Dark Veil (22 page)

“The girl,” Patterson said calmly, unfazed.

“She’s just a child …” Gemma wailed.

Patterson pulled the knife out of the wound and brought it to the other side.

Phoenix sagged.

“Matching set.” His eyes shone like that of a madman’s. “Last chance.”

With a sob, Gemma turned towards the girl.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Perspiration ran down Phoenix’s flushed face, beading on his skin. His eyes glistened with the pain that racked his body. Gemma stared at him with respect. Not once had he cried nor begged for them to stop. He had gritted his teeth, clenched his jaw and taken every god damn thing that they had done. The
Humans
were pathetic—their victims a small child, a sixteen-year-old boy and a pregnant woman.

Gemma’s heart pounded so loudly that it echoed in her ears. There was blood everywhere. It ran down Phoenix’s side, staining his jeans red, and pooled beneath him on the floor. He slipped a couple of times as his bare feet slid with the slick blood. For each cut the
Humans
made, the previous one healed with incredible speed. Phoenix healed in a way that she had never seen before. He put back his head and gritted his teeth as the last cut miraculously stitched itself together again.

Patterson pulled out a white handkerchief from his pocket—he was vain enough that it probably had his name embroidered on it. He wiped it along the blooded knife, staining it. Maybe it did have his name. It would be fitting, for sure, to be stained with his deeds. Hatred bubbled in Gemma’s chest and she rested a hand on her abdomen. Why bring a child into this world? So tarnished and cruel and filled with endless suffering.

Gemma was well aware of the small girl’s presence in the corner of the cage. She was small and tiny—a little bird that hadn't been fed in a while. Yet, the meaning of her being there was far from small. Where had they got her from? Every scent in the room flooded Gemma’s senses, but the scent of urine—however disgusting—from where the little girl sat pulled at something inside of her. Maybe it was her motherly instincts kicking in. Maybe it was the humanity she had—yet the
Humans
didn’t. Ironic that.

The ground had darkened where the little girl crouched. Gemma’s heart broke—to be so afraid that she would soil herself.

“I’m not going to wait all day,” Patterson said as he handed the knife over to the doctor. “He heals fast.”

The doctor grinned crookedly. “It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” He approached Phoenix and touched a delicate finger to the last wound. There wasn’t much of it left now—a raised bump, some scarring—but that faded as every second passed. “He heals faster than any shifter I have seen.”

Janie sat in the corner of the room, next to the end of the counter where the computers stood. They hummed with life as they processed samples that the doctor had loaded into them, codes running down the screen like green rain. She crossed her long legs, a look of bored disinterest upon her perfectly formed face. “His mind is locked tight as shit,” she said, picking at one of the bracelets on her wrists. “I can't get into it.”

“You’re not strong enough?” mocked the doctor.

Janie raised her eyebrows and pinned him with a glare. “No. Someone has already locked minds with him.” She jumped down from the stool, landing on her feet. Her hips swayed gracefully from side to side as she walked towards the men.

She was taller than Phoenix, and she smiled sweetly at him as she approached. Long delicate fingers slid across his chest as she slid behind him and rested with her hand holding his neck, her fingers splayed across his jaw.

Gemma’s
tiger
rumbled from within the depths of her soul, her protectiveness over Phoenix pushing to the forefront. “Someone has already linked themselves to his mind,” she whispered against his ear, “but maybe we can break it.” Janie’s eyes locked onto Patterson and she grinned, abruptly stopping with the seductress act. “The girl will be easy—open and ready. Like Anika was, but better.”

Janie placed her hands on Phoenix’s shoulders, her gaze firmly fixed on Gemma as she slid her hands along Phoenix’s bare arms until she mirrored him with her arms out. She wrapped her fingers around the chains that held him in place and mumbled inaudible words. The chains clinked as they began to move. Phoenix’s face contorted with pain and an irrepressible cry left his lips, echoing around the room. The muscles in his arms tensed as he threw his head back, letting out a pain-filled growl. The chains pulled tighter, spreading his arms wider.

“Stop it. He’s done nothing to you,” Gemma cried out, tears running down her face.

His fingers stretched and wrapped around the chains, pulling himself so tightly that he almost brought himself up off the ground. Holding his breath, he ground his teeth so hard that the muscles in his neck bulged from the strain. Gemma could only stare at him in horror. She would never get these images from her mind for as long as she lived, and she would never look at
Humans
again with any kind of compassion. They had none, so nor would she. Nothing would ever wipe away the sight of the agony in the depths of Phoenix’s eyes as Janie mumbled more words, and the flesh at the centre of Phoenix’s chest began to spilt open, sizzling as it did, the sound loud in the room—loud enough that even the little girl covered her ears and cried from it.

