Shaking her head against thoughts of Arthur, Raven brought herself back to Sheriff Hot Stuff.
A quick look at the clock told her that he’d been in the store for over fifteen minutes, just looking through a spell book. Didn’t he have a job to do? A town to protect? She opened her mouth to ask him that very question, but her words died.
From the storefront window, Raven watched an old rusty black car whip into the parking lot and come to a sudden and jerky stop. The few seconds made the entire air still around her. All of her witch instincts screamed that this wasn’t good.
Three men got out of the car. Each of them held a gun.
“Fucking fuck,” Raven gasped. She turned to face Zane already taking out his own weapon. “You were right.” She was completely bemused by the fact that Zane’s warning was coming to fruition.
“Get behind me,” he ordered, his hand going around her waist as he pulled her behind him.
“Not likely,” she snapped.
Raven rubbed her hands together, and she racked her brain for the defensive spells she knew. There wasn’t much she could do about their guns. She was an air witch, which meant she might be able to deflect their bullets. There was no way she could mess with the mechanics of the gun. She’d need Astra’s fire power for that.
“Raven, this isn’t the time to be haughty. Get back, and let me arrest these guys.”
Oh.
Arrest them.
Right.
That was a good solid plan. What the fuck was wrong with her? She knew she shouldn’t be so stubborn in the face of danger, but something about this sheriff made her want to dig her heels in. Raven wanted the Order of Salem to be dealt with, but she supposed that having the sheriff there, ready to book them into county jail, was comforting.
Zane walked out of the store, gun drawn.
“Weapons down and hands up, boys.” His deep voice was pure business.
Raven knew if she was on the receiving end of such a commanding tone, she would have dropped her weapons. And maybe even her underwear, but that was beside the point.
“Sheriff Cross,” the leader of the little crew said, “this business doesn’t concern you. There are powers at work in this town you can’t protect us from.”
“Oh?” Zane infused just enough confusion in his tone to be caught between condescending and understanding. “What forces are those?”
“We can handle this, Sheriff. Please step away from the store. We’ve done dealt with the shifters because they’ve been around forever and you don’t go around using magic trying to hypnotize people into doing whatever you want. So move out of the way and we’ll handle her.”
From her vantage point, Raven couldn’t tell if the men were rattled by the sheriff’s presence at her store. It didn’t seem to faze them in the least.
“Can’t let you harm anyone,” Zane said, cool and calm.
“This isn’t a person. It’s a witch.”
“Still,” Zane shrugged like he didn’t have three armed assailants in front of him.
It was kind of dangerous. And a little bit sexy. Raven didn’t know where the thought came from, but it irked her. She shouldn’t be looking at the sheriff, being accosted by three lunatics, like he was the hottest thing around. So what if he had that big sexy body that was clearly full of muscles. And a face she could see herself licking all over.
That was just wrong.
Raven had never been a badge bunny, and she wasn’t about to start now. Even if Zane had said she was his mate.
That didn’t mean she needed to be with him.
Focus, Raven.
She needed to find a way to help Zane, but how? She couldn’t just walk out of Gemstones and be all, hey, boys, I’m here. She’d be killed for sure. And she was way too young to die. There was a lot of things she still wanted to do.
Grow her store, maybe add some new-age classes to the business. If she was lucky enough, she could even find her own place. She’d had to move with her twin after breaking up with Arthur. Raven wanted a cute little house on the edge of town. Maybe one with a large garden where she could grow herbs for her spells.
And maybe, one day, far, far, fucking far into the future, she could find a nice man to settle down with, have a bunch of orgasms and have cute little witch babies.
Not wolf babies. Nope. What would that even look like?
Raven shook her head. So not the time to be thinking about this. Yeah, her heart griped, you promised no more dudes. That’s right. No more men. Even if she really wanted to find out what a night with the sheriff might be like. Would he use his cuffs? She cleared her throat. She did not need to get turned on at that moment. Besides, she needed to focus on what she could do.
She was a Bishop. A powerful witch from a long line of witches. She could help. She would help. There was no way she was going to stand by while the big, bad wolf huffed and puffed the bad guys away.
With quick, steady steps, Raven made her way to the back of the store and exited, using the service entrance used for deliveries. She snuck up the alley that divided her store and the health food store next door. Every step took her closer to the parking lot where the standoff was happening.
Raven peeked around the corner to see the three members of the Order of Salem and Zane were still at a standstill. Taking in the distance between her and the men and making sure she didn’t knock Zane down, Raven muttered a spell under her breath.
It didn’t take long for the magic to work. The air in the alleyway swirled like it had been shaken by a huge invisible hand. It picked up speed, making her hair whip in her face. The temperature had dropped significantly. With shaking hands, she motioned through the air, sending it to the three attackers. The wind in the alley pushed at her legs in a powerful gale. She definitely hadn’t expected to get caught up in the magic wind. The force of the push made Raven stumble out of the alleyway.
She was no longer hidden behind the brick wall, but fully in the crazy dudes’ line of sight.
Oops.
Her offensive magic clearly needed a bit of work. Raven truly thought that because her defensive magic and household spells were the best, she could easily get a handle on other parts of magic.
Clearly not.
A bullet cracked against the brick wall beside her head.
“Holy shit!” Raven shouted, ducking for cover.
Two inches to the left, and she would have been dead.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Why had that wind knocked her down instead of the insane men trying to harm her? The magic hadn’t even reached them.
Officer McHot was right. The Order of Salem were after her. And they definitely meant business. Raven hoped that Cerise and her cousins were safe. Maybe if the order was at her door, it meant the others weren’t under attack.
That was fine by Raven. Better her than the others.
Raven army crawled to her car. It was right there, but a few feet away from her. The little red vehicle would offer very little protection from bullets, but it was better than nothing. She needed cover to be able to work her magic. If it actually worked this time. Maybe she had said the words wrong.
With as much speed as she could muster, she spoke an incantation to protect herself from harm. As she inched toward the car, a few more shots rang out, missing her thanks to her spell. That was comforting. At least her defensive magic was working properly.
With her back against the car, she peeked a look toward Zane.