Summary – Hunter arrives in Widows Vale with his mentor Ciaran MacEwan. There he meets his half brother Cal and his girlfriend Morgan, whom he feels strangely drawn to, and is sucked into a cat and mouse game that has played between Ciaran and Selene Belltower for years and on top of it all he is reunited with his cousin Sky who is a Seeker for the International Council of Witches and has been hunting him down for years.

Disclaimer: These are all Cate Tiernans toys. They're just in my playground.

A/N: Hello readers! I'm so glad you guys are being so tolerable to my slow postings, I'm trying to get them out as fast as I possibly can, and it's not always so possible so thank you! I hope you are enjoying it so far, but here's the next chapter for you. Enjoy x

Cal has a brother, a half brother who he never knew existed until yesterday. I can't believe two brothers could be such polar opposites. Hunter is the ice to Cal's fire with his deep sea green eyes and blonde hair. I've always felt so plain next to Cal, Cal is beautiful and strong. But Hunter took my breath away, it almost hurt to look at him.
I met him in Practical Magick yesterday when I was studying with Alyce. In fact I felt him coming into the shop before I saw him and his mere presence made all my senses tingle. When I came out from behind the curtain, I avoided his gaze, or at least I tried to, the way this man, who I'd never even seen before, affected my very being really unnerved me. But when I dropped my books and he offered his help I finally looked up at him and it all the strength I had not to reach out and touch his face. I didn't even know he was Cal's brother at the time but I'm Cal's girlfriend, I had to repeat that mantra over and over in my head 'I'm Cal's girlfriend, I'm Cal's girlfriend'
Today there's going to be a big meet at Selene's and I fear Hunter will be there, since meeting him he's all I've been able to think about and it's been driving me crazy. Why does he affect me this way? And will I be strong enough to resist his pull?

Morgan

I panicked. My emotions were definitely getting the best of me and were rolling in waves strong enough to make Sky zero in on me. She had to double take and took a step back. I saw her mouth my name softly.

It was clear she wasn't expecting to see me here and I couldn't get a read off her to tell how she felt about it. Whether that was down to my own rollercoaster ride of emotions going through me or because she was much better at masking it than I, I wasn't sure.

I was about to head towards her when Selene put a hand on Sky's shoulder they spoke for a while, Selene was obviously well experienced at crafting a face to sucker people in, she looked friendly and welcoming. She looked like a completely different woman to the one I met yesterday, the one with the bitter scowl that was etched all over her face. All those lines had been smoothed out and were replaced with this mask, today I could actually say she looked beautiful for a woman of her age and without that scowl it shed years off her.

Like me, Sky was not fooled by Selene's false niceness one bit. I could see it all over Sky's face as they spoke she knew who Selene really was. But this did not deter the formidable witch, nor did she allow her mask to slip one bit. I had to admit she was very good, if I didn't know better I know without a doubt that I probably would have been fooled.

Selene walked her around the room introducing her to different people, Sky didn't even to pretend to look interested, although she already seemed to know a few of the witches she was being introduced to, some she met with the same expression she gave Selene, others she met with a warm smile, but throughout it all her eyes kept flicking over to me.

"Do you know her?" a soft voice behind me said, I turned to see Morgan. She hadn't missed the tension between me and Sky.

"You could say that," I murmured

"Is she an ex?" she asked, I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination due to my own confused feelings for the girl but I thought I detected a hint of jealousy in her question, I decided not to dwell on it.

"Hardly," I chuckled, "She's my cousin,"

"Oh," Morgan said, "So that throws my theory out the water then,"

"Theory about what?" I asked. Sky had melted into the background for now. The beautiful woman before me had captured my full attention.

"About why you keep staring at each other and why the tension radiating between you is so insanely thick, it's almost making me uncomfortable," she smiled shyly,

I knew that not a lot of people in this room would have been able to pick up on that as much as she did. Morgan must be incredibly powerful to have picked up on so much. She must be more empathic than most witches. "At the moment yes it is exceedingly uncomfortable, I'm sorry you had picked up on that," I smiled

"No, no," she said, "I'm just really sorry to intrude on your personal life, it's really none of my business," she played with her fingers nervously, "I didn't mean to, I can just feel it,"

"It's okay, Morgan. I'm not mad, it's your gift, you should be proud of your talents, never be ashamed of them," she blushed

"I just feel like I've been imposing myself everyone's privacy since I discovered Wicca," she admitted

"When you get a better handle of everything you'll soon learn to block out the things you don't want to feel and it'll become second nature to you. You're just learning Morgan, you've been gifted with such power and it'll be impossible for anyone to handle what you've been dealt with in such a short amount of time, but you'll get there."

