Of course they were afraid. The Queen had died without warning, torn to bits by a rogue. How that rogue had entered her home when the entire family had been gathered so close around her was a mystery, but it had happened. To have a Queen destroyed by a rogue had never happened, not since before the time of Carida.
It was not just the elders who were afraid — it was all of them. Every member of the Tribe that had gathered this night was afraid. Many of them were of blood that had been diluted over the generations, but even so, they were still Tribe.
The tribe worked in matrilineal lines, so mothers and daughters held their offspring close and fathers, unless they were Tribe as well, were not present. One of the Elders held his hand up and the music shifted, pitch rising slightly higher and gaining speed.
This was the signal — now was the time for the women to move forward and gather in the sacred circle. Now was the time when each woman would display her power.
Each family had chosen one woman to dance in the circle. Each of these women had magic was greater than anyone else in her family. Their powers were varied, but among them was one who would be the most powerful, whose magic would be capable of upholding the spell that kept the Fallen in human form and the Covenant intact.
Or maybe that was no longer true. That was the reason for the fear on every face gathered here. The old Queen had been dying, yes, but she had not been dead. The rogue had broken into her bedchamber and eaten her. To eat human flesh was to gain power for a rogue. No rogue had ever dared to eat a Queen of the Tribe’s flesh before.
None of them knew what that might do to a rogue, how powerful it might make them. Perhaps it would cause them to sicken and die… but that was a small, unlikely hope.
All the women were dancing, as were the men. The sacred circle had not yet formed. Scarves swirled and the bells around the women’s ankles jingled, meant to ward off demons. Demons couldn’t stand happy chattering sounds. Every foot wore a small circlet of bells that night, and every arm was decorated with heavy bands of silver to keep wolves at bay.
The moonlight brought out the gleam in rough-cut rubies, diamonds, emeralds and other sacred stones. The ground outside the perimeter, where the caravans had pulled close together, was scattered with shards of colored glass. Each tiny piece sent a rainbow glittering back up toward the night sky and the moon.
They had done everything they could to ward off evil here tonight, but they could all sense it coming anyway. Some things were inevitable, and perhaps this one had been coming for far too long.
Many of the Elders felt that the werewolves should have been wiped out many centuries ago instead of being spared and allowed return to their human form. It was not just the Elders either: many of the younger Tribe were also angry at this turn of events because they knew that the failings of their ancestors had brought them to this moment.
If the spell were to be broken, it would be the Tribe that fell first. When the Fallen who went rogue began to crave human flesh, it would be the descendants of those who had put them in human form who would suffer the most.
One of the elders stepped forward, his face stern and solemn.
“Bring them forward!”
Cara’s heart lurched and the wine turned sour once more in her mouth. The moon rose higher and she could hear baying from outside the perimeter around the caravans. She turned her head in time to see him standing there, the one that had tricked her, the Wolf that she loved…
Cara awoke with a sudden start and a gasp. Her hair was soaked with sweat and so were her sheets. Her nose wrinkled at the acrid smell leftover from the dream and she had to disentangle herself carefully from the stinking sheets.
The dream had been very similar to one she had not long ago, just before she met Sebastian. She had ignored it then, passing it off as a mere dream instead of the vision it had been, but she would not do so this time. That had been Sebastian she had seen inside the perimeter but still outside the circle, she knew it. But what did that mean exactly? How could a Wolf breach the perimeter? It was impossible!
She got out of bed unsteadily and went to her window. It was morning; she knew that today, her father and the rest of the Tribe would ride out in search of the Fallen’s hideout. If what Ion had said was true, and he had the photos to prove it, this particular Fallen pack’s King was a rogue.
Not only was the King a rogue, he was a rogue with the ability to shift back into his human form, something that should have been impossible. It was not just him, either, but his son too. If the King was a rogue and so was his heir, it only stood to reason that the entire pack was corrupt.
That meant Sebastian was corrupt as well. That made no sense though — she had been in that alley with him when he was attacking a rogue who was attempting to kill and eat a human. It was how they’d met. He’d told her that he had hunted rogues before, and despite everything, she still believed that. His aura had not been able to hide the truth when he spoke it, or his pain at the memories.
Maybe she should talk to her father. She ran down the stairs quickly, forgetting that she was still in her pink lace pajama shorts and matching top. She remembered quickly when she opened the door to the garage and found Ion standing there alone.
His eyes crawled over her body and she immediately wanted to cross her arms over her breasts. She’d known him her entire life, had never liked him and didn’t like him now.
“Where’s my father?”
“He’ll be down in a minute. We’re going out today to hunt down that Wolf lover of yours and kill him.” He wasn’t even trying to hide the gloating satisfaction in his voice.
