Page 15 of Hunter

“Ready to start?” Oliver asked, his voice loud enough to be heard over everything else.

“I am ready,” Ary replied in the sudden silence in the wake of Oliver’s question. He nodded politely to Beth as he turned away and started walking to the set. Except, as he passed Samantha, Kana was pretty certain he shook his head slightly as if to say, “not her.” Kana let out a relieved breath at knowing Beth was safe.

Kana relaxed against the piece of wall he was holding up and watched as the crew got everything set up for a second take. Samantha didn’t talk to anyone or watch anything other than Ary, but Kana didn’t relax until microphones were removed from collars, hands were shaken, and Sora reported from where he watched from his hiding spot in the lobby that Ary, Samantha, and the dog familiar had left the building.

Chapter Six

FRAGRANT STEAM REDOLENT with chamomile, rose, and honey bathed Kana’s face as he blew on his mug to cool his tea. Ember leaned back in the chair next to Kana, his mug of coffee in one hand. He took a gulp and swallowed, the heat from the freshly poured cup irrelevant. All Kana saw was Ember’s Adam’s apple bob and the smooth lines of his neck. Kana forced his attention away, back to his tea, which was still too hot for him to drink. He blew on it some more.

“Where did Mika and Sora go?” Ember asked.

Kana concentrated down his bond for a moment to check. “They’re curled up in the hammock you got them, sleeping off eating way too much food.”

Ember laughed. “Sounds like some of my wolves.” He looked around the dining hall, which was emptying out as people finished eating. The entire pack didn’t live here—some lived in the larger pack house about a forty-minute drive away, where there was more land and fewer humans, and some had purchased houses of their own to live with their families—but Ember had instituted a protection order so more were at the pack house than normal.

Kana was in the process of gingerly testing his tea when Ember’s phone rang. Ember yanked it out of his pocket, tapped the screen to accept the call, and held it up to his ear. The volume was loud enough for Kana to hear although he didn’t think anyone else could.

“We just sighted the hunter’s car pulling into the neighborhood. He’ll be at the gate in a few minutes,” the caller said.

“Conduct a basic security sweep and make sure it’s only him and the witch in the car; then let them drive up to the front door. I want a perimeter around the car at all times; some visible, but keep them well back. We don’t want our visitors to feel threatened.”

“Yes, sir,” the caller replied, and then the phone screen went dark as he hung up.

Kana abandoned his tea as he followed Ember out of the dining room and through the hallways to the front door.

“Stay out of sight,” Ember warned and waited for Kana to walk over to one of the windows where he could stand at an angle and look out but not be seen by someone outside. Ember pulled open the door and stepped out onto the stoop to wait for the car.

The sun was setting behind the house, casting long shadows across the drive and front lawn. The car was therefore harder to see, but the lighting also helped conceal the wolves on guard. Headlights flashed as the car came into view and slowly pulled to a stop right in front of the door. Ary was driving. He and Samantha got out, and Samantha waited for Ary to walk around the car before they both approached Ember.

“Alpha,” Ary said. “We have come to ask you a few questions about the recent incident you had with the vampires. May we come inside?”

Kana studied them both, but they were still wearing the same outfits they had worn to the studio: Ary his sleek gray-on-gray suit, Samantha in her chest-enhancing secretary outfit.

Ember was also studying them, and he waited a few extra moments—probably to assert his dominance over them, Kana assumed—before replying, “You are welcome to visit, Hunter, but the witch must stay outside.”

Ary’s face didn’t change, but Samantha’s eyes narrowed, and her lips pursed as if she found Ember knowing about her an inconvenience. She stepped around Ary and stopped right in front of Ember.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “Dogs love me.”

Kana gasped and looked around the car, trying to spot her canine familiar.

We’re already out hunting for it, Sora said before Kana could even ask. You focus on her.

“Only the hunter is welcome,” Ember repeated.

Samantha smiled as if Ember’s words didn’t mean anything to her. “It will be fine,” she repeated. “Dogs love me.”

There was something strange and sibilant about her voice. Kana concentrated, trying to pick out any strands of magic in the air, and saw the coercion spell gently blanket Ember a second too late. Kana reached for the chalk in his pocket to draw a counter, but stopped when Ember only glared at her.

“I prefer cats,” he said simply, and the coercion spell shattered.

Samantha frowned as if trying to hide her surprise. Kana practically saw the wheels turning in her head as she tried to figure out another method to force her way inside. If she had been so certain her coercion spell would work on Ember, an alpha-level wolf… Kana stifled a gasp at the realization and turned his attention to Ary.

Layers upon layers of magic coated Ary. Some emanated from his spear, some from what looked like six daggers scattered around his body, hidden underneath his clothes, and some looked like he had ingested potions. Coating all of it like a slick oil spill on water, Kana could just barely make out the runes of coercion. Unlike the ad-hoc spell Samantha had tried on Ember, this spell had been drawn in chalk.

Kana turned to look behind him and, on a hunch, softly called out, “Marc.”

Marc’s head immediately popped out from around the corner of the nearest hallway.

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