Surrender (The Tribe MC: Chase of Prey Book 2)

by West, Heather

  “Don’t question me.”

  Sebastian paused. There was something unusual about his father’s voice, a roughness and a slight snarl that put him on edge. He took a step closer to his father’s desk, one hand automatically dropping to the silver blade at his side. “Father, what’s going on?”

  “It doesn’t concern you.”

  “Everything concerns me when it comes to this pack. Have you forgotten that I’m your heir?”

  “He hasn’t forgotten it; he’s just decided that you would make a lousy king.” Gregory had come into the room so silently that even Sebastian’s incredibly good hearing had not picked up the sound of his footsteps.

  Sebastian turned to see Gregory leaning against the door frame, a sarcastic and vicious smile on his face. Sebastian wanted to punch him in the middle of that toothy grin. Were his suspicions correct? Was his half-brother capable of shifting between human and Wolf at will? And if he was a rogue who ate humans, how was he managing to return to his human shape?

  Sebastian kept his face impassive and his tone steady as he said, “No, I will make the best king that I can be. Are you attempting a coup, Gregory?”

  Gregory smile grew even nastier. “I’m not attempting anything, big brother.”

  Brand still did not turn around. Fear began to flutter along Sebastian’s nerve endings. Something was very wrong here, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. He’d expected this from Gregory — he’d even been warned by his own sister, Moira.

  Moira had known that Sebastian was not directly responsible for her husband Liam’s death, even though he’d been the one to kill him. Liam’s death had been caused by whoever had convinced him that going rogue was preferable to maintaining the pack.

  Both Moira and Sebastian had suspected that Gregory was to blame, motivated by his all–consuming lust to be king. And now, there was proof.

  “If you want it that badly, Gregory, you’ll have to kill me to take it.” Sebastian flexed his fingers. He was older, he was stronger, and what was more, he was smarter. He knew he could get the best of Gregory in a fight, even if Gregory decided to shift in the middle of it.

  Gregory smile faltered a bit around the edges. He’d seen the willingness in his brother’s eyes to fight for his birthright and he was rethinking his own position. Sebastian knew that rethinking would not last long. Gregory had something planned, and whatever it was, he intended to see it all the way through.

  “Leave us right now, Sebastian,” Brand said.

  “Father, surely you must see reason — ” Sebastian began.

  “Leave us!” The words were almost a low rumbling growl. The hair stood up on the back of Sebastian’s neck and fear filled his stomach. His father still would not turn away from the windows, but at that moment a precise slant of sun and glass converged to create a reflection of Brand’s face in the window.

  Brand was not wearing a human face. Or at least not completely human — his nose had begun to form into a muzzle and his lips were pulling back to show long, fierce fangs.

  Sebastian’s first thoughts were of his sister and his nephew. He had to get them out of the house. Whatever Gregory was planning, the first step would be to make sure that any who stood in his path to the throne were destroyed.

  It was obvious that Brand would be of no help to his daughter or anyone else. Whatever was happening here, it had already begun and was too far along to stop.

  Sebastian turned and left the study. He closed the door behind him, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver bar. He carried it everywhere and he needed it now. He curled his fingers around it, then reached into his other pocket and pulled out the silver knuckles.

  The knuckles had been a gag gift from Liam, his jokester brother-in-law. When Sebastian had first begun hunting down rogues, Liam had told him he needed something he could punch with. “In case you ever get into a bar fight with a pissed-off rogue and you can’t buy him a drink to calm him down.”

  Sebastian missed Liam terribly. He wondered if Liam, wherever he was now, forgave Sebastian for having killed him. He hoped so.

  With both his hands armed with silver, Sebastian started up the stairs.

  But halfway up the stairs Sebastian paused, his booted right foot caught in mid-air. His skin prickled and the hair stand up on the back of his neck once more. He lifted his nose and sniffed. He smelled blood, but he also smelled the stink of old perspiration, and lots of it. Mingled with that almost crackling odor was an even stronger scent: fear.

  The silence grew thicker and that was when he knew he had missed the first clue, something he should’ve noticed immediately.

  When he’d found the biker downstairs, he’d wondered why nobody else had smelled that blood. The silence told him why: there was nobody in the house. He was too late.

  He strained, listening hard, but he heard not a whisper or cough or breath. Of all the Wolves in the pack, Sebastian had perhaps the best hearing. It was one of the reasons why he’d taken on the role of rogue hunting — rogues could be very tricky and very silent.

  But he had not heard Gregory enter the study either. He set his foot down on the stair and pondered that for a moment. He was getting old. He’d passed the double-century mark. Maybe the hearing really was the first to go.

  Amused by that thought, but still focused on the fact that he seemed to be alone in the house with his father and Gregory, he began once more to ascend the staircase.

