‘No. Stay there. The three thousand men will be a big help. I gotta go.’
He pulled away from me and I was left with my mind spinning. What the hell was I supposed to do now? My fiancé was in crisis and I was helpless to do anything.
“Everything okay, Alpha?” Astra wrung her hands nervously and I felt her trepidation through our bond.
I sighed. The entirety of Magic City was at war and I was pretty sure that war started because of me, and my fiancé was left dealing with it all, but bitching about it wasn’t going to help anyone. “Let’s just talk about how I can help here.”
Astra nodded, her brown hair bobbing. “Come on in.”
She stepped deeper into the space and behind a row of pews. I stepped inside and allowed myself to examine the space further.
Rows and rows of thickly lacquered dark wood pews lined the giant room from the front to the back. Astra wove in and out of the aisles, making her way to a stage up at the front. It had church vibes in the way it was laid out, but I could see no religious insignia or idols. We arrived at the stage and I peered at the glowing light coming from it. I expected to see a cross or something of that nature, but instead there were hundreds of flickering candles.
“One protection prayer for each soldier who left,” she informed me.
My eyes widened.
Over three thousand tealights? That must have taken all night.
She walked across the hardwood floors and toward the flickering stage as I let my eyes go to the windows at the top of the building. There was more of that homemade looking glass. It was no Roman catholic cathedral but there was a good vibe to the place, peaceful.
Astra stepped up onto the stage and I followed her. Now that we were close to the candles I could feel their collective heat, admiring the lights as they flickered and swayed. They were stacked on little risers in ascending order.
Astra reached into a little box on the side of the stage and set one more tealight down on a space she found on the floor. Then she clasped her hands and muttered under her breath. I stood there watching her, thinking about when she’d healed Walsh and how that magical blue glitter stuff had fallen from the sky and onto her body. She’d literally saved his life with her power. I also thought about how they’d called her priestess. That was a word the witches used but she was clearly a wolf … a spiritual or religious one.
She baffled me. But in a good way.
Looking up from her clasped hands, she waved her fingers over the small candle and a flame burst from the wick. I sucked in a breath at the display of magic.
“That was for Sage,” she told me, acting like she didn’t just do something super cool and amazing like light a freaking candle with her mind!
“Are you … part witch?” I was trying to figure this all out. Figure her out.
She scowled. “The witches are evil. They’ve turned away from the Father and use their magic to power the darkness.”
Okay… I didn’t know what that meant. “The Father … being…?”
She frowned. “The father of all creation. God. Prime Creator.”
I nodded. “Right. That’s what I thought.”
“Can all Paladins light candles with a wave of their hands?” I looked at my own fingers, wondering if it were possible. She barked out in laughter and it made her look much younger. Now I questioned my guestimate at her age.
“Obviously not!” She laughed some more, the lightness causing my own lips to curl.
I shifted on the balls of my feet nervously as the candles flickered shadows across her face. “I don’t really know anything about Paladins, Astra. I was raised among humans.”
She frowned, grasping at her chest as if I’d just told her my grandmother died. “Shells of their former selves. May that never happen to us. You have to help us,” she pleaded.
What the what?
I frowned, opening my arms. “I’m here. I have no idea what you need from me, but I’m here. Just help me understand everything.”
She nodded. “This way. I’ll explain everything.”
Why did that give me a sinking feeling in my stomach?
I followed her past the candles to the back of the stage where there was a door. She opened it and descended down a row of creaky stairs. Stepping after her and down into the basement, we passed flame sconces that lit up the walls and I wondered if it was normal fire or that magic fire she’d made with her hands. Could she snap her fingers and make them blow out?
Probably…
When we reached the bottom steps, I took in the large space. To the right was a bedroom with the door ajar and a simple four-poster bed. On the back wall was a fireplace with crackling logs inside. There was a little kitchen off to the left and a sitting area in front of the fire. In the farthest corner of the room was a small floor pillow facing a low table or altar. One single thick blue candle burned on the alter with a vibrant purple flame.
She pointed to the purple flickering glow. “That’s a blessing candle. For you. I’ve prayed for you every night since you saved me from the dark fey and brought me home.”
I swallowed hard, feeling slightly uncomfortable at her kind gesture. Why? I had no idea. This girl had so much faith in me. I didn’t want to let her down.
I was about to respond, when she spoke again.
“When Running Spirit was killed…” She shook her head. “No, I need to go back further. Let me start over.” She rubbed her hands together nervously. “My mother, Faye, was a priestess too. Blessed with healing like me.”
She gestured for me to sit down on the couch and I did, facing her as she snuggled in across from me. Being with Astra felt so … easy. Which was weird considering I literally knew nothing about her.
‘Pack,’ my wolf told me, and I nodded. Astra was pack, that’s why we felt like sisters. It was similar to my imprint with Sawyer, the closeness, the reading of her energy but in a familial way. She was nervous now but also excited.
“Was?” I asked, wondering if her mother was…
“Dead.” She nodded, and then pointed to the ceiling. “With the Father now.”
Right…
“I’m sorry.”
She swallowed hard. “She died shortly after Red Moon, your grandfather, passed.”
I frowned. “That was recent. How did she die, if you don’t mind my asking?”
She looked around the home as if still expecting to see her mother walk out of the kitchen. When she met my gaze, I wasn’t prepared for the fear I saw in her eyes.
“Don’t run off or anything, okay? Just hear me out first.” She inched closer to me as if she were preparing to jump out and grab me when I inevitably tried to bolt.
My heart picked up speed then, thumping wildly against my chest. “Why would I run?” I swallowed hard.
“My mom died shortly after Red Moon because … we as priestesses cannot live long without being tethered to an alpha.” She raised her wrist to show the marks I’d made there when I’d claimed her and now it all made sense.
My heart rate slowed a little. I’d been expecting so much worse. Like, I don’t know … for her to tell me she needed my skin or kidney or something for a spell.
“Okay, well, are we tethered now? I mean, you’re okay, right?” It dawned on me that she might be about to drop a bomb and tell me that she was about to die.