Alpha Omega 02 - Hunting Ground

or running away.”
    â€œThat’s a lot of magic. Vampires have some resistance—and then you made your trail disappear for the better part of a mile.”
    â€œShe’s a white witch,” snapped Angus.
    Moira grinned fiercely. “I’m a mutant, all right. Poor little blind white witch . . .”
    â€œSacrifice,” said Charles slowly, “is the power that witches pull from. Mostly it is the loss of other people’s blood and flesh—but rumor has it that one of the reasons witches have familiars is that they can use them as a higher sacrifice—not just the animal’s death but the death of something the witch holds dear.”
    â€œYou think I kill kitties to power my spells?” Her voice was nasty, and despite the nagging suspicion that all wasn’t as it should be, Brother Wolf approved of her.
    He couldn’t let it be, not with Anna’s safety to worry about, but Brother Wolf’s approbation gave him pause. There might be a different answer. “I’ve always heard that self-sacrifice—as when the witch uses her own blood to fuel a spell—has some power, but it’s difficult to work with.”
    The witch pulled down her glasses and he saw his guess had been correct. One eye had been blasted by magic. He’d seen similar results before, and it wasn’t something he’d forget soon. Her eye was stained white and shriveled, as if something had sucked it dry. The damage had happened a long time ago because no scent of it clung to her—and when that had happened, she would have reeked of magic for quite a while. The other eye had been destroyed more mundanely, though just as painfully—and likely just as long ago.
    Interestingly, Angus stiffened, as if he had not known, and Anna didn’t have any reaction at all. Not to the witch’s face anyway—she was definitely reacting to him. She was not a bit happy with the way he was going after the witch.
    After Moira felt he’d had a chance to look his fill, she put her glasses back on. Tom stared at Charles with intelligent yellow eyes that promised retribution, and Anna looked not much happier with him.
    â€œI don’t know Moira,” said Charles to the wolf who was Tom, since he understood his reaction the best. “I did know that I’ve never heard of a white witch who could do what she did. And if a black witch is masquerading as a white witch . . . first, the deception implies she is one of the enemy. And second”—he gave the wolf a small smile—“I’ve never encountered a witch who could hide her nature from me.”
    â€œWe were nearly killed by a black witch a few weeks ago,” Anna told them, though he could tell she was still miffed with him. “It’s left us a little skittish.”
    Moira reached out and touched Tom’s flank and let her fingers drift down over his tail, which she tugged playfully. “It’s all right, Tom. These are the good guys—even if he’s being rude.”
    She turned her head to Charles. “Fair enough. I’ve never heard of a white witch that can do what I can either. And I’m not sure how it happened exactly. I can understand being cautious.”
    â€œI am sorry I had to push,” Charles said, honestly.
    â€œI’m sure I’ll find a way to return the favor,” she said, showing her teeth in a white smile. “At least you didn’t say ick and run screaming.”
    The warm anger at the vampire attack settled a little deeper in his gut, and he let a little of it leak into his voice. “I hope you turned whoever did into a pig.”
    She stilled, surprised by his reaction, he thought.
    â€œCowards don’t deserve better,” said Angus.
    The witch clearly wasn’t expecting support from that quarter either. Had there been so many repulsed by her scars?
    But what she might have said had to wait, as someone knocked tentatively at the door. “It’s Alan,” their interloper said. “Can someone let me in?”
    The minute the Emerald City Pack’s submissive wolf walked through the doorway, Charles felt more settled. Alan Choo was full-blood Chinese, and he looked it: delicate and unexpectedly strong, like a well-made blade.
    Except for when he was alone with Anna, Charles had spent his entire life with Brother Wolf raging inside of him, pacing and growling against the trappings of civilization they