Chapter Five – Cade

She lay on top of him, sobbing. The fight had left her. Cade loosened his grip on her arms and cradled her against his body, his strong arms wrapped around her, holding her close to him.

There was no doubt, as they lay there on the forest floor, that the woman in his arms was his mate. No doubt at all. He’d meant it when he told her he couldn’t leave. Whatever hunted her, it was his duty, his responsibility, to make her safe.

Slowly, he shifted his position and sat up, cradling her against his chest as her sobs subsided. “We need to get you out of here.”

“You need to let me go. I mean it, there is this … thing … hunting me,” she said, and tried to stand. He heard the small whimper that escaped her as she put her feet to the ground. He could smell the faint metallic scent of her blood on the air.

“I’ll carry you.” He stood up and, without asking her permission, picked her up and held her tight when she began to struggle.

“You don’t understand, the thing that is out there is a monster. It’s hunting me.”

“And I’ll protect you from it,” Cade said, turning around 360 degrees until he got his bearings and then struck off toward home. When he got closer he would phone the others and make sure they were ready for whatever lurked in the forest. He had scented it, just before she had pushed him to the ground. The other demon Kell had seen. But for now, it was gone.

“You can’t, it’s too strong. I saw what it can do to human flesh, I can’t have that happen to anyone else.”

“I can protect us.”

Not if it’s a powerful degetty like Zinan, his bear said.

You have any better ideas? Cade asked in return.

No, his bear answered.

“You can’t protect me. I told you, this is a monster.”

“And I’m a monster too,” Cade said.

She stiffened in his arms, and he hated to break it to her so bluntly, but he needed her to know he was not a human, he had strengths that a normal man did not. “What kind of monster?”

“The kind that will protect you. And never hurt you,” Cade said.

“You sound like a stalker.”

“No, not a stalker,” he answered, but that was because it was what she needed to hear. If he told her he never wanted to let her out of his sight again, she might try to escape his arms, and he would not tolerate that, not when she was in danger.

Cade took a moment to listen to his internal dialogue. The voice in his head sounded different, more primal, as if finding his mate had changed him instantly, making him more possessive. He looked down at the woman in his arms, and a wave of pure need swept over him. She was his, he was hers; if she left his life, either by death or by running away, a part of him would die also.

So this was what his mom had felt every day of her life for the last five years, ever since his dad had left to find Liam, Cade’s uncle, who had been missing for over twenty years.

“I just need to keep you safe,” Cade said by way of an explanation, and she didn’t argue anymore. She slumped against him, her body trembling, he hoped from the cold, rather than her fear of him. “My name is Cade, by the way. I’m taking you to my house. You will be safe there.”

“Your house?” she asked.

“Don’t worry, I still live with my mom.”

“Great, is that supposed to make me feel better? What’s the place called, Bates Motel?”

He gave a short laugh. “You still have a sense of humor, even after what you’ve been through. I like that.”

“I don’t need you to like it,” she said defensively.

“I know, but I like it all the same.” He glanced down at her. “Do you have a name?”

“What do you think?”

“That it’s not going to hurt you to tell me what it is,” he said, stopping at the edge of a clearing. The trees were thinning; soon they would have to travel across open moorland, or take a long detour. Cade wanted to get back to the house as quickly as possible, but not at any risk.

“Octavia,” she said quietly.

“Good to meet you, Octavia. Not so happy about the circumstances, but I’m sure glad you ran into my life,” he murmured absently, then he realized how that must sound. “So I could help you…”

“Sure.”

“I mean it. You could have died out here.”

“I know,” she said, her voice catching as the enormity of the situation settled on her, and she huddled into him, as if trying to melt away.

“I will protect you.” He took a step out into the open, and then another, looking all around as he moved. “Why did the monster want to kill you?”

“I don’t know if it did,” she answered.

“I thought you said it was chasing you.”

“It was. But when it had the chance to get me, it ran off. We were face to face.” She took a deep breath. “It was as if it was herding me.”

Cade’s heart beat rapidly in his chest, but he kept moving forward. “Herding you where?”

“Here. I don’t know. It sounds ridiculous, but it didn’t try to attack me, or stop me. It was as if it was watching me.” She shrugged. “I have the name of a witch who can help me. That’s where I’m going.”

“You know about witches?” Cade asked. At least he wouldn’t have to explain everything to her from the beginning. “You know about magic?” They were back underneath the trees. In another fifty feet he would break cover to cross the moors, before they reached the trail leading through the forest to his house. Their sanctuary. They were so close, but Cade was scared of an ambush.

“Some.” She paused. “It’s hard to deny what you see with your own eyes. I was skeptical, until that thing came into my life.”

They were over halfway across the moor, Cade was jogging, trying not to jostle Octavia too much in his arms, but they needed to pick up speed. A prickling along his neck told him they were being watched, but when he sent his senses roaming across the open space, there was nothing, no sound, or movement, no misplaced smell of brimstone. They were alone. Although he wasn’t sure he believed it.

“We’re nearly there,” Cade told Octavia. He was tempted to pull out his cell phone and call the others. He would easily get a signal on his phone this close to the enclave, and his brothers would be there within minutes to help ensure Cade got Octavia to safety. Yet there was something to be said about stealth.

Deciding to go it alone, he jogged on.

“I could walk,” Octavia said.

“You could, but I doubt you can run.”

“I’m not that much of a wimp,” she replied.

“You haven’t seen the condition you are in,” Cade answered. “I don’t want you shredding your feet any more, unless you have to.” He grinned. “Don’t worry, if we come under attack, I’ll put you down.”

“I’ve never been carried so much in my life,” Octavia commented.

“Bet you did when you were a baby,” Cade answered, liking the sound of her voice.

“Obviously,” she replied as if he were an imbecile.

“I promise to let you walk once you are healed.”

“Great, I’m so pleased to know you don’t make a habit of carrying women around.”

“I could make an exception for you.”

“What are you, some kind of caveman?”

He chuckled as he ran. “You’ve given me an idea. Next time I need to throw you over my shoulder and carry you off to my den.”

“Just you try it!”

She wasn’t sure if he was joking. That thought would have made him laugh, if she hadn’t had such a hard time being chased by a degetty. As it was, it made him kind of sad that she wasn’t sure his words were a joke. Just like his mom, all those years ago, Octavia had been thrust headfirst into a world she had no idea of.

And just like his mom, she was being tracked by a degetty. He was going to need to talk this over with Tally. Which was going to be an interesting conversation, since the arrival of his mate would be like the final nail in the coffin of the crush the young witch had had on him for as long as Cade could remember.

He only hoped Tally could put her disappointment aside and help him protect the woman who was now the center of his world.

Yeah. If Cade knew women at all, especially teens, that was not going to happen without some kind of a fight.

But he would rather fight Tally than a degetty. Wouldn’t he?