Devil's Mate (The Tribe MC: Chase of Prey Book 1) (7 page)

“If you really want to find them tonight, I’ll go Hunting with you.”

“Do you mean it?” She stroked her fingers along the top of his hand, mesmerized by the feel of his flesh below her fingertips. “It’s not really your battle.”

“All rogues are my battle.”

“I think I could love you just for saying that.”

Her words fell between them and for long seconds neither of them spoke. Cara’s heart beat far too rapidly. Had she just said that? My God, she had! And she had meant it.

It was insane. She’d never felt so much for a person before in her entire life. She barely knew him, yet she felt like she had known him forever. He was the first person who didn’t expect her to be the things that she didn’t want to be.

If she had said to anybody else that she didn’t think she could handle her magic, they would have started giving her all sorts of tests to prove to her that she could. They would have told her stories of how great her mother was and all the rest of her line. She would have been reminded, yet again, of her lineage.

Remorse struck her. Sebastian did not know who she was, and he could never know! What would he say if he knew that she was Tribe? The Tribe was not known to be kind to outsiders and while the Hunters killed many of the creatures that caused havoc to humankind, like vampires, werewolves, snow beasts, they feared magic of most kinds.

Sebastian didn’t seem to fear her magic though. He was so different from everyone she knew!

“I guess we need a plan.” Her words were almost a whisper, barely audible. It was the only thing she could think of to say in the silence that had grown between them.

“Yes, we need a plan.”

Even as they began forming their plans Cara could not help but notice he had not said anything about loving her back.

CHAPTER 11

Night fell and Cara left her home. She had arranged to meet Sebastian in the same spot where she had met him for the first time. It was spot neither of them would ever forget, or so she hoped.

Nobody noticed her leaving the house. Most of the Tribe were out, riding hard and looking for the rogues. The ones who were about were used to her leaving the house at night to walk, so they didn’t interfere.

As she walked, she pondered the words she had spoken to Sebastian earlier that day. She had said she could love him; she had not said she did love him. Maybe he had noticed the difference. Even as she hoped that was true, she also hoped that it wasn’t.

She did not want to admit it, but there was no way to ignore the fact that she had fallen for him, and hard. She was surprised that the whole world was not still echoing from the force of her fall.

Why was he so special to her? She barely knew him, and she already knew that there could never be anything between them. There was no way that anyone would ever allow her to mate and marry a
gadjo
.

Okay, so she had already mated with him. If her father knew that he would probably have her locked away in the cellar until she grew so lonely that even an asshole like Ion would look good to her.

She was going to have to slow down and work hard to pull away from him. If she didn’t, she would end up heartbroken and horribly alone for the rest of her life. Everything about Sebastian seemed right to her; everything about the two of them together felt right. It wasn’t, of course: they didn’t belong together and she knew it. But knowing it and forcing her heart to know it seemed to be two entirely different things. It seemed as if her normally rational thought processes had taken a hike and only her heart was in charge.

And her heart was moronic.

Sebastian was waiting for her. As usual, he was dressed in black. The silver he wore gleamed dully in the dimness and she knew that hers did as well. Before she could say or do anything more than lift her hand to him, he had gathered her into a tight embrace. She was so startled that she did not try to resist.

Not that she wanted to. In his arms seem to be exactly where she wanted and needed to be. As soon as he clasped her to him, she felt like she was coming home. How could something so wrong, so against all the rules, feel so good and so right?

But even in his arms, she felt the sting of her own betrayal of her people. Would she seriously consider leaving them?

Her heart said she would.

She was already uncomfortable with her power. She was already afraid it of it and unsure of it and at that moment she hated it. She wished she had been born without it. It did happen, and those women of the Tribe who were born powerless often had easier lives. If they left the Tribe, nobody took it too hard.

Her vision came back to her. The Elder drawing the runes on her body and the fire leaping. The wolf outside the circle… what had that meant? Had it been a symbol or was it a real wolf? Was a wolf going to come between her and her Tribe? Had she been running into battle, or to that wolf? She didn’t know. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Her heart was torn by that vision even as her soul cried out for his touch. She needed him, wanted him and nothing else would do. But how could she have him? He was a Hunter, and
gadjo
. He was not of the Tribe and she could not share her bloodline with anyone outside the Tribe.

