“Is that why you’re so weak?”
She nodded. “Honestly, if you give me a towel and put me to bed, I’ll be fine after I sleep for a week.”
“A week?” he balked, ready to call an ambulance.
Her laughter was a little weak, but the sound was a welcomed distraction.
Once he had cleaned them both off, he helped Astra into a pair of his own pajamas and laid her on his bed. He had become aware, somewhere in the process of taking care of his mate, that someone had come into his apartment. From the scent he recognized, he knew it was Carson.
He joined his pack member in the living room. The other wolf was pacing like a caged animal.
“Alpha, shit. What happened in the bar? There’s water everywhere around those charred bodies.”
“Where the fuck were you? Astra almost died.”
Carson shook his head. “I’m sorry, Blaze. I am. But some seriously fucked up things happened tonight. Astra called me for backup and a few of us were on our way to help out. But once we got into the perimeter of the bar, we found the four guys you had guarding the place were all shot. We discovered their bodies.”
Bile rose in the back of his throat and he pounced to his feet. Carson pushed him down.
“No, they’re all fine. They’ll all heal, but, Alpha, there were ten of the witch hunters roaming the woods. We took them out one by one. We didn’t kill them, but maimed them a bit so they could face justice. I know that’s what you and Axel wanted. I legitimately thought those were the witch hunters Astra called us about.”
“If you took out them in the woods and we took out seven, that means nearly twenty men attacked us.”
“Well, we have four ladies, but yes. That means we were attacked by almost twenty humans.”
At Carson’s words, Blaze shook his head. “There are way more of these sick fucks than I thought was even possible. Where did they come from?”
“Honestly? I was talking with one of the deputies from Salem, and it seems the Order of Salem recruited some less than desirable characters. They just latched onto the message to be able to kill.”
“Huh, that’s what Astra had said.”
“I’m sorry again, Alpha. But all of the members have been caught by the sheriffs' offices in Marblehead and Salem. The investigation into the attack at the bar tonight will be taken over by Axel, so you have nothing to worry about.”
“Oh, that’s good. Now, I’m going to go take care of my mate. Go check on Jett. He hasn’t answered my calls, and I’m a bit worried.”
“Yes, of course. I’m glad you found her,” Carson added as he turned toward the door.
“Me, too,” he said.
And he was. Now that the threat was over, he would really take care of his Astra.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Astra
Astra knew she was in Blaze’s bed. Not only did it smell like him, her man was curled up on his side, sleeping. His hand was laid against her stomach almost like he was trying to monitor her sleeping while he also dozed off.
She took a few moments to take stock of how she felt. Her body was completely fine. She was just very tired, and a headache pushed against her brain. That was the intense magical use, and she knew that.
But at least it was over now.
The Order of Salem had been stopped.
Thankfully, the apartment was deemed perfectly safe by Blaze. The sprinklers had done their work, and the explosion had surprisingly done very little damage to the bar. Blaze would have some renovations to do, but nothing too big.
Now that the nightmare was over, Astra could resume her life. Or at least, she could see what her life would be like now that she had Blaze.
Her man took a deep breath beside her and she knew he was waking. His eyes directly went to hers.
“How are you feeling?” he asked with sleep in his voice.
“I’m fine,” she insisted. “But I’m so sorry I destroyed your bar,” she whispered.
“Nope. You apologized already, and I told you, you don’t get to be sorry. This isn’t your doing at all. This is all on the Order of Salem. Although, I have to say, I didn’t know magic could look like that. It was surprising.”
“You’re telling me. I didn’t even know I had that in me.”
“It seems like you caused the explosion, but you also internalized it. It looked like you were on fire. I swear, Astra, for a second, I thought I had lost you. It wasn’t a good feeling.”
“I committed arson for you,” Astra teased.
Blaze rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t intentional.”
“Prove it,” she shot back, giving him a wicked smirk.
He kissed her temple. “I’m just happy we’re okay.”
“It’s been an interesting few days, but yes, I am okay. I’m sorry about your bar,” she put a hand up. “I’m also sorry that some of your men were hurt. I was listening to you and Carson yesterday. They’re all okay?”
“Yes, they are. And they’re all excited to meet the alpha mate they helped protect.”
“Can you imagine if we had fought off seventeen members of the Order of Salem last night? We wouldn’t have made it.”
“I don’t want to think about that,” he said. “I just want to be here with you and be grateful we made it out mostly unscathed.”
She cuddled into his side. “I am very grateful you’re okay, because I never told you I loved you. That’s all I could think about when I was fighting.”
“Oh? So you love me?” He wrapped an arm around her, bringing her toward him.
“Yes, I do. And you love me.”
“I do,” he confirmed. “So now that this business has quieted down, are you going to go back to Salem and forget all about the wolf mate you met?”
He was looking at her with a big smile on his handsome face. He knew there was no way she was going to do that.
“I’m not going anywhere, Blaze. You know that. I’m yours, and you’re mine. Now we can actually focus on that instead of the stupid wolf-witch hunters.”
“I like this plan. What do you have in mind?” he teased.
Astra wiggled her eyebrows at him before kissing him softly. He cupped her cheek in his hand and nipped her lips.
“You remember what mating is, Astra?” His voice was a low, sexy rumble. She loved how he said her name.
“You have to bite me, right, as we’re coming?”
“Something like that.”
His brown eyes were full of lusty flames that made Astra feel very hot.
“You’re sure that’s what you want?” Blaze leaned down and kissed her forehead softly. “That means forever, Astra. And I don’t have much. I run a pack of wolves and a bar. But if you say you want to spend the rest of your life with me, I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy.”
“I just have one question.” Astra gave him a sly smile. “Can I bite you back?”
Blaze chuckled and he captured her mouth with his. He wasted no time dipping his tongue inside her month. Astra’s hands went to his neck and she pulled on his hair. She didn’t know why she loved doing that so much, but she enjoyed the way Blaze reacted. He nipped at her lip before bringing his mouth to her neck. He nibbled the sensitive flesh, drawing down until he could sweep his tongue across the top of her breast.