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Chapter Six

“They're gone.” The words hung bitterly in the air. Simple words, yet the power that was in them was too much. Cathy imagined that she would feel some kind of relief when they departed, but what she felt was sorrow that ran deeply. It burnt through her veins like heated poison until it reached her gut and curdled. She couldn’t help it as she sat by the fire that Jeff had made with the small bundle in her arms. He was awake now. He had woken just before and Cathy hadn't wanted to take hold of him. She didn’t want to pick him up, but neither of the two men was going to, and she couldn’t bear to just leave him there. The tall chair opposite—the one Jeff would sit in the morning to read the paper, or where she would sit in the evening to read her book—Malcolm sat there with such a stoic expression on his face that gave Cathy no idea what he was thinking.

His grandchild was there. His grandson—another person in his lineage, yet his face said nothing. His daughter was on her way home now in pieces, her life a mess. It would be forever scarred. The baby fussed in Cathy’s arms as if he sensed her unease and she hushed him gently. His skin was like feathers as she brushed her fingers lightly over his delicate face. Blue eyes stared up at her. It was hard to imagine what it would be like for him in years to come—to know that his mother was out there somewhere, to know that she loved him. Would Malcolm help him? Would he ever find the answers that were about to be concealed?

Jeff handed Cathy a bottle that he had made up for the baby. The formula in it was warm. The baby’s mouth opened wide as if he could already smell the scent of the food. When she put the teat in his lips, he sucked thirstily as if the hunger was already rising in him. His eyes sparked, like there was a light in them. His head, now cleaned, was covered in soft light brown hair. Cathy rocked him gently, the way she used to do when she was nursing Faith and David. The soft crackling of the wood on the fire was soothing and his eyelids began to close as his tummy filled and he began to settle. He had no idea about the world he had just been born into. Perhaps he was really the lucky one.

Malcolm didn’t rock in the chair he was in. He sat rigidly. He didn’t speak—didn’t say a word. He just watched, his eyes firmly fixed on the baby. Cathy had no doubt that his mind was working behind those deep green eyes. What must he be thinking as he gazed at his grandson? Was it love? Care? Did he feel anything at all?

“Would you like to hold him?” She offered the baby out to him when he had finished his milk.

“It’s not a good idea.”

“If you don’t hold him, you can't bond with him and then you can't do what is best for him. You will only do what is best for Society.” She was speaking out of turn, and maybe she would pay for that. But this wasn’t just the head of Society and he wasn’t just the head of the Council. He was a father, a husband—he was a man and he had feelings in there somewhere. Surely all his years as Alpha could not have made him too cold or he would not have shown compassion for his daughter who had got herself into trouble. Cathy rose and dared. She placed the baby on Malcolm’s lap, giving him little choice but to hold the infant. At first he held him only with a careful hand so that he wouldn’t fall. Then he picked him up and lay him along his arm, the baby’s head resting in his large hand.

He dipped his head down and his nostrils flared. “He is a mix. He is …”

“Rare,” Cathy cut in gently. “A gift. Something special.”

The baby stayed sleeping in Malcolm’s hand and Malcolm brought him closer to him. He pushed back the shawl that Cathy had wrapped around him so that he could peer into his face, but he said nothing. After a moment, he handed him back to Cathy and stood himself, but she took the baby this time. Malcolm had held him and there was something in holding your own blood.  He straightened his suit and his expression at the same time. “No one must know of his existence.”

Jeff had come over to join them, but he stayed behind his wife, her back-up for always.

“No one?” she asked.

“He has no place in this world. If anyone learns of his existence, I fear the consequences will be something that not even I can stop.”

“What will you do with him?” Jeff asked.

His eyes flicked from Cathy to Jeff and then back again. “I wish for you both to care for him.” When Cathy and Jeff gave the same shocked and questioning expression, he added, “For the week at least. I have to make arrangements for him. It is not safe for him anywhere else.” Malcolm pulled at his sleeves, adjusting his suit and brushing it down as if he were about to attend a meeting. “If anyone should come looking for him, if they ask, I want you to run.”

