Page 5 of Witch

Kana didn’t know what that meant either, so apparently another trip to the library was in his future, but Diana was still scrutinizing him, her eyes focused on Kana and Sora so Kana pushed that thought aside to focus on the present.

“A male witch with a feline familiar. And you were able to push me to a standstill…” she trailed off as she paused to study him some more. Her gaze moved to Kana’s right to study Ember briefly, then to Kana’s left, past him to the hunter compound. “You are mated to a werewolf, yet you work for the hunters. Are you a hunter’s get?”

Apparently, it was that easy to figure out the origin of Kana’s powers. Diana wasn’t the first one to peg Kana’s magic after seeing him use it, and Kana doubted she would be the last. However, aside from the hunters, a witch had probably the most reason to hate what Kana was.

Kana’s mother had been a witch, and a powerful one, as she had been part of the Seattle coven’s inner circle at a fairly young age, but his father had been a hunter. Kana didn’t know much more than that about them, but he had learned their relationship was considered taboo. Children born from the union of a witch and a hunter usually ended up with screwy magic, and that instability usually drove them insane. The hunters had originally come to Albany to deal with Kana, but when Kana had proven he was an exception to the rule, they had hired him instead. Kana had no illusions that part of their reason for hiring him was to keep an eye on him, but they had abandoned their plan to kill him for the moment, so he couldn’t complain.

The question now was: Would Diana decide Kana didn’t have a right to exist, or would she wait on her judgment? Of course, that was assuming she was willing to acknowledge a male with strong witch powers existed. Kana’s old coven certainly hadn’t, which was why he had been able to hide what he was from them for his entire childhood.

“Why are you here?” Ember asked when the silence dragged on a little too long.

Diana sighed. “Thanks to your little escapade with Seattle’s coven last year, we identified a hole in the coverage of our territory. We are here to establish a circle and ensure neither Seattle nor any other coven thinks about encroaching again.”

“This city is already claimed as my territory,” Ember growled, his voice low and full of menace. “My people defended the city from attack, and we don’t need some witches coming in thinking they’re top dog. You’re not, and you’re not welcome here if this is how you greet us.”

Diana let out a snort as if she wasn’t sure whether she should be laughing or disgusted. “Too bad. We’re here and we’re not leaving.”

“And if you continue to cause problems, we’ll have to insist you change that decision,” Ary said from behind Kana and Ember. He stepped into view a second later, his thickly braided hair in disarray as if he had been yanked out of bed to respond to Kana’s and Diana’s lightshow.

Ary had originally been sent to Albany to investigate what had happened when Ember’s werewolves had fought and defeated the vampires keeping them captive, however at some point a witch named Samantha from the Seattle coven had caught him in a coercion spell. Samantha had wanted to use Ary to identify the witch who had helped the werewolves, but Kana had managed to free Ary instead. Samantha had then kidnapped Kana to force Kana to reveal who the witch was—her bias against him not allowing her to understand Kana was the witch in question—and Ary had rallied the hunters to come save Kana along with Ember and the werewolves. He was now second in command of the protection half of the hunter compound and helped patrol the tri-cities and surrounding area to keep any bad magical creatures from hurting people.

“Given you couldn’t last five minutes without attacking someone, I am going to have to input Alpha Ember’s complaint into our system of record. You, and your parent coven in Salem, will receive a letter of warning, and any further aggression will force the hunter’s organization to act to suppress the entire coven.”

Diana’s face had been pale from exhaustion, but it went even whiter at Ary’s words. One of the women hovering protectively over her let out a soft gasp.

“I suggest you rethink your position in this city immediately,” Ary finished, his expression flat and stern in a way that said he was being completely serious. He turned his back on the women to look at Kana and Ember. “Kana, Johanna wanted me to tell you she rescheduled that meeting until tomorrow afternoon, so you should come into work late.” He glanced at Ember and nodded his chin in the direction of the pack house. “I’ll finish up here,” he added pointedly.

Ember nodded back, then bent to scoop Kana into his arms. He walked to the pack house, and Kana watched over his shoulder as the two women helped Diana to her feet, then supported her as they walked up the drive of their own house. Ary waited, hands on his hips, until the women were inside before he turned to head to the hunters’ house.

The large iron gate at the end of the pack house’s driveway was open a few inches. Ember stepped through and it slid shut with a clang.

“Guess we now have witches for neighbors,” Ralph, one of Ember’s betas, said with a disgusted sniff.

“Better than more vampires,” Ember replied. They walked together up the drive, Ember’s steps even and his arms not wavering in the slightest under Kana’s weight.

“I like our vampire,” Marc piped up, somehow exactly where he wasn’t supposed to be. Again.

Werewolf children came in three different types. The majority were born as a regular human, and when they grew up, they could decide whether they wanted to be bitten and turned into a wolf or continue their lives as a human. The second were children born with the ability to shapeshift into weak wolves. Ember theorized because the children were so weak, the wolf genes were activated at birth as a protective measure. Kana hadn’t seen any evidence to dispute that. However, a very small percentage were the third type of werewolves, Marc being a perfect example. Those with alpha or beta potential who would become the future leaders in the pack were born as incredibly strong wolves. Ember had also been born a strong wolf, for example, and he said it was because the wolf genes were so powerful they manifested naturally. Marc was going to grow into a very powerful wolf, but for the moment he was simply one of the odder children in Ember’s pack.

The vampire Marc was referencing was his friend, a man named Shannon who had protected Marc and a number of other kids against the bad vampires Kana had helped Ember dispose of. Marc had an interesting habit of being exactly where he wasn’t supposed to be, without seeming to care that he kept putting himself in danger.

“How was school today?” Ember asked Marc, his voice even and unsurprised by Marc joining them at the gate, where he wasn’t supposed to be when there was a battle happening right outside.

Marc groaned. “Do I have to go to school? Why can’t I stay with the homeschooling, like we used to do?” Ember gave Marc a sharp look, and Marc let out a heavy sigh, but the tone was less whiny and accusatory. “I know, I know,” Marc said with a sigh. “The schools are better than homeschooling, and I need to meet more kids my own age. It’s just there are so many humans, and they’re all so…human. Can I see your wolf? Can I pet you? Blah, blah, blah. Like I’m a dog or the class pet.”

“There are other nonhumans in your class, Marc,” Ralph said. “Why don’t you make friends with them?”

Marc sighed again, his shoulders slumping. “They’re all scared of me.”

“I didn’t have any friends at school either,” Kana said, hoping to reassure Marc. “It took me a while, but I did find someone for me.” He glanced up at Ember, who was already looking down at Kana. They shared a smile.

Marc hopped up the front steps and spun around at the top to wait for them to catch up. “I already have my someone. I’ve got Shannon! And he’s a much better teacher than the one I’ve got at school. So, it doesn’t matter that I sleep through class and only want to play outside, because Shannon makes sure I’m going to pass all my classes.”

“At least Shannon is a responsible adult,” Ralph muttered under his breath. “Sounds like one of us is going to have to go to his next parent-teacher conference to do some teacher educating.”

Ember snorted in laughter, but quietly, so he wouldn’t offend Marc. “Try to make friends and behave in class,” he said to Marc, his voice firm, but still full of levity from the situation.

“I’ll do my best,” Marc replied with a pout, but then he brightened. “I have to go get my schoolbooks and homework ready, so Shannon can teach me when he wakes up! Glad to see you’re doing okay, Kana,” he added over his shoulder as he spun around and darted into the house. By the time Ember and Kana got inside, Marc was gone.

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