Luz stretched as she walked towards the doors. "Am I crazy for willingly coming to school during the summer break?"
"What's summer?" Gus asked.
Luz was about to answer when she heard the gossip around them.
"Yeah. Apparently, they're in some sort of three-way relationship."
"That's possible?"
"I don't know. Maybe humans are just different?"
"Weird, you mean."
Luz looked down. It had been going on for a few days now, and it was annoying. Necessary, but annoying.
"Hey!" Boscha's voice called out. "I know that it's a difficult concept to grasp, but when you talk about someone behind their back, you shouldn't make it easy for them to hear you."
The students who had been talking squeaked and ran off as Boscha slid right next to Gus and Luz.
"Thanks." Luz said quietly.
"Amateurs, the lot of them." Boscha said then she lowered her voice, "No wonder it was so easy for me to twist the rumor mill."
"Well, you are a professional," Gus said as they walked outside.
"Thank you," Boscha said. "However, we still need to put the fairy head on top of this little treat to make it ironclad." She began walking away from them. "Don't chicken out!" She yelled before hopping on her staff and flying off.
"That was… an interaction." Gus said.
"So, uh… Gus. Do you feel, like, awkward, hanging out with Boscha?" Luz asked.
"Hmm? I'd hardly call my interactions with Boscha hanging out. Besides, she's not the first bully you've pulled into your orbit. It'd be awkward if you tried to date her too though."
"Oh, right," Luz said.
"Speaking of Boscha," Gus said. "I believe that you have a date to get ready for."
Luz sighed. "Well, here's hoping things will work out for us."
/
The doors to Blight Manor swung open to reveal a stone-faced Alador Blight.
Luz gulped. So this is what it was like to have your girlfriend's parents judge you. Then she realized she wasn't the one being glared at and glanced at Hunter.
Hunter withered under the man's gaze.
"Come in." He said grimly before turning around.
Both teens looked at each other before following. The door slammed behind them, sounding suspiciously like a coffin closing.
Inside, both teens sat on the couch opposite the Blight parents. Edric was leaning against a wall behind them.
"So…" Odalia said, "explain this to me. This date?"
"Uh, right." Hunter said. "We're creating an image that everything is fine with a fake date. Between the three of us."
"It'll be Amity and I's first date," Luz said.
All eyes turned to her. Odalia grimaced at the thought.
"I… I just wanted to say it."
"Hmm…" Odalia said. "You are quite bold aren't you."
"I… Look, in all honesty, I kind of wish I'd never met any of you. This has been… an unbelievably horrible experience for me. And… I don't know what to say."
"Hmm…" Alador said. "Edric, could you take Luz with you and leave?"
The male Blight rolled his eyes before motioning for the human to follow him.
Luz gave Hunter a sympathetic look before getting up and following.
Once Hunter was alone with both of Amity's parents, Alador leaned forward. "Look me in the eye and tell me you had no idea that this was going to happen."
Hunter blinked before looking the man square in the eyes. "I swear, I had no idea what my uncle was planning."
Alador's eyes widened a little at the revelation of Hunter's relationship with Belos but didn't say anything. "And you didn't want it to happen?"
Hunter opened his mouth. Then he hesitated. "No, wait. That question has a complicated answer."
Alador raised an eyebrow. "Complicated? How?"
"Because I was affected by Amity's pheromones and put in a rutting rage. I barely managed to overcome it but… I'd be lying if I said my instincts had no desire for her afterwards."
Alador stared at the teenager for a little longer before looking at his wife. "Well?"
She raised her hand and her crystal ball floated from behind the couch to it. She looked at it. "He's telling the truth."
Alador sighed and leaned back. "I still can't believe it." He put his hands on his face. "Why would the emperor… What reason…" He looked at Hunter. "And to his nephew too."
Hunter looked down.
"And you've rebelled against your uncle to protect our little girl?"
Hunter nodded.
Alador stood up. "Well, you'll have to understand that I don't like you. I suppose I can trust you. But I really don't like you."
Hunter looked at Odalia.
The woman noticed and seemed to consider saying something before deciding against it.