“Run?” Jeff asked, his hands pressing lightly on Cathy’s shoulders.

Malcolm nodded. “It does not matter who they say they are. If they say I sent them, it is a lie. If they say they know my daughter, it is a lie. I will send no one to you. Even if his own mother or father turns up on your doorstep, you take the baby and get out of here. You contact me at the first chance.”

“And go where?” They didn’t have homes elsewhere. They weren’t rich. Granted they had Faith and David, but there was no chance they were going there with this baby. They could not risk their children’s lives, too.

“Anywhere. Somewhere safe.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a card that had his number on it. “If you change the last number to a three, you’ll get my private office. Get somewhere safe, call me and I will come.”

Jeff reached for the card and eyed it for a moment. “We don’t have the facilities to care for a baby full time.”

“What do you need? Give me your price.”

Cathy held the baby close to her. This was a huge request. They were supposed to be gone. All of them, not just his parents, but him too. But Malcolm was right. No one could know. Could they care for this baby? Just a week? Malcolm was waiting for a price, but what price was there? “You will come for him in a week?”

“Yes.”

“What will you do with him then?” It wasn’t right for her to ask, but she had to know. That maternal part of her that was crying for Gemma needed some comfort in the knowledge that the boy would be cared for.

Malcolm stared at her for a hard and uneasy minute. He sighed, the first sign of any real emotion. “I don’t know. It is a dangerous world out there for him. Dangerous on both sides.”

Cathy nodded. That was an understatement. The
Others
would see this as a chance to break Society laws. If those who led them could mix their lines, then why couldn’t they? But it wasn’t as simple as that. Cathy had mixed her line and it had been a gamble. What would happen if the lines became so diluted that their kind paled from existence altogether? It wasn’t worth the chance in many cases. That was why pure was so important. They could not risk making themselves extinct by incorrect reproduction.  “He needs a name. We can't just call him baby.”

“Sebastian,” Malcolm said straight away as if he had been thinking about this already.

It suits him
, Cathy thought to herself. It was fierce and powerful; it held the spark of intelligence with it, but it was sophisticated and calm. Maybe it would match him. “Sebastian,” she said, the name light on her lips. She offered Malcolm a smile, but he didn’t return it.

He reached into his other pocket and pulled out his wallet. It was fat with notes and Cathy tried not to stare at it. She tried not to imagine how much was in it when they had to survive day to day. He opened it and pulled out a substantial wad, split it and then held out half of it towards Jeff. “This is for his care, anything you need.”
And for our silence
, Cathy thought but didn’t say. Jeff was hesitant to take it, because taking it was taking Sebastian too. “Just a week?” she asked to confirm.

“A week and I will come back. I need to find him a home.”

“And your daughter?”

That brought another sharp breath from Malcolm and a flash of something across his expression, but then it was gone. “My daughter will heal.”

“And inside?”

“If I had not taken this baby, you know what would happen to him and her? She is not just anyone and neither is he.” Cathy realised by his tone that she had now crossed that line. His words were thick with emotion. In a way, she pitied him. To have to do this to your own child and to have to send your grandchild away. It was too much to even imagine. If Faith had a child that wasn’t allowed, could she do this? Cathy pushed the thought away. It was too much to imagine. She understood Malcolm’s intentions. She understood them and hated them with the same amount of power. Right now, there was a couple at home with their hearts broken and their world ripped apart all because they had been told a lie. How she would change it if she could, but no, Malcolm was right. Gemma Davies—what a parade that would cause if she was cast out into the strays and then the boy, too. The sweet, sleeping form that she cradled to her—innocence, pure and simple. He would be slaughtered. Being a mix was so much worse. “I didn’t bring them here because you owe me a favour, you know? All the people around me, not my family, but everyone else, my people, my friends. It is not just Humans who would use this baby.”

No. Cathy knew that. It would be Society, too. They would use this baby to shove him from his seat and then the shit would really hit the fan. This baby was the key to so many things and he had no idea. Not even a day old and there was so much trouble around him. “We will keep him safe. You have our word.”

