Page 3 of Cultivating Caden

“Fuck.” Jack glared at Quade. “Then what killed those men?”

Quade leaned closer. “Did you find any particulates on the bodies?”

Jack cocked his head.

“What? I watchBones.”

More keys were tapped. “Yes. Several of the lacerations on the victim’s bodies held large quantities of pollen, which we also discovered in their lungs. Far more than you’d see normally, and from a great many plants, some of which should already be beyond producing those levels this late in the season. Also, wood particulates were engrained in the victim’s skin, as though they were lashed with a branch.”

“Give me the short-and-dirty version. Caden Daniels, what is he?”

“If I had to guess? I believe Mr. Daniels has latent phyllokinetic abilities. I think the plants around the area reacted to his fear and killed those men to protect him from whatever it was they were doing to him. Further, I think he was unaware of it, and he’s trying hard to understand what happened.”

Quade gave Jack a smug grin. “Now throw in a lycan….”

“Fuck.” Jack pushed away from the desk, jabbed a button disconnecting the call, and paced around the room. “We could have killed an innocent man.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

Jack grunted. “So you know, in a fight, I would beat your ass. Don’t push me, Quade.”

“Shove it up your beanstalk, Jack.”

That earned Quade a grimace-disguised grin. “We can’t let him go.” Jack kicked the desk, moving it three feet and causing it to crash onto its side, scattering papers, pens, and his precious laptop everywhere. “What the hell do we do now?”

That was a very good question indeed.

Jack bent over, put one hand on the desk, and jerked it back up. When he picked up the computer, he groaned. The screen was trashed, the cover had been cracked, and half the keys were missing from where the desk had landed on the keyboard.

“Hilda’s going to kill me.”

Hilda was Jack’s assistant and wife. A petite thing, she stood barely five foot three. Jack could cup her ass with one hand and lift her up. More than once Quade had wondered if everything about Jack was proportional and, if so, how he and Hilda could have sex. Not that he really wanted to ask. Still, it was something he was certain most people would wonder.

At least he hoped it wasn’t just him being a freak.

Sliding his cell from his pocket, Jack tapped the screen, then put the device to his ear. A moment later his voice took on a pathetic whine when he said hello.

“What the hell did you do?”

“I…. What makes you think I did something?” Jack’s lower lip quivered. It was funny to see a half giant afraid of a brownie.

Quade didn’t need enhanced hearing to pick up on Hilda’s irritation. “Because you’re not calling from your office phone.”

“The last time I called, you put it on speaker and let everyone in the office listen in!”

A snort bubbled out of him, which earned Quade a sneer. He’d been there that day, and they’d all laughed their asses off when Jack tried to plead with Hilda to bring him some coffee because his hands were too big for the tiny machine in his office.

“What did you do, Jack?” Her tone told Quade she wouldn’t brook any prevarication from him.

Jack’s voice grew soft and petulant. It was some funny shit. “I need a new laptop.”

“Again? That’s the third one this year!”

Jack sighed. “I’m sorry.”

She chuckled. “I love you, you know that, right?”

He brightened considerably. “Yeah, and I love you.”