"I hope so," she sighed, I glanced over at Sky again and she was studying me and clearly wondering who Morgan was, she was suspicious about something. "She's intense, huh?"

"Oh yes," I grinned, remembering how intense Sky was even as a child, "That's Sky alright,"

"You two fell out about something?" she asked

"It's a little bit more complicated than that," I shifted awkwardly, this wasn't usually something I'd be comfortable opening up to someone about that I'd practically just met, but there was something about Morgan that made it feel right opening up to her about anything. I suppose I had really better be more conscious of that in case the wrong thing came pouring out. I picked my words carefully, "I made a choice when I was young," I started, "And my family didn't agree with it and so I left to pursue the new path I'd been lead on. Sky and I were really close growing up, she wasn't happy with my decision either and when I left it wasn't on such good terms. This is the first time I've seen her since I were 12 years old." I told her

"I'm sure by now she realises that it was your choice to make and she should accept you for who you are. Why don't you be the bigger man and go over to her and apologise?" she asked staring up at me with those big innocent doe eyes of hers, "I bet she misses you too and she'll be relieved that you took the big scary step so that she doesn't have to."

"I wish it were so simple," I sighed

"Why can't it be?" She was so naive about so much, and it made me want to protect her that much more, she is the perfect target for Selene and Ciaran and she's practically handing herself over to them.

"Because not everything in this world can be, you'll learn that soon enough," I sighed heavily

"Why don't you explain to the young girl why it can't be that simple, Giomanach," I turned to face the cold hard stare of my cousin

Morgan shifted uncomfortably, "I should probably let you two get reacquainted, I need to find Cal anyway, I'll talk to you later Hunter," she slunk away quickly, no doubt Sky's hostility was piercing her as sharply as it was me.

"Athar, it's been a long time,"

"7 years, dear cousin," she sneered, "7 years of searching for you, 7 years spent not knowing if you were alive or dead. But you've been associating yourself with this crowd the whole time? You let the dark magicks consume you, do you really think that you're in control of yourself? You must be kidding yourself," she spat, "If only your parents could see you now"

A flash of anger shot through me, how dare she bring them up? After all these years, she knew how to get under my skin. I took a deep breath and counted to three in my head to get back in control "Are you finished?" I asked her "Do you feel better now you've got that off your chest?"

She shook her head, "Not even close,"

I sighed "I've missed you, Sky," I told her earnestly, I saw a lone tear roll down her cheek, but Sky was always the tough one, if I hadn't of seen it I wouldn't have known how much my being here effected her.

"I missed you too," she finally admitted, "You're such a bloody idiot though. I'm so angry with you,"

"I know,"

"Why? Why these people? Why Selene?" she asked, "Surely you're not that stupid, please don't tell me you're working with her, Hunter. It'll kill me if I have to hand you in to the council."

"No Sky, I'm not working with Selene. I'd never even met the woman up until yesterday" I told her

She breathed a sigh of relief, "Well that's something I suppose." She studied me for a moment, "So why are you here?"

"I came with my mentor, the man who took me in after I left,"

"And who, dare I ask, might that be?"

I sucked in a breath and braced myself for the argument I knew was coming, "Ciaran MacEwan," I said quietly

Instead of more yelling, Sky simply perched on the side of a cabinet and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger and sighed, she was silent a few moments and I grew concerned. Finally she looked up at me, her eyes were full of disappointment. This was the look I feared most. I could take the yelling, the arguments, but this, this is what broke me. "Who are you?" she finally asked, "You're not my cousin,"

"Sky, please." I begged, "Try to understand,"

"Understand what, Hunter? That you're in league with one of the most wanted dark witches in the world? He's a killer, Hunter,"

"Sometimes it's a necessary evil..." I trailed off, I didn't even believe the words coming out of my own mouth

"Can you even hear yourself?" Sky laughed incredulously, "you don't even believe it yourself, so what are you even doing here?"

"I owe him, Sky. He took me in when no one else would look twice,"

"You owe him nothing, he's turning you into something you're not, you are not a murderer!"

"No Sky, I'm not! But I'll not be restricted by the council laws either! There's a reason I have this power, I want to be able to use it the way I want to."

"That's the taibhs talking now," Sky rolled her eyes, "I'll be keeping a very close eye on you Hunter, one wrong move and I won't hesitate in handing you over to the council. It'll be for your own good." With that she turned and walked away.