Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
“Please, call me Aljoe. My title within the convocation is still being determined.”
“Forgive me…but Austin mentioned you go by the name of John now? Is that not correct?”
Now it was Earnessa’s turn to freeze in shock. She knew whom Kingsley was talking to.
“I chose John, yes. John Smith. A normal member of society.”
Kingsley barely stopped from snorting. “Apologies, Al”—he cut off before he said Alpha—“Aljoe, but a rogue with your power and prestige was never going to blend into society.”
“My power and the scars of my past, you mean,” he growled. “Correct. I’d been forced to inharmoniously live in basajaunak territory. Fighting them for the privilege of staying was preferable to pitchforks and torches.”
“May I ask how the name Aljoe came about?” He sat down on the couch.
Earnessa stopped in front of him. In one hand was a beer, in the other a bottle of wine. She lifted her eyebrows.
He gestured at the beer and mouthed, Thank you.
“Like you nearly did, and your daughter and Sue before you, people kept stopping themselves when calling me Alpha. The vampire got confused, mixed up Joe and John, and here we are. I didn’t choose the name—it chose me.”
“Ah. Ivy House antics. Say no more. I was chased around by a bunch of dolls in that house.”
“Yeah.” The word was once again laced with a growl. “The house thinks messing with me is a fun pastime, it seems. I can’t seem to get on top of it.”
“Just ignore it. The house will lose interest.”
“That’s what Jessie said, except it hasn’t. I woke up this morning with a doll standing at the end of my bed, staring at me in the low light.”
Kingsley barked out laughter. He couldn’t help it. The scene was unexpected, as was the flat way Yazanth, now Aljoe, conveyed it.
“Naturally, I tried to kick the thing off—”
“Naturally.”
“—but it scampered away too fast and then giggled as it ran out of the room. I’ve almost stopped running from the gnomes, though. Small victories.”
Kingsley ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s a wonder you stay.”
“This house will not beat me.”
“Which is exactly why it has kept trying.”
Aljoe grunted. A shifter like him wouldn’t stop trying until he’d won. It was why he’d held on to his pack against insurmountable odds.
“How are you finding the Ivy House crew?” Kingsley asked.
“Surprisingly…pleasant. The basajunk are almost charming when they aren’t trying to kill you. Imagine my surprise.”
Did he just say basa-junk?
Kingsley let it go, not wanting to embarrass him.
Instead, he said, “It is absolutely incredible how Jessie has brought them into the fold.”
“Unheard of. My sisters think I’m messing with them.”
“And the phoenix? Odd as ever?”
“The phoenix is eccentric. It’s the computer person who is odd. Hilariously so. The thunderbird is cooler than I have ever been, or ever will be, and the vampire… Well, I’m just going to be honest. The vampire gives me nightmares.”
Kingsley laughed again, responding to the color he could hear in the alpha’s voice. He’d always heard that Golden Fang was as hard and stoic as they came. Not Aljoe. Clearly the Ivy House crew was rubbing off on him. Or maybe the gargoyles. Or the basajaunak—he could take his pick.
“Amazingly, that vampire is incredibly useful in battle,” Kingsley said. “Out of the blue, he appears exactly where and when you need him, followed by that gal pal of his.”
“Nessa. His shadow, yes. I’ve been told. I haven’t seen it in action. She’s got some energy thing she’s working on. I hadn’t heard of that particular magic, but if she can break through whatever blockage she seems to have in her…power, or efficiency, or whatever is going on—I couldn’t understand it—then she might be a real asset.”
Kingsley remembered Nessa doing something with energy when Jessie had been hurt in battle. He would’ve asked how she could be an asset, but it didn’t sound like Yaz—Aljoe understood the particulars. He’d need to remember to ask Austin.
“How are you settling into Austin’s territory?”
Aljoe released a breath and paused before answering. “You were here once, I heard?”
“Yes, to help my brother get established. I was there when the phoenix first came in.”
“Right, right. I half want to take that phoenix on to see if I can best her.”
“I didn’t.”
He laughed; definitely looser than Kingsley had ever heard he could be. “Then you won’t have to guess why I haven’t.” He paused again. “Austin has a lot of power in this territory, and a rock-solid strategy and structure to manage it. He’s an incredible alpha.”
Kingsley widened his eyes. Praise like that from Yazanth Golden Fang was few and far between.
“That territory is wound very tightly,” he said, “but Austin has the ability to manage it.”
“He does. His betas help with that, of course. Sue has come into his own here. I’ve heard of him—the meddling puca told me his original name and pack—but he wasn’t someone I cared to learn more about. He was a middling alpha who adequately managed his pack. Great fitness reports, but no real aspirations for territory expansion.”