News: 2 chapters in 2 days. WOW. I'm really on a roll here. I haven't written this much in a really long time, but I have plenty of ideas for this story so I'm trying to get them down on paper, before I forget them. Thanks for the reviews everyone! Enjoy!
Chapter 6: Hunter
My thoughts were swirling, and I was completely at loss for words. Why is he here? I'm guessing the council, knew about Eagruth and wanted to keep a close eye on them - but I could not have the council know I'm trying to join Amyranth. I tried to keep my emotions in check - I knew tonight I was going to be a blubbering mess.
Hunter and I had not broken up in the best of terms, we were all but married back then, and I trusted him with everything. He knew me better than everyone else in the world, and I thought I knew him just as well. Apparently though, deep down Hunter was a totally different person.
We were getting ready for our hand fasting. I had tried to make it as traditional of a catholic wedding as possible, even though we were both Wiccan, for the sake of my parents and friends. Back then the majority of my family and friends were catholic, and I was the oddball.
It had been almost a year since I was initiated and my power was growing steadily and beautifully. I was facing more and more trouble from Amyranth, they were all after my powers, and I was used to dealing with that, until one day I was face to face with Ciaran.
Everything had changed since the day, Amyranth had tried to kill me, most of Amyranth had decided to come after me, I would have been dead on the spot if it hadn't been for Ciaran. He stopped them, put everything he had worked for at risk, to save me. He couldn't see what had happened to Maeve happen to me. I kept all this a secret from Hunter - most of the attacks and any encounter with Ciaran. I didn't want him to become too involved with Amyranth it was too dangerous. It was then when I started to become suspicious of Ciaran, I confronted him, and after a long time, we did the tath meamna - and I found out everything. It had been weeks that I tried to explain it to Hunter, that I wanted to form a real relationship with my birth father - he was all I had, and this was my opportunity to form my own real family.
When I told Hunter the truth he had not taken this well, he thought I had gone mad. We screamed and yelled at each other for hours, we actually started throwing witch fire at each other. He claimed I'd been spelled. I should've known all along that his loyalty to the council was stronger than his love for me. Finally he put me under a binding spell. I couldn't move - I panicked, he actually tried to pull the braigh out on me. He was seriously contemplating on binding my powers. I've been put on binding spells before, Amyranth, Cal, Selene, and Ciaran have all done that to me, but I never expected it from Hunter, it is a complete abuse of power and he knew it. I gnawed my way out of the spell. I muttered a few words in Gaelic and he was flung across the wall. I knew he was hit hard, but I stood up, and walked straight out the door of our apartment. That was the last time I saw him.
A few months later, I had been attacked by Amyranth, they had put binding spells on me, and were draining my power, I don't remember much of this. I had gone under long before Ciaran got there. I was told the story months later, after one of my "teaching sessions" with Ciaran. All I remember was a ridiculous amount of pain, I felt like I was being torn to pieces. I was hospitalized for months, completely unaware of what was happening, and the only person that every sat by my side was Killian. He was there day after day.
I knew that Hunter must have heard about the attack, an attack so strong, that they had almost killed the Sgiurs Dan - news like that traveled fast, and the fact that he hadn't even wondered how I was - if I was dead or alive - hurt me even more.
It had been almost 6 years since that happened, and just seconds ago I had seen him again. I had to collect myself. It had just been seconds since I saw him, I had replayed my memories so quickly, that I forgot where I was. I was at an Eagruth circle, trying to make my way to join Amyranth. I needed to make sure that he did not report back to the council. They did not need to know I was here, because if they knew, Ciaran knew, and I really didn't want to hear his opinion on this.
I was completely oblivious to Ryan next to me, that was staring at me. He poked at me, and I glared at him. "Sorry I spaced out, you've got some impressive power sources in here" I told him. "I think you can take them on, and beat them, I've never seen as much power as you have Katherine". I knew he was complimenting me, and he was right I could take them on. We were still waiting for a few people to join the circle. They walked in, and the coven leader went behind them and closed the chalk circle. We were now facing each other. There were 13 people in this circle. The coven leader, started the circle by making the basic boundaries and thanks to the goddess.
