Chapter Twenty
It took two days of Cade clinging limpet-like to Hunter before he started to feel better. They did some trial separations and the first few times he ended up a cold, miserable, shivering wreck within an hour.
“How far to your home?” Hunter asked when he lasted almost two hours the fourth time they tried it.
“Um, less than four hours. But more than three.”
“So, we could go now, if I took you straight there, with you on the back of my bike, holding on to me?”
Cade wasn’t keen on that idea. Bringing a stranger back to the den was against the rules and put everyone’s safety at risk.
“I can call home when we set out and get someone to pick me up from a halfway point.”
Hunter gave him a long look before nodding his agreement. “Your people don’t want strange wolves showing up on their doorstep.”
“No,” Cade agreed.
“I’m sure they’d love me,” Hunter continued. “Once they hear how you were imprisoned, then almost sold into a forced mating, and then nearly died from isolation. I’m sure they’ll be rolling out the welcome mats.”
There was more than a little self-recrimination in Hunter’s tone.
“It’s not your fault, Hunter. You’ve been doing your best since we met to make this situation fair to both of us. You were given an impossible choice.”
“And you weren’t given any choice at all.”
“You’ve given me choices. And you’re helping me get home. That’s more than anyone else has done for me.”
They were curled up together on the couch again.
“Okay,” Hunter said. “We’ll do another test this evening. If you can get to the three-hour mark, then I think we can safely risk getting on the road to take you home.”
“What about you?” Cade asked. “What are you going to do?”
Hunter stroked a hand across his cheek and Cade pushed into the touch.
“I’m going to hope that my family sees sense. Or maybe they’ll agree to let me mate again. There’s always Elena.”
They both looked at one another before giving into laughter. The only problem was, Cade wasn’t sure Hunter was joking.
That night, he managed almost three and a half hours alone on the couch before he had to go seek out Hunter. The alpha had been moving around upstairs and was now working away in the kitchen making them dinner. Cade wrapped his arms around Hunter’s waist and pressed against his back.
“You can work like this, right?” he asked.
Hunter snorted. “Sure. It’s not an impediment at all to have another human being clinging to you like we’re on a sinking ship.”
Oh. Cade loosened his arms and took a half-step back. Hunter caught his hands before he could let go and drew him forward.
“Sorry, it’s not you, it’s me. Cooking is not my forte, it makes me antsy and bad-tempered as you can see.”
“I could cook if you want,” Cade ventured.
In a lightning-fast move, Hunter spun them around, moving Cade in front of him to face the stove and wrapping his arms around the omega.
“Much better,” he said. “I feel so much more relaxed.”
Laughing, Cade got to work.
They ate on the couch, shoulder to shoulder. Once they were finished, Hunter took Cade’s plate and set it down on top of his.
“We’ll leave tomorrow morning. My bike is at the pack house, so we’ll have to sneak over there without being seen. We’ll leave early, take the longer route through the forest and avoid the other’s houses, grab my bike, push it down to the road, and take off. By the time they realize what’s happened, we’ll be long gone.”
And Cade would be on his way home, finally.
“I was planning to steal it, you know.”
“Steal what?” Hunter asked, sounding amused.
“Your bike. I was going to take your keys and hide them with the food in my backpack.”
“What stopped you?”
“I never got the chance to take them. It was probably for the best though. Can you imagine Angus’ response if he’d found them?”
Hunter grunted in agreement. “Yeah, we saw Angus’ reaction to you having some clothes packed in a bag. You with the keys to my bike, I think his head might have exploded.”
“Is exploding head syndrome still common among wolves? I thought it had died out.”
Hunter stilled next to him. “You’re joking, right?” The alpha didn’t sound all that certain.
Cade looked up at him, his eyebrows raised. “Yes, I’m joking. Are you really that gullible?”
Hunter shook his head. “Think about it like this. Even since I’ve been born, I’ve been told all these stories. About people whose bodies literally break down, turning from human to animal and back in front of your very eyes. Terrible, catastrophic injuries healing, right in front of you. Fated loves, a bond with someone that’s so strong that it’s written into nature itself. I’ve been told, since I was old enough to listen, to believe in all that even though I’ve never seen in. I’ve also never seen an exploding head. But when you put them side by side, does it seem that far-fetched?”
He knew the alpha was joking but Cade had the sudden urge to break down and tell Hunter everything. Hunter sounded so wistful, believing strongly in a magic he’d never seen any proof of. Cade could give him that proof. Hell, Cade was that proof. But how would that help? Letting Hunter see something he couldn’t have. Would the knowledge that there were still parts of the shifter world intact help or hurt him? Cade wasn’t sure. He went with the safest bet and said nothing.
