The Wicked Born

Chapter 1

Tabitha could smell her target get further and further away from her as the time she spent with the fake witch went on. She didn't stay to hear what the woman finished stammering, she simply turned her head downward again and set off to continue her trail of the man. Tabitha began to reprimand herself mentally for the little stunt she'd just pulled. Word would get out soon that she was in town after she just revealed her face to that woman. Once her target caught wind of her arrival, any chance she had of getting him would disappear just as fast as he would. This meant only one thing: she had to capture him tonight.

She quickened her pace until she was only tens of feet behind him, and it was only then that she noticed that the crowd around them had thinned considerably. Another thirty feet of following behind him at a distance and she knew by the lack of commotion around them that they were the only two left on the road. Any chance of her blending into the background was gone.

She felt, rather than saw, his gaze fall over his shoulder and upon her cloaked figure behind him. She sniffed the air, looking for any hint in his pheromones that he knew who she was. A scent of confusion hit her senses and she knew that she'd been caught lurking by her target. She braved a glance up, hoping that he was no longer looking over his shoulder to see the face beneath her cloak.

But he was. Their eyes met and she watched his brow furrow first in confusion then in recognizance. There goes that hope, she thought as he turned away from her and sprinted into the opposite direction. Tabitha stood still and watched him race away from her, the gap growing larger between them as the seconds wore on. She'd really hoped to avoid a chase, but they were well past that point by then. She heaved a sigh, bending over and unsheathing the dagger she had strapped tightly to her thigh before taking off after him.

He veered off of the worn path and into the heavily wooded area, obviously hoping to lose her trail in the thick cover of the trees. He was fast for a mortal, she admitted, but nowhere near as fast as she was. Even with the thirty-second head start she allowed him while she readied herself for the chase, she was on his heels within seconds and listening to his ragged breathing as he inhaled in short bursts. Truthfully, she could have taken him down before he even reached the first line of trees, but where was the fun in that? Tabitha hadn't had a true chase in ages. She supposed that she could toy with him for a bit.

He dared another glance over his shoulder and she saw the fear in his eyes as he realized just how close in proximity she was to him. His breathing hitched when she neared even closer—close enough to reach out and grab him. He pumped his arms harder and increased his speed, deftly jumped over fallen branches in his path, sidestepping tree stumps that appeared before him. Really, if he hadn't been such a pain in the ass to her for the past three months, she would have been impressed by his skill. She had yet to meet a mortal with that much athletic prowess before.

When she realized she'd had enough of toying with her prey, she quickly gained speed on him and stopped abruptly in his path. Tabitha knew what his plan was before even he did. He was to stop himself until the very last moment, and she was prepared for when he braced both of his arms in front of him in an attempt to simply plow right through her.

Tabitha grabbed him by both of his shoulders and slammed the man into the ground. He landed with a resounding thud and she heard the air escape his lungs the second he hit the forest floor. She cocked her head and watched him writhe on the floor for a moment, gasping for air that seemed to not come easily. She placed a leg on either side of his large frame and stared down, waiting for him to catch his breath.

"Nice to finally make your acquaintance, Dacre Rossford," Tabitha mused over his now-slacken form. She watched his entire body go rigid under him when she addressed him by name. His pale green eyes narrowed into something that she could have sworn was hatred. "My name is Tabitha, but I bet you already knew that." She moved to unstraddle his frame, but she was surprised to feel an iron-tight grip wrap itself around her ankle.