He wasn’t trying to hide his aura, either: it glowed a dark, vicious ebony streaked with pure red. He was angry and he was out for blood, but why? Was he angry because the rogue was about, or was he angry because she’d fallen in love with a werewolf? And in the end, did it all come down to the same thing?
Nico walked in and she turned to him with the question that she had forgotten to ask the day before. “Father, could a werewolf hunt down its own kind? Would a Wolf kill a rogue?”
Nico’s brow creased and he said, “I wondered the same thing. You said you found the Wolf killing a rogue and you assumed he was a Hunter because of it. He must have been in his human form when he did it, but I’ve never heard of such a thing before.”
“Maybe there are a lot of things about the packs that we don’t know anymore.”
Ion spoke. “It sounds to me like you’re trying to excuse him.”
Cara turned to face him, her hands going to her hips as she snapped, “I’m speaking to my father. In case you have forgotten, he is the one who makes the decisions, and he needs to know all the facts in order to do so.”
“And the fact is, you felt mate–lust for a Wolf and you engaged in — ”
Cara’s face was beet red. She had a feeling her father already knew that she had slept with Sebastian, but to have Ion throwing it at her the way he did was shameful. “That’s not your business! And that’s not what this is about!”
Ion’s lip curled in a sneer. “Of course it is. You women are all the same; you meet someone who is willing to toss you the perfect way and all of a sudden — ”
Cara slapped him hard. Her palm stung when it made contact with his flesh. Deep, angry red welts rose on his cheek and his oddly light grey eyes flashed at her. His hand was so fast she never even saw it coming. It connected with her cheek, rocking her head back so hard that her neck actually creaked.
Cara didn’t even think about her next move. The spell wasn’t even spoken aloud, and had barely risen up in her mind before it took shape.
Ion burst into flames.
His heavy leather jacket was coated with leather conditioner and it burned merrily. His jeans caught as well and he shouted as he dropped to his knees and then began to roll on the concrete floor of the garage. Between his curses and her father’s yells at her to make it stop, Cara was shocked out of the anger that had overtaken her.
She had no idea how to stop the fire that was eating away all of Ion’s clothing and starting to singe his skin. She tried yelling to stop it, but nothing worked. Eventually, Nico filled a five-gallon bucket with water and tossed it on the hapless young man.
When Ion staggered to his feet, his jacket was a smoldering mess. His knees and parts of his thighs were visible through the charred remains of his blue jeans. Worst, and funniest, of all, he was missing an eyebrow.
Cara knew that he was about to say or do something that would make her even angrier and she was terrified of what might happen next.
“I think I might have a nuclear bomb hidden somewhere in my head,” she said quickly. “Unless you want to go up in a mushroom cloud, I would suggest you never hit me ever again.”
Ion’s mouth snapped shut. Cara wanted to walk away then. She understood exactly how grave the situation was and she also knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the sight of his half-bald face was about to make her burst into hysterical laughter. The heavy black eyebrow that was now missing had balanced out his dark and incredibly handsome face, but at the moment, the nude space above his right eye gave him a terribly surprised look that was as funny as it was startling.
Turning to her father, she saw that she was not the only one who was amused by this turn of events. Nico’s lips were twitching helplessly and she could see the dancing light in his eyes that told her he was about to break out into laughter of his own.
They both might have managed to swallow their mirth if, at that moment, Sammy had not come in the garage and blurted, “Dude, did you set your face on fire? You’re missing an eyebrow, man.”
Ion muttered something that sounded suspiciously like a curse and Nico bent over, his fists dangling helplessly around his knees as he roared with laughter. Cara fled, giggling, unable to stand it any longer.
Darva was headed toward the garage as Cara was fleeing from it. He paused and said, “Jaelle is looking for you.”
That sobered Cara up immediately. The only reason the older woman would be looking for her at the moment would be because she had heard from the other women of the Tribes far-flung families. The Queen must be in seriously bad health…
She suddenly remembered the vision she’d had in the night, the one that had woken her from a sound sleep. “Okay, will you tell her I’ll be right there?” Cara said. “I have something I have to tell my father!”
Cara raced back to the garage, forgetting how angry she had made Ion. She burst into the room just in time to hear Ion shouting, “She was promised to me! You should be grateful that I still want her, considering that she laid with a werewolf!”
Nico’s hands were faster than Ion’s. He grabbed the younger man by his t-shirt and pulled him very close. His words were a low and dangerous hiss, but even from where she stood Cara could hear them see the violence simmering between the two men.
“If you ever lay a hand on my daughter again, I will kill you myself and damn to the consequences,” Nico growled. “You were promised nothing. The old traditions have all started to fall down. While some of that’s a shame, not all of it is. Cara is capable of deciding for herself who she wants.”
