Page 14 of The Witch’s Daughter

Did this powerful warlock know something that I didn’t?

“Respect your family, sigma,” Alpha Kera growled. It was scary enough to make me jump, but my sisters just lowered their eyes. “The three of you are destined for greatness, don’t tear each other down before you even get the chance to rise.”

Always with the destiny thing…

She means well.

I stepped closer to my sisters, not liking them being scolded by our Alpha on my account. “They’re just teasing and don’t mean any harm.”

“Spoken like a true beta.” My aunt’s voice came from the hallway behind us and I turned, smiling.

Her blond hair was plaited into a long braid and her eyes crinkled with mirth. She didn’t look much like Mom because they had different mothers, but we all had the same honey-brown eyes that came from our human grandfather. My wolf swished her tail from side to side.

“Aunt Coral!” I was already flying across the room to her arms. As Beta for the pack, she understood my wolf better than anyone else and always said I was exactly where I needed to be. Plus, she was a hugger and I liked hugs.

She caught me with an oomph, laughing as her mate Skoll—the grumpy old wolf—stopped us both from crashing into the wall.

“Where have you been?” I asked. She’d missed the last two Sunday family dinners and I hadn’t seen her much before that.

“I had a meeting with an old friend.” Coral smiled at Kera. “Ophelia sends her regards and Jareth said to meet him at the castle this weekend.”

Alpha Kera nodded as if this was old news, but I didn’t miss the slight tinge of pink to her freckled cheeks at the mention of her mate.

Too bad the cute moment was ruined by the knowledge of what a trip to Anubis lands meant.

Swallowing hard, I leaned past my aunt to look down the hall.

“The twins are getting something to eat and then they’ll be here,” Aunt Coral explained.

Awesome. Ahmad and Amir were Ophelia’s twin sons from her abrupt mating with a traveling warlock. It wasn’t uncommon for wolf-shifter births to have two or three pups per litter, but two wolf-witches born at the same time was unheard of.

And they didn’t let anyone forget it.

The two were younger than me by about four years, and when we’d all trained under Gram, they were the runts of the litter. The last I’d seen, they’d finally grown into their shifter bodies.

Now there was no stopping their egos.

The only thing bigger was their fat heads.

Aunt Coral smiled sympathetically before guiding me back to Alpha Kera’s desk.

“If you ask me,” she said, “this whole summons thing is very Harry Potter.”

“Harry, who?” I asked.

“Bless science.” Coral pinched the bridge of her nose. “Didn’t I have you girls read all the classics?”

Alec shrugged. I tried to think of what story she was talking about. We’d read so much that all the books seemed to blend together. Meg would know better than us because she was still the avid reader, but even she gave a blank stare.

“To be fair, my love,” Skoll laughed, which was a terrifying sound coming from the Viking-looking alpha shifter and ex-hunter of Fenrir. “Harry Potter isn’t exactly a classic.”

Aunt Coral blinked. “Okay, maybe not classic classic, but it’s huge for cultural reference from the 21st century. And come on. The summons in the mail. The warlock who should not be named.”

“Isn’t that like every human fantasy book about magic ever written?” Meg asked.

“Plus, his name is right there,” Alec pointed out. “Vincent Matthis.”

“Never mind.” Coral blew out a frustrated breath. If I had any clue what was going on, I’d have come to her aid. But my family was… funny sometimes.