The sun was beaming down around them, but they were sheltered by a large canopy. It blocked some of the heat, but it was still a beautiful afternoon. Nothing could compare to the joy she felt being surrounded by the people who mattered most to her.
She winked at Jett and he smiled back at her. The way it illuminated his eyes made her a little breathless. He would always make her feel this way. Because he was her mate, and because she was his. It was a particular kind of magic she wasn’t going to question. She was too grateful.
The men had only just finished discussing if enough steaks had been purchased for dinner, and it was only when Astra offered to go buy more that it was decreed that twelves steaks was indeed enough for the gluttonous wolves.
Selene was still trying to adjust to that particular shifter aspect. It was going to take a lot of clients at Healsome Magic Holistic Center and Gemstones to keep four wolf men well fed. She was positive her cousins and twin would agree to the expansion now. They would all want more free time to be with their mates. Again, Selene had to thank fate’s helping hand.
“So, Sheriff Cross,” Selene said, using that teasing voice she used when she addressed her cousin’s man, “care to give us an update on the witch hunter investigation?” She needed to know, even if she knew her soon-to-be cousin-in-law had everything under control. Just like Jett was protective of her, Zane was protective of Raven.
Zane nodded, his arm draped across Raven’s shoulders.
“It’s as we suspected. The original members of the Order of Salem were far and few in between. Somewhere along the line, it became more like a cult and they let some shady people in. From what we’ve been able to gather, the founding members, Mrs. Gellar and Mr. Griggs, only let the seedier people join because they needed people who were all right with killing.
"Some of the members we arrested weren’t even from Salem. Not even from Marblehead. A few of the more problematic members were from Boston and had been evading arrests for a long time.”
“I just don’t understand how they knew where to find us,” Raven asked.
“Ah,” Axel nodded. “I can answer that one. when we found Billy hiding at Mrs. Gellar’s home, we arrested him and he nearly peed his pants and confessed everything. Even the rest of the Order’s plan for the other witches.”
“Okay,” Raven blinked. “How’d they know where we were hiding?”
“Honestly?” Axel rubbed the back of his neck and turned to Zane. “You tell her.”
Zane grinned. “Billy seemed to have some type of sixth sense when it came to magic. At least, that’s what he called it. He could feel it when it was used and could pinpoint it. The order had been on pack land, hiding and when Billy gave the word and where, they ran in. That’s how they got there so quickly.”
“So he was a psychic?” Raven frowned.
“Oh, no. He was very clear that was not what he was. He rejected the word immediately when I brought it up. He said it was just with magic and that was his only ability. The Order felt it was clear Billy was meant to lead them to find and destroy all the witches with this gift.”
“Really?” Cerise grumbled. “So on him it’s a gift and on us it’s a curse? Assholes. And what about the other members? Were they all from nearby towns?”
“There were others who weren’t even from this state. They were just people who wanted to blame all of their problems on the existence of witchcraft,” Axel added. "But it's over. Everyone has been arrested and are going through the human's legal system."
“Those people were seriously messed up,” Cerise said as she nuzzled into Axel’s side.
“You’re telling me,” Blaze muttered. “There was an explosion in my bar because of those people.”
Beside Blaze, Astra bristled with mock injury. “We all know that I and I alone was responsible for that tiny, little, itty bitty fire. And let’s be honest, that bar needed a bit of a face lift. Really, I did you a favor.”
“Oh, sure,” Blazed teased right back. “Because seeing your mate explode is every shifter’s dream.”
“I still can’t believe you were able to do that with your magic.” Selene shook her head because truly, it was unbelievable.
It was so much more magic than the Bishop line had even been able to do. Selene knew how surprising it was since she had done her own bit of explosive magic to save herself and her mate from the Order of Salem. Only hers had caused more of a small deluge instead of an actual fire.
“Right. And no one was wondering how to make Noah’s ark because of you.” Cerise laughed. “I didn’t get any cool magic like that,” she pouted.
“Thank fuck for that,” Axel growled.
“Hey,” Blaze scoffed, faking injury. “That’s my mate you’re talking about.”
“Better yours than mine,” Zane said, agreeing with his alpha.
The group broke into laughter. The Bishop witches were still trying to figure out why one set of twins had been able to do more magic than the other. Their parents were sure it had to do with the fathers' bloodlines.
There was more magic in the Cory line of witches than in the Martin line. Alfred Cory, who was Astra and Selene’s father, came from a stronger line of magic. That could be the only explanation. Joseph Martin, Raven and Cerise’s dad, was also a witch, but his line was less proficient.
Selene laughed at the thought of all four cousins each having their own sets of twins. That would mean eight little Bishop witches running around wreaking havoc.
“What are you giggling about over there?” Jett asked her with a smile.
“Oh, nothing. Just wondering what our gatherings are going to look like when we start having babies and there are sets of twins running around.”
All four wolves blanched and sputtered out different words.
“You do know that twins run in families, right? And twins are just a common occurrence in magic bloodlines.” Selene shrugged because she had always known that fun little fact.
“You had to figure it was a possibility,” Raven said, poking her own man in the chest. “You rescued two sets of twins who were cousins. Did you think it was a coincidence?”
“Plead the fifth,” Blaze instructed with a big dopey smile on his face.
Jett shrugged. “I don’t know. I kind of like the idea of twins.”
Selene’s jaw might as well have hit the floor she was so surprised to hear Jett say those particular words.
“What?” he said. “It would be fun to see what kind of magic they can do and to see if they turn into wolves.”
“You know they’ll do both,” Zane said. “Because that’s just how things seem to go with all of us. The wolves need the witches, and the witches need the wolves. It was true for us, and it’ll be even more true for all of our little ones.”
“He’s not wrong,” Jett said. “What are the chances that we all met our mates because of these lunatic witch hunters?”
“Well, I guess it was the only good thing to come out of the attacks,” Zane said, squeezing his mate’s shoulder.
“That’s technically four good things,” Raven argued.
“It wasn’t chance,” Selene said. “It was destiny. I really believe that.”