Sebastian buried his face in her hair, smelling the light floral fragrance of her silky ebony tresses. He did not have to tell her how dangerous their mission was; she already knew. This might be the last time he ever embraced her; tonight one or both of them might die.

There were many risks in fighting a rogue, but one in particular that he did not want to think about. If she were bitten…

What would happen? He knew that it was possible for one of the Tribe to be turned. It had happened, or at least, there were rumors of it. It only made sense that one of the Tribe could be turned; they were human, after all, despite all their magical abilities.

But he could not bear to see her turned. As one of the Tribe, it would be highly unlikely that any pack would take her in and extend the Covenant to her. It was even more unlikely that any would share their blood with her.

No matter how strong she was, she would be rogue, and he knew that for her, that would be a fate worse than death.

“Stay with me, no matter what. I don’t want you hurt and I don’t what you bitten. Understand me?” His voice was almost hypnotic and his eyes held hers. If she was going to lie, she would have to do it face–to–face with him and he knew she could not do that.

“I’ll stay with you. I really don’t want to get bitten. I’m really not in the mood to go rogue. That would totally suck.”

“Actually, I think it would bite.” His eyes twinkled as she laughed and punched him lightly on his upper arm. She took a single step back but it felt like a thousand. She could have stayed in his arms all night.

She couldn’t though. She couldn’t allow the rogues to destroy any more of the Tribe than they already had. Even though the men who had died were not Kris, they were still her family.

They set out. She did her best to walk as silently as Sebastian did. The moon was barely over a quarter and she looked up at it, wondering how long they had before the rogues appeared, or if they even would.

The streets were crowded, as usual. It was a weekend and tourist season. Young people her own age frolicked on the streets. Looking at them made her feel ancient.

It wasn’t fair. She shouldn’t know the things that she knew. She should never have seen her mother die at the claws and fangs of a rogue Wolf. She should not have had to move constantly to avoid the Fallen. She shouldn’t be stuck with power she didn’t want and a family of criminals.

No wonder she was so attracted to Sebastian. He was justice personified. He was a Hunter, and because of that, he was judge, jury, and executioner. Her family had not always been criminals; once upon a time, they had been dispensers of justice. She wished that they could return to that time, even though it was many centuries since they had been honest.

Was there a way to use her powers to return her family to who they had once been?

Maybe it wasn’t enough to simply be a lawyer and try to bring some justice to the world that way, maybe what she would really need to do was dispense justice in  the sides of the world most never saw. Maybe this, this hunting down of rogues, was the only thing she could really do to make sure that there was justice in the world.

That thought depressed her greatly.

Sebastian saw the rogue perched atop the building long before she did. His hand shot out and his arm barred the way, preventing her from walking directly into the path of its attack.

The rogue was jet black with eyes that glowed with an orange–red light that reminded her of a jack-o’-lantern she’d once carved for Halloween. Its lip curled to reveal fangs covered in foamy saliva. Even from a distance, she could smell its madness, its bloodlust.

Sebastian pulled his silver blade from its sheath. The whisper of the blade leaving the leather made the hair stand up on the back of Cara’s neck. The rogue began to stalk Sebastian, circling him as it looked for a weak spot.

Without thinking, Cara she hurled a spell into the air. Bright blue runes appeared; the rogue yelped in pain but quickly shook off her spell. Sebastian took advantage of the momentary distraction, getting in a shallow cut on the Wolf’s flank.

The Wolf howled but quickly recovered. Cara could tell that Sebastian was as shocked by that as she was. This rogue was stronger than anything she had ever seen! It had felt silver in its flesh and had not even fallen! What kind of rogue was this?

A long undulating howl sounded. Cara’s heart almost stopped. The Wolf backed up, its powerful body moving toward the street with all the people on it. It would eat human flesh — they had to make sure that it didn’t get the chance!

Sebastian pulled a longer blade from second sheath, this one strapped to his ankle. Cara reached out, chanting, and flames shot from her fingers, creating a circle of fire around the rogue.

Holy crap! Cara had known she had the ability to make fire, at least in theory but she’d never tried it. To see it working so well was empowering.

