Page 21 of Hunter

“Beth was just telling me about yesterday,” Kana replied, hoping the sinking feeling in his chest wasn’t an omen of what was to come.

Amanda nodded. “Yes. Someone broke into our servers early that morning and managed to erase everything.” She paused as if waiting for Kana to interject, but Kana didn’t have anything to say. He wouldn’t be in her office if the spell that wiped the servers hadn’t also managed to point to him. “Our tech team traced the intrusion back to your cubicle, specifically your computer. Kana, where were you at five yesterday morning?”

“Sleeping,” Kana replied truthfully. “I didn’t get to bed until after three that night.”

“Can anyone confirm that?”

Every single person living in the pack house could confirm Kana’s whereabouts, but Kana couldn’t tell her that as it would lead to a whole different set of uncomfortable questions.

Instead, he said, “My boyfriend can,” hoping Ember would forgive Kana for calling him that before they actually had a discussion on where their potential relationship would actually go.

Amanda’s frown only deepened at that admission, so apparently Kana using his boyfriend as a witness wasn’t an acceptable option. Probably because Ember would lie if it meant protecting Kana.

“Kana, I do want to believe you. I promise you, I do. Our techs will keep digging to see if they can find an alternate explanation,” she said. “But for right now management is forcing me to put you on administrative leave until the investigation is complete. I’m sorry, Kana. I’ll call you when it’s over and a final decision has been made.” She stood and walked around her desk to open the door. “Get your things and go straight home, please,” she added as Kana got up too.

Kana nodded and left, heading back to his desk to grab his bag and his cats. Beth was waiting there, her hands clasped against her chest in worry.

“Well?” she asked immediately, and her face fell when Kana picked up his bag and threw it over his shoulder.

“I’m under investigation. Whoever deleted the interview apparently used my computer.” Kana bent down to grab Mika and Sora’s pillow to tuck into his bag, but that was the only personal thing he kept at his desk. If they didn’t allow him back again, he wouldn’t lose anything.

“No!” Beth gasped. “How could they? What if—” She paused as she gasped again. “What if they poisoned your takeout to ensure you wouldn’t come into work yesterday so blame would doubly fall on you?”

“Beth—” Kana tried to say, but she cut him off.

“I won’t let them get away with this, Kana. Don’t you worry! I’ll get to the bottom of this, and you’ll be back here in no time!”

“Thanks, Beth,” Kana replied because he didn’t know what else to say. There wasn’t anything he could do to stop her, and he couldn’t tell her the truth that he had been busy casting spells over the werewolf pack house all night, or that a witch likely covering her tracks had used magic to delete the interview.

“I’ll see you soon,” he said instead, then awkwardly waved at Beth as he walked out.

Text Ember so he can send the car around, and so he knows Samantha is still nearby, Mika said as they headed to the elevator.

Good idea, Kana replied. He pulled out his phone and typed out everything that had happened.

The car will be there in five, Ember texted back. Stay low until it arrives.

Will do, thanks, Kana replied. He agreed with Ember’s request to stay low. Wiping the interview from the system was probably just a way for Samantha to protect herself from possibly being filmed, but Kana ought to be careful just in case she was still watching the building. Ary had thought the witch Samantha was searching for worked here, so Kana wouldn’t be surprised if Samantha was lying in wait, hoping to spot someone casting magic to restore the erased tape so she could capture them.

The elevator let Kana out in the building lobby. He walked to the doors but stood to one side rather than going out. He could see the traffic of the main road and the bus stop where the car would pick him up from his vantage point. After exactly five minutes, a familiar black SUV drove by and pulled to a stop in the bus lane.

Ready? Kana asked.

Let’s move fast, Sora said.

Kana pushed the door open. Mika went out first, ranging ahead and to the right where he could watch the street and the sidewalk. Kana followed with Sora, but while Sora walked out the door with Kana, he walked well behind and to Kana’s left.

They were almost to the crosswalk near the bus stop when an odd pulse went through the ground beneath Kana’s feet. Magic bloomed in the air, but Kana spun around in a quick circle and didn’t see a spell forming anywhere. If he couldn’t see it, he couldn’t cast anything in defense.

Get to the car! Kana yelled as he started running to the crosswalk. The wolves must have been watching him because when Kana started to run all four car doors popped open and four wolves jumped out.

The magic pulsed again, rippling through Kana’s magic senses as it flowed beneath his feet. Kana didn’t take the time to look for the spell to try and combat it—it was still hidden from view, so he would be better off getting out of range. Except, this time the pulse didn’t stop once it went past Kana. The magic continued under the street, then flared and threw all four wolves off their feet with cracking thuds Kana could hear even over the noise of city traffic. The pulse bounced, coming back toward Kana. He stopped running and braced himself, pulling in magic to try to cast some sort of counter spell—except, the pulse never reached him. A black hole yawned underneath Mika, who let out a yowl just before he dropped out of sight.

Mika! Kana screamed. He reached down their link, ready to pull Mika to him, when a sharp pain erupted in the back of Kana’s head and everything went black.

Chapter Nine

KANA’S HEAD THROBBED in time with his heartbeat: thud, thud, thud reverberated through his skull, centered on one spot on the back of his head. Kana groaned and reached to touch that spot, and his fingers found a lump that sent a sharp jolt of pain through his head and down his spine when he touched it.

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