He gave her a curt nod. “Thank you.” Taking one last look at his grandson and then Cathy for a moment, he turned and left. And as they watched him leave, Cathy wondered if he really would come back. The wad of notes in her husband’s hand was more than enough for a year, let alone a week.

Chapter Seven

The clinic was chaos that week. Five shifters had come in on one day, two of them fatalities. The baker was sure to be busy. The baker—another bone of contention amongst the
Others
.
Others
didn’t get to bury their dead or even arrange for funerals—they didn’t have that luxury. What they did have was the baker. Someone who was assigned to dealing with death. He would wrap the dead up and throw them upon his slab to burn them. There was no place for
Others
to have graveyards; the
Humans
wouldn’t hear of it. To Cathy it was another card, another file—another name of a stray that didn’t matter. But the pile wasn’t so high, she was thankful for that small mercy at least. How many others there were out there, though.
Others
, strays who died with no record of it anywhere. Cathy didn’t like to think about that part. Sometimes the world was just ugly

With it being so busy, though, and Cathy being out of commission—they had told them Cathy had to go to aid their son, David, with something—they’d had had to pull all of their staff in that week. No one needed to question it, most of the strays who wandered in through the doors didn’t come there to visit Jeff or Cathy. They came for medical assistance, that was all.

Tammy, their main assistant had to work overtime, not that she minded. She was happy to help Cathy and Jeff and Cathy was pleased that they could add a little extra to her pay at the end of the week. She used what Malcolm had given her to give them all a little extra. It was gratifying to be able to do that for them. Most of the strays who worked for them were settled down. Drifters didn’t stay, but they were in their plenty. The staff she had, many of them had small homes, husbands, wives, and children. They had someone who depended on them. So adding a little extra to the pittance they already received was pleasing.

Cathy dosed in the chair with Sebastian in her arms. He was a good baby, really. His mother would have been lucky. He was quiet and contented but god was he hungry. When his belly was full, he slept. Cathy let her eyes close. She was weary. It had been a while since they had cared for a little one on a fulltime basis, and he needed feeding regularly. Cathy was not so used to the broken night’s sleep anymore and she could feel the heaviness of sleep pulling her down as she let her eyes close and her mind slip into slumber.

“There’s an old soul in there.” Cathy jumped awake in an instant at the sound of Tammy’s voice. Her heart leaping up and slamming through her chest as she scrambled to get up with Sebastian in her arms. He was awake already, but he cried at Cathy’s sudden jolt and she lifted him closer to soothe him.

“Tammy?” Cathy glanced around for Jeff, but he wasn’t there. No one was. She was alone in the house, which was quite a way from the clinic, with the baby. “What are you doing here?”

Tammy leaned in to look at him. “Whose is he? Your son’s?” It was a natural question perhaps, but the hackles on Cathy’s neck rose as Malcom’s instructions echoed through her mind.
If anyone asks about him, run.
But this was Tammy. She had known her for years.

“Just a girl. She died giving birth.”

Tammy frowned. “You didn’t call me? I thought you were seeing your son.”

Cathy moved, making Tammy step back. “I was. I just … It’s been hectic. This one came in late at night, and we had to deal with it. There was no time to think.”

Tammy was the one they usually called for births. She had trained in midwifery, but never completed it or graduated, but it was good enough. She had probably learned more through her experience of working with shifters than any class could teach her. “What will you do with him?”

“I don’t know.” It wasn’t a lie. It had been a week almost, and they had heard nothing from Malcolm. He hadn’t even called to check up on the baby.

“Does he have a name?”

“Sebastian.”

Tammy came closer to look at him and Cathy tensed. She told herself that this didn’t matter. Tammy had not been looking for the baby. “May I?” Tammy offered her arms out to take the baby making Cathy’s heart speed up a little. This was just Tammy.
Tammy
. Not a stranger.

