Free to Love (The Tribe MC: Chase of Prey Book 3) Read online

  “Hatred is rarely logical,” Christian pointed out.

  Nobody bothered to argue that fact. Nico asked, “If Gregory is indeed Lana’s son, then how is he helping other wolves learn how to shift from rogue and then back again? It’s supposed to be impossible.”

  Devon said, “I think I can answer that. I saw him biting Morgan, one of his friends. He was performing the same ceremony we perform when we take somebody into our pack. If his magic is a part of his blood, then maybe he can pass it on.”

  Nico said, “Imagine how powerful he must be. Does he know any other magic? That is the real question.”

  “God, I hope not,” Cara said. Her mind reeled with the possibilities. If Lana had somehow passed on the ability to shape-shift to her son and he had used that ability to harness his Wolf–nature, what else was it possible for him to have done?

  Devon spoke up, and despite the fact that he was a young man on the brink of adulthood, his voice trembled. “I think he killed his own mother. When he came after me, when he was trying to convince me to go rogue, he said that he would not let anything stand in his way and that I shouldn’t either. He said I should kill you, Mom, and Uncle Sebastian too.

  “He said he’d come too far and that there was nothing he wasn’t willing to sacrifice. He doesn’t want to just be King of our pack — he wants to be King of the Fallen. And the Tribe too. He thinks he is entitled to all of it. He thinks he should have that right by his blood.”

  “He’s turned against his own kind,” Moira said softly.

  “He has none that are his kind,” Nico pointed out. “He is an anomaly, something we have never seen before. But if Devon is right, and Gregory’s intention is to reign over everything, we are facing a bigger threat then we thought.”

  “Nothing corrupts like power,” Kent said.

  “He was corrupt from birth,” Moira said calmly. “His mother knew it too. He would kill his pets and eat them — not necessarily in that order — and he once cut a little boy just so he could drink his blood. I think he was five then.

  “I wouldn’t put it past him to kill his own mother. If he was able to shift his shape and kill her and then place the blame on other rogues, I’m sure that’s what he did.

  “He would’ve done it simply so he could pull my father’s attention away from his mother. Gregory hated for anyone to get more attention than he did. After her death, Gregory never had to worry about a lack of attention from our father ever again.”

  Cara stole a quick peek at Sebastian. His face was impassive but she could see his aura. It was a light blue tinged with gray. Of course he was sad; his father had paid very little attention to him once he’d married Lana. It was said among the Tribe that one of Lana’s greatest talents was seduction.

  Gregory had murdered his own mother. He had betrayed the Fallen and he had used Ion to ferret out secrets about the Tribe. He was half Fallen and half Tribe and he had royal blood in his veins. He wanted to seize control of everything. His motives made a lot more sense now, and the implications made Cara’s blood run cold.

  Things were bad but they were getting worse. They had very little money and cops on their trail. The guys that had managed to keep their motorcycles would have to hide them to keep from being busted, and New Orleans had basically closed its ranks against the two clubs. The cops who’d been tucked neatly into Tribe and Fallen pockets would be scrambling to save their own asses; they weren’t going to get anywhere close to the two families at the moment.

  “Do you think that there are other Hunters on the police force?” Cara asked. “Besides that one detective that we know about?”

  “I think there are a lot of Hunters on the police force,” Sebastian said grimly. “They’re not just hunting down rogues, they’re hunting down Tribe and Fallen, too — and they don’t particularly give a shit who may get hurt along the way. I think they’ve decided that it’s time to close this down forever. Gregory had to have told them that something big was brewing for them to be able to go in that way”

  Nico said, “He certainly knew what he was doing, didn’t he? He played us against each other. He kept us too busy to notice what it was he was really up to. While we were busy stealing each other’s drugs and pulling in more guns and money in order to keep control over our own sections of the city, he was gathering forces from both sides and plotting his takeover.”

  Sebastian said, “That about sums it up. I would like to say that Gregory isn’t that smart, but unfortunately he is. And what he doesn’t have in brains, he makes up for in sheer ambition. Plus, we don’t know who in this room might be a rogue.”

  Everyone looked around uneasily. To stave off any hysteria that might rise up, Cara said, “Right now we have to take things at face value because there’s no way to know for sure.”

  “So what’s our plan?” Moira asked. “We obviously have to take out Gregory, while avoiding being arrested by cops or killed by Hunters masquerading as cops. We also have to figure out a way to find all of the rogue that are out there, kill them in order to prevent their spreading, and then we have to figure out a way to live together in peace.”

  “You don’t ask for much, do you?” Nico said. There was a twinkle in his eye that Cara had not seen in a long time. Her father was looking at Moira like drowning man looks at a life preserver. Cara was well aware that her father had ongoing affairs with several women, Jaelle chief among them. While Cara had always hoped that Jaelle would be the one to end up with her father, it seemed that he and fate had had different ideas.

  “We definitely need a plan,” Sebastian said “It won’t take them long to figure out that there are a metric ton of RVs around here, and that is exactly what they’re looking for. I’m not even sure we can make it through the whole night here.”

