Page 6 of Hunter

White gauze curtains hung over a wide double window in the opposite wall, but that was the only bright spot in the entire room. The floor and all the walls were painted black. There were full-length bookshelves along the right-hand wall with a few books and a couple of brand-new boxes of chalk.

“It’s chalkboard paint,” Ember explained. “We wanted you to have a space all to yourself.”

Kana’s mouth hung open, but he didn’t care. He stepped into the room with shaking knees, trying to take it all in. He had never had his own workshop before—he had been making do with a cleared space in his living room for as long as he could remember. This was… Kana took in a shuddering breath.

“Plus—” Ember said in a happy chirp as he strode past Kana to the left-hand wall. He slid his fingers into a slot and pushed a black-painted pocket door open. “—it connects to the old kitchen, so you can brew potions too. You still have to share the kitchen with anyone else who wants to cook something, but all my wolves have been warned not to touch your stuff. Come see!”

Kana walked into the kitchen, which looked like it had also been renovated. The counters were white quartz shot through with black streaks, the cabinets light-brown shaker-style, and all the appliances were stainless steel. There was a tall, double cabinet right next to the pocket door. An oval sign was hanging from one of the handles. Kana bent closer to read it, and in what looked like hand-painted letters, all of which were a different size and color, it read:

KANA’S CLOSET

“Marc and the rest of the kids made that for you,” Ember explained.

Kana ran the cuff of his sleeve over his eyes before any tears could escape. He couldn’t find words to convey to Ember how amazing this all was, and he probably looked like a fish with how his mouth was gaping.

There’s a gigantic cat tree! Mika gasped. With a hammock bed!

“A cat tree?” Kana said. He meant to say it just to Mika, but it came out of his mouth instead.

“With a scratching post,” Ember added. “We, ah, also reinforced the floor. Just in case.” In case Mika or Sora needed to be in their large forms, which were six hundred pounds of primordial cat. Ember had thought of absolutely everything when he had built this room for Kana.

“Thank you,” Kana finally forced out, his voice broken and halting. That wasn’t nearly adequate, but even swallowing didn’t clear his throat enough to get more words out.

Except, Ember was smiling his beautiful half smile as he looked at Kana, and Kana thought Ember understood him completely anyway.

Ember opened his mouth, his eyes soft as if he was about to say something meaningful.

“Alpha!” someone yelled from the hallway. “Alpha.” The wolf ran into the kitchen. “Nat and Sejane are fighting again!”

Ember’s eyes pinched closed as if he was trying to find patience. When he reopened them, his expression had lost any traces of whatever emotion he had held when staring at Kana.

“Kana, I have to take care of this. Stay and explore as long as you like, and if there’s anything you need to make the space work better for you, please let me know. I’ll have a wolf ready to drive you home whenever.” He nodded to Kana in goodbye before following the wolf out the door.

Kana watched him go, wondering what Ember had been about to say. His heart wished it was something meaningful, but Kana’s head knew better. Ember was the alpha. He had no reason to want someone like Kana, no matter how soft his eyes got or how pretty Kana thought his smile.

Kana shook his head, trying to get his thoughts realigned with reality. That didn’t really work, but he let out a breath and went to explore his new space, hoping the discovery of very nice smudge bowls would distract him from what could never be.

Chapter Three

THE FEATHERY FEELING of lips brushing up the side of his length, followed by fingers stroking him hard, had Kana moaning. He opened his eyes to see who was giving him a blowjob first thing in the morning, only to have Sora’s bright-white hair obscure his vision as he swooped in for a kiss. Wet and filthy, tongues battling, they only broke apart when Mika swallowed Kana deep, and Kana’s head flew back as he gasped. Sora didn’t let that deter him, instead moving down to press his lips against Kana’s neck, and then down to his collarbone.

Slick fingers circled his entrance, and one slowly slipped inside. Kana spread his legs wider to give Mika more room, hoping Mika wouldn’t tease him with only one finger for too long. Mika didn’t. One finger quickly became two, then three, and Kana welcomed the familiar initial burn and stretch until his body quickly became used to the sensation.

Mika’s mouth let go with a filthy popping sound as his fingers slid free. Sora settled onto the pillow behind Kana, his length at the perfect spot for Kana to lick, while Mika gently pushed Kana’s legs toward Kana’s chest.

Sora’s fingers touched Kana’s cheek, urging him to look away from Mika, who was lining himself up. He was met with Sora insistently pushing his cock against Kana’s lips. Kana opened, sucking Sora deep even as Mika slowly pushed inside.

They rocked together, all three entwined and gasping, until Mika let out a yowl and came, his hard thrusts sending Kana over the edge into his own oblivion. Sora moaned a second later and collapsed half on Kana and half on Mika, who was sprawled next to Kana on the bed.

Kana panted for breath but was ready to go back to sleep comfortably curled up with his lovely familiars for a while longer.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Kana whimpered, and Sora hissed as he flung one hand out to tap the alarm on Kana’s phone. The beeping stopped, but the phone went flying off the nightstand.

“Why does work have to start so early?” Kana groaned. He lay still for a while longer, trying to soak in the peace of the moment before succumbing to the inevitable and sitting up. They all needed to shower, and time was short.

“Come on. Don’t want to miss the bus,” Kana finally said as he levered himself out of bed.

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