“Bite the child,” Patterson said, his expression hard. Gone was the look of delight he had held before. His mask had fallen away and in its place was the face of something evil.

Gemma gripped the bars, her expression as hard as his. “She’s a fucking child, you asshole.”

Phoenix cried out again, louder this time. Janie had both of her hands on his chest and she clawed them down his flesh, leaving four lines on either side. His skin came apart, zipping open, exposing dark red flesh underneath. Blood oozed from the wounds, dripping down his sides to his jeans and to the ground. He breathed hard, panting with every breath. His stomach tensed. Everything was so red, so much blood. Gemma’s own breath caught in her throat from the sight of it. How could they?

“Bite the child.”

Janie raised her hands and placed them dramatically against Phoenix’s shoulders before dragging them down his back. She didn’t watch as she did it—she watched Gemma instead. Her eyes locked on her as she performed her magic. Phoenix arched his back as much as he could manage, his cry piercing through Gemma. She couldn’t watch. She couldn’t stand to hear it a moment longer. She covered her ears, her insides twisting from the agonising sound. It pressed in on her, making her breathless and her mind chaotic. Her
tiger
rose, scenting the blood, the coppery aroma calling to her protective senses. She craved with a need to go to Phoenix and the child in the corner. A need to protect them both and eliminate the threat.

“Bite the child and this can all stop,” Patterson said as he came closer to the cage.

Gemma shook her head, her words lost now as she wept. Patterson sighed and went back to Phoenix. Janie moved out of his way as Patterson reached up and wrapped hands around Phoenix’s damp blond hair and tilted his head forward. Phoenix’s eyes were open, but only slightly. He was somewhere close to going unconscious. “Wake up, half-breed,” Patterson said, slapping his cheek repeatedly to rouse him. Phoenix jumped and inhaled sharply through his nose, his eyes opening wildly. Patterson moved to the side so that Gemma could get a good view of Phoenix. “Look into his eyes,” he said to Gemma. “Do you think he has had enough yet? You can make it stop if you want to.”

“Don’t,” Phoenix said to her weakly. He coughed, sending his body into spasms and forcing more blood to ooze from the wounds that marred his body. They hadn't fully healed yet.

“Maybe we should do it again?” Janie said as she positioned her hand over Phoenix’s chest, pushing her nails in, deeper this time and then she slowly dragging them down. Phoenix was unable to hold his cries in any longer. They came like swords in Gemma’s mind, sending her into some kind of madness. She charged at them, letting her
tiger
take the lead for a moment. Powerful and strong, the
tiger
would never back down—not when there were young in need. She’d fucking kill them all before they managed to do more. Gemma launched herself at the bars, grasping at the air as she reached through the gap, claws extending from her fingertips. “Stop it,” she growled, her teeth elongating in a half shift.

“If you want it to stop, stop being such a Society whore and bite the girl. This can all stop, Gemma. You just have to want it to.”

Gemma spun around and strode to the girl without giving herself time to think. She picked her up in one swift movement, surprised at how light and delicate she felt. The slightest hold might snap her fragile
Human
bones. She fought desperately to get herself free from Gemma’s grasp, but she was no match for a grown woman–a shifter no less.

“What if I kill the girl? What will you do then?” Gemma growled.

Patterson leaned closer, a smirk on his face. “You're not going to kill the girl. We both know that. You’re Society. That makes you soft, pampered. Now, bite the girl.”

She wasn’t soft or pampered. Did Patterson really believe that? Was that the image Society gave out, that they were weak? Maybe it was time to show them differently. To show the
Humans
just what they were capable of.

Phoenix shook his head at Gemma, his eyes bright, bluer than usual, his
wolf
present. If they pushed the
wolf
, he would have no choice but to come out and protect himself. Gemma stared at him, his skin no longer visible under all the blood and cuts. Even where they were healing, his skin was horribly marked with shades of red.

Cade wouldn’t bite the girl.

Stephen wouldn’t bite the girl.

Would they?

