Devil’s Mate(22)

The Fallen and the Tribe were old enemies. Ever since the Tribe had cursed the first wolves, the Fallen had hated and feared them, and with good reason. In the centuries past, when magic still lay unfettered in the earth, the Tribe was strong enough to send a wolf into Hell with just a simple spell.

These days they mostly lived in a fragile truce. It was uneasy and often broken by incidents brought on by one side or the other, but it was still a truce of some sorts. The Tribe was no longer hunted the way it had been in the past, although the Fallen would never let them rest no matter where they roamed. They didn’t deserve peace themselves — after all, they’d ensured the Fallen would never know any.

Centuries ago, killing one of the Tribe was a rite of passage and eating their flesh was considered a mark of honor.

He was thinking such thoughts when the woman across from him, the woman who stirred his very soul, was Tribe.

“They attacked my family,” Cara said stubbornly.

The rogues had not attacked true Tribe members; they had attacked their foot soldiers, but it was an attack nonetheless. It was bold and it was something that would bring about the very anarchy he feared. It was definitely a move Gregory would have pulled. How had he managed the transition? And who was the second wolf?

“I’m going hunting,” she said.

“Cara, you can’t go hunting alone.”

He saw the anger on her face and he also knew its cause. If she had magic (and she did) and she was of the Tribe (and she was) than the odds of her having any time to herself were slim. He knew she simply had not gone home from class yet, which is why it was easy for her to meet him here.

It was obvious that she was tired of being told what to do and it was equally obvious that she was upset over what had happened. But he could not let her go hunting down two rogues alone.

“I didn’t mean to sound like an overbearing asshole,” he continued, giving her his best and most disarming smile. “I just meant that you are not experienced in Hunting rogues.”

Her jaw took on a stubborn tilt. “You are.”

“Yes, I am. I wish I wasn’t, to be honest.”

Cara leaned back in her seat. There was a deep blue swirl running through his aura now: sorrow! Hunting down and killing rogues wounded him! But why?

The more she knew about Sebastian, the less she understood him. It was clear that she did not know him as well as she would’ve liked to, and how could she? They’d not had enough time together yet.

“Why does it hurt you so badly to kill rogues?” she blurted out.

“What makes you think that it does?”

“I can see it on you.” She didn’t bother saying that she could read his aura.

“Why does it bother you to use your magic?” he shot back.

“I won’t bother asking you how you know that it does.”

“Good.” He drummed his long fingers on the table. The coffee shop was mostly deserted, but there were a few people clinging to the corners, working on their laptops or reading books, and he didn’t like having this discussion with people near them but he knew there wasn’t much else she could do.

“All my life, I’ve been special because of my magic,” she admitted. “It’s too big for one person to control, or at least it’s too big for me to control. I don’t really want it, either, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I’m special for having it. It’s like nobody cares what else I’m capable of. Even being a lawyer seems to be somehow connected to my family.” She clamped her lips together before she could say anything more about her family.

“Why is it hard for you to control?”

“After my mother died, my father didn’t want me using it. He thinks that her magic got her killed. Most people with magic are taught early on how to use it by their mother or grandmother, but I didn’t have that.”

Sebastian was intrigued by that comment. Her mother and grandmother were both dead, but yet she had all the women of the Tribe around her, so how was it that nobody taught her to control her magic? Why was it nobody told her she was special for any other reason? That last made him angry. She was special! She was beyond special, not just for her magic, and if the people who were her family could see that, they didn’t deserve her!

He jerked himself out of those thoughts quickly.

“I just wish I didn’t have it.” She stared down into her coffee, her upper teeth sunk into her bottom lip. Her hands twisted on the table and her fingers pedaled with a heavy silver ring on her right index finger. Eventually she sighed and said, “I guess you think I’m foolish. Most people think I’m stupid for not wanting the great big gift, but to me, it’s not really a gift.”