  Where was his sister? Where was his nephew? He checked every bedroom, and they were all empty. He saw obvious signs of struggle here and there: a mussed bed, torn sheets, a few stray splatters of blood on one bedroom wall, what looked like fingernail marks deep in the door frame. That last he examined carefully, trying to ascertain that they were not, in fact, Wolf claw marks. Embedded into the frame of the wood was a piece of a fingernail that had broken off.

  The woman who had slept in that bedroom was named Janine. She’d had a fondness for red nail polish and matching lipstick. He could smell terror in the air and as he moved into the room, he began to smell blood.

  He spotted a large splash of drying gore below the window. He examined it more closely and found a few long, wavy blonde hairs caught in the window frame itself. He touched the glass and then tested the frame. The window was unlocked. If Janine had gone out this window after a fight, and he strongly suspected that she had, the window would’ve closed back behind her automatically. The windows were old and double-paned; the only way to keep them open was to prop them up with a small stick. Brand always insisted that at some point he would have those windows changed out, but they never got around to it.

  Backtracking silently, Sebastian went to the garage where most of the Fallen parked their bikes. The big chrome beasts leaned on their kick stands. A few still had helmets dangling from the handlebars. So the Fallen had come in, or at least this many of them had. One look at the bike told him whose group this was.

  The bikes that were parked in the garage belonged to the younger wolves. The ones who followed Gregory eagerly and happily. Where were the bikes that belong to the older of the Fallen? Where the hell were they?

  There was a loud rumble and he turned to look toward the sidewalk. Two bikes were peeling off — they’d been heeled over near the street when he’d arrived.

  He swung his leg over his own bike to follow them. The heavy chrome was still warm from the sun and his feet went to the pegs.

  The bike rumbled to life and the garage door opened. He headed out behind the men who rode for Gregory.

  CHAPTER 5

  Cara was beyond nervous. She paced her room in long strides, trying to pay attention to Jaelle as she explained to her again how the ritual would work. The Tribe would be gathering tomorrow evening.

  Tomorrow night, someone would be the new Queen of the Tribe. Was her father right? Could a rogue eat the flesh of the Tribe Queen and become stronger because of it?

  “What’s bothering you?” Jaelle asked.

&nbs
p; “Nothing.”

  “You shouldn’t lie; you know you’re horrible at it.”

  “I keep telling you, that’s why I do it.”

  This was an old joke between the two of them, but at the moment, it fell flat. Cara didn’t want to joke; she didn’t want to hear about tomorrow night’s ceremony, she didn’t want to begin all of the rituals she would have to undergo to get ready for that dance.

  She didn’t want the henna painted on her body; her vision was too close to her at the moment.

  Was there a spy in their midst? There had to be! But who could it be? Who would betray their own Tribe?

  Maybe it was somebody who didn’t know they were betraying the Tribe. Maybe it was somebody who would simply been talking and didn’t realize that their words had power, or were heard accidentally by outsiders.

  It had to be something like that. Cara could not bring herself to believe that any of her family members would betray their own kind. The Tribe had been persecuted, chased down and murdered throughout the centuries. They’d been misunderstood and they’d had to flee from their own homeland in order to protect themselves and others. That was the bargain that they had made and they had always sworn that they never regretted it.

  But maybe some did regret it.

  What could anyone hope to gain from betraying the Tribe? Treason meant getting thrown out, exiled and sent out on the road on their own.

  Of course, things were not like they had been back when that was such a horrible punishment. Most of the families now had gadjo in their midst, in their family. At one time, having to live among the gadjo had been the punishment — being cut off from tradition, and the close-knit bonds that came as part of being Tribe, had been the worst thing that could happen.

  But even now, in many families, there were divisions and splits. There were some who had walked away from the Tribe and had never looked back. They were lost in the land of the gadjo… and they liked it that way.

  What could someone gain from forming an alliance with the wolves? That was the real question. She knew that if she could figure out that riddle, then she would be able to figure out who had done this.

  “Don’t worry, Cara. They’ll find that nest of rabid bastards.”

  Cara knew that Jaelle had meant to be soothing, but it was hardly comforting. Would Sebastian be there when her father and the others found their lair? What would happen to him? Would it be Ion who takes his life?

  Could Ion even take Sebastian’s life? To be honest, she doubted it. Ion was tough, but he was tough in the cocky kind of way that came from always having an advantage over others. He had a whole crew of tough motorcycle-riding gangsters at his back and magic on his side. Going up against crazy meth addict humans, looking for a quick payoff was not the same as facing against a werewolf with his own team of hardcases behind him.

  Or maybe it was. From what she’d seen of crystal meth addicts, they could be almost as ravenous and rabid as a rogue Wolf.

  Unable to contain herself anymore, Cara turned to Jaelle and blurted out, “Shit! I just remembered, I have to go to a major, major exam! I’ll be back later, okay?”