  Cara’s heart sank even further. If they didn’t have this place to be safe, where could they go?

  “You’re right,” Nico sighed. “We can’t stay here. But right now there’s people out there and in here that all need to rest. We need food and we need to take a moment to regroup. We need some companionship and we need a plan. We need all of those things as fast as possible.”

  Several of the Tribe women had been outside in the RVs checking on people, administering what first aid they could manage and seeing what food was available. They came back with the announcement that there would be a big communal dinner, cooked the old-fashioned way, in a fire pit between the wagons — or, in this case — the RVs.

  Sebastian and the rest of the Fallen knew that this was a momentous step. They would be sitting down at dinner, sitting down around the fire with the Tribe. Breaking bread was a sacred tradition in the Tribe. It meant a lot more than simply feeding one’s hunger. Sharing bread meant accepting someone as a friend.

  Sebastian finally spoke, unable to stay silent on the subject any longer. “As King of this pack, I declare peace between us. Not a truce, not an uneasy agreement to a Covenant that none here created. I declare peace.

  “I hope that the other kings of the other packs will be willing to do the same. They will have to band with us at some point, because if they do not, the rogues will spread and kill everything in their path, including the other packs.

  “I’m speaking to all of you, and I hope you hear me and carry my message. As King of this pack of the Fallen, I give you thanks for all of your help. I give you brotherhood, and when we sit down in front of the fire to partake of your food, I will give you my hand in friendship and loyalty. If there is any one of the Fallen here who does not feel the same, leave now. Because this is the way it is going to be.

  “Furthermore, I’m openly declaring that this woman,” his arm tightened around Cara, “is mine. That is, if she will have me.”

  Sebastian had not expected the rousing applause that followed that announcement. If anything, he had expected the members of his pack to revolt, to declare him incompetent. But it seemed that after a night spent battling rogues alongside these men and women, they had found them to be
not only good company, but far from the enemy that time and history had turned them into.

  Cara poked her elbow hard into his ribs and looked up at him. “Is that your way of asking me to marry you?”

  He’d never considered marriage. But she was not playing, and he knew it. If he wanted her — and he most certainly did — he would have to understand that she had her own needs and that she did things on her own terms. “I’m not really sure how one would go about asking a Queen to marry him, so perhaps I’ll just turn around here to your father and ask for his blessing.”

  Sebastian turned to Nico. The older man gave him a cold look and said in a frosty tone, “You do realize that is my only daughter you’re talking about, don’t you? Do you honestly think I’m going to give her away so easily? Do you really believe a pretty speech and promises of loyalty are going to put you in my good graces?”

  Sebastian was stung by the comments, but he knew that the man was only holding to tradition. The Tribe had a lot of rituals, and this bickering over what would surely be a blessing was just one of them. He gave Nico a low bow before saying, “No, I expect that you will see what a good husband I will make, and then say yes.”

  “How do you plan on proving that?”

  “By keeping her alive, of course.” There was no more jesting in his tone.

  “Ah,” Nico said. “We’ll see, then.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Sebastian and Cara were upstairs. The room they had settled in was filled with large and musty furniture, leftovers from the 1970s at the very earliest. They stripped the clammy sheets off the tall, king-sized bed and tossed them to the floor. The candlelight shone on their bodies as they peeled off their clothes and sank down on the mattress, now covered with a silky wrap that Cara had borrowed from a Tribe woman and another that she had worn earlier to dance in.

  Sweat gleamed on their skin, making them glow with an almost preternatural sheen. The heat was growing oppressive; the swamps lay just beyond the old house and they could both hear the call of the night things and the slither of alligators and snakes.

  A night bird cried as it found its prey. There was a high shriek from whatever it had caught. Cara shivered and curled closer to Sebastian.

  His fingers stroked her body lightly, running up and down her skin in a tender caress. They both sensed that to speak would be to shatter this spell forever. Cara ran a finger down his strong shoulder, enjoying the feel of his muscles below his satiny skin. Softness covering strength — that was him.

  His hardness pressed against her lower belly as he brought her closer to him. Her mouth parted and he bent his head to taste her mouth with his own, their lips meeting and their tongues dancing. The kiss was gentle and prolonged. Neither wanted to break the spell that had been cast over them by nothing more than the candlelight and each other’s presence.

  His hands went to her hair and he tangled his fingers deep within the silky black tresses. He pulled his mouth away from hers long enough to growl, “Ever since I’ve met you, you are the only thing I can think of, the only thing I want. Have you bewitched me, woman?”

  “Casting those kind of spells is forbidden. Besides, love spells don’t work.”

  “What about a lust spell?”

  His mouth came back down on hers, muffling her laughter. Their tongues met, parted and met again. His hands left her hair to travel down the sides of her face and down to her shoulders. He stroked her delicate collarbones and she ran her fingers up and down his chest.

  She wanted to know him in every way; she wanted to feel every inch of him. Her fingers circled his nipples. He shivered, and she smiled beneath his kisses.

