Free to Love (The Tribe MC: Chase of Prey Book 3) (5 page)

Cara ran in, the spell already flashing from her fingers. Silver light cascaded across Gregory’s furry body. She had expected it to slow him down, but he simply shook his head and continued his standoff with Sebastian.

Something was wrong! Gregory should have been injured by that spell! She shot another one at him just as he leapt towards Sebastian, but it was just as ineffectual. Gregory’s paws slammed into Sebastian’s broad chest and he took them both onto the ground.

“Sebastian!” The scream turned her throat raw and sore. She ran toward Sebastian, desperate to help. One whole side of his face was covered in blood; Gregory’s claws had caught Sebastian in the temple before streaking down his face to his jawline.

Sebastian kicked Gregory in his soft belly and Gregory let out a grunt of pain. Sebastian managed to get himself into a half–seated position and kicked again, landing a hard blow on the beast’s shoulder. The silver spurs and chains on Sebastian’s boots should’ve inflicted more damage, but Gregory was relentless.

Weeping and angry, frightened and determined not to let anything happen to the man she loved, Cara shot another spell at Gregory. He merely shook his head again, then his muzzle lowered. He bit down on Sebastian’s leg, hard, savagely shaking his head from side to side. The sound of Sebastian’s jeans ripping and the sight of blood running down his leg and into the ground below him was horrifying. Gregory was killing him!

Cara’s spells continued to bounce off Gregory as he drank Sebastian’s blood. Sebastian was in obvious pain and still trying to stand up, but his legs would not support him. Cara dropped down onto her knees beside him and held him, trying to figure out a way to get them both out of there.

She had a dreadful feeling that if she let go of him he would die before she could get back to him. She knew she had no choice — if she was going to help him at all, she had to kill Gregory, but he seemed indestructible. He was half–Tribe and strong, too. Whatever magic she used against him, he seemed to have the ability to simply absorb it.

Of course! Why hadn’t she thought of that? He was absorbing her magic and growing stronger! But how could she fight him without it?

She had to fight him with violence. That was the only answer. Without her magic she was just a young woman, and she was pretty certain that she couldn’t overpower him.

But she had to try.

She took Sebastian’s silver knife. He resisted, but she pressed a fleeting kiss to his cheek and staggered to her feet. She was beyond tired and all the fighting that she had done had done nothing more than drain her and empower Gregory. It would’ve been laughable if it wasn’t so lethal.

Gregory circled her. She lashed out with the knife and managed to slice off small section of his ear. Blood, dark burgundy and stinking, came from that incision, but it didn’t slow him down.

Cara was sure that she was going to die, but she wasn’t sure if she even cared anymore. Sebastian was mortally wounded; if he died, her life would not be worth living anyway.

Gregory lunged at her, his fangs coming within inches of her face. She managed to twist away just before he sank his teeth into her but he got close enough for her to smell his fetid breath. The odor made her gag, but she took advantage of his proximity, thrusting the knife into his soft belly. Gregory howled with pain and dropped to the earth, shifting back into his human form for a moment.

He looked up at her, just a young boy with enormous eyes and a shock of hair that needed brushing. Her heart softened and she dropped her guard for a moment — and that was exactly what Gregory had wanted. He rose up again in full Wolf form, his pale flesh covered in matted, stinking fur.

His claws sliced into her tender skin. Blood poured from her arm and she screamed. Tears of agony exploded from her eyes and she lashed out, kicking and punching wildly as he took her to the ground.

His heavy body was on top of hers. Cara managed to get an elbow between him and her throat but she wasn’t sure how long that would last. His teeth snapped right in front of her face and above the side of her neck where her jugular vein rested.

A howl sounded out behind her. Her heart sank. There was another rogue joining the fight. She was afraid she would not live through this, and neither would Sebastian. Tears flowed even faster down her cheeks but they were no longer tears of physical pain — they were tears of emotional agony.