  “No, it’s not okay. You know this takes precedence over everything else — where are you going? Get back here before I tell your father!”

  Jaelle’s words fell on deaf ears. Cara had to go see that Queen! She knew it was forbidden and she knew that just by going there, she could be putting the Queen in danger, but she had to. She ran down the stairs and out to her sporty little red sedan. She climbed in and wheeled out of the driveway before anyone could stop her.

  New Orleans spread out around her as she drove. She cranked her windows down, enjoying the fresh, cool air. Mardi Gras was right around the corner, and everywhere she looked, there were huge masks and decorations being set up.

  Her thoughts were still swirling around in her head too fast for her to make sense of them. Maybe the Queen could help her with this and maybe she couldn’t, but either way, Cara had to go. She had to see that the old woman was okay and that her vision had not come true.

  As she pulled into the driveway, she let out a sigh of relief. She never thought she would be happy to see Ion, but the sight of his bike sitting in the driveway reassured her. Of course her father had already sent Ion to take care of the Queen.

  Cara was so busy being grateful for Ion’s presence that at first, she almost didn’t even notice the other two bikes. They were parked a distance away, in the driveway of another house. If she’d not been paying attention, she would have simply assumed that bikes belonged to the residents of that house.

  But that house was empty! The blinds were drawn and the neat lawn had an air of desertion hanging around it. Empty houses always gave off their own aura, a sort of sad soft gray mist, and it was rising from that house in long thin streamers.

  Her heart clenched in her chest. Ion was fast and dangerous but he’d only ever gone up against mortals — not Wolves. It had been far too long since the Tribe had had to battle those creatures.

  Earlier she’d been thinking that Sebastian could kick Ion’s ass, but now she was faced with the fact that most Wolves could kick his ass — and hers too, if it came right down to it.

  It would be easier to run away and call her father and ask for help, but it would probably be too late by the time help arrived. Frowning, she drew closer to the house. She was scared but she knew she had to go inside. There was somebody in there with Ion; it might be two of the Fallen who were not rogue. Maybe they’d been ordered to take the Queen out, and maybe her vision had shown the Queen dead at the fangs of a rogue only because that was what the entire Tribe feared the most.

  Either way, none of this was good.

  She crept a little closer, her legs shaking, hardly daring to breathe as she approached the door. While she doubted Ion would be happy to see her at any other time, especially given the condition of his face and jacket, she was pretty sure that if he was being attacked by two of the Fallen, he might forgive her for torching his eyebrow.

  The house was large and old. Over its dusty, damp smell hung the scent of incense and peppermints. The Queen had been in failing health for the last few months, and they had all known it, but she’d refused to have any help in the house other than her granddaughter and grandson.

  Cara spotted their bodies almost immediately. Sorrow welled up in her throat.

  The granddaughter had been a beautiful girl with shining black hair and a voice like an angel. Now most of her throat was gone. She lay tossed and bloody against the wall near the windows.

  The grandson was also dead; he’d suffered far worse damage. It was obvious from the condition of both that they had been partially eaten.

  Nausea rose up in Cara’s throat. She wanted to run but she knew she couldn’t. She had to take care of these people, no matter what was happening right now. Her eyes darted towards the stairs. What if the Queen was being attacked right now? She couldn’t hear anything but that didn’t mean anything. If these two were dead then perhaps the Queen was as well and the only thing she could do was stop these two from rising again. They would be rogues if they rose!

  A hand fell on Cara’s shoulder and a shriek started in her throat as she spun around. Her hand went up and a spell flashed into her mind, a spell that was cut off by warm lips pressed against hers.

  Sebastian!

  Anger slammed into her — one moment Sebastian was pressed against her, kissing her, and the next, he was flung clear across the room, his body hitting the sideboard then tumbling off of it. The silver that had been sitting on the sideboard clattered loudly to the floor, but Sebastian was back on his feet almost instantaneously.

  He looked at her and raised a finger to his lips in a gesture that meant quiet. She wanted to be anything but quiet. She wanted to tell him that he was an asshole, that he’d lied to her. She was kind of wondering what he would look like with only one eyebrow, and if she could duplicate whatever the hell that spell had been that she had used on Ion ear
lier.

  The intense concentration on his face kept her from doing anything, including setting him on fire. He pointed toward the second floor and moved his shoulders up and down in a gesture that was unmistakable. He was asking her what was up there.

  Cara knew she shouldn’t answer, but she didn’t have much choice. She mouthed one word: Queen.

  Sebastian felt all the blood drain from his face. The Tribe’s Queen was upstairs with two rogues and a traitor! Judging by the look on Cara’s face she hadn’t quite figured out yet that there was a traitor in the mix, or who it might be. He hated to tell her and he decided not to; she would find out soon enough. In the meantime…