in hell he was letting Gemma go. He ran a thumb over her bottom lip, desire shooting through him at the memory of what that mouth had been doing just moments before. “I don’t regret a minute of any of this. Remember that,” he whispered huskily.

She gave him a tremulous smile despite the worry in her eyes. “Me neither.”

He let her go reluctantly and then hurriedly slipped his trainers on. “I’ll go down and see what he wants—probably about the pack run and taking Phoenix.” He paused at the door, hand on the handle, and took a second to glance back at Gemma. He kept thinking he’d look back and she’d be gone, that he’d realise it had all just been a dream. But there she stood still—she was real, so damn real, and she was there. He pushed the door open and bounded down the stairs to the kitchen.

Stephen wasn’t there.

“He hasn’t come in yet?” Cade asked Phoenix, who was sitting at the table drinking a glass of the vile stuff Emily had given to him. It looked more like orange slime than anything drinkable. Cade wondered how much Phoenix knew about what he had been doing with Gemma. The boy was by no means stupid … Besides, with his
Other
hearing, he must have picked up at least some of the goings-on. Was that why he had warned them?

Cade didn’t have time to give it any more thought as Stephen suddenly came into view through the window as he approached the back door. He entered just as Phoenix took a big gulp of the revolting concoction in front of him and screwed his face up as the foul taste hit his taste buds.

“You get used to it,” Stephen said.

Phoenix swallowed hard—hard enough that they could both hear it. “I think you're lying,” he choked out.

“You will, I promise. Then you’ll be asking her for more.”

Stephen turned to Cade and, with no preamble, said, “Is Gemma here? I saw my car out front. She took it again.”

“She’s upstairs,” Cade said.

“Is she okay?”

Cade nodded. He hated lying, but he hated to lie to Stephen even more. “She got caught in the rain and she stayed here overnight.” Not exactly a lie—both facts were true—but it was the middle part that was missing.

Stephen’s gaze narrowed. “Why did she come here?”

Shit
. “She wanted to talk about the meeting.” Again, not exactly a lie.

The floorboards above them creaked as Gemma walked on the landing, and both Stephen and Cade’s eyes darted towards the sound. Phoenix was still sitting at the table, staring at them, the rigid tension in the air palpable. They both glanced at him before Stephen motioned towards the door. “Can we go for a walk?”

Stephen knew. Cade was certain. He was far too intelligent not to know.

“Err … I’m going to go do some reading,” Phoenix said as he slipped from his seat. He left the room hastily, leaving them in awkward silence. Cade stood there, guilt riding his ass as he stared at his best friend. Stephen turned without a word and went back outside, leaving Cade no choice but to follow.

Taking a deep breath, Cade followed Stephen outside, his stomach heavy with dread. He knew he had hurt his friend, knew that he was feeling betrayed—and there wasn’t a damn thing he could say to him.

Stephen kept walking, his long strides carrying him swiftly until they were a good distance from the house. He turned around abruptly to glare at Cade, stopping him dead in his tracks. “Did you sleep with my sister? Last night? Did you and Gemma have sex?”

Cade exhaled heavily and ran a hand through his short hair. He couldn’t deny it; he couldn’t lie straight to his face when he had asked him a direct question.

Stephen breathed in deeply, then growled. “I can smell it on you, you know.”

“It wasn’t planned.”

His hands fisted at his sides as he fought with his anger. “She’s my sister, Cade. My
fucking
sister …. and you …” He turned and paced, two steps, then faced him again. “She’s like your sister, too,” he shouted. “I don’t … I don’t … I have no fucking idea what to say to you right now. Was this why we were friends? So you could get into her pants?”

“No. Fuck no. It isn’t like that.”

“Really? Then what is it like? Tell me because I can't even fathom it. I can't understand why you would both do this. I'm such a fucking idiot, aren’t I? I mean, how did I not see it?” He closed the distance between them and got in Cade’s face. “Was this the first time? Tell me how much of a dick I actually am.”

“This isn’t about you, Stephen. I didn’t do it to hurt you.” Cade scowled, knowing he could only do what he could to explain things to his best friend, and the rest was up to Stephen.

“Really? Then why? There are a
million
other women out there for you. Why her? Why Gemma?”

“I love her,” he said firmly. “I'm in love with her.”

A sarcastic laugh exploded from him. “You can't be, you son-of-a-bitch. She is
tiger
and you're
wolf—
or did you forget that part? What do you think will happen?”

“I don’t know, but I love her, Stephen,” he repeated, determined not to back down now that things were in the open. He saw Stephens’s fist come down, could have shot out of the way before it reached his face, but he did nothing to stop it. If this was what Stephen needed, then he’d let him have it. It came down fast, smashing into Cade’s face and sending him reeling backwards.

