Page 51 of Oohs, Ahhhs, and Orbs

Forever,

You vow to be mine

Until there are no stars.

Yesterday,

Tomorrow,

Forever.

We are now one.

May the Goddess bless us.

So mote it be.

To my surprise, Logan repeated the words immediately, exactly as I had said them to him. As soon as the last word left his lips, a warmth began to emanate from where our hands were joined and spread rapidly down my arm, to my chest, and then flowed through the rest of my body.

I breathed out, as a sense of peace and therightnessof the moment overtook me. I rested my forehead against his as we both just breathed. Logan brought our still joined hands to his lips and kissed my knuckles as I looked into his eyes.

“I love you,” he told me in a whisper, and I mouthed the words back, knowing deep in my heart that the words were true. Both his and mine.

Eventually, we unwound ourselves from each other’s embrace, and Logan left to the bathroom to fetch a warm washcloth to clean us up. When he was done, he climbed back onto the bed and pulled the covers to our chins then tugged me back into his arms where I rested my cheek against his chest.

“We’re always going to have this?” I asked softly into the dark room.

“Forever,” he replied before kissing my forehead.

“Okay,” I mumbled, and let sleep overtake me.

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

LOGAN

Ididn’t think anything could have wiped away the glow of happiness I had been feeling since the night before, when I’d finally broken through to my little witch. But there I stood, back in front of my Captain’s desk as he glowered up at me.

“Where thefuckdid this weapon come from, Detective Storm?” he demanded, letting me know exactly why he had bellowed my name across the station floor the moment I walked through the elevator doors.

“It was brought to my desk by a uniformed officer,” I replied, giving nothing away with my stare and stoic demeanor.

His fist hit the desktop, making the evidence bag that held the athame jump. “I know that Officer Mendez brought it to you. What I want to know is who sent it.”

I gave him a dry look. “There wasn’t a name attached to the package… sir.”

For a long moment, he simply stared at me, then he ran a hand over his face. When he spoke again, he sounded more tired than I had ever heard him. “I need answers, Storm. I have brass breathing down my neck. Three homicides in our small town inthree weeks is more than anyone wants to have. We have a serial killer on the loose with very few leads, and the one big break that falls into your lap, you can’t even find words for. What am I supposed to do with this?”

I ground my jaw, unable to give him the answers he wanted. At my silence, his face hardened into a fierce scowl. “I understand this case is unusual, and with your girlfriend involved, it places you in a tough situation. I don’t believe that Bridgette Waters is a suspect, but I do believe that she is involved in this fucking mess up to her eyeballs. If you are protecting her, and in doing so are compromising the integrity of this case, I won’t have any options left.” He stared me down, likely hoping that the force of his glare would be enough to break me. “I’m going to ask you one more time, Detective Storm. Where did this weapon come from?”

“It was brought in by an unknown courier, wrapped in a brown paper that could have been purchased at any craft store from here to California. It had no name attached to it. I can’t give you a name that I don’t have, Captain,” I gritted out.

With a heavy sigh, he sat back in his leather chair, making it creak with the movement, and scrutinized me. “I like you, Storm. You remind me a lot of myself when I was doing your job. You go after your cases, investigating them without letting up like a junkyard dog with a big meaty bone.” He ran his hand over his face again, and I felt for the man, knowing I had placed him in a difficult situation. “I’m going to need your badge and service weapon,” he grumbled.

Even though I had expected it, the words came like a blow to my sternum. Without an outward show of how much it broke me to do so, I pulled my shield from my belt and laid it on the Captain’s desk. Then I withdrew my weapon from the holster under my arm. Pulling back the slide, I ensured there were no bullets resting in the chamber, then I ejected the magazine.Placing the two pieces on the desk next to the badge I had so tirelessly worked for, I straightened up, waiting to be dismissed.

“This isn’t forever, Storm. You are the best homicide detective this department has seen in twenty years. I will do my best to see you reinstated within a week. Do you hear me?”

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