Even as that thought ran through my head, a strange tightness in my chest momentarily took my breath away. It was gone almost as quickly as it had come, so I easily brushed it off and continued doing my job.
My Bonded dragon transformed into his smaller form, a bearded dragon—all Bonded had multiple forms. Instead of hanging out with me, he rushed into the nearby trees to hunt for his dinner. All witches had a Bonded One, a magical animal that we formed a magical Bond with. A Bonded could share magic with you and you with him, and one of the coolest things was that we could pull ourselves to our Bonded’s location, no matter how far away they were, same with them to us. I was lucky enough to have Bonded with a dragon when I was pretty young, and Blaze was sweet yet fierce.
Stretching my arms over my head, I walked up the driveway to the big house on my coven’s land. When I was six, my parents and all the other adults in our coven were killed in a horrific attack. My older brother Ailin had only been sixteen at the time, but his full power had come in that night when he’d protected all the kids from certain death. There had been fifteen of us, not counting Ailin, and when the magical government had finally showed up—too late to actually help us—instead of letting them take us, Ailin had claimed the title of coven leader and taken responsibility for all fifteen of us. At only sixteen, he started raising us as his own.
In every sense of the word, Ailin was my father, but since he was technically my brother, I didn’t let him know my true feelings on the subject. It was my right as the little brother to be a shit, a right I took advantage of.
All of us still lived on coven land, though all of the original fifteen of us were in houses of our own around the property—it was a huge property so there was plenty of space. Many of my siblings—also not by blood but in every way that mattered—had found their viramores, so they lived on the land as well. Basically, my family was fucking huge.
The big house was where I grew up, where Ailin had moved all us kids after that fateful night. It was also where everyone gathered for meals several times a week. It was always open for any of us to come and go, and there was always food being cooked and served. My younger brother Tio was a chef, so he cooked for everyone a lot, and my older sister Opal did as well.
Ailin lived in the big house with his viramore Sebastian, and because my brother was actually insane, he and Seb adopted three kids a couple of years ago. As if he didn’t already have enough of us. So the five of them lived there, and everyone else came and went as they pleased.
All our homes were also made out of living trees. As in, Ailin used his earth magic to ask the trees to move and reform into functioning homes, and inside the homes, there were plenty of pieces of furniture also made from living trees. Growing up, I hadn’t realized what a big deal that was since it was normal to me, but after seeing the homes others lived in, I knew it was actually pretty awesome. I’d been told by some of our coven members that didn’t grow up here that our houses looked like they belonged in a fairytale. I’d have to agree.
My family was huge and crazy and everyone was always in everyone else’s business. It was annoying as fuck, but I couldn’t imagine living any other way, and I honestly wouldn’t want to. Not that I’d ever tell Ailin that.
“Hey, kiddo,” Ailin called over from the yard where he was watching his two-and-a-half-year-old Remi play in a little baby pool. “Tio’s almost done with dinner, are you staying?”
I shrugged as I made my way over to him, then plopped into a lawn chair and said, “Sure. I’m starving.”
“What did you do today?” he asked as he smiled at his son and gave Remi a little splash.
“Tracked a gnome wanted for murder and a whole list of other terrible shit.”
“Did you get him?”
“Yeah. Just dropped him at BCA Headquarters.”
“That’s good to hear.” He splashed the baby again, then eyed me. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. I ran into a hunter.”
“Okay…?”
“He was by himself, and apparently, hates witches.”
Ailin smirked at me. “You sure he didn’t just hate you on sight? With that scowl and that crazy hair, you look like a mean fucker.” He had no filter, even in the presence of a two-year-old.
I snorted. “Gee, thanks.”
He pushed my arm, then leaned down to tickle Remi’s belly for a minute. The little boy giggled like crazy, making me smile at him, before he moved away from his dad to catch his breath. Ailin was smiling so wide and bright it almost hurt to look at it.
As I put my hands on my head and stretched my legs out in front of me, he said, “I heard they found a dead witch over in Owentine, but they haven’t released a name yet.”
“Yeah, I heard about that. They’re being really hush hush about the whole thing.”
He nodded. “I called Petunia to find out who it was.” Petunia Crane was a friend of his and also happened to be the leader of the whole damn country. Well, there were others on the board with her, but she was the top dog.
“Did she tell you who?”
“Of course. It was Chilton Morelli. I didn’t know him too well, but as far I know he wasn’t a bad guy. The crazy thing is that they think he was assassinated. Probably about forty-eight hours ago.”
“Are you serious?”
Ailin nodded. “Yeah, found a fucking arrow through his skull.”
My eyes widened. “Arrow?”
Ailin narrowed his eyes at me. “What? Do you know something?”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t stop picturing that crossbow aimed at my head. How many people even used those things anymore? Most people went for a gun if they didn’t have magic to back them up. “I… maybe. That hunter had a crossbow.”
Ailin tilted his head. “Petunia said there was evidence that Chilton Morelli had a shield up and whoever killed him broke it.”
“Holy shit.” That hunter had said, “If you follow me, I will shoot you. And don’t think my arrows can’t get through your shield, Basil Ellwood. You’re not the only one that knows what he’s doin’.” Holy fucking shit.
I stood up, and Ailin grabbed my forearm to stop me from running off. “What’s going on, Bas?”
“I think that hunter might’ve killed Chilton Morelli. I need to go down to HQ and do some research, maybe get more details on that case.”
“You need to eat something first, Bas.”
I stared at my older brother who looked so much like me. We could almost be twins if not for the eyes. He had bright green eyes that matched his earth magic, whereas I had black eyes to match my shadow magic. I also had some black eyeliner under my eyes and shorter hair than him—hair that was apparently sticking up from traipsing through the woods all day—although we both had one side of our hair braided back with some beads and things braided through it. We were even about the same height and build, also known as short and lean, but I worked out so I had more muscle mass than him.
But I recognized the concern etched on his face, and since I didn’t like when he was worried about me, I relented. “Fine, but I have to go back to the office after I eat.”
He nodded. “Let’s get you fed, then. Come on, Remi, we gotta get your big brother some food.”