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“His name is Kael Hunter. He was my mother’s twin brother—and he’s looking for you.”

“Have you told him about me?”

“I won’t need to. He’ll find you.”

Ethan shrugged. “I have protection.”

“This ally of yours? I doubt he’ll protect you from Kael. Or from Regan and her sisters. They’re all looking for you.”

“Well, soon it will be too late.”

Caleb shook his head. “Just get out of here.”

Ethan rose to his feet. “I want Kelly and Jason.”

“They’re mine. Now go.”

He turned away and crossed the room to stare out of the window. He was sick of it all. He wanted nothing more to do with his father.

“Caleb—”

He swung round. Ethan was standing in the doorway. “What?”

“The witch.”

“You’re not getting her.”

“It’s not that. I want you to be careful. Don’t trust her.”

“What?”

“I have reason to believe that once this plays out, she may not be on your side.” He hesitated as if unsure of how much to say, and Caleb had to fight the urge to go over and shake it out of him. “It wasn’t coincidence she was chosen,” Ethan continued. “There are other witches, less powerful but easier to manipulate, but my associate was specific. He’s got very good reason to believe Regan will side with him.”

Caleb opened his mouth, but Ethan held up a hand. “I don’t know the details, so no point in asking me.”

“Why tell me this?”

“You’re still my only son. Be careful.”

The door clicked shut behind him. Caleb stared at it for a long time. What the hell had that been about? He crossed the room and sank into his chair, running his hands through his hair. His ordered life had turned to chaos.

Part of him wanted nothing more to do with shapeshifters, vampires, or witches. But another part admitted that wasn’t the case anymore. He wanted to know about shapeshifters. It was slowly dawning on him that he wasn’t human—no part of him—and now the shock of that discovery was wearing off, a deep craving to know his mother’s people was growing inside him. One day, he wanted to talk to Kael. The question was—would Kael ever want to talk to him? Raven had thought so.

He could do without vampires, but witches, or at least one particular witch, he was beginning to think he didn’t want to do without, perhaps evencouldn’tdo without. That was if she ever deigned to talk to him again.

What could his father have meant? That Regan would turn on him? He didn’t believe it, but he needed to tell her what his father had said. Except that brought him back to the fact that he had no clue where she was. He would call Catrin. She might have some idea. He reached for the phone, but it rang before he could pick it up.

It was Regan.

∞∞∞

Regan had changed as soon as she left the house. She needed to run, and wolf was quite happy to oblige. She raced through the darkness until exhaustion finally claimed her, and then she lay flat out in the bracken, panting. In the deep recesses of her brain, she knew she should change back, think it through, go and persuade Caleb to let Kelly talk to her, tell her where Ethan had been last night. But things were so much simpler as wolf, and she fell asleep, head resting on her paws, breathing in the musky scent of wild garlic. It reminded her of making love to Caleb on the forest floor, and she dreamed of him through the night.

The sun was already high in the sky when she finally awoke. She shifted at once, sat up, and shivered as the chill autumn air brushed her naked skin. A few whispered words and she was clothed.

Rising to her feet, she looked around her. She stood at the edge of a forest glade surrounded by pine trees, but other than that, she had no idea where she had run to. She thought about walking, finding a track to follow, but in the end, she whispered another spell and opened a portal outside Caleb’s house. She stepped through and realized that her magic was undiminished by the spells—she was back to her full strength.

She’d come to a decision during the long night.