The rogues howled louder. Cara walked toward Sebastian, his shotgun held at the ready. The rogues had stopped charging Sebastian now. Their bellies had slunk lower toward the ground and they were all waiting, their eyes on the prize.
Cara walked toward the rogues, still holding her infant son. She spoke calmly and softly. “His name is Lucas. Come for him if you dare.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, the rogues gathered their haunches beneath them and leaped into the air. Sebastian unloaded the shotgun and then drew a long blade from his belt, leaping off the bike and onto the ground. The blade flashed in the moonlight as he slashed along the back of one rogue’s spine. The others never got the chance to finish there their leaps either.
Lucas’ hand came up, that tiny little hand. Olivia stepped closer, holding the blood-stained blanket. Cara took it with her free hand.
“You wanted his blood,” she snarled. “Have it.”
Cara threw the blood-stained blanket toward the approaching rogues. It grew larger as it flew through the air and became a huge, shining silver net. The rogues were trapped underneath it, their screams of agony echoing throughout the night.
In the end, the rogues got their wish: they became human again. But only for a few moments, before their bodies ignited and turned to ash.
It was not just the rogues in the woods who had been caught under the net either. From deeper in the woods, they heard more howls, bone-chilling cries of agony that made Sebastian run toward Cara and wrap his arms around her. She turned to him, Lucas held snugly within her arms. Sebastian held her, his face buried in her sweet-smelling hair.
From the house came another scream and the door burst open. From where they stood they could see a man running out, his naked body blazing. “I hope it didn’t pee on the rug,” Olivia sighed.
The man writhing on the ground in front of the house also became ash. Sebastian looked at Cara questioningly. “Yes, it’s happening all over the world,” Cara said. “All of the rogues are dying, Sebastian.”
“I still don’t understand how.” He stared at her, at the baby in her arms and then back at the piles of ash smoldering on the grass. “And I don’t want to hear about it right now. What I want is for you to get inside and into bed. Jesus Christ, woman, you just had a baby! You should not be standing out here naked!”
CHAPTER 9
It was over. Cara lay in her bed, tucked into soft, clean sheets with Sebastian at her side and Lucas at her breasts. The infant was nursing, his little fingers squeezing, and she stared down at him, her eyes awash with tears.
He already had a thick head of dirty blond hair. He had one eye of blue and one of green. It was obvious that he was both Tribe and Fallen.
Earlier, he had shifted, leaving her staring down at a Wolf pup whose teeth had been far less pleasant than her infant son’s. She’d placed the silver rings around his tiny wrists reverently and he’d shifted back without a problem.
Cara turned her head to see Sebastian staring at her with a look on his face that made her breath catch in her throat. He was crying, tears running down his rugged, scarred face.
“I have never been so happy in all my life.”
“Me either.” Cara reached for him and their fingers intertwined. Lucas sighed before belching loudly and then re-latching himself back to her breast.
“Tell me again what happened,” Sebastian said. “Explain to me how Lucas’s birth signaled the end of all of the rogues.”
Cara smiled and said, “Ever since the time that the first werewolf was created, the balance has been off. Gregory signaled a shift in the balance that destiny and nature could no longer ignore. It was fated that you and I would meet, or at least I like to think so.
“The two of us had to come together in order to make this wonderful little boy. Lucas was what restored the balance. He’s both of us. He’s everything.
“Lana could have done it with Gregory if only she’d been willing to stand in the circle and choose her Wolf lover then, but she didn’t. When I was having visions, right before I met you, I thought that those visions were about me. They weren’t. They were about Lana’s selfishness. She wanted to be Queen and she wanted her Wolf. She decided to have both in a way that ensured she would have to become a traitor to the Tribe at some point.
“In order for the balance to be restored, the Tribe and the Fallen had to become one. Only then could a child be born that could put everything right again.”
“I have heard stranger things. I suppose next you’re going to tell me that he will make a great King.”
“No, I can’t say that. I know what I want for him, but nobody ever knows how it will turn out.”
“Is that all you have? We should do our best? We should have a far better plan for parenting.”
Nemia reached down to take Lucas away for a much–needed nap and said, “Being a parent is being a parent, no matter who you are. This little boy is going to mess up his diapers like any other kid. You’ll make decisions that seem really good until he argues with you about them. You were the world’s worst at that.”
“Gee, thanks Mom.”
“You’re welcome,” she said as she left the room with Lucas.
Cara patted the empty space next to her in bed and said, “Climb on up here with me.”
“What if I hurt you?”
“You won’t, silly. And if you do, I’ll punch you in the nose.”
“You really know how to give a guy an incentive, don’t you?”
“My boobs are four sizes bigger than before I got pregnant. That’s your incentive.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so?”
He climbed up onto the bed next to her and gingerly reached out to snuggle her close. She rolled over and pressed herself close against his body, ignoring the twinges of pain still carrying into her lower body. She inhaled his scent and wrapped her arms around him.
They both lay there, neither of them speaking for a long time. The roar of motorcycle engines drawing closer made Cara lift her head, but Sebastian murmured, “Let my mom and Olivia greet them.”
“Is that your kingly pronouncement?”
Sebastian chuckled. “Yes, I decree it to be so and so it shall be.”
“I love you.” The words came out a rush and she looked up into his face. “I can think of no better person to have beside me.”
“I second that motion, your lawyerness.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her mouth and snuggled even closer to her.
Cara smiled as she drifted off to sleep. From downstairs she could hear the laughter of both Tribe and Fallen as they celebrated the arrival of Lucas. Everything had come full circle. Destiny had spoken, and she was right where she was meant to be.
THE END
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***
The woman who won’t take no for an answer...
Kaitlyn Stewart thought her last moments would be at the hands of the thugs prepared to take her life when they were through with her that night. But fate would have it otherwise…
…Meets the man who can’t say yes.
Jasper Duboix wasn’t the generous type. He learned that you look out for yourself, because nobody else was going to. That doesn’t stop him from saving the woman in the alleyway, though – but it does change his world forever.
The unstoppable object meets the immovable force – and sparks will fly.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. He had more important things to worry about, like his blossoming MMA fighting career. But something keeps bringing him back to her, and Kait’s wild heart might just be okay with that…
***
BOOK 1 of the Werebear Shifter Romance trilogy
Tawny Reynolds loves the great outdoors
Any opportunity to go camping with her college friends is never passed up, especially when Kyle Bennett is there. Tawny is enjoying herself until a
bear disrupts the weekend. In the chaos, Tawny is separated from her friends and finds herself lost. But the gorgeous man who finds her has her feeling like she has been lost her whole life.
Matt Darlin feels like he is losing everything.
Quiet and brooding most of the time, Matt Darlin is tired of life throwing curve balls at him. With the passing of his father, the bear that always kept him grounded, Matt struggles with his place in the Cold Foot clan. Matt takes to the woods to hunt and find clarity, until his distractions lead him to a woman that drives all other thoughts from his mind.
Two people thrust together by circumstance and everyone wants to tear them apart.
Matt has never given much thought to finding a mate, and he especially didn't think he'd be so drawn to a human. Tawny has gotten herself lost and Matt sets out to help. Meanwhile, desperate to find Tawny, Kyle turns to a group of survivalists, known as The Path, for help; a group that knows Matt's clan very well and desire nothing more than to rid the world of his kind.
Free to Love (The Tribe MC: Chase of Prey Book 3) Page 7
