He had been waiting for her, his mate, for so long. Now that she was here in his home, now that they’d made love, he couldn’t keep the information to himself.
“Hmm?” she asked, reaching back for her food. She spooned some and offered it to him. He took the bite and chewed quietly. “What is it?” she pressed warmly. He could believe that it would be all right. And his wolf definitely thought so as well. Tell her, the animal was howling over and over.
“You know shifters are different from humans, right?” he asked.
“Oh?” she asked, one elegant eyebrow raised to her hairline. “Not everyone can just shift into a fuzzy wolf?” She kissed his cheek and he pulled her closer to him until she was almost sitting on his lap.
“No, only the lucky ones get to do that. Shifters have animal instincts, even in their human shapes. It gives us speed, agility. Crazy good hearing and a heightened sense of smell. But there’s something else, too.”
She turned in the circle of his arms to look into his eyes, almost of if she was sensing he was going to say something important. If Blaze had been having doubts that the mate thing was real, the mere fact that Astra was subconsciously getting him would have sold him on the existence of mates.
“Shifters sense their true mates. When a shifter sees the person he or she is meant for, the animal knows. Immediately. And then the need to be with that person forever becomes very strong.”
Astra was very quiet and traced the edge of his jaw. “So like a soul mate alarm.”
“That’s the best way I’ve ever heard it described. It’s exactly that. A very loud, very insistent soul mate siren goes off whenever that person is near.”
“That’s nifty. It must make dating a hell of a lot easier.”
“Well, yes and no. When you’re a wolf of a certain age and everyone else has found their mate but you, it can be a bit disheartening. Like everyone is meant to have a mate but you.”
“Is that what you feel like? Like you’ve been forgotten by the soul mate brigade for shifters?”
Blaze only nodded as he swallowed hard.
“Oh, Blaze.”
There was a sadness in her eyes, and Blaze couldn’t understand why. Did she not understand what he was trying to say to her?
“I don’t believe that. I’m sure you’ll have that one day.” She gave him a small, sad smile.
“Well, that’s just it. I have.”
Astra blinked a few times. With each blink, her cheeks reddened until her whole face was a delicate pink hue.
“I heard it when I met you. The alarm.”
She kept on blinking at him, and he was starting to panic. The only thing that kept him calm was that her heart rate was still steady, and she didn’t smell like fear.
“You think I’m your mate?” she asked, her face scrunching up.
“Yes.”
“Like, your forever woman?” she pressed.
“Yes.”
“So you want to, what, stay with me forever? Even after the Order of Salem thing passes?”
“Yes,” he said.
Astra’s heart was starting to speed up, and that made him nervous.
“We’re mates,” she said as if she were trying out the words on her tongue.
“That’s right.”
“So we get married and stay together forever after knowing each other a couple of days?”
“Not unless you don’t want to. I mean, I’m obviously not proposing. But I already know I want to be with you forever. You’re mine, Astra. And I’m yours. Even if you don’t want me.”
She rolled her eyes. “I do want you. Don’t get me wrong, this mate thing is new to me. But…” she took a deep breath. “It seems right. There’s a vibrancy between us. I felt it when we met, and I feel it now.”
Blaze didn’t necessarily believe in the energy work she did, but if it was helping her believe in the mate sense, then he wasn’t going to argue with it.
“Can I ask you something?”
Blaze nodded. Whatever it was she was going to ask him, he didn’t care. He would do, say, or answer anything she asked of him. Because he had found her. The other half of him.
“Have you really been waiting for your mate?”
The answer hurt. “Yes, for a long time. I saw all of wolves my age get coupled up. They mated, had babies. And there I was, the leader of the pack, single and alone. I dated other wolves and a few human women, but I always knew there was an expiration date. It made everything in those relationships seem hollow.”
“When did you know I was your mate?”
“When that old witch hunter had a gun on you. It took all of my self-control to not rip her to shreds…but I didn’t want to hurt a grandmother. It didn’t seem right, somehow. I just knew you were mine, and I knew I had to defend you. Protect you.”
“Isn’t that lucky?” she whispered, her eyes softening.
“It is,” he agreed as he cupped her face in his hands.
“Selene said something to me when we spoke on the phone. How fate is a powerful thing, or something. Does Jett have a mate?”
Blaze couldn’t help but to laugh. “Jett doesn’t want a mate. If he found her, I don’t even think he would do anything about it. He likes the bachelor lifestyle way too much to ever settle down.”
“Hmm. Interesting.” Astra’s brow furrowed in deep concentration.
“What are you thinking?”
“Nothing, really. Just trying to get used to the idea that I’ve been tragically single most of my life. I never really had luck, good or bad. It just always seemed to lag for me. Then in one fell swoop, I’m attacked by an order of murderous witch hunters and I meet the man I’m meant for.”
“So you believe me?” he asked. He held his breath while Astra leaned out of his embrace.
“Yes, I guess I do.”
“Okay,” he said simply.
But inside himself, it was a whole other story. Both he and his wolf were jumping around, howling and roaring that they finally had what they always wanted.
Now that he had told Astra and she had accepted him, there was no way he would let the Order of Salem harm what was his.
And Astra was his.
Now and forever.
Chapter Seventeen
Astra
Astra sat in the passenger seat of Blaze’s truck. She kept her eyes on the dark sky, but her hand was folded into Blaze’s. She wasn’t going to let go, either.
It was a bit more than a little crazy.
She had known the man for a very short time. But in the span of thirty-six hours, he had saved her life, taken her in, and vowed to protect her and her family. More than that, they had had the best sex of her life, and he had admitted to her that they were fated.
Destined to be together.
Made to be for each other.
It was all a little much, but Astra was a witch. She cleaned people’s souls for a living. She did magic all the time. She had seen her cousin make plants grow. She had seen another one cause a tornado, albeit a very tiny one.
Who was she to say that mates didn’t exist? No, she believed it. She wanted it to be true. Especially if it meant she got to spend the rest of her life with a man as kind and as caring as Blaze. If he was this sweet, she wasn’t too concerned about how they would fight. It wouldn’t be dirty. It would be heated, and then they could have make-up sex.