Chapter Nineteen
When he reached the cottage, he set Cade down on the couch while he built a fire. The omega was cold to the touch, which was strange for a shifter. Shifters could get sick, but it was rare. They could get injured but Hunter had seen the injuries on Cade and knew they were healing well. It was almost like Cade had gone into shock. He was shivering and seemed exhausted though his eyes were open.
Once he got the fire going, Hunter crouched on the floor beside the couch.
“Come on, Cade. Talk to me. What’s wrong?”
Tears sprung up in the omega’s eyes and, as Hunter watched, he tried to blink them away.
“Hey,” he said softly. “Whatever it is, just tell me. Things can’t get more fucked up than they are already.”
“I don’t know,” Cade said, tears trailing down his cheeks. “I just feel wrong. It’s been this way for weeks, getting worse and worse, stuck all alone in that dark room Baelon threw me into, and then the cage, and now here. I feel like I can’t get warm.”
“The fire-” Hunter started to say but Cade interrupted him.
“The fire didn’t help before. I mean, it helped the actual cold but this is different, it’s a feeling.”
“Cold is a feeling,” Hunter ventured.
“It’s like I’m covered in a sheet of ice and nobody can touch me.” Cade curled up tighter as he spoke, making himself smaller.
“Maybe you’re sick?” Hunter suggested. “The burn on your back…”
Cade shook his head, sounding distant. “It’s not that. That’s mostly healed.”
There was something about how quick Cade answered that had Hunter nudging in a different direction. “Do you have some idea what this is? Is it some omega thing?”
Cade avoided his eyes, blushing. Bingo.
“It’s stupid.”
“If it’s making you sick, it’s not stupid.”
“I’m not sick, exactly. I guess it’s kind of like being in shock.”
“Okay, but I didn’t think shifters went into shock like that, not unless something really bad happened.” Hunter sat up. “Did something happen? Did someone hurt you?”
His mind was already running over the possibilities, horror curling tight in his stomach even as his anger kindled.
“No. Nothing happened. I mean, yes, something happened to cause this, but…” He trailed off, tugging awkwardly at the hem of his T-shirt.
“But what? Cade, you’re freaking me out here. I don’t know whether to run and get Sybil, or bury you in blankets.”
“This happened once before.”
“When? What happened?”
“Our omega dad died, and I went off by myself for a while. Too long. Omegas don’t do isolation so well.”
“Okay. So, that time, what did you do?”
“My brothers looked after me.”
“Looked after you how?”
Cade blushed again. “They… did what brothers do. Kept me company, made me laugh, reminded me that I wasn’t alone. I was sad and grieving, like we all were, and they just held me until that lonely feeling went away.”
The blushing suddenly made sense.
“You need to be held?”
Cade shrugged, then shivered. “It turns out casual physical contact is important for omega. I’d never been without it before so I didn’t know. I told myself I’d never let it happen again, that I’d never be alone like that, and I wouldn’t let my brothers go through that again, either.”
He dropped his head, defeated, and Hunter knew now they were close to the truth about how Cade had ended up in Baelon’s hands.
“What happened?”
“Max and Dara never came home. They went on a… road trip. It was only supposed to be for a few weeks but we lost contact. We couldn’t risk sending people out after them but they’re my brothers and I’m the eldest after Max. I had to try.”
“I’m guessing you didn’t find them.”
As he spoke, Hunter pushed to his feet and sat on the couch next to Cade. The omega curled away from him.
“I was searching for them. I must have been near Red Fang territory. There was no sign of my brothers. I guess I was close to the border with Baelon’s pack and when Red Fang came after me, I ran, and Baelon’s wolves caught me.”
Hunter knew the story from there but was only slowly getting the full picture of what Cade had gone through.
“So, what you’re saying is, if you want to feel better, you need physical contact. Is that with anyone or does it need to be family or another omega?”
Cade shrugged. “I guess you’ll do.”
When Hunter raised his eyebrows, the omega sheepishly explained. “It gets worse the longer you leave it. By the time my brothers found me last time, I was unconscious. They weren’t sure I’d wake up. I can’t do that to them again. I promised them.”
Hunter nodded solemnly and opened his arms. “Then let me help you keep that promise. It’s the least I can do.”
