Page 26 of Hunter

Kana grimaced, tired of people asking, even when it was Ember. He still got headaches occasionally, but the blurry vision and nausea were healed. The hospital had conducted a myriad of tests and scans, and he luckily only had a concussion. It wasn’t a bad one, but a concussion was still a concussion and had resolved itself in its own time.

For the first few weeks after the hospital, Kana hadn’t been capable of leaving his bed. He survived that ordeal thanks to Mika, Sora, and Ember’s help and slowly got better. Step by step as the dizziness eased and the pain faded, Kana fought his way back to health. Now, after two months, he was almost completely healed. A short outing to finish up with his apartment definitely wasn’t taxing enough to send him into a relapse.

“All right, sorry,” Ember said with a laugh as he held his hands up in front of him in apology. “You’ll tell me if you get tired. Ready to go to your next stop?” he asked.

Kana grinned in return. “Let’s do it.”

Ember waited for Kana to climb into the front passenger seat of the car, then got in the driver’s seat. The car started with a rumbling growl that said Kana ought to know the brand name and be impressed, but all he cared was that they didn’t crash. The drive to Kana’s office building was quick, far quicker than taking the bus, and Ember idled the car at the curb so Kana could climb out.

“I’m hoping this should be quick,” Kana said as he waited for Sora to jump to the sidewalk.

Ember nodded. “I’ll find a spot to pull over. Text when you’re on your way down.”

Kana shut the door and waved, then hurried inside. He went directly to Amanda’s office and knocked on the partially open door.

“Kana!” she gasped. “It’s so good to see you.”

Kana doubted that. Since she had put him on administrative leave, neither she nor anyone else in the company had tried to contact him. There hadn’t been even one word about how the investigation into the deleted footage was going or whether he was allowed back to work. Only Beth had texted him, but their conversations had been friendly rather than work-related. Kana could read the writing on the wall.

He reached into his backpack and pulled out a sealed manila envelope.

“This is probably only a formality at this point, but here’s my letter of resignation,” Kana said. “I refuse to work for a company unwilling to care about their employees.” He placed the envelope on her desk and left the room without waiting for her response. She didn’t come after him, which didn’t surprise him at all. Instead, he walked to his old cubicle.

Beth immediately stood when he walked in and gasped happily. “Kana!” she said. “Are you back now?”

Kana shook his head. “No. I turned in my letter of resignation.”

“Oh, Kana!” Beth gasped, but as he turned to look at his old desk, her indignation immediately turned to guilt.

A young woman was sitting in Kana’s chair, looking completely at home. Her back was to them both, and she didn’t even turn to acknowledge that Kana had entered her workspace. His name was gone from the nameplate, replaced with hers, and everything he had left on the desk was gone.

“Looks like they’ve already replaced me anyway,” Kana said, his voice wry.

Beth gave the woman a sour look. “I had hoped it was temporary. Still, I’m happy for you. Do you have a new job lined up yet?”

“I have a part-time one right now, but hopefully it will lead to something full time,” Kana explained. He didn’t go into detail about the part-time job working magic for the werewolf pack, and that since he was living with them, he technically didn’t need to have a full-time job.

“I hope it works out for you,” Beth said. She threw her arms around him in a hug. “I’ll miss you though.”

“I’m just a text away. We can always do lunch,” Kana replied as he hugged her back.

“Definitely.” Beth stepped away. “Now get out of here. You’ve escaped this cesspit. Don’t come back.”

“Thanks, Beth.” Kana obeyed, turning and walking away without looking back, another chapter of his life closed with no regrets.

He texted Ember on the elevator ride down, and the car was just pulling up when Kana and Sora went outside. This time, Kana made it to the car safely, and he sank into his seat, grateful to get off his feet. He was tired, but it was mentally rather than physically, and his head still felt fine.

“Let’s go home,” Kana said.

Ember smiled at him and then turned to focus on pulling the car away from the curb. This time of the day, there wasn’t much traffic, so it wasn’t long before they were heading down the side streets leading to the city house. But as they drove past the next-door neighbor’s, they saw three massive moving vans pulled in their driveway.

“Is someone moving in?” Kana asked. “I didn’t even know it was for sale.”

“Neither did I.” Ember slowed the car to a crawl so they could rubberneck. In addition to the moving vans, a number of cars were also parked in the driveway. Someone was leaning against one of the cars, and when he saw Ember and Kana, he jumped up and waved. Ember snorted and rolled his eyes as he put the car in park.

“Who—?” Kana broke off when Ary got close enough for Kana to make out his features. Kana popped open his car door and stepped outside. “Ary?” Kana asked loudly.

“Hey, guess who your new neighbors are?” Ary called back, his voice cheerful. He joined Kana next to Ember’s car.

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