“Okay.” Tammy grinned and reached for him. Sebastian stared up at her, his blue eyes so fixed with wonder at this new world and new person. Tammy leaned her face into him. “I love the smell of new babies,” she said. “They always smell so sweet. Like baby powder and soap.” He blinked up at her, his eyes shimmering. Tammy’s own eyes went wide. “Wow, I’ve never seen anything like it. His eyes.”

Sebastian’s eyes were different. They were shifter, but there was something else there. Like his animal was already there and ready to come out. It was madness because it was too early. Yet, when she looked and saw that sometimes the blue shifted from green to gold and she swore sometimes his pupils lost their circular shape and pinched to form an oval. “It started a couple of days ago. His animal inside, we think.”

“Already?”

Already … It was too early for his eyes to start with the shift. It was too early for everything. Others matured faster than
Humans
, that was true, but not this fast. If everything went at the speed of his eyes, then he would have his first shift before he was one.

“What is he?” Tammy herself was a witch. She couldn’t detect what he was the same way shifters could—through scent. Her sense of smell and her hearing was the same level as a
Human’s
. Cathy was glad of that.

“He’s
wolf
.” It was better to say just one of them than both. What did it matter to Tammy if he was a mix? Cathy was sure the question was nothing more than curiosity.

“He’s beautiful.” Sebastian yawned in her arms, his little hand coming up above his head, and Tammy stroked his fingers with one of hers. He settled back down, blinked and then began to fall back to sleep. He nestled against Tammy’s chest. “What will you do with him?”

Cathy shrugged and shook her head. “He likes you.” Cathy smiled.

Maybe Tammy was the one to have Sebastian. Maybe Malcolm would allow it. Tammy brought him close to her face and closed her own eyes to breathe him in. She smiled softly and looked at him. “I hate to put him down. I have to get back before Jeff comes looking for me.” She gave Cathy a pretend worried smile. “I only came here because we’re out of wood in the burner, and I knew you had some here.”

“Don’t tell anyone I'm here. I’d like to just care for this little one a while.”

Tammy pushed him back towards Cathy. “My lips are sealed.”

“Thank you.” Cathy gave Tammy’s arm an affectionate squeeze as she took the baby back. Tammy seemed perfect for him. She watched her as Tammy limped towards the door. She was one of the many that she and Jeff had helped, and then she had stayed. Her leg had been pretty mangled when she was brought in. She’d never walk the same. She’d never have children, either. She had got into a fight with some
Humans
.  She’d been brought in by a mechanic and necromancer who had found her behind his property. She’d been attacked, refused to speak about what had been done to her, but it looked like one of the
Humans
had stomped on her leg several times so that she couldn’t get away. It was only just now that the light was beginning to come back on in the girl’s eyes. Mostly they were dull and filled with a sadness that Cathy wished she could help lift. “Tammy,” Cathy called before she went outside.

Tammy turned.

“Don’t tell anyone about Sebastian either. Okay?”

Tammy smiled and nodded. “You have my word.” She closed the door behind her slowly, and Cathy listened as she loaded the wheelbarrow outside with firewood.

No one else had seen Sebastian. No one else knew about him. Cathy wanted to keep it that way. She knew that Tammy wasn’t a risk, but still she wished that she hadn't seen him. It was safer if no one did. These days seemed to drag by, the hours nothing but endless moments. Even the results of the latest carnage didn’t seem to make time move any faster. A week couldn’t go by fast enough. Cathy was sure that her nerves couldn’t take much more of it. Every damn noise outside, every car that pulled up. She’d even programmed the phones in the house to have Malcolm’s number there at the push of a button.

More days passed, more
Others
coming in. Not just shifters, but everything. Witches, telepaths, they even had a vampire in one of the nights. Malcolm was overdue.  Sebastian was sleeping in the bassinette they had given him when Jeff came in. He was tired. He looked tired. He sat at the dinner table, and Cathy served him some meat they had caught earlier and saved. She fed Turbo, their bulldog, too. They had to keep him in the kitchen, though. He’d taken to Sebastian—taken to him too much that he wouldn’t let even Cathy or Jeff near him without making a fuss. It wasn’t like Turbo to act this way. Normally he was so fun loving, but this baby had turned him into something protective.