He wasn’t surprised when Cade didn’t jump at the offer. It was easy to read the fear in the omega’s body, the distrust.
“I won’t hurt you,” Hunter added softly.
Gradually, Cade inched closer to him. Hunter didn’t make a move, letting the omega come to him. He was shivering harder, and when he finally settled into Hunter’s arms, his skin was ice cold.
Hunter was slow to wrap arms around the smaller body, not wanting to spook the omega, but he couldn’t hide a small smile. “You know, if you wanted to cuddle, you only had to ask.”
If Cade hadn’t been lost in a haze of cold darkness, he’d have been swallowed in a whirlpool of shame. As it was, Hunter’s warmth was alluring and he couldn’t resist it once he was in the alpha’s arms.
He barely registered it when Hunter picked him up, only lifting his head when they settled again. He’d moved them to the floor in front of the fire. Cade made a sound of protest when Hunter detached from him -no, it was too soon- but a moment later, Hunter was back, wrapping a blanket around him.
“That’s it,” Hunter murmured. “I’ve got you. And I’ve bought us a few days, at least, before we have the next inquisition. I’m sorry I let them blindside you like that.”
Cade let the words slide off him, burrowing closer. He knew Hunter’s presence was the only thing that would take away the feeling inside him.
A stomach growled sometime later and it took a while for him to realize that it wasn’t his.
“How about I go get us some food?” Hunter suggested but when he tried to move, Cade held on tighter. “No, stay, please.”
“We need to eat, Cade. Why don’t I bring you with me?”
Hunter got them both to their feet and Cade was relieved when the alpha kept an arm wrapped around him as they walked to the kitchen. He stayed plastered to Hunter’s side as the alpha got them food. They returned to eat on the couch, Cade getting almost halfway through his plate before he even took note of what he was eating.
“Ollie makes food like this. He likes to play around with spices and flavors.”
Hunter’s arm was around him, his hand brushing up and down Cade’s arm, a reassuring reminder that he wasn’t alone.
“Is Ollie one of your brothers?” the alpha asked.
Cade nodded slowly, swallowing another mouthful of food. It was good. He’d forgotten food could taste so delicious.
“I’m not sure you’d like him. He’s… got Elena’s energy, Joe’s nature,” he paused before adding “and Seth’s ability to talk until the cows come home.”
Hunter snorted. “He sounds like a handful.”
Cade grinned at that. “Oh, he is. A bouncing energy ball of happiness and chatter.” His face fell. “I miss him.”
They finished eating and Hunter took their plates, setting them down on the floor when Cade latched onto him at the first sign that Hunter was going to try to get up.
“It’s okay, we can just sit here like this. Or maybe we could get you a bit more comfortable.”
Cade didn’t care as long as he could be close to the alpha. Hunter’s scent filling his nose was nicer even than Ollie’s food. That thought should have alarmed him, should have wormed its way through the one track mindset he’d fallen into. But it didn’t.
Hunter stayed sitting at one end of the couch, but he moved Cade around so he lay with his head pillowed on the armrest, his upper body across Hunter’s lap and his legs tucked up on the seat next to them. Cade could feel the heat from the fire at his back. More than that, he could feel the heat radiating from Hunter. Like his own personal water bottle.
Hunter was stroking the palm of his hand from Cade’s shoulder down along his arm. Cade sighed happily and cracked his eyes open, only to find the alpha’s expression serious and sad.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, reaching out to touch Hunter’s face. The action was so instinctive, he only realized he’d done it a split second after.
Hunter tried to smile at him.
“I was just thinking about some things, and I’ve come to a decision.”
“What decision?”
“Once you’re feeling better, I’m taking you home.”
“I thought we needed to play ‘happy mates’ for your family.”
“You’ve been through enough at the hands of wolves, Cade. I’m not risking your life any further. Whether we are or aren’t mated isn’t the issue. You’re now the person in close contact with me most of the time. If I can’t control my anger, you’re the one I’m likely to hurt. I won’t let that happen.”
“But they’ll exile you, won’t they?”
Hunter sighed, cupping Cade’s shoulder. “Then that’s my fate and I have to accept it.”
“It doesn’t seem fair,” Cade mumbled.
“What about this world is fair?” Hunter replied, giving him a wry smile.