“Even if it’s a Wolf?” Disbelief showed on Ion’s face. “Would you have her bed a Wolf?”
“No… but I can’t undo what’s been done and neither can she. What I can do is make it very clear to you that you do not own my child. Nobody owns her. She is her own person.
If her powers are as great as we believe — and I think the missing eyebrow on your face proves that they are — it will take somebody with a calm head on their shoulders to stand beside her. I don’t think that is you.”
Cara’s heart pounded. Her breath was gone and she wanted to interfere but she knew better than to do so. She wisely retreated to the shadows; this was between the two men and that they would both feel emasculated if they knew that she had witnessed what was happening. It was that stupid, stubborn machismo that the Tribe men took so much pride in.
She waited a few minutes, then slammed the door noisily, pretending to reenter the room. He turned to her and she saw the fear written on his face, fear that had nothing to do with the young man standing beside him.
She’d almost forgotten what it was that she had come to tell her father, but that fear made her remember her vision of the night before. “Father, I had a vision. I need to talk to about it.”
Nico flicked his long fingers at Ion, a gesture of dismissal that the younger man could not ignore.
Nico and Cara both watched him stalk out of the room and Nico let out a long sigh. “He’s going to make a powerful enemy.”
Cara was startled. “What do you mean, father?”
He gave her a sad smile, “It doesn’t take magic to see when somebody is discontent, or to read a man’s longings. That one wants to be leader of the Tribe. Not just this family, but the entire Tribe.” Nico sighed. “I fear he will do whatever it takes to get himself there too. I’m going to have to give him some plum job to make up for this one and hope it’s enough to keep him quiet for a while.”
Cara wanted to offer reassurance, but her news was so bad that she knew it would only make her father even more nervous. She had to tell him; a vision was not to be taken lightly. Sometimes they came because the events they prophesied were immutable, but other times they came because the events could be changed. She wasn’t sure which one this was.
Cara looked into her father’s eyes. “I dreamt that we had to create the circle early because the rogue attacked and ate the Queen.”
Nico’s face went pale. This skin below his eyes turned dark, and at that moment Cara realized that her father was an old man. She’d come along when he was already close to fifty, and despite his almost lineless skin and straight bearing, age had crept up on him.
“Are you sure, Cara?”
“I wish I wasn’t. I don’t know that it will happen, or that is true. I don’t know that it’s unchangeable either.”
“We must hope that it hasn’t happened. There’s only one reason for a rogue to eat one of the Tribe’s flesh.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe nothing. It’s an old legend, and while I’ve never heard of it being done before, that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be.”
“Father, if you’re going to talk in riddles, could you at least give me a hint as to how to solve them?”
“There’s an old legend that says that if a rogue eats the flesh of a true member of the Tribe, then they can live outside of the spell.”
Cara’s mouth fell open. “What? Do the wolves know of this legend?”
Nico shook his head. “I don’t think so. It was mentioned once, in an old story that was only told to a few of the Elders. Most of those Elders have long since died and they were all sworn to secrecy anyway. The only reason I know about it is because my great–great grandfather, Queen Carida’s husband, told my father.”
“And Grandpa told you?”
“Yes. He thought it was important for some reason but I never knew why, at least not until right now. If it’s true, and you’ve just had this vision then perhaps… then perhaps the wolves know the legend too. We have to protect the Queen.”
“Nobody even knows where the Queen is, Tati.”
Nico gave her a smile. “Cara, if the wolves know of that legend, than it’s because somebody within the Tribe told them. And if someone of the Tribe is willing to tell them of that legend, that person is also willing to tell them where the Queen is.”
CHAPTER 4
Sebastian headed for his father’s study. He’d disposed of the remains of the dead biker and had thoroughly cleaned the area around the chains. His mind was burdened by the knowledge that whoever had taken Little Rat down there had premeditated the kidnapping. They had taken out the time to prepare the space: that was a sheet of pure silver bolted securely to the floor. Who would’ve dared to do that? How had they kept scent of blood from coming up to the noses of the rest of those in the house?
Brand was sitting in his study, facing the windows that overlooked the lush gardens that had given the district its name years ago. He didn’t turn around when Sebastian entered the room but he spoke. “What is it?”
“There was a member of the Tribe being held downstairs. He’d been bitten. I think he was one of the ones that Gregory and his crew took. Father, surely you can see that Gregory has been enticing others to go rogue.”
Brand still did not turn around. “The human was brought here on my orders.”
Sebastian was astonished. “But… why would you have a man who’d been bitten brought here? Did you hope to take him in, to give him blood and make him a member of the Fallen? There was no way he would’ve turned his back on his brothers, even if he is not true Tribe…”
Surrender (The Tribe MC: Chase of Prey Book 2) Page 2