“The clinic is so busy tonight,” Jeff said, as he yawned and chewed at the same time.

Cathy sat at the table with him. She had eaten, though. She rested her hand on the side of the bassinette and rocked it absently. “Need to go back over?”

“Maybe in an hour. I’ll see if maybe we can close for the night. We don’t have any all-nighters in now.” Jeff hadn't managed to close the last two nights, and that was a drag on them both. Usually they’d take turns to be there on hectic nights, but with Cathy held up at the house, it was all on Jeff, and it was showing on his face. Deep, dark circles had formed under his eyes. He needed some sleep.

As Jeff was finishing his meat, Sebastian started to fuss. Cathy went to pick him up, but Jeff waved her away. “I’ll do it.”

“I’ll make his feed up,” she said, wanting to feel that she was doing something.

She let herself stay in her chair for a moment as she watched Jeff, big but gentle. He lifted Sebastian into his arms and snuggled him against him as he took him over to the fireside chair. He sat down with him and picked up his book from the small table and began to read it aloud to him. Sebastian was watching him. He looked like he was taking everything in, the way his eyes were fixed on Jeff. She could swear that that child was more alert than he should be at this age. He listened to the deep voice reading those words to him, his expression as if he knew. Cathy didn’t blame Sebastian, she supposed. She could sit for a while and listen to Jeff read. His words and voice soothed her on many dark nights when she was afraid.

Cathy got up reluctantly and began to clean up. Clean up included giving Turbo his evening meal, too. But he sat at the kitchen door, waiting to be let out of the house. He broke into loud barks when someone knocked on the front door shortly after. “Turbo,” she said, trying to shush him. She pushed past him, leaving him in the kitchen and closing the door behind her. She glanced in the lounge. “I’ll get it,” she said to Jeff. “Probably Tammy again.” Tammy had come by almost every day since she knew Sebastian was there. She had even brought him a small stuffed wolf to sleep with.

“To remind him of his mum,” Tammy had said.

If only she knew.

Cathy pulled the lounge door closed before answering the door.

But it wasn’t Tammy. Through the glass of the door, she could see a strange man standing there with a woman in his arms. She had blood running down her hand as she lay limply against him. The man hammered again when Cathy didn’t come right out. “Please. Someone. Help me,” he wailed.

Cathy opened the door to them with caution, but the man practically threw the woman at Cathy.

“My girlfriend. Please help her.” He lowered her to the ground. There was blood coming from her nose, in her hair.

“What happened?”

“Some fucker. He hit her with his car. We were …
Please
. Please help her.”

“Okay. Calm down. Let me look.”

“She was mid shift; we weren’t even in the way. He just rushed for us.”

“Let me get my kit, okay?” said Cathy, turning away and heading back in to get it.

The man ran a shaky hand through his hair as he leaned down to his girlfriend, and Cathy left them there to get her stuff. They kept a kit in the house for when they got called out and it was easier to run with. But this man needed to go to the clinic. She needed to get rid of him before Sebastian began to make a noise. God knows Turbo was doing his best to wake the entire town up.

“I’ll just be a minute,” Cathy said, as she went back into the house. It was under the stairs. She opened the small door to the closet and pulled it out. When she stood upright and backed up, she slammed into the man who had been outside. “Hey, you’re not supposed to come in here. This is private.

“Sorry. Sorry,” he said. “I just ... I didn’t know.”

She nodded at him and walked him backwards, back out of the house. “It’s okay, but you don’t enter my house. The clinic is back that way. Didn’t you pass it to get here?”

The
wolf
backed out of her house. “We came through the woods.” Something cracked to the side, catching Cathy’s attention for a split second. The woodlands that surrounded her house and land was nothing but darkness, yet she shivered as if she could feel the weight of someone’s gaze on her skin. Then a scent crashed into her senses, and she couldn’t deny the putrid stench—
Human
. She needed to get this man and his girlfriend to the clinic, and then she needed to get back inside and back to Jeff and Sebastian.