That surprised Hunter more than Alador's declaration, but he didn't say anything about it. "What are you going to do?" he asked.
"Well," Alador said. "I've received several more orders for Abomatons." He smirked. "Apparently, a platoon of them were destroyed by a teenager."
Hunter sheepishly glanced away.
"I guess it'll be fine if I add a few… surprises. In the meantime, you should probably go, the girls will be waiting for you outside."
Hunter blinked before nodding and getting up.
Outside he met up with the Omegas and the twins. Predictably, the girls were staring at each other's outfits.
Luz had dressed up for the occasion, with a flowy red dress that came to a stop at her knees and black jeans. She'd even brushed her hair back.
Amity was in an off the shoulder black dress that came to a stop just above her knees and heels. And a clutch.
"Well, it looks like your plus one is here," Edric said.
Both girl's eyes snapped from each other to Hunter.
"Oh," Amity said.
"Whoa, curb your enthusiasm," Hunter said.
"I'd say he cleans up nice," Emira commented.
Amity grumbled in annoyance.
Hunter had to agree with the elder Blight girl. He wasn't wearing anything too elaborate. Like Amity, he was in black, with black shirt, a black blazer with a red handkerchief, and black slacks. And black gloves. The fanciest thing on him was the golden buckle on his belt.
"King helped him pick the outfit." Luz said.
The Blights blinked at the statement, trying to compute that fact.
"Don't think about it too hard, it'll hurt your head." Hunter walked down the stairs. "It's probably best we get going. Reservations don't last forever.
/
Boscha, Eda and Amity had brainstormed the restaurant they would be having dinner at rigorously. It needed to be upscale enough to gather gossip, but not so much that a three-way relationship would get them turned away.
It also, according to Amity, needed to be romantic, and if possible, structured in a way to ignore the third wheel.
Ribshadow café didn't have some magical way to allow Luz and Amity to ignore Hunter's presence, but it did fit every other criterion. It was a beautiful, mildly high-class business that Amity assured them she'd have no issue paying off.
As the three settled into their seats, Hunter glanced around. An Omega witch was staring at them in shock, rather rudely ignoring his date. One of the waiters, an Alpha, had almost tripped when they walked past him. Another customer, an Alpha, looked Luz and Amity over before giving Hunter a thumbs up. Hunter had nodded awkwardly.
"So…" Luz said. "Have you been here before Amity?"
"Well, no." Amity admitted. "My family isn't really the 'eat-out' type." She glanced at Hunter. "What about you?"
"I never eat outside of the castle." Hunter said, looking down at his menu.
"Well, I guess this is a new experience for all of us." Luz said with a smile.
"Ugh, hopefully It's a better experience than when you tried to teach Willow, Gus and I triangle dancing."
"Square dancing," Luz corrected.
Hunter blinked. "You dance in squares?"
"No." Luz said.
"Yes." Amity said.
Both girls looked at each other before laughing. Hunter smiled at the sight as the waitress approached them.
"Shall I take your orders?" She asked.
"Oh yeah," Luz said as she picked up her menu. "I'll have…" She went silent.
Amity looked at her. "Luz?"
"I… I don't know if I can eat any of this."
Hunter's hand hit his face.
/
The dinner was going about as well as Hunter expected. Which was to say, it was looking somewhat great on the outside and slowly imploding on the inside. And it all started with the realization that they had no idea if Luz could eat anything on the menu.
Luz being Luz had offered to just not eat anything, but Amity wouldn't have it. After the two argued for thirty seconds Hunter has asked the clearly uncomfortable waitress if they could have anything to go.
And that's how they found themselves in a diner, the witches eating rather fancy Kraken eggs and Shirefruit pie while Luz ate a griffin egg salad.
"Well, this is going great." Luz said.
"How did we overlook the food?" Amity asked, as she stared at the table. "How could I be so irresponsible?"
"Hey, it's okay," Luz said putting her arm around the abomination witch. "I mean, it's my stomach and I overlooked the food."
"But I'm being such a horrible girlfriend."
"What?" Luz asked. "No you're not. You're amazing."