Gregory was snatched off her body and tossed down the alley of trees. Cara stared up in shock at the enormous golden–brown Wolf who stood above her in a protective stance. His eyes were blue, human and instantly recognizable. It was Sebastian!

She managed to stand. Sebastian paced in front of her, his hindquarters twitching and his tail moving from side to side, until Gregory returned and faced him, his own growls low and throaty.

It was Gregory that made the first move, coming in low into the right, then switching at the last moment to attack Sebastian’s left, but a quick slash of Sebastian’s paw sent him reeling up against the side of the house.

Gregory let out a howl of pain and shape-shifted. He faced his brother and said, “Listen to me, Sebastian, none of this was my fault. They made me this way. I never asked for this. I didn’t ask to be part of the Tribe! I don’t want to be part of them! And I don’t want anything to do with the old Fallen order either! A lot of us don’t want that. We want to be free — we want to be able to run like we once did, to know the taste of human flesh.

“Give in, brother, you know you want to. All you have to do is take one bite. It’s the most delicious meat you have ever known.”

Cara felt frozen. Would Gregory be able to convince his older brother to go rogue? And if he did that, would Gregory be willing to share magic with him, blood so that Sebastian could shape-shift?

Gregory’s tone became wheedling. “She’s just a human, Sebastian. She’s nothing like us. And you don’t have to kill her — you can keep her to bleed over and over if you like. I’m experimenting, or at least, I was. You found one of my experiments in the basement, remember?”

Sebastian growled even lower this time and the hair stood up on the back of his neck. Cara wanted to reach out and stroke that golden ruff of fur. She wanted to believe that Sebastian loved her, that she mattered more to him than anything else in the world, but what Gregory offered was tempting beyond belief.

“Why do you think it was so easy for me to turn so many, Sebastian? They were tired of it. They were tired of eating chicken and fish and drinking the pale blood of grass-fed cattle. They wanted the best meat; they wanted human flesh. And they wanted to be able to have the safety of appearing human.

“Why must we be bound by the Covenant rules set out for us by those already long dead? The Fallen has become weak. We have become lap dogs. Tell me that does not bother you, brother. Tell me that you do not long to feel her throat beneath your teeth. Tell me you don’t want the rush of blood in your mouth, in the back of your throat, warming your belly. Look at me, brother, and say that you don’t want that.”

Sebastian continued to pace in front of Cara. Gregory was stark naked. His eyes bored into Cara’s eyes as he said, “Our father seduced a Queen and you will have done the same, but our father was too weak to do the right thing and kill her. He was too weak to know that she was holding him captive to her.

“I did him a favor by killing her. She was a traitor to her own people and eventually she would’ve been a traitor to ours. I caught her trying to leave. She was tired of him, tired of life with the Fallen. She was afraid of me — can you imagine that? She could not leave him when I was young and allow him to give me the attention that I deserved. No, she had to wait until I was grown, knowing that if she left then he would blame me.

“She intended to tell him that I could shift. It was supposed to be my little secret, but she caught me hunting one night, taking a bite out of a delicious little morsel that she killed out of pity. I had to get rid of her and I would do it again.

“Now you have to get rid of your Queen, Sebastian. It’s time to pick where your loyalties lie. Either you are Fallen or not. You cannot have both.”

Cara shouted, “You are both, Gregory! Whether you like it or not you are both!”

Sebastian leaped.

He landed on top of Gregory. Black Wolf and golden Wolf rolled across the earth, blood and teeth glinting in the moonlight. Cara knew that she had to do something to help. She had accidentally made Gregory stronger; there had to be a way to make him weaker too.

Of course! She could draw energy from any living thing — it was part of what being Tribe was all about. She stood up and held her hands out, rooting her feet firmly into the earth. She closed her eyes, lifted her arms high in the air and felt the energy drifting in towards her, slowly at first, then faster and faster. She opened her eyes and brought her hands in front of her until her fingers were pointed directly at Gregory.