“Okay, well if you’ve no comment on that then maybe you can explain this. My injuries from training with my cousins were healed in less than a day. That was you, right? That was why you were so insistent on touching me?”
Cade struggled to follow what Hunter was saying, reaching down to tug up the alpha’s T-shirt to see for himself. There wasn’t a mark on him.
He shook his head. “That wasn’t me, Hunter. Believe me, omega don’t have healing powers. I wish we did.”
“But what about that time at the beach, I was about to lose my temper and you-”
Cade shook his head again, feeling bewildered. “That wasn’t me either. That was you. I’m not magic, just a shifter and an omega at that.”
Hunter sighed, laying back against the couch. “This makes no sense.”
Cade grinned. “Welcome to my world.”
The woods were cool and quiet. There was something rhythmic about following Hunter’s footsteps across the scattered pine needles. Beneath their feet, the ground was soft and springy, the smell of fresh pine reminding him of home.
Ahead of him, Hunter paused, then crouched, motioning for Cade to do the same. He sank toward the ground, his eyes and ears peeled. In the distance, he heard voices laughing. Hunter glanced back at him, motioning him to be quiet. As if he hadn’t figured that part out for himself.
The voices moved away from them, but Hunter stayed put and Cade followed his lead. His body was just starting to protest his stillness when Hunter slowly stood, reaching behind him to tug Cade to his feet.
“They’re gone. Let’s keep moving.”
The most direct route to the pack house was a ten-minute walk that would have brought them along a winding path through the other houses. Instead, they were circling around, so that they’d come to the pack house from the tree-lined road out of the pack. They reached the edge of that patch of forest, the trees clearing to reveal a stretch of grassland that they had to cross to get to the forest that led to the road.
Cade didn’t like it, feeling too exposed after the relative safety of the forest. But this was the best way to get to the pack house unseen. The grass reached almost to his hips and he let his hands trail through it.
He was distracted by the call of birds nearby and didn’t realize there was a problem until Hunter tackled him to the ground, his hand across Cade’s mouth.
Cade struggled at first until Hunter’s hushed voice filtered through his panic.
“More wolves. In the forest behind us. Quiet.”
He froze, Hunter’s weight pressing down on him. The alpha took his hand away from Cade’s mouth, cupping his cheek instead. They were eye to eye and Cade could feel every inch of Hunter’s body where it pressed against him. He tried to force his thoughts away from that. He needed to think about the danger they were in, about home, about his brothers. But all his mind could think about was Hunter’s mouth only an inch from his and how much he wished Hunter would kiss him.
Hunter braced himself on his arms, closing his eyes. Cade could tell he was listening and pressed a hand against his arm. Hunter slowly opened his eyes.
“They’re gone,” he murmured.
“Are you sure?” Cade whispered back. “Maybe we should wait a few more minutes?”
Hunter hooked a finger under Cade’s chin, dragging a thumb across his lips. “Just a few.”
He bent his head, his lips finding Cade’s. A rush of heat filled his body, spreading to his fingers, his toes, and pooling low in his stomach. Did Hunter feel that way too? Like every cell in his body had come alive?
He kissed the alpha back, wanting more, wanting…
It took every ounce of self-control he possessed to turn his head away. “We can’t do this.”
Hunter groaned, resting his forehead against Cade’s. “You’re right. We need to move.”
They needed to, but they didn’t. Hunter’s hand trailed down along Cade’s side, tickling his ribs, teasing along his flank to his hip. His thumb found Cade’s hip bone, rubbing it through his shirt. The friction made him squirm, leaving him hot and bothered and wanting more. Drawing his knees up, he shoved hard. Hunter rolled with him until the alpha was lying on his back and Cade straddling him.
“This wasn’t the kind of moving I had in mind,” Hunter said, grinning up at him.
Sitting upright helped, the blood rushing away from Cade’s head, giving him space to think. “We need to keep going.”
He clambered off Hunter, glancing around cautiously before he stood up.
“What are the chances of us getting to the pack house without being seen?”
Hunter snorted. “Not great if we’re cavorting around in fields.”
Cade glanced at the alpha, amused to see that Hunter seemed frustrated, maybe even angry, with himself.
“Sorry,” Cade offered, knowing he was at least partially responsible.
“It’s hardly your fault. I kissed you.”
“It’s not like I tried to stop you.” Unless sticking your tongue in someone’s mouth was the universal sign for ‘stop kissing me’.
“Being around you, being close to you, it kind of gets to me. You get to me, get under my skin somehow,” the alpha admitted.
Cade had to avoid Hunter’s gaze. If the situation was reversed, Cade would be saying the same about him.
“Maybe that’s omegas for you,” Hunter added, giving him a significant look as they continued their winding journey through the grass.