Page 110 of Pirate Witch

My Pa scratches the back of his neck. “Ma, I think we could do with some food. Casimir has a lot to tell us.”

“Hmph.” Nona shrugs, but turns her attention to the cooking pot propped above the fire.

She’s never been able to resist the chance to feed us.

I wait for my Pa to take his spot, and then my mother, followed by Shura. It’s surprising how easily the unspoken pack rules come back to me now that I need them, and I wait for the alpha’s permission to speak.

“Tell us then, son. We believed you were dead… did you… did you run away?”

I shake my head. “Nos tried to.”

“Noster is your other brother,” my Ma whispers to Shura. “Touched by Fate.”

Of course, they won’t have spoken our names since we left. It’s a pack tradition to let the dead rest undisturbed.

“You were stifling him,” I continue, pretending I haven’t heard her. “We all were. But I followed him to try to bring him back.”

My Pa nods. “Something happened.”

“Harpoons happened,” I curse. “We spent almost fifty years held captive in a shifter circus before Nos got us free.”

My mother’s eyes fill with tears, and I can’t look at her as I explain the rest. I gloss over the beatings and the way they treated me, but I can tell my Pa understands. By the time I get to the part with the Eagle, the rest of the pack has started creeping in.

Old, young… some I recognise, others I don’t. This is the pack house: by tradition, everything the Alpha has, so does the pack, so my family doesn’t protest the invasion.

Admitting that we turned to piracy doesn’t exactly go down well with our mother, although the younger ones hang on every word about the sea battles we’ve fought. The story of how we met Nilsa draws a few laughs from the gathered group, more when they learn how she turned Val’s hair pink. Leviathans value strength and the fact our mate refused to let Val walk all over her wins over most of the gathered pack.

The way we brought down Cirio’s Cove with our battling beasts draws widespread grumbles. Our pack thrives on remaining secret from outsiders, and I’m pretty sure Nos and my actions have given more credence to the rumours of sea monsters in the last few months than any of them would like.

“Dominance was becoming an issue,” I explain, watching my grandmother’s eyes glint at the admission.

She knows what I’m going to say next. I can feel it.

“We decided to battle it out.”

My Pa nods. “You won?”

I snort. “Neither of us won. Pa… we merged.”

“Hydra.” Nona nods. “I expected as much, even when you were young.”

“Son… that’s not…”

I snort. “Not possible? I’ve just told you a story about a human draining shifters dry to become immortal, a witch who can travel to the realm of spirits, a ship commanded by one mage, and you think Nos and I are impossible?”

My parents share a look. “A hydra is a call to war,” my Pa says. “A symbol from the stories. One we can’t take lightly.”

“My boys aren’t a legend.” Ma has moved around the fire to my side and is clutching my arm without realising it. “And they’re not dead, but they could be. We owe this Eagle retribution for what she did to them.”

Fire burns in her eyes, but it softens as her thoughts change. “And on the way, we can meet this mate of yours and I can ask Noster whyhedidn’tcome back to visit his family.”

Goddess, help my twin…

“We will discuss this as a pack in the morning,” Pa replies evenly. “I won’t drag us into a war without careful thought.”

“Don’t be a fool who ignores the signs, my son,” Nona cautions. “When a hydra summons you to war, you go.”

He hums, noncommittally. “But does the hydra summon me, or his Shadow?”