Blaze had been adamant.
No magic.
But only because the witch hunters had possibly found a way to track the magic. If they had found her location, did it even matter if she did magic? They already knew, so why stop herself?
Because the car hadn’t pulled into the bar. There was still the off chance that this had nothing to do with the order. She would wait for Blaze to come back before she put his livelihood and his pack in danger.
Chapter Nineteen
Astra
Astra kept her eyes on the clock. The seconds were ticking by so slowly that she was pretty much convinced the clock was broken. She turned on the television to double check the time.
Blaze had parked the truck thirty minutes ago. What could be taking so long? Astra really wanted to leave the apartment and see what was going on, but she was scared. The small security screen that sat on the table at the top of the stairs showed there was nothing happening. Blaze wasn’t battling the witch hunters, but he was nowhere to be seen on the monitor.
Logically, Astra knew he must have retreated inside of the bar, but that did very little to ease her anxiety. She continued pacing the length of the apartment. She kept her eyes on the clock, and she checked the security monitor with every turn she made around the room.
Nothing.
She was ready to go into the bar when the apartment door swung opened.
Blaze walked in, weighed down by the grocery bags. Astra rushed forward and hugged him, effectively trapping him in her arms with the parcels in his hands. She kissed his cheek quickly.
“You were gone for way too long. I was terrified something had happened.”
She took some of the bags to help him, and they settled the wares onto the kitchen counter.
“And?” she asked, confused by his silence. “Was it the order?”
“I don’t know. I managed to get the license plate number. I called it in with the sheriff’s office in Marblehead and in Salem. It’ll take a little while to see if the owner of the car has any links with the witch hunters.”
“That’s all we can do? Wait?”
“I’m afraid so.” Blaze’s mouth was pulled into a thin line, and Astra knew he wasn’t too pleased about the waiting game either.
She felt a surge of uncontrollable anger, and she stomped her foot down. “That’s bullshit! They were right there. We should have confronted them.”
“No, Astra. To what end? We don’t know how armed they are. I might be a shifter, but I can’t protect you from the bullets of three or four guns.”
“I’m getting antsy, Blaze.” Astra immediately saw that her words had hurt him. “Not that I haven’t enjoyed our time together. I have. But we have to get back to reality eventually. I have a business to run, you know. Who knows what my clients are thinking right now. And our relationship is new and fun. I want to keep it that way. If we’re cooped up in here for days and days, I don’t know that you’ll still want me for your mate. Don’t we need to do something?”
Astra didn’t know where this wave of overwhelming needy act came from, but she could only guess it was because now, the Order of Salem knew where she was.
And if Blaze’s pack was hers now, too, then she had a responsibility to them to keep them out of harm’s way. She would have done the same for her twin and her cousins.
“We need to do something. I feel like a caged bird or something.”
“I understand, I do. I’m a caged wolf right now. And my mate is in the target. I can’t begin to tell you how much this is killing me to stay put. But, Astra, you need to believe me. We’ll get it sorted. We just need to be smart about it. We need all of the information we can gather so when we attack, we attack smart.”
“And are we planning on having me part of this attack?” Astra needed to know what her role was to be in defending herself and the pack from the witch hunters.
“Absolutely not,” Blaze answered. “You can’t fight the Order of Salem.”
Astra felt the fire inside of her bubble. “Why not? I have magic. I could be useful.” She knew that was true. She just needed to find the right spells for it.
Her magic was easily depleted when it came to offensive magic. And a witch on the defensive didn’t exactly make a great ally in battle.
“What can you do with your fire spells against a bullet?” Blaze asked. “Can you melt the metal in the air?”
“Well, no. But can we take a second to appreciate how fucking cool a spell like that could be?” Excited, she started rifling through the kitchen drawers until she found a few sheets of blank paper and a pen.
Using the knowledge her mother had taught her, Astra began writing a spell that could actually melt a bullet while it was speeding toward a target.
“You can’t be serious,” Blaze’s shock was palpable. He stood there, holding a packet of dry spaghetti, his mouth wide open. It was almost comical, but Astra chose to keep her laughter inside her head.
“Yup,” she answered. “I’ve written spells before.”
“How do you even know if it would work? You’re going to use yourself as a guinea pig? You could end up looking like a slice of swiss cheese. No. This isn’t going to work for me.”
“It’s not really your decision, though. You’re my mate, right? But that doesn’t mean you own me. I can still decide to join the fight. You don’t have to like it, but it’s happening. I have magic and I know I can be useful.” At least, that’s what she hoped.
Her life had just gotten good, and it would suck huge hairy balls if she died before she really got to enjoy it.
“I don’t doubt that you could find a way to be useful, Astra. But I am not comfortable sending the woman I love into a fight where we don’t know our enemy enough.”
Astra’s heart skipped a beat. Then two. By the fourth missed beat, she inhaled sharply.
“You just said you love me.” Her voice was nothing more than a soft whisper.
“That’s right,” he shrugged, still holding the damn packet of dry spaghetti.
“We’ve just met.” Her tone was argumentative, but she was just surprised that after just over thirty-six hours together, he would already say he loved her.
“Yes, we just met, but as we’ve already established, you’re my mate.”
“And that equates love?” Astra’s word came out like a squeak.
“Would I really want to spend forever with a woman I don’t love?”
Well, shit. She hadn’t even thought of that. What did that say about her? They'd had a few deep conversations where she was all up on being his mate. She hadn’t realized it meant love. He might feel it. Hell, he might even mean it, but she sure didn’t.
Could she? Probably one day, if he kept being so wonderful. But it was way too soon for her witch heart. She was new to all of this mate stuff.
“Well, I suppose not,” she answered.
Blaze took a few steps toward her. “I don’t expect you to say it back, Astra. I know the mate sense is new to you. Witches don’t work like that. But I do feel it and everything inside of me is made to protect you.” He hugged her, and Astra melted against his embrace.