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)
He set my coffee on the nightstand before walking around the bed to deposit Austin’s.
“This is why I try to get out of the room by the time he comes in,” Austin grumbled, still not rolling away.
Mr. Tom wasn’t wrong. After staying up all night and well into the morning, we’d talked with Nessa and Sebastian on the way back and continued once we’d returned here. By the time we’d eaten, showered, and gotten to bed, it was late afternoon, and we’d been up for an obscene number of hours.
The red letters on the clock radio read 9:58. That was a normal time for getting up, assuming one night of sleep was enough. It hadn’t been. I’d have to heal the whole team.
“He doesn’t have any other chores for us, I hope.” I pulled the bedsheet with me as I sat up and reached for the coffee.
“Even if he does, we’re not doing them.” Austin rolled to his back and scrubbed his hands down his face.
“Can I bring you breakfast in bed, miss, or would you rather get up and face the surly alpha darkening the living room?” Mr. Tom waited patiently for an answer. I knew Kingsley could hear all of this. Mr. Tom’s comments had probably been what soured his mood in the first place.
“No, thanks, Mr. Tom,” I answered. “I’ll get up after I finish this cup of coffee. Keep ’em coming, though. I’m going to need the caffeine.”
Austin finally sat up, resting his forearms on his bent knees. “That was close last night. It might’ve gone a lot differently if we hadn’t arrived when we did. Niamh and Fred figured it out in the nick of time. Hell, Mr. Tom secured us transportation in the nick of time.”
I didn’t like thinking of how close the mages had come to being captured. If we hadn’t hired Fred, we never would’ve known they’d been taken in. We never would’ve thought to look for a detention center, or whatever that had been. Even if we had, Niamh and Tristan wouldn’t have been good enough to find it. The mages would’ve been lost to us.
No. That wasn’t true. Sebastian would’ve tried to make a deal to bring us in and let Nessa go. We would’ve faced Momar before we were ready, and we surely would’ve died. It had been a close call for all of us.
I broke out in a cold sweat. “I’m not ready to think about any of that yet. We have a lot of work to do.”
“We also have some things to talk about, you and me.” Austin watched me with fierce eyes as I exited the bed.
My stomach wiggled in unease. He meant my going after Sebastian without him, putting myself in harm’s way without proper backup or regard for my safety.
His anger was on simmer because we hadn’t had time to properly hash this out, and worse, it was justified. I’d been stupid trying to battle that many mages on my own. They’d nearly taken me down by the time reinforcements showed up. If they’d been any stronger, or used to fighting someone in the air, or hadn’t been surprise-attacked, I would’ve taken serious damage or accidentally gotten killed.
“I know,” I muttered, heading into the bathroom.
After I’d washed my face and put on jeans and a T-shirt, I met the others in the suite’s living room. Austin was finishing a breakfast bagel, while Kingsley had finally relented and taken some coffee.
Their chatter died down when I entered.
“And here we are.” Mr. Tom turned from the preparation area with another cup of coffee. “This will be just the thing. Maybe a nip of healing might help as well, miss. I don’t have any cucumber for those puffy eyes.”
“What’s the plan?” I asked Austin and Kingsley, ignoring Mr. Tom and my puffy eyes. I wanted to work out how much energy Indigo had before I wasted any on appearances.
“Kevin has been called back to his pack, and the others agree it’s a fine time to wrap things up. They’ve seen all they need to see.” Kingsley watched me steadily. “There’s something I wanted to discuss before we head to the meeting.”
“Oh, please don’t tell me you’re mad at me too.” I’d always had a guilty conscience, and I hated being in trouble.
His slight frown was relieving…well, until Austin’s mood darkened. Kingsley noticed and quickly moved things along, for which I was grateful. “You and Austin showed your battle prowess. You backed up my claims. You also proved how much you care about those you fight beside and about team members in trouble. All in all, you proved that there could be no better commanders of a unified army. The other alphas solidly agree with that.”
I sipped my coffee. That was great news. We’d have to keep proving it to new people, obviously, and there was bound to be some hothead alpha who thought they could do it better, but this was a good first step.