Would they watch Phoenix suffer? The girl in her arms had stopped fighting and she looked up at Gemma with wide, terrified eyes. They had the same innocence that was still visible in Phoenix’s eyes. Fucking
Humans
. How much more could Phoenix take before the innocence got replaced by that haunted look? She grabbed the girl’s arm and raised it to her mouth, the girl’s resistance nothing to Gemma. Her skin smelt baby powder sweet. Gemma’s canines came down fully in her mouth and her eyes shifted. The bones in her nose pressed against her skin, fighting to move and to change. Gemma welcomed the dull ache in her jaw as the bones shifted. She breathed hard, her heart beating wildly. Tears welled in her eyes, not just for Phoenix and herself, but for the girl whose life she was about to destroy. She choked down her sob. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, to the girl, to Cade and Stephen and Phoenix for letting them all down and not being as strong as she knew they would be in this situation. They would never relent to the
Humans
. They’d die first.

The girl screamed in Gemma’s embrace as her teeth pierced her delicate flesh. The bones were so fragile that it would take nothing for her to bite down and break the arm away. She had to restrain herself. When she was done and the taste of blood trickled into her mouth, she pulled the girl’s arm free and licked across the wound, sealing it with saliva. She let the girl go, putting the unconscious girl down gently. It was done now.

But there was no stopping the shift, either. It had come this far, and it had to be finished. Frantically, Gemma pulled at her blouse and then at the vest she wore under it. She raced to take her clothes off, not caring as the
Humans
stared at her naked form. She roared with such ferocity that it seemed to shake the very walls of the place.

Patterson grinned, relishing in his victory as Gemma completed her shift and a
tiger
remained in her place. “Very good,” he breathed delightedly. He nodded at Janie and the doctor handed her the knife that Patterson had used earlier. Gemma ran at the gate, roaring at them, paws slashing for them to stop. “You know, Phoenix healing so fast ... makes you wonder just what he can survive, doesn’t it?”

Janie grinned at Gemma as she took the knife and plunged it into Phoenix’s gut all the way to the hilt. He cried out as she twisted it, the sound lancing through Gemma and sending her
tiger
into a frenzy. Blood filled Phoenix’s lungs and his cry became a gurgling sound. Janie pulled the knife out and, as she did, the
Human
with the jacket pressed a button on the wall and the chains dropped straight away, leaving Phoenix to crumple to a heap on the ground, landing in his own blood. Masses of it, from every wound.

The
Human
with the gun aimed it at Gemma’s head. “Back off.”

Gemma snarled at him and he pulled back the trigger. Janie came around and unlocked the gate so that the jacket
Human
could drag Phoenix in. He was out of it, his eyes rolled back in his head. They threw his limp form into the cage and quickly locked it up again.

“We’ll be back soon,” Patterson said. “Maybe your little progeny will need a snack.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The door closed with a bang behind Cade as he stormed out of the meeting room. How could they all just sit around talking when Gemma and Phoenix were still somewhere out there in the hands of the
Humans
? Every second that passed was another second they did not have.
God damn it
.

Horrific images of what they could be doing to Gemma and Phoenix slammed through his mind in dreadful chaos. He pressed the heel of his palm to his pounding heart to dull the ache there.
Fuck
, he couldn’t think like this. He couldn’t breathe—everything clawed at his skin. His
wolf
demanded to be released so that he could find Gemma and Phoenix. 

Cade stalked through the kitchen to the back door and yanked the door handle. He swore under his breath when it wouldn’t open and tugged at it again, letting out a strangled growl of frustration when he realised the latch was still down. He heaved the heavy door open and hauled himself outside to breathe and think away from them all. Having to hide his feelings for Gemma from the rest of Society was inconceivably difficult to do when he was going out of his mind with worry. Yet, revealing any deeper feelings for Gemma Davies could mean punishment or death—and being locked up or dead would mean not being able to save Gemma. His father’s scrutinising stare, as if he knew Cade was hiding something, and just waiting for him to fuck it all up, was just as disconcerting.

He braced his hands against the stone wall to the Davies’ porch and only turned at the sound of approaching footsteps. He pushed himself up and pulled himself together. It would do no good to show his weakness and fall off the edge and into the waiting pool of snapping alligators all out for blood.

“I need to find her, Stephen,” he said desperately when his friend stopped in front of him. “I need to find her and bring her back. I can’t …” Cade ran his hands through his hair, roaring in anger. “I can't fucking do this. I can't bear it another minute.”

His senses were overwhelmed with the scent of her in the house, his
wolf
clawing at him, frantic to go and find his mate before he descended into some kind of madness. For once, Stephen said nothing—no witty remarks, no sarcasm, his expression as worried as Cade’s. The minutes ticked by, slow and agonising. His skin felt raw now, the sands of time having ground it down to almost the bone. “Give me your car keys,” he demanded, holding his hand out to Stephen.

