Page 46 of Cultivating Caden

She ran her hand through her dark tresses. “This is bad. This is so bad.”

“Dammit, Hilda,” Jack snarled. “What’s going on?”

She stopped and reached for Jack’s hand. “Okay, what I’m going to say is culled from myth and legend, so there’s no way to know just how much of it is real and how much is made up.”

“Go on,” Quade said impatiently.

“A wood sprite is a unique being. In all the realms, only one exists at any given time. If Caden is a wood sprite, that means the Tree of Life is dying, and Caden is meant to infuse it with his life energy.”

Not one bit of that made sense. “Pretend I’m stupid and explain it to me in small words.”

She snorted. “No need to pretend since you fuckingclaimedhim. Oh my God, what have you done, Quade?”

The urge to bite her head off rode Quade hard. “Just get on with your story.”

“The Tree of Life exists across all the known realms. It’s like a gateway for travelers to access them. If you look at pictures, you’ll see how everything is connected by the Tree. If it dies, all of reality will crash in on itself. Caden being here means that he’s supposed to take its place, so when it dies, reality will continue on.”

“That makes no sense.”

Hilda sighed. “Where was Caden born?”

“I have no clue. Ten didn’t tell me.”

“Get him down here, now.”

Quade picked up the phone and dialed Caden. When he picked up, Quade’s heart seized again. What power did Caden have over Quade that he made him so… un-lycan-like?

“Can you come down to Jack’s office? Get on the elevator, take it to the sublevel, then follow the white line on the floor.”

“Sure, is something wrong?”

“I’m not certain, but we need to talk to you.”

“What about Matt and Kieran?”

“Where are they?”

“Sleeping in the spare bedroom.”

Worms slithered through Quade’s gut. He wasn’t sure how he felt about them being near Caden. Right now, the number of people Quade trusted were hovering just above zero.

“Let them sleep. See you in a bit.” He hung up the phone and turned to Hilda who was glaring at him. “You really have no clue what you’ve done, do you?”

“What the fuck did I do?”

Her gaze softened. “Oh, Quade. When a lycan claims someone, he binds their energies together. It’s supposed to make both of them stronger. If Caden is a wood sprite and he does become the Tree of Life, that energy will be absorbed by the Tree and you’ll die.”

Die? Well, that sucked. Meh…. “Then I die. I won’t let Caden be alone.”

The thought that he could die rocked Quade, but he was adamant. If he had to die with Caden, then so be it. But…. Whatever. He was ready to die if he had to.

The door opened and Caden peeked around the corner. When he saw Quade, he smiled and stepped inside, moving to take a spot beside him. Quade immediately felt better having Caden nearby. He wanted to reach out and take his hand, but thought they should talk first.

“What’s going on?”

Jack stood and held out his hand.

Caden’s gaze traveled up, up, up. “Holy shit.”