  He pushed her down on the bed, his mouth traveling from the hollows of her throat down to her nipples. He took the delicate flesh into his mouth, licking and sucking. His teeth lightly grazed those rosy peaks, causing them to tighten and become pebble–hard. His fingers eased down below her breasts, spanning her waist. His thumbs searched out the place where the lean stack of her ribs met, then his finger traced along her sternum, caressing her gently all the down to her belly button.

  He made a slow circle around her navel, causing her to rise and moan against the pillows. Her legs parted involuntarily. She wanted him so desperately that her hips arched upward and juices flowed from between her pink, swollen labia.

  Both of them breathed in ragged, fast gasps. Her fingers moved below his waist, stroking the rigid, thick span of his cock. He shifted so that she could reach him more easily and that heated, hard flesh filled her palm, making her own body arch even higher as desire exploded through her.

  “I need you inside me.” The words were barely audible but he heard them. He did not waste time. He used his legs to spread her own further apart and she drew her knees higher. Her hand guided his prick to her swollen and waiting channel.

  He entered her slowly, forcing himself to hold back as her flesh parted and stretched for him. Her slippery inner walls took him in, cradled him and held him snugly as he went as deep as he could go.

  Cara’s moan met his own. The candlelight flickered and danced over her flesh as his fingers moved in between their bodies. He used his thumb to circle her clitoris, making it shudder.

  Her inner folds, already sweet and tacky with juices, clung to him, tightened around him. She knew just how much pleasure he got from that by the harsh gasp that escaped his lips and the way his free hand gripped her hair even more tightly.

  Her body was on fire with need. The friction inside her honeyed and sweet sheath was intense. He was applying pressure to her clitoris, causing even more sensation to spiral through her, sensation that left her crying out for more even as she longed for completion and release.

  He withdrew from her, leaving her emptied and pleading, then entered her again, smoothly and slowly motion. His lovemaking drove Cara crazy. Every time he withdrew from her he withdrew completely, making her all too aware of just how much he filled her, and how much she needed to be filled by him.

  Her fingers caressed his ass, cupping his flexing cheeks as he drove harder and faster within her. Cara could not stand it any longer and she came, long squirts of clear and aromatic fluids spilling from her body, coating his rigid organ and seeping down into the mattress below them.

  The smell of their bodies mingling rose to her nostrils. It was musky, earthy and erotic. Her fingers tightened again on his ass as another aftershock rolled through her, causing her to cry out again and again. She felt his penis pulsing within her, his own orgasm cresting. His hot white seed gushed out of the head of his member, coating her already soaked walls and mingling their fluids together.

  Sebastian collapsed on top of her. He rained small, gentle kisses down on her face, shoulders and neck. She responded by running her nails up and down his back and kissing him on his cheeks and forehead. Sebastian rolled over, holding her close to him and throwing one leg over her waist while his arms held her tightly.

  Their breathing slowed. They could hear conversations from downstairs. From beyond the windows, which overlooked the long expanse of the backyard, they could see an occasional splash of light from one of the RVs.

  It was Cara who broke the silence. “I’ve been thinking a lot about being a lawyer.”

  Sebastian looked at her intently. “Is that not something you what to do anymore?”

  “I want to do it more than ever. I always knew that was what I wanted to be, but I always felt like there was some reason why I couldn’t. I kept imagining that being Queen was a hardship; that it would be the thing which prevented me from having the full life that I wanted. But I think I know better now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that being Queen doesn’t have to mean giving away my entire life or my own dreams. And honestly, seeing the life that we had go up in flames made me realize that simply being a prosecutor is not enough.

  “I think it’s time that the Tribe became what it was before. I’m not foolish enough to think that every single person is g
oing to be willing to give up the fast money and the drugs and whatever else it is they’re into. But I can. Not that I ever took drugs…”

  Sebastian laughed, “I know exactly what you mean. And you know, I think you’re right. At one time, the Fallen were a hell of a lot more honorable. But I have to say, I love my bike.”

  “I love your bike, too.” She snuggled closer to him, her crotch pressed firmly against his and her breasts flattened against his strong chest. “I want to ride that bike with you all over the world.”

  “All over the world?”

  “Yes, all over the world. And for the rest of our lives . I don’t how long it would be; if I have to enforce the new Covenant, I won’t have long. That kind of magic drains a person.”

  “I think it’s time for the Covenant to be broken. If there are people who wish to be rogues, then they’re going to be rogues. We’ve learned over the centuries to control our shifting into Wolf and back. It isn’t easy, and sometimes it’s downright painful, but we manage it.”

  “When was the last time you shifted?”

  “About seventy-five years ago. I lost the joy of hunting. It began to seem boring to me. Being human was so much more important. Besides, I always had to shave my back afterwards.”

  Cara burst into laughter. “You liar! You’ll say anything, won’t you?”

  She tossed a mock punch at his shoulder and he caught her hand easily and held it. His lips grazed hers in a soft kiss and then he said, “No, not anything. I don’t lie, or at least not well. I do love you, Cara. I love you with all my heart and soul. I’m going to be with you until the end of our lives, no matter how long that is.”

  “I love you, too, and I’m going to be with you for the rest of my life. But I want you to promise me something.”

  He stared down at her solemn face. “What is it?”