Seconds later I felt like someone was staring straight through me. It was Hunter. It felt like it had taken him so long to recognize me, I had gone through our whole life time in the last few seconds. He was in shock. I saw his jaw drop, and an attempt to mouth my name. I stared at him, and hoped he didn't do anything stupid. Thankfully he really didn't do much other than stare. We started moving in a circle and started chanting power chants. It was very strong, we stirred power, and I could hear the thunder rolling above the building. We were definitely up to something. We started one by one saying the beginning of a shape shifting spell. I recognized this spell, I've done it my share of times. I stared around, I watched Hunter transform into a strong powerful wolf, but he was a brown russet color. My turn came and I transformed into my usual wolf self. I was a little shorter than Hunter, but I had darker fur. Ryan next to me turned into a hawk. We still continued using our powers and continued the circle. It was very different to complete the circle in the form of an animal.
The circle finally came to a halt, the exhilarating power came to a stop, and we were all transforming back to our human selves. This was fascinating. Next to me I felt Ryan pull my arm, he looked at me, straight through the eyes, and seconds later his lips were on mine. We kissed briefly and strongly. I knew I had to play along with this, he was the key to me entering Eagruth, so I pushed back against him. I felt Hunter tense up from across the room and I tried to shrug it off. We were apart now, and we started talking, the group of witches we were speaking with before surrounded us, and before I realized it, Hunter was gone.
We sat there eating snacks, and talking, the room started to empty out. I had spoken with everyone in the coven except Hunter. They seemed to approve of my presence - anybody that can shape shift probably had enough power to be approved for Eagruth. Ryan came back with my jacket and his. We were making our way down the stairs, as I finally asked him. "Who was the blonde guy, - the one that also turned into a wolf". "That's Hunter, he's been with us for almost 2 years now. He's awesome, I just think there was something up with him today. You'll meet him next week" I nodded, and we walked off. He asked me where I lived, I told him I was still at a hotel, I was waiting for the apartment to empty. I could move in next week. He asked if he could come over tonight, I laughed at him and told him we could have breakfast tomorrow morning. We were definitely not going to sleep together.
He walked me to the front of the hotel, we kissed goodbye and I walked straight through the lobby.
I entered the elevator, and Hunter followed straight behind. The doors closed shut. I was now on an elevator with my muirn beatha dan, and all I could think of, was how can I seriously injure him.
We got to my floor and I walked straight out, he continued following me, I opened the door to my room, and he went in first. I closed the door behind me, put some protection spells, hiding spells, and silencing spells, because I'm pretty sure there's going to be a lot of yelling.
"Why are you here?" he asked me, his accent was still strongly pronounced and I still loved it. I stared at him, I was at loss for words, I knew I had to tell him, I didn't have a choice, but I didn't know how to do it, and if I could trust him. "Why are you here Niall? Doesn't the council frown upon its members being in dangerous evil covens!" He stared at me, and it seems we were both a loss of words. Under mutual agreement we were ready to do a tath meamna Brach. I sat cross legged with him, we joined hands, and started to relax.
As much as I actually wanted to yell at him, and bite his head off, there was still a large part of me that wanted to be surrounded by his arms, have him next to me, have his lips on mine. How sick was that?
We started to go into each other consciousness, I let everything out. I let him know everything. I trusted him, he may have not trusted me but I trusted him. I felt his sadness, his regret, his worries, and his passion. He was not evil, he was doing this for the council, he was trying to join Amyranth. Ciaran wanted out, and they needed someone else in there - and he volunteered himself. He was doing this for me - so that I had the opportunity to have a family. He was joining Amyranth for me. He found out everything I had said back then was the truth. Ciaran was part of the council, and he felt terrible for everything that had happened to us. I learned so much more about Hunter and myself in this time. I lowered the boundaries of the spell, and there were tears streaming down my face, and I did the only thing I could even think of doing, I placed my face close to his, and our lips were glued together. This felt so right. Moments later, I pulled back and started to sob, letting him hold me in his arms.
