Page 19 of Hunter

As Mika spoke, eighteen points of light bloomed, spaced evenly around the rough circle on the map. Kana breathed out; then, as he breathed in, he pulled magic from the links he shared with his familiars. He sent the magic down into his circle beneath his feet first and could see the light of the spell activating even through his closed eyelids. Kana opened his eyes and drew more magic.

Eighteen sparks of light ignited about waist height, evenly spaced around the outside boundary of Kana’s circle in the exact same places as on Mika’s map. Those sparks grew as Kana fed more magic into the spell, and they slowly morphed from sparks into circles. The circles eventually became more distinct, mirroring the larger protection circle Kana had drawn on the ground. Once they were exact copies—albeit smaller ones—Kana flicked his fingers off Mika’s palms and outward, toward the physical location on the wall where Mika had left the markers. The circles vanished, but Kana waited for the tug on his magic that said each had settled where they were supposed to before he relaxed and let the magic channels ease closed again. The circle on the floor vanished as the light faded, leaving behind clean chalkboard.

“Samantha can’t do that spell,” Ember said, his voice low with awe and with what Kana would have called want, if he hadn’t known better. When Kana turned to look at him, Ember’s eyes were burning. As soon as Kana noticed, however, Ember banked those flames and looked away.

Mika snickered and stalked forward to drape his naked body on Ember’s shoulder. “Don’t be shy, little wolfy. I smell your lust.”

Sora shifted to human form and draped his body along Kana’s back, his arms hanging over Kana’s shoulders and down his chest. Sora stared at Ember the whole time and grinned when Ember’s eyes flared again at the sight.

“What—?” Ember cut off with a splutter when Mika licked his cheek. “Stop that! I thought you three…?”

“We’re familiars,” Mika said as if that explained it. Given Ember’s blank look, it didn’t.

“At their base, familiars are bridges between this world and the plane where magic originates,” Kana began, trying not to sound awkward even though there really wasn’t a way to explain this that wasn’t awkward. “The more…connected…I am to my familiars, the better our magic flow. Anyone I choose to be with needs to understand that being with me also means being with my familiars.” Not that Kana had ever slept with anyone aside from Mika and Sora. The need to hide Mika and Sora had kept him single. Ember was the first guy Kana had dared to even have thoughts about, and spending the last few months around him had only made those feelings grow.

Ember looked slowly from Kana to Sora, still draped over Kana’s shoulders, to Mika, leaning against Ember’s side, and the fire began burning in his eyes again.

“I can live with that,” Ember said. He opened his mouth to say more, but someone started banging on the closed door.

Sora let out a sigh, but he and Mika obediently shifted back to their cat forms while Ember went to answer the door.

“Alpha!” the wolf on the other side of the door said as soon as the door was open. “Mary is awake, and she’s not doing well. Emily was hoping you might be able to come calm her down?”

Mary was one of the wolves who had been traumatized by the vampires, and for whom Kana was researching that sleeping spell. Emily was one of Ember’s beta wolves, and if she was having trouble calming Mary down, Mary had to be having a really tough night.

“Tell Emily I’ll be right there,” Ember replied immediately. The wolf trotted off, and Ember turned back to Kana. “Things in the pack house won’t always be this fraught,” he stated. “When they’ve calmed down again, can we revisit this conversation?”

“Absolutely,” Kana said with a firm nod.

Ember’s lips lifted in his adorable grin, but he vanished out the doorway a second later, back to the duties of being alpha.

That was unexpected, Kana said to Mika and Sora. No thanks to you two butting your heads in.

Mika snorted. If we hadn’t, you and your pretty wolf would never have gotten around to clearing up that little misunderstanding. You should be thanking us. He let out a yawn. It’s bedtime now, especially since the five minutes of sleep I managed to get after running around all night was so rudely interrupted. He gave Sora a disgruntled side-eyed look.

Kana shut off the light and closed the door behind them as he led the way to the bedroom they had been allotted for their stay.

I was helping guard the hunter, Sora insisted.

Hah! You were sleeping, and you know it! Mika replied, his voice scathing as he let out an audible, angry yowl.

Don’t wake anyone up! Kana admonished. They thankfully reached their room, and Kana held the door for Mika and Sora. They hopped onto the bed, curling up on the opposite sides of Kana’s pillow while Kana went to change into pajamas and brush his teeth. By the time he was out of the bathroom, Mika and Sora were both asleep. Kana turned out the light, crawled under the covers, and within moments followed their example into sleep.

Chapter Eight

KANA ONLY SAW Ember in passing all the next day. He had overslept, which, given he hadn’t gotten to bed until 3:00 a.m., made sense, and he had immediately called in sick to work. Because Kana had woken late, he had missed the communal breakfast, and therefore time to sit with Ember. Kana then spent most of the day walking the perimeter fence to double-check his spells and to see if there was anything else he could cast to help protect the pack house. By the time dinner rolled around, Kana was ready for bed again.

Ember didn’t appear at the dinner table, but Ralph, another of Ember’s betas, told Kana he was at the other pack house to work on their security and wouldn’t be back until later. Kana climbed into bed with the same questions and worries swirling in his mind as the previous night. This time, though, he set his alarm.

Do you think it’s a good idea to go to work right now? Mika asked, concerned.

I already missed a bunch of days when we were fighting the vampires, Kana replied. I don’t have that many days of leave, and what happens if I actually do get sick and, thanks to this fiasco, I’ve run out of leave?

We’ll just have to be extra careful, Sora insisted. We managed at work on Wednesday when we knew a hunter was coming; we can do it tomorrow too.

Sora was right. As long as they were careful, going to work wouldn’t be a problem. Samantha hadn’t found what she was looking for at the news station, and with Ary free, she had no reason to go back. Kana’s only reservation was that by going to work, he would leave the pack house vulnerable, but that was what his protection circles were for. They would hold until Kana could get to the house and provide backup. Kana fell asleep with that hopeful thought in mind.

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