I quickly slap his hands away and awkwardly stand up like a teenager being caught kissing her boyfriend. My mother arches a solid black eyebrow at me and gives me a knowing smirk when she looks Xander over.

Xander clears his throat and stands up but you can tell he's slightly confused until I say "Mom! You're here... Why didn't you knock?" Her smirk grows as she says "I didn't think my daughter would be up so early and with... company. Wait, what happened to you?"

She quickly walks over reaching for my chest but I quickly grab her hand and awkwardly smile at Xander as I say "It's late, I mean early. I will uh... talk to you later." He looks like he wants to introduce himself but I give him a pointed look.

He grits his teeth and politely leaves my mother and I alone in the kitchen. She narrows her eyes on me before slapping my hand away and reaching for the healing wound on my chest. She pokes at it, causing me to flinch before she says a little spell to help with healing.

"It will heal. My powers we screwed up a little but they're back now. Would you like some coffee?" I ask trying to pull away. She grabs the front of my s.h.i.+rt and says "Tell me why the injury has demon energy all over it."

I sigh and say "Sit down while I make coffee and I will tell you everything." She sits at the table and places a small bag on the chair next to her as I start making coffee. "I got a call a little past midnight, saying that there was an emergency at the local police station."

As I wait for the coffee I continue "I wasn't clear on what it was but I couldn't just ignore it so I went over to help. Unfortunately, it was a demonic possession and... I had a witch accidentally hit me with a spell that messes with magic before that. Things got a little intense but in the end, it all worked out and the demon was killed."

My mother continues to watch me with a frown as I pour coffee into the two cups. She leans back into the chair and says "I feel like there's a lot more to the story..." I place a cup in front of her and take a seat across from her as I say "There is but it's a long story and I'm tired. Did you enjoy your trip this time?"

She ignores my question and asks "And the Alpha that you were just making out with? Who's he and where does he fit into all of this?" I was really hoping she wouldn't ask... I sigh and say "He saved me at the last moment... we've run into each other a few times before that and kinda got to know each other."

She stops with the cup next to her lips and slowly turns her head to look at me as she says "Be careful my child, he's an Alpha male and one that seems clearly interested in you. Make sure he doesn't find out what you are."

Her eyes then go to my chest before nearly dropping her coffee. "Where's your charm!?" I flinch and take a large sip of my coffee, burning my tongue and all as she suddenly slams her coffee onto the table, spilling the hot coffee all over her hand and the table.

"Eris Hallows! Where is the charm!?" She demands with fear and anger making me flinch as I mumble "My room... he already knows what I am... he has for a while..." My mom stands frozen for a few seconds before falling back into her chair with wide eyes.

"You need to move. We need to pack your things and move as quickly as possible. I will start looking for a good place for you so all you need to do it take care of your little shop." She suddenly says pulling out a magical map.

I slowly reach over and place my hand on top of the map and say "I'm not going anywhere, mom. I thought about leaving too but Xander really doesn't mean any harm. He wants to protect me, not hurt me."

My mother's bright blue eyes dart back and forth on my own silvery-blue eyes as my words slowly sink into her. She lowers the map and says "Eris, he may want to protect you but he can't protect you from his entire pack or the other things that will come once they find out what you are."

I slightly shake my head and say "You don't understand, we aren't that serious, okay?" She watches me with fear as she says "No, you don't understand. It's not just because your a hybrid between two magical races and it's not just because you're from a rare line of Snow Leopards... it's... it's more than just that."

A sense of unease rolls through me as I ask "What do you mean it's more than just that?" The house becomes eerie quiet as the two of us sit at the table in silence. I watch her eyes and see that she's clearly fighting an internal battle but why? What's she hiding from me and why is she having such a hard time just saying it.

"The longer you fight with this... the worse I feel this actually is..." I say with a pointed look but in reality, this was really starting to worry me. She bites her lip and asks "Have you ever seen a witch with blue eyes?"

The question throws me and I start to think back to all the witches I've ever met but no matter how hard I try, I can't think of a single one with blue eyes. Green, brown, black, brown and green but never blue. I've never seen blue or grey... never any lighter colors.

My eyes go back to her bright blue eyes as the sense of unease grows. "Only us..." I say with a soft voice. She grimly nods her head and says "Exactly"