Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
“That you aren’t the right stuff? That my territory isn’t as big or properly set up as his and what befell me wouldn’t work on him? That he would have no trouble swatting down mages?”
“All of the above, yeah.” Austin took a sip of his drink. “He knew you wouldn’t challenge him, so he didn’t need any more excuses. It’s not about the right way, it’s about the easy way, and he’s never had it hard in his life.”
“Until he meets you.”
“Until that day, yes. And Jess. She doesn’t react well to people digging in their heels and pretending danger doesn’t exist. And if his people kick up to protect him, my people will make sure they stay out of it. Regardless, he won’t want to hear our plans or join unless he can lead us, and since he’s never had to build anything, he’d worry about failure. He’s a no-go. We won’t have his support.”
“Except his voice is the loudest in the alpha network, and his views are rarely disputed. If he puts the thumb down to you, the rest will follow.”
“The rest? You think the people at the meeting will change their minds?”
“Not them. The people here trust me. They might not have totally believed me about you, but they had enough of an open mind to meet you and hear you out. I don’t have that kind of sway with many others. It’s why it all fell apart last time.”
Austin curled his fingers into a fist and then released them slowly. “It won’t fall apart this time. It can’t. You don’t have any idea of the stuff Niamh is finding with Fred’s help. Momar isn’t just some random mage who’s managed to amass power and now holds it by a thread. He purposefully climbed to where he is, he built an empire, and now he is chipping away at the Mages Guild. He’s aiming for total control, and the shifters are his number-one enemy. If someone doesn’t stand in the way, he’ll wipe us all out. He failed last time because he wasn’t counting on Jess and didn’t know about Sebastian, but he’s incredibly smart, cunning, and methodical. Next time, he’ll have a different plan, and we might not be so lucky. Jess will be standing in his way, and I’ll be standing beside her, but we won’t be enough. This won’t be a battle the shifters can pretend doesn’t exist. I’ll make them see that.”
“Lucky?” Kingsley huffed. “You think Jessie sacrificing herself was a stroke of luck?”
“I think it was lucky she had the option. It was lucky that it took them so long to erect that spell. Just a bit longer, and she wouldn’t have made it. None of us would have. We didn’t see it coming. Even now, the ball is in his court. He holds all the power because he holds all the knowledge. We don’t have a foothold in the mage world, but he has a damn good idea of how shifters work.”
Kingsley nodded slowly, his eyes analyzing Austin. “And how will you get Armendale to come around?”
“Screw Armendale.” Austin’s power surged through the room, and he didn’t bother tamping it down. He didn’t have to apologize to Kingsley, not after they’d talked it out. “He’ll be a statement. People are going to doubt my power, Jess’s magic, and our abilities until we prove our might. We’re seeing it right now with this errand your friends have us going on tomorrow. I don’t have time to travel around the country doing small chores to prove our worth. Armendale is how we prove it. And if he slights me, I’ll prove it viciously.”
Kingsley’s eyes widened, still analyzing. He was a methodical thinker. He took what was and altered it just enough to create what needed to be. Austin was the brawn, Kingsley the brain. They needed to play to their strengths for this to work.
Austin changed the subject to something he’d realized that day. “You steered that meeting well, from the moment we walked in to the second you wrapped it up.”
Kingsley took his time taking a sip. Though he seemed reluctant to switch topics, he finally relented. “I figured I’d better. Your crew and hers are a lot to take. You have an extreme amount of power in your setup—not just those betas, all of them—and she has more. It doesn’t help that when you or she gets incensed, your beasts sparkle through your eyes manically. It was making people nervous.”
“I will always make people nervous. I saw the evidence of that in your territory, and that was once my home. I can work with gargoyles and mate a gargoyle because I’m a battle species, just like them. I am wild, Kingsley. That’ll never go away. I’ll never be properly housebroken, not to people like Armendale.”