“W-what are you?”
Cade took a deep breath and thought for the briefest of moments about lying to him, or at least giving him some watered-down version of the truth. But when he opened his mouth, the truth came spilling out. “I guess I’m what you would call a werewolf. ”
Jax gasped for breath and jerked upright in the bed. He glanced once at Mason and then at the door as if trying to calculate his chances of grabbing Mason and making a run for it.
“Don’t try it, Jax,” Cade said quietly. “You know I’ll catch you and bring you back. ”
Jax didn’t reply at first, just sat there breathing hard and gripping his knees with his hands so hard Cade was sure he’d have bruises there in the morning. He let him try to assimilate what he’d said before he spoke quietly again. “I’m not going to harm you—you should realize that by now. None of us want to hurt you. ”
“This-this isn’t real. ” Jax shook his head. “It’s not real. I’ve got to be dreaming. ”
“Except you know it is real. You’ve seen how strong we are, how fast. You heard me talking to my brother just now. You didn’t have a word for what we are before, but you knew something was wrong, didn’t you?”
Jax nodded, his eyes shining in the dim room. He didn’t seem capable of saying anything more, so Cade tried to fill the strained silence. “What do you want to ask me? I know you must have questions. ”
“W-what do you mean you’re a w-werewolf?”
“I mean I am. I’m a wolf shapeshifter. Do you know what that means?”
“A monster. ”
Cade shrugged. “I know it seems that way, but we aren’t vicious and out of control. Our minds remain partially human, at least, and we don’t kill people. It’s not like in the movies. ”
“What do you want with m-me?”
“How much did you hear of what I said to Connor?”
“Everything. ”
Cadewinced. “I didn’t want you to find out that way, Jax. I thought you were sleeping. ”
“I learned to sleep light. ” Jax fixed him with a steady, implacable gaze. “I’ve been fighting monsters for a long time now. ”
Cade narrowed his eyes at that, but only nodded. He needed to find out what Jax was hiding in his past, and find out where those scars came from, but he’d wait until later. One crisis at a time.
“Like I said, we’re not like what you’ve probably seen in movies or on TV. We mostly want to be left alone, and we try to stay away from humans. ”
“From h-humans…” Jax said, his voice shaky. “Oh, shit. ”
“We don’t randomly attack people. We’ll defend ourselves if we have to, but that’s it. I’m telling you the truth. And we don’t eat people, or any of that crap Hollywood puts out. ”
“You-you told your brother you needed to d-drink my blood. Like a-a vampire. ” His voice had risen on each word until he was almost shouting at the end. Mason stirred next to him, but Jax rose up on his knees, his body tensed and ready to run, to fight if he had to.
Cade held up a hand. “Calm down, please. You misunderstood. Let me explain…”
“No. You tell me what that meant. How did I misunderstand? You said I’d be a blood whore. Are you going to kill us? Suck us dry of blood?”
Cade closed his eyes and sighed. Fuck. “No. Please settle down and give me a chance to explain. We’ll work this out. Okay? I promise. ”
“What do you mean, we’ll work it out? I want to take my brother and leave. Right now. If you’re really not a monster, then you let me go!”
Mason sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily. “Jax?” he said. Jax reached around and put a hand on him, but never took his eyes off Cade.
Cade spoke quietly, keeping his tone level. Jax was about to freak out big time, and Cade could feel it building. “I don’t think I can let you go any more, Jax. Earlier today, I told you I would, but I don’t know if I could have gone through with it, even then. Every hour more I spend with you, it gets harder, compels me more. I know you don’t understand, but if you’ll let me explain…”
Jax’s nerve finally broke, and he scooped Mason up in his arms and lunged for the door. He blanched in horror to find that Cade made it there before him and stood blocking the exit. Backing violently away, he stumbled over furniture in his way but made it over to the far corner of the room, pulling a chair over in front of them. He screamed in abject terror as Cade walked slowly toward him, his hands held out to the sides.
AsJax’s fear increased, Cade knew he had to stop walking toward the boys, so he slowly began to back away. Rayce and Connor must have heard the shouting through the thin walls, because they were now outside the room, pounding frantically. He opened the door and saw both of them looking alarmed and panicky.