Free to Love (The Tribe MC: Chase of Prey Book 3) by Heather West

CHAPTER 1
     
     
    The cursed Queen? What was Darlo talking about? Confused and still woozy from the music and the potent drab that had been added to the wine, Cara stood frozen, watching the rogues attack the Tribe’s magic circle.
     
    Horror and shock was gone, and anger was brewing inside Cara. Sebastian was leaping into the fray, his blond hair shimmering in the firelight and the silver on his arms and neck glittering as he fought a rogue that had tried to snatch a small Tribe child.
    Did Darlo mean Sebastian? What Queen was he referring to? Was it her? No, that was not possible: she had no children. She shook those thoughts away as more rogues poured into the circle. Behind the rogues came the Wolves, and it was obvious that Sebastian had led the wolves there because he had known this would happen.
    The Wolves fought the rogues. The sound of motorcycle engines had been replaced by the screams of the dying and the howls of Wolves and rogues alike. The moon, a mere sickle in the sky, barely illuminated the grisly scene unfolding all around them.
    Cara glimpsed Darlo being tackled by a rogue. Cara cast a spell, hoping to save the Elder’s life, but it was too late. The rogue tossed him like a ragdoll, spilling his blood into the bonfire that she danced around just moments before.
    Not thinking, and not wanting to think, Cara simply reacted. She held her hands up and allowed magic light to flash from her palms. A rogue went down, its fur ripping open to reveal the human within before bone and meat exploded into flames that rapidly became ash.
    Sebastian was in trouble. Several rogues had banded together to attack him. Cara ran toward him, casting a spell as quickly as she could. Fire erupted from the earth, catching one of the rogues in its grip. The rogue howled as its paws ignited; the attack only slowed it down for a moment, but Sebastian took advantage of that moment. He thrust a huge silver blade into the rogue’s lower belly, slitting it neatly.
    The rogue toppled onto its side, blood and gore staining the earth and Sebastian’s hands with its stinking, iron-rich slickness.
    Cara drew even closer to Sebastian. There was a woman fighting next to him; Cara didn’t know who she was, but it was obvious that she loved him, and that she was protecting him. Despite herself, Cara felt jealous, and her emotion lent power to her next spell. The massive rogue that Sebastian had just killed lost its head to the long silver sword that appeared in her hand. Cara had no idea how she’d managed to make that happen, or where the sword had gone after it struck that fatal blow. All she knew was that one moment she was looking at a rogue’s body, and the next she was looking at a man’s.
    The woman fighting with Sebastian let out a strangled cry of grief and stepped forward. She reached her hands out to touch the dead man on the ground. Sebastian yanked her back just as the body ignited and began to turn to ash.
    “Father,” Moira wept.
    Sebastian looked stricken but determined. Cara knew then that this woman was his sister, and the man on the ground had been their father. Pity filled her, but she could not allow that to distract her. Tribe were dying everywhere at the hands of the rogues; she had to save her people.
    All around them there was chaos. The sound of motorcycles had begun again, and Cara could see the hardcase members of the Tribe — Sammy, Tick, Dog and the others — riding those huge chrome beasts into the fray.
    The fire was scattered, children were hustled into the nearest RVs and doors were locked. The strongest of the Tribe stood outside guarding them, doing their best to cook up spells that would keep the rogues reaching their children.
    It seemed to be working. Cara saw one rogue slam into a wall of blue power and yelp as it was hurled backwards by the magic. One of the Elders was firing a gun, an old-fashioned musket; inside the musket balls were sharp nails and silver. As soon as a ball hit a rogue’s