“This is my sister. That means that she is off limits to you. Don’t you get that?” He advanced on Cade again, pushing and shoving him back. Another powerful blow got him on his jaw, and Cade took it, stumbling back from the force of it. He refused to hit Stephen back—he deserved this.

“Hit me, you shit. Fucking hit me,” Stephen yelled.

“I’m not going to fight you,” Cade panted, spitting out blood. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me?” Another violent shove. “You already did that, asshole. Be a man. Hit me.” He pushed Cade hard, slamming him in the chest so that Cade was forced to stumble backward or fall flat on his back. He took each blow as it came but refused to counterattack. He wasn’t going to get into this.

“It isn’t like you think ...”

“It isn’t?” Stephen jeered. “You mean you didn’t just spend the night fucking my sister? My best friend—the person I thought I could trust.”

“I love her, Stephen. I have loved her for a long time. We didn’t do this to hurt you.”

“You have promised yourself to someone else, Cade,” he roared. “Have you forgotten that? Has she?”

“That wasn’t my choice ...”

“This isn’t your choice, either. You’re going to get her and yourself killed. How could you?”

Stephen was like a brother—shit, he was closer to him than to his real brothers. It tore Cade inside to see him hurting this way—but what had happened with Gemma was not something he would apologise for. Nothing felt more right in his life than being with her.

“I trusted you … with everything. With my life. I never believed you’d ever betray me this way.”

“You can still trust me.”

“No.” He shook his head, furious. “Because this is what you fucking do.” Cade didn’t fight Stephen as he grabbed him by the shirt and sent his fist cracking down on Cade’s face once more. He let go of him and Cade went flailing back, losing his balance and landing on the ground with a thud. Stephen went down with him, straddling him.

“Stephen,” Gemma yelled from a distance. “Stop it.”

Stephen’s fists came down fast. Cade dodged most of them, moving to the side, but still refused to hit Stephen back. He tried to grab his wrists to stop the blows, but Stephen managed to wrench free each time.

“Stephen, stop it,” Gemma yelled again as she came racing towards them wearing nothing but Cade’s shirt.

“Don’t you come here,” he bellowed. “This is between Cade and me. It’s nothing to do with you.”

“It’s
everything
to do with me,” she shouted, launching herself at them and pushing her brother. Cade stared up at him, blood welling at the corners of his mouth and running from his nose. Anger contorted Stephen’s features as he brought his fist down again. Gemma beat at her brother’s back, trying to shove him off Cade, unable to budge him an inch. “It was
me
who came here,” she pleaded with him. “It was me, not Cade.”

“He didn’t say no,” Stephen growled. “He could have. He should have.”

“Please, Stephen,” Gemma begged, sobbing now. “Stop it. Please.”

Breathing hard, Stephen clenched his jaw, staring daggers at Cade, but stopped hitting him. Cade lay perfectly still so as not to set him off again. “You were my friend,” he grated.

“I still am. This doesn’t change it,” Cade wheezed. “I'm sorry. I didn’t do it to hurt you.”

He let go of Cade abruptly and leapt to his feet. Panting, he stared down at a bloodied Cade as he struggled into a sitting position. “What do you think is going to happen?” he snapped. “What will your father do? First, you take in the boy that he doesn’t approve of, and now this. Are you in for execution? Is that what you want?” He turned on Gemma. “And you. You're a fucking tabby cat. Your purpose …”

“My purpose was chosen for me,” she shot back. “I don’t choose to carry on the family line. I'm not going to lay down like some genetic whore just to produce cubs for the pack.”

“It’s your duty.”

“
Fuck
duty,” she said. “You do whatever you want, refusing to do what is meant of you. Why is it different for me?”

“He is
wolf
and you’re
tiger
. You can't do this. This is different. You’ll both end up executed and then what? Do you realise that’s what they’ll do? It won’t matter who your fathers are.” Stephen glared at them both, his expression a mixture of anger and hurt. “Do you know that I came straight here when Dad said Gemma wasn’t home?” he snarled at Cade. “I
knew
she’d be here with you. I fucking knew it. Tell me how I knew?”

He smacked the side of his head, thumping hard. “Fuck. I hate my brain.” He smacked his temples—once, twice, three times—until Gemma rushed at him.

“Stephen, stop it,” she begged. “Please.” Cade had seen his friend do that many times, but each time was still hard. And knowing he had caused this one cut into him the most. He stood there, looking on helplessly, knowing it wasn’t a good idea to approach—Cade would be the last person he’d want to accept any kind of help from right now.