The last thing Astra wanted was for her pants to drop around her ankles while she was tending bar for a bunch of shifters. She decided to fluff her hair, hoping to give it a bit of volume. Blaze was by far the hottest man she had ever seen in her life. They’d kissed a couple of times, even though they had just met.
That wasn’t necessarily out of character for Astra. What surprised her was the deep attraction she felt for Blaze. She would blame it on the fact that they had met when adrenaline was coursing through her veins. That was one way of making a quick attachment with a man—be in a life and death hostage situation.
She made her way into the living room all the while trying not to eavesdrop on Blaze’s call. She didn’t doubt it was about her current situation.
“It’s Axel, the Salem alpha,” Blaze mouthed to her as he cupped his phone’s speaker.
From the tense set of his shoulders, he wasn’t liking his conversation with the other alpha. At all. He pulled the phone away from his ear and put the call on speaker.
“Mind repeating that for Astra,” Blaze said loudly. There was a loud sigh on the other end of the line.
“I don’t want any of them doing magic,” Axel’s voice said.
Astra opened her mouth to object, but Blaze silenced her with a shake of his head.
“What? Why?” he asked for her. “Wouldn’t that be good for us? Use it to our advantage?”
“Like I said before, I think they can track it. How else would they have found all four women at the same time?”
“It was a planned attack. Astra was with a client who was a member of the order. The old lady pulled a gun on her. This nut job had been watching them for a long time to know Astra and Selene’s patterns. I don’t think it was magic the order was tracking. It was the witches.”
“I’ve got one of the witches on my pack lands, right in the center of our community. I am not taking that chance. If they do magic and it somehow lets the witch hunters know where they are, a lot of my people could get hurt.”
Axel was clearly an alpha who was stern and grumpy. Astra felt bad for whichever of her cousins was in his protective custody. She hoped it wasn’t Raven, because that was sure to create some serious fireworks.
And not the good kind.
“I don’t agree with this,” Astra said. “But our magic depletes very quickly when we’re on the offense. Blaze mentioned that we should keep it as a last line of defense. If you say that to the others, it might not make them feel like you're stifling their powers.”
The other wolf grunted something and before long, the two men were back talking strategy. Astra tried to keep up, but it was hard. They were dropping names and places she didn’t recognize with such speed, it was making her dizzy.
Astra sat on the couch and watched Blaze. She told herself she was looking at him because she was listening to him, because she wanted to know what was going on.
But she forgot to listen.
She was too busy taking in the facial hair along his jaw, and how it had felt against her own cheeks when they had kissed. She was fascinated by all of the little movements he seemed to be making. Nodding a couple of times while he listened, and putting a hand to his narrow hip when he spoke.
Blaze was the alpha of his pack. Astra knew that meant that he was a take charge kind of man. It made her giddy.
When Blaze finally hung up the phone, she expected him to give her an explanation of all the things he had discussed with the other alpha. He didn’t. He tapped on his phone screen, and the loud ringing that followed told Astra he was making a call on speaker.
“Alpha, hey,” a deep, manly voice answered on the other line.
“Jett, I got your texts. I’m pleased that you’re safe now. Put Selene on. Let the sisters talk for a bit.”
Blaze gestured her over, but Astra was immobilized. How thoughtful was he? She hadn’t even needed to remind him that she had wanted to talk to her sister. Shaking off her shock, she stepped toward him. She was further surprised when he dropped his phone in her hands, removing it from speaker. Astra never let anyone touch her phone. Not even Selene. She picked it up and put it to her ear.
“Astra?” Selene asked on the other line.
“Selene, hey,” she responded, focusing on her twin. “How are you?”
“I’ve had the weirdest day.”
“Tell me about it.” Astra gave her twin a brief rundown of what had happened with Mrs. Gellar, and she felt vindicated when her twin gasped. “See?” Astra said. “I told you that woman was evil. But you didn’t believe me.”
“Shit, I’m sorry. Do you think it would have made a difference if we had caught on earlier? To the fact that she is an evil witch hunter?”
“Honestly? No. I think that it would have put us in more danger. At least now, we have the wolves on our side. That’s something our witchy ancestors didn’t have in 1692. It might just save us so that history doesn’t repeat itself.”
“That’s a very valid point. Hey, Astra? Fate is strong, right?”
She was taken back by Selene’s question. “Yes. Why are you asking me that? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, it is. It’s fine. I’ve got to go. Be safe, okay? And try to convince your wolf to call mine tomorrow. I think my guy needs to be called so I can get some information. He’s surly.”
“Surly?” Astra repeated. How could she tell her sister that her wolf was anything but surly? “Hey, Selene? You know that guy in that show we watch? The one with all of these people trying to get the throne?”
“That fantasy one with the dire wolves? The one that has you obsessed because of that one actor?”
“Uh-huh. Yup. That one.” Astra was silently pleading with her twin to understand her. It wasn’t the time to gossip about hot men, but they always told each other everything. That shouldn’t change now that they were under attack.
“Why do I feel like you're speaking in code?” Selene asked. Astra shook her head with a big sigh. What was the point of trying to speak in tongues if her twin just ruined it?
“That actor? He’s got a doppelganger.”
“Huh?” Selene asked. “Oh. Ooh. Wow. Cool. Well, have fun. Talk tomorrow.”
The line went dead, and Astra gave Blaze his phone.
“I’m guessing, judging by that smirk, you heard her side of the conversation with that shifter hearing.”
Blaze was openly grinning at her.
“I look like an actor you’re obsessed with?”
“Don’t get too excited there, Mr. Wolf.”
But he clearly was. There was a glimmer in his eyes. “I don’t know, Astra. You said you kissed me to shut me up and get your way, but I get the feeling you were using me for my looks.”
She shrugged. “You can take it.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder.
She meant that he could take being used for his looks, of course. And she hoped that’s what Blaze understood. She just knew she had to step away from the hot hair of the living room before she really used him.
Chapter Nine
Astra
Blaze spent most of the morning showing Astra around Gray Wolf. He taught her how to pour beer from the tap with very few incidents. She only dropped three filled, frothy glasses. He didn’t even lose patience with her, which was surprising because Astra was definitely losing patience with herself.