“For what?”

“I’m going back to the mill.” He stepped towards the back door again, pushing Stephen backwards. “Give me the keys. I need to go and look for her.”

“We’ll all go,” Stephen said, jaw set.

“All? They aren’t going to look for her. They sit inside on their backsides talking. That isn’t looking.” Cade’s voice pitched with urgency as he spoke.

Stephen got it. He really did. He wanted to find Gemma and Phoenix and those
Humans
as much as Cade did … but they had to calm down.

“We’ll find her.”

They both turned to the sound of soft footsteps on the kitchen tiles behind them.

Emily.

Her eyes were red, and it was obvious she had been crying. That was the thing with Emily, maybe what Cade admired about her the most—every ounce of her oozed housewife, but anyone who knew her saw that she was more than that. She was mother to the alpha’s cubs. You didn’t birth children like Stephen and raise him to become soft. Far from it. But Cade didn’t think about that as she came out to him. Today, she looked like a mother whose child was missing. She wrapped her arms arounds his neck once more, and he returned her embrace, burying his face in her hair as his arms encircled her slender waist, taking a selfish moment of comfort and relishing in the scent that was so similar to Gemma’s.

“I want to go back to the mill,” he said gently. “It’s the only lead we have and we can search it properly. Who knows what we missed.”

She kissed his cheek before whispering, “You find my baby girl.”

He nodded solemnly and slowly released her. With determination hardening his features, he turned back to Stephen. “We need to go back.”

The kitchen began to fill with sound as the meeting was adjourned and the Society members started to file out. Fury bubbled in Cade’s chest as he watched them. How could they act so complacent, chatting and leisurely strolling out of the room, when his life was hanging in the balance like this? If anything happened to Gemma or Phoenix, he didn’t even know what he would do.

“Cade thinks you should all start at the mill.” Stephen’s expression was hard as he stared at his father, who had come out onto the porch. Like Cade, he did not agree with sitting around and having meetings when his little sister’s life was at stake.   

“We might have missed something,” Cade added.

“Not doing your job properly?” Trevor asked with derision, appearing from behind Malcolm.

Emily’s hand squeezed his a little tighter, and Cade was thankful for that moment of contact and touch, but it wasn’t enough to calm the rage of his
wolf
who just wanted to find his mate. Nothing would stand between him and Gemma, not even his alpha.

“We will all go to the mill,” Malcolm said and turned to Trevor. “You and Aaron come as well. We can use your noses.” He glanced at Angela. “You too. The rest of you can search the area. We will not stop until we have found my daughter.” He turned to Stephen. “You get the witch and the
panther
. They come, too.”

Twenty minutes later—and it was a long fucking twenty minutes, too—they were at the mill and in the basement. Everything was gone. If Cade hadn't been there himself, if Gemma’s scent wasn’t alive in the air, he would have thought that he had got the location wrong. He breathed in deeply, taking in Gemma’s unique scent, his
wolf
roaring inside of him. If he closed his eyes, she was right there next to him.

“They had stuff set up here—computers, a workbench.” He gritted his teeth. “They had silver.”

Malcolm’s jaw clenched, but he said nothing.

Cade pointed to the second cage. “Gemma was in there. I was in this one.”

The cages were down below in what looked like a basement. It was below water level, which explained why it was so damp and humid. The water on the outside created perfect soundproofing for any noise from the inside. The place reeked of
Humans
—every surface, every crevice, their stench thick in the air, infesting the place.

Cade tried to engage his DSA brain so that it would disconnect long enough from Gemma and Phoenix to actually find them—it didn’t work. The teachings of Harvey echoed in his mind and he found his focus, but as soon as his guard dropped, an image of Gemma resurfaced and he would lose himself again. The others were searching the rooms above. The mill had three floors, but they were mostly filled with dusty boxes and piles of junk, old machinery for the mill, and an old rotten wooden table. The remnants of the chair Cade had smashed were where he had left them. Malcolm stood in the doorway taking in everything. When Stephen came down the cracked stone steps with papers in his hand, he turned to face him.

“I found these.”

Malcolm pulled his glasses from his top pocket, flicked them open and pushed them onto his face before taking the papers to read. They were double bound and wound tight—clean, freshly printed, the white paper a stark contrast to the dilapidated building. “Purchase papers?”

Stephen nodded. “Found them in the room upstairs. There are loads of boxes up there.
Norton
shit.”

Malcolm peered over the top of his glasses. “Norton?”

