She Can't Die

6. Same old Argument, slightly different tactics.

  Same old argument, slightly different tactics.

Waking up in a cocoon for the second time in as many nights, this one feels much more cosy. I get that sixth sense feeling that's there's someone else is in the room, but I burry myself seeping deeper into my sheets instead of checking. The mocking scoff from above my head makes me regret that decision fast.

"You're getting lazy." Cade rumbles at me. I can tell he's disappointed at my lack of action.

Groaning I flop on to my back and peel the covers down slightly so I can peek my eyes out at him. Cade is not the type of guy you would expect to find as a close friend. He's the guy that makes you keep your head down, and move to the other side of the street from, as not to annoy or join into his proximity. You'd automatically guess he'd been to jail, with those hard frosty grey eyes, square jaw, almost completely shaved head, and menacing presence, and it just so happens that you'd be right. Or so I'm told by his guys.

Only thing is, if you take the time to really look into those eyes your see that they aren't hard or frosty, they are filled with pain, and need. Cade wants revenge. The most savage, and dangerous kind. He only told me his story once, and we've never spoken of it again, but when he did it changed the way I look at him forever.

When he was seventeen his entire family, along with his girlfriend and her family, were slaughtered right in front of his face. Cade himself was in the hospital for months, almost every bone in his body broken and bruised, but worst of all he had a broken heart. He was, not unexpectedly, shattered, distraught, forever distorted.

No one believed his story about the rabbid half men, half beasts, that had ransacked his home that summer afternoon. They put it down to some psychotic break at the loss of so many he loved and cared for, but Cade knew what he'd seen. Three years later, he'd gathered a following and had slashed down every big bad monster they'd come across. Still he'd yet to find his revenge.

There was a part of Cade that would always be consumed by his hunger for vengeance, but he hadn't let him self become completely consumed by it. He took care of those he cared for in a way that few others did. He did not want to loose anyone else he cared for. If you messed with his, you better watch out.

Turning my attention back to the big guy. I could see him assessing me with that intense, agitated, yet concerned, look he did 'oh so well'. I swear he could see the trails of what I'd been through, even though I knew I had completely healed by now. The guy was way to observant. I tried by best to force attitude into my face, glaring at him to back off. I knew what was coming. Again.

"This is why you should have stayed with us. Where it's safe."Cade grumbled, half attempting to scold me, half seriously considering not letting my return even be an option. Here we go.

He was, more than a little, protective, especially over me. I guess that's what you get for being one of the only females in a group of hunters. I'm sure it also had something to do with the way he'd found me, and my knack of finding endless trouble. Plus the fact I didn't stay with them. But, even though I didn't live with them, I was most definitely part of the fold. Always would be.

I took a deep, collective breath and set forward to try and prevent the inevitable. "Cade, please don't make me have this argument with you again. The out come wont change."I made my voice as soft and calm as I possibly could. But, honestly, I was getting fed up with this same old act. "I don't want to fight." I added. It was true. I hated how this ended. Every. Damn. Time.

"So don't fight it. You know I'm right."He said powering through anyway. He moved his feet further apart, widening his stance. A tactic he used to intimidate his prey, but one I also knew was also his go to defensive position. "I just don't understand why you insist on living with these," Cade paused, something akin to disgust, mixed with confusion, twisting his face. "boys."He finished, the word sounding like an insult.

"You know why. I wont go through my reasons again." I told him, firmly. I crossed my arms over my chest, showing I wouldn't budge on the matter. He knew this already.

Cade didn't say anything for a full five minutes, and by the sucking of air through his nose, and the clenched jaw and fists, I could tell he was trying to calm himself down. My brows go up as I wait.

He moved to the bed and sat next to me, leaning in, looking me straight in the eyes. Slowly, he pulls my arms from their folded position and held my hands in his. Letting the anxiety and concern, show clearly in his featured, he went for an altogether different tactic. One I wasn't prepared for, or able to defend against. He knew I didn't deal with emotional shit well.

"You were gone for two days Casey. Two. Fucking. Days. Why do you insist on doing this alone? You know we are in this together. If anything happened to you I," Cade swallowed thickly, and I could see that this new tactic of letting the gooey feels out, wasn't just hard on me. "Well I don't know what, but it wouldn't be okay. Just come stay with us. Please."

Oh no, he's using 'pleases' now? What the hell was going on? I know this had sucked, but this wasn't the first time something bad had happened to me. Cade knew, more than anyone about my body, and its ability to heal itself.

Except, even he didn't know everything, but letting someone know I could come back from death? That was too much, even for Cade. Though maybe that was the problem, he feared my death. I, on the other hand, had lived it so many times, it barely phased me. I knew I wouldn't tell him though. If it got out, I shook at the thought. I trusted Cade to keep quiet, it was the fear of him seeing me for what I was that truly stopped the admission. I was a monster. Just like those we chased. 

We didn't say anything, just watched each other, faces close, eyes connected, each wanting the other to understand. I closed my eyes tightly, then, opened them wide, not sure what, or how, I was going to say what I needed to.

Lucky for me, the door slammed open.