Cade by Mason Sabre Page A

best shot they had. Cade wasn’t beta to his pack—that was his brother, Aaron. “You could pay for him. We could pay for him,” she corrected. “Between us, we get him Society status and then no fucker can touch him.”
    “And when they find out he is a half-breed?” asked Stephen.
    “Then we run,” said Cade. “Fast.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Twelve
     
    Cade’s house had so many rooms that when it came to sleeping arrangements, there wasn’t ever really an issue with who would go where. The problem was mostly actual beds. Gemma was taking Cade’s bed, although Stephen had protested. “If the boy wakes up, where’s the first place he is going to go?”
    “I can handle myself,” Gemma had scolded him, and he had eventually given up. He was taking the small room that went over the porch. It was nothing more than a tiny box room. There was no bed in it, but Stephen set up the camping cot that Cade had. It was all he needed, he had said. Cade took the sofa—after he managed to find it under all that paperwork. Not that he would manage much sleep on it anyway he mused. The truth was that he would have preferred to have slept in the room next to the boy. Just in case.
    Cade stood in the bathroom, the small lamp that rested on the chair casting odd shadows around the small room. He grabbed the sides of the sink and waited for the throbbing in his head to subside. Judging by the pressure at his temples, it didn’t seem likely that was going to happen any time soon. He was burning up under his shirt and his vision swam as he raised his head to stare into the mirror. It took a moment for his reflection to actually come into focus. His mind filled with chaos and his thoughts tumbled around in his confused and troubled mind. Nothing was making any sense to him and the more he tried to force it, the less effective he was.
    What would he do with the boy? That was the ultimate question. Was he prepared to take him on full-time? It occurred to Cade that perhaps the boy had a family searching for him. The boy could have been the child of someone of importance. Perhaps there was a nationwide search for the kid. Loving parents and all that shit. Of course, Cade chased that stupid thought away easily. If there was a family looking for the boy, wouldn’t they have found him? The boy’s shoes alone indicated that he had walked a very long way. What were the chances that his family were looking? Slim. It was a better bet that the family had thrown the boy out. They’d not accept an Other as one of their own—even if he was a half-breed, and even if he had been one of their own before he had been turned.
    “Stupid fucking Humans and their beliefs,” Cade growled under his breath.
    Cade glared at himself in the mirror, questioning himself and every decision he had made in the last few hours.  How much hatred the Humans had for Others to enable them to turf out their own flesh and blood; a child. So what if they had caught what Humans termed a disease . Was that really a good enough reason? Someone gets sick and then they’re thrown out? Cade was willing to bet his life on the conviction that that would be the boy’s story. It was usually how it went. Except … this boy … he was different. He had made it somehow. Half-breeds never did—not to Cade’s knowledge anyway. Usually it was the shift that got them. This boy had strength at least.
    Turning on the tap, Cade let the water run for a moment so that it was as cold as possible. His face was pale in the mirror, the rims of his eyes red and the whites bloodshot. It was his connection with the boy—he was sure of it.  Was that how the boy was making it? Through Cade—through their energy? It had to be the reason why Cade had felt so drained before that he had basically passed out.
    Cupping his hands under the running water, Cade splashed some onto his face. “Shit.” The water was like ice against his burning skin. He gritted his teeth