Sebastian was panting. Even in Wolf shape, healing faster than he ever could have in his human form, he was exhausted. Cara was about to even the odds.

She spoke one word and reached, not just with her fingers, but with her mind. A ripple of power came rippling out of Gregory. That power was black, stinking and corrupt. It danced along the ground, flattening everything in its wake and setting small bushes and grass alight.

When it hit Cara, she was thrown backwards, her back hitting a tree hard enough that she was almost knocked unconscious. She had no choice but to grapple with the power. She had to find a way to disperse it without taking it in. It was evil, pure and simple.

Sebastian knew what she had done. He also knew that this was his one opportunity; he had to stop Gregory now. He had to kill his own brother. His muscular Wolf body tensed and he lunged, then leapt, flying through the air. His fangs met Gregory’s fur and dug deep to find the vein where Gregory’s life force hid, then ripped it open.

Cara was crying. She had sent Gregory’s power into the swamp. Alligators were battling each other, eating their own kind while raptors darted down from the sky to meet suicide even as they fought to take part in the unholy feast.

From inside the house came victorious cries. The rogues must have been able to feel their leader’s death, because they were turning tail and running. Sebastian dragged his broken and bleeding body over to where Cara sat, her back pressed against a tree. He dropped his muzzle into her lap. She took off her silver necklace and put it gently around his neck. Her fingers stroked the bloodstained ruff there and he closed his eyes, wanting only to stay with her for a little while longer. He felt his body transforming back into human shape and the pain became almost unbearable.

Many of the people who had stayed inside the house were giving chase to the rogues. The policewoman who’d been using the poker was in the front of the human pack. Sebastian looked after them with a bemused expression. “I think Detective Johnson is going to have to make sure that she gets a promotion.”

“I think I’m going to have to induct her into the ranks of the Hunters,” Detective Johnson said, appearing near them. His dark eyes took in Sebastian’s condition and Cara’s as well. “How bad is it?”

“I will live. I’m sure you’re not happy to hear that.”

If Detective Johnson noticed Sebastian’s sarcasm, he didn’t give any indication. “I will never hunt you again,” he replied. “That is, unless you do something that goes beyond the pale. Are we clear?”

“Everyone has a different definition of what goes beyond the pale.”

“Yes, that’s probably true,” Johnson sighed. “We should get a tourniquet on that leg.”

Cara watched as the Hunter knelt down and removed the belt from around his waist, wrapping it tightly around Sebastian’s thigh to stop the bleeding. She knew suddenly what her vision from earlier that night had meant. Her hands tightened as the vision hovered on the edges of her vision, but she forced it back. There would be time for all of that later.

“I appreciate it,” Sebastian grunted.

“You saved my life, but don’t think that makes me indebted to you.”

“I wouldn’t dream of thinking it, Hunter.” Sebastian gritted his teeth as Detective Johnson yanked a little harder than was necessary on the belt.

Detective Johnson stood and looked towards the house. “I’ve never seen rogues like that before. I’ve never even heard of such a thing. Why were they so strong?”

“Because they’re rogues who possess magic,” Cara explained. “They found a way to shift even though they eat human flesh.”

“I see. So it’s not over, is it?”

Sebastian answered that. “We can’t say for sure. Gregory was their leader, and he’s dead now, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to simply give up and go away. They’ve got nowhere to go now. They can’t call themselves Fallen anymore and none of the Fallen will ever take them in. They can’t live as human because — ”

“Because it would be hard to blend into a suburban neighborhood if you were eating your neighbors?” Johnson offered.

Sebastian managed a weak chuckle, “I suppose that’s one way to put it.”

“Well, I guess you and I might be working together more than we would like.”

Sebastian met the detective’s eyes squarely. “Members of my family helped to create this mess. I won’t rest until it’s finished.”

Detective Johnson’s eyes went to Cara. “How about you? Are you one of the Fallen?”