"But…"
"Just because you make one mistake doesn't mean you're not awesome. You do a lot of great things. And even if you didn't, you'd still be awesome."
Hunter almost fell over from the amount of pain that sentence caused him as he watched the two lovebirds.
"Well, well, well. I guess it's true." A new voice said.
Luz and Amity looked up and Hunter turned around to look at the source. It was an adult witch.
Hunter didn't recognize him and couldn't smell any significant pheromones off him. He knew immediately that the man was a beta. Despite that, something about the man seemed familiar, even though Hunter felt he'd remember his yellow hair. He looked sleazy, but not quite dangerous.
"So, we really have a little threesome here on a date. What's the world coming to?" Despite the question, his voice was lax and amused.
Amity looked down. Luz gave him a tentative smile.
"Excuse me sir," Hunter said as politely as he could, "but we…"
"Whoa…" another voice said. "They really have a human."
An identical face popped out from behind Yellow, this one with orange hair.
Hunter blinked.
"What did I tell you." A third voice said before popping out, this one with green hair.
Hunter recognized him. He was an Alpha. But Hunter hadn't realized he was part of a set.
"Humans are weird," Orange said.
"Luz is not weird," Amity said.
Normally, Hunter would have said that the human was a little weird, but he had no desire to give Orange any satisfaction.
"And that really is the Blight girl." Yellow said. "And you're a feisty one, aren't you? Too bad you got caught up with this nonsense. I could show you a real good time"
Hunter's hand shot out and grabbed Amity's forearm right before her fist made impact with Yellow's face while his other hand moved a plate so she wouldn't step on it.
The three brothers stumbled back.
Amity looked at Hunter, but her glower was already reducing in its intensity once the alpha had grabbed her. She realized that she was deferring to his protection instinctively as she smelled the scent leaking off him.
Hunter pushed back on her arm, and she resumed her place next to Luz looking devastated that he had stopped her from defending her girlfriend.
"Wow," one of the brothers said. "Look at him put a leash on her. I guess it takes quite the Alpha to pull in two smoking hot Omegas at once."
"You three should leave." Hunter said.
"Woah dude," Green said, "we're just having a bit of fun."
"And we're not amused," Hunter said, more and more of his scent leaking off him.
Green recognized that the Alpha in front of him was preparing to fight them, but instead of backing off he leaned in closer, unleashing his own scent. "Well we find it funny you greedy bastard. What are you going to do about it?"
Hunter cocked his head. He felt Flapjack come to life in his jacket. His desire to protect his mates rumbled in his chest. But then he realized that what needed protection wasn't their physical safety.
He looked Green up and down before smirking and looked at Amity. "You want to take out the trash Blight?"
The witch who had been staring at her table looked up in surprise. "What?"
"Do you?"
Green grabbed Hunter's shoulder drawing his attention back to him. "What exactly do you think-?" His question was interrupted by the sound of moving liquid. Both men looked at Amity.
"That's new," Hunter remarked.
Her arms had melted into abomination goo and were reshaping into giant scythes.
Green stared in shock.
Amity smirked. Then she glared at Green. "Leave."
/
The trio stopped in front of Blight Manor.
"Well," Hunter said. "That could have gone worse."
Luz looked at him incredulously before glancing at her beaming girlfriend. Well, she supposed that was true.
"I guess we'll see you at school," she said awkwardly. She wasn't entirely sure how to end the date.
Clearly, Amity had no such reservations as she walked up to the human and kissed her.
Hunter blinked before looking away to give the two their privacy. So he was surprised when he was hugged from behind.
"Thank you," Amity whispered in his ear before she let go.
He smiled as the girl ran up the stairs to her house.
"Well," Luz said. "I don't know about you, but I'm thinking of going for a bit of a walk-"
"You're going to sneak into her room as soon as I'm gone." It wasn't a question.
"She was really hot made those giant weapons."
Hunter rolled his eyes and began walking away.
"Cover for me with Eda!"
"Whatever."
/
This took a while to write. I tried putting a bit more subtext into this chapter. What did you guys think?
Yes, Hunter is wearing his hypothetical Grom outfit.
Check me out on Twitter at WriterImmigrant.