“Yep. Found them at Patterson’s house, too. Empty, though, except for those papers.”

Cade itched to look at them, but Malcolm gripped them tightly, the paper crinkling in his grasp as he exited the mill and went outside to where the others were searching the grounds. “You knew this place?” he asked Anika, who was standing with Raven and Angela. “You were here when my daughter was?”

Anika looked up at the mill. “No, I've never been here before. They made me stay at the house. But I knew it was here. They bought it about a month ago.”

“No,” Malcolm said. “
You
bought it a month ago.”

Anika’s eyes widened with shock and her back stiffened. “What?” She reached for the papers, but Malcolm pulled them back. “No, I didn’t. I …”

“It’s fine.” Stephen took the papers from his father. “This has been set up.” He flicked to the page with her name on it and showed her without giving it to her. “Do you still believe that they sent you out because they believed you could get rid of me?” At her despondent look, he continued, “They sent you out so that I would end you—deal with their problem and have you cop for all of this.”

She shook her head, her long blonde hair shimmering in the sun as she did, making her seem younger and more fragile than she was. “They wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t they?” Cade took the papers from Stephen and inspected them himself, then looked up at Anika with barely-contained anger. “Where are they now?” He waved the papers at her. “This is what happens with
Humans
. You work for them and they fuck you over and take what they want.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I didn’t mean …”

Cade stepped forward, but Stephen slapped a hand against his chest, and Raven pulled Anika next to him. “This isn’t helping,” he said to Cade. “I want her back as much as you do, but you’ve got to get your shit under control. There is nothing here … and your father is around. You need to make sure he doesn’t realise anything. He’s not a stupid man. You losing it will make him suspicious, and it won’t be long before he connects the pieces.”

“I don’t fucking care,” Cade spat just as Trevor came from around the boat house with a tall, magnificent
wolf
behind him—Aaron. Thick, black fur that matched his hair colour covered him, eyes as blue as Cade’s staring back at them.

“What don’t you care about?” he enquired with raised eyebrows.

Cade clamped his jaw shut and stared at him with hatred.

“He’s just a half-breed,” Trevor drawled. “You really did get attached, didn’t you?”

Not bothering to respond to his jibe, Cade turned to Stephen. “Anika must know something, even if she doesn’t know she does.” He turned to his father. “Did you find the girl in the boat house? With your fully pure pet there? There's a dead girl just under the jetty.”

Trevor’s face flushed with anger.

“Have you tried to contact Phoenix?” Malcolm cut off the argument that was about to start.

“There is nothing there when I try,” Cade ground out, his frustration at not being able to connect with the boy overwhelming.

Trevor gave a smug laugh. “You mean, like he might be dead?”

Cade lunged, and Stephen jumped in front of him, holding him back. Malcolm took a step between them and fixed Trevor with a hard look. “I’m trying to find my daughter, MacDonald, not start rows.”

Cade leaned around Stephen. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” He pointed at his father. “If Phoenix is dead, then you can shove your fucking deal with the Castle’s up your arse.”

Trevor’s face darkened once more, the union between the two families something he had sought for years.

“Come on,” Stephen urged, pushing against Cade’s chest and walking him backwards. “You two can fight your shit later, but right now, we need to find Gemma and Phoenix. He pushed Cade into the mill and away from everyone. “Try again. Try to reach Phoenix.”

“I’ve tried,” he gritted out. “Do you think I didn’t think about that?”

“Try again,” Stephen insisted. “What harm can it do?”

Cade didn’t want to try again. He wanted to go back outside and smash his father’s arrogant face in. He wanted someone to pay for all of this, and Patterson wasn’t there, so Trevor would have to do.

“Try,” Stephen urged.

“Fuck.” Cade took a calming breath before muttering, “Fine.” He closed his eyes with a curse, taking himself to the white room where they met in their minds—a safe place, neutral.

He was there …

Cade’s heart leapt at the sight and he fought not to let his eyes snap open and break the link. “Phoenix,” he called in his mind, walking and then running to him. “Phoenix.” He sank down to his knees next to the
wolf
, but there was no response from the young
wolf.
Cade slid his hand under the
wolf’s
snout and tilted his head back. The fur was sticky and wet, and when Cade brought his hand away, it was red.

Blood.

The sight of it fuelled Cade’s anger even more. “Phoenix, answer me.”

Blood pooled beneath the
wolf
, staining the white room crimson. Cade stumbled back, his mind losing it. His eyes snapped opened, severing the link between them.

Phoenix hadn’t been breathing.