Just to see if she could do it again, she shot another bolt of flame from her hand. From the Wolf’s right side, the smell of singed fur rose in the air and she gagged. The Wolf howled and Sebastian leaped forward into the circle of flames with both of his blades raised high in the air.

Just as he was about to bring the blades down and into the Wolf’s body, another rogue appeared. It could’ve been the first rogue’s twin, they looked so much alike. It leaped straight towards her, knocking her off her feet and into the ring of fire.

She had created the flames, but they still had the power to burn her. Her knees bit the concrete and the fire licked at her legs. There was nowhere to go but into the ring with Sebastian and the other rogue.

Her fall had distracted Sebastian, and the rogue used his momentary lapse of concentration to escape. It jumped past the border of the fire and landed beside its partner. Cara climbed to her feet, her anger overriding her caution.

The fire around her and Sebastian died instantly, but long jets of ice spurted from her hand and slammed into the rogue that had knocked her down.

“Cool,” Cara giggled. Slush dripped from her fingers. She had no idea how she had made the ice appear. She had not even uttered a spell!

She was not the only one shocked by the ice. Sebastian had known that Tribe could make fire, but he had never heard of one who could make ice, and without even a spell! What else could she do?

One of the rogues was completely encased in ice, literally froze in mid-snarl. Its fangs showed clearly. The other rogue whined and pressed its nose to the ice, yipped in pain at the cold and turned its eyes back to them.

There was an almost human expression of rage on its face. It wanted her dead if for no other reason than what she just done to its partner.

The first rogue growled deep and low then pounced. Sebastian struck with the blade, slamming it deep between the animal’s ribs. Blood spouted out, hot and thick, a rich coppery scent that made Cara gag.

Long streams of blood dripped down Sebastian’s hands and arms. He withdrew the knife and stepped back, allowing the Wolf’s thick body to fall to the ground.

The battle was far from over. The ice tinkled as it shattered, and Cara looked up to see the previously frozen Wolf leap to life as the blood from the first rogue saturated the ground around the ice.

The second rogue was much larger than the wounded one. It snatched the other rogue up in its massive jaws and fled. Cara started to run after it but Sebastian’ held her back. Wolf blood smeared across the hem of her shirt and she flinched in revulsion.

“What are you doing? We have to get them!”

Sebastian gave her a little shake as he spoke. “Did you not to see what happened? Those rogues are stronger than any should be. There’s something more going on here. That rogue tasted silver twice and still wasn’t dead. I have never seen another rogue carry a wounded one away from a battlefield before. Usually they care only for themselves.

“Until we find out what they are and how to kill them it’s best to leave them be. The wounded one… ”

Cara shouted, “ We should go after them now while they’re wounded! If we try to get them later when they’ve had time to heal there’s no guarantee we can take them! We can take them right now though!”

Sebastian looked at her his green eyes narrowing, “Those two rogues would’ve killed us both. I don’t think there’s enough silver in the world to protect us from them.”

“We could have — ”

“We did what we needed to do tonight. We tested their strength, we know we have to come far more prepared from now on. They’re able to withstand silver, Cara; do you not see what that means?”

Tears spilled down her face, and sobs broke from her body. “I knew those two men that those damn wolves ate! I knew all their girlfriends. I knew what kind of hot sauce they liked on their meat and what kind of beer they both drank. I knew their big dream was to get their stupid airplane up in the air, just because they wanted to see the world from up high just for once. Was that too much to ask, Sebastian?”

Her grief was breaking his heart. “No. No, it’s not too much to ask.”

Cara resisted his embrace but only for a moment. Her tears soaked his shirt and helped wash way some of the blood on his arms and hands. Finally he spoke. “We need to get off the streets. I think this calls for a drink, for me at least.”

“I already told you crazy stuff happens if I drink alcohol.”

Sebastian’s arm was wrapped around her waist tightly. She leaned into his, her hips bumping his lightly as they walked down the street together and back into the busier sections.

“What kind of crazy stuff are we talking about here?” he asked. “I mean, we both know you can shoot fire and ice. If you get drunk, do you create a thunderstorm or burp fire?”

Despite the gravity of the situation, she began to laugh, and she was grateful for it. How could he be so good? How could he know exactly what she needed when she needed it and give it to her so easily?