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)
“And they will get put down,” Austin repeated.
Tristan grinned. “Maybe I’ll finally get to play in the sandbox with you guys.”
“You said everyone is here, right?” Jess asked, her thumb stroking across Austin’s finger.
“Yes. Armendale was the last to arrive.” A thread of annoyance curled through him. “He was greeted with his usual fanfare. His groupies think this is a joke, I hear.”
“Let them,” Jess said. “It’ll be more fun that way.”
She was definitely ready for battle.
“Aljoe,” she said, her tone lightening, “how do your sisters look, do you know?”
The first two had stayed for two weeks, both lovely ladies. They were strong, smart, and worked incredibly well together. Better than he and Jess ever would. Austin had actually learned a few things. The third was supposed to come out at a later date but had to cancel last minute because of an injury with her firstborn. They’d all be here, dressed to impress and forcing themselves to show off.
“No,” Aljoe replied, and the magic on his face wobbled again. “I didn’t think to ask.”
His sisters had understood the difference in dressing to impress and doing the bare minimum. Poor Jess had driven that point home that first night. Her attire was fine for most situations, but when compared to the style of the rest of them, she stuck out. With alphas, it would be in a very bad way.
And just like Jess, the sisters needed help choosing outfits. They cared about the final outcome just as little as Jess usually did.
“Has Niamh made any progress with the make and model of the vehicle that keeps leaving tracks near the territory limits?” Tristan asked.
Jess sighed. “Yes, but she tells me not to ‘worry me arse.’ It’s a midsized sedan with standard tires. Any Honda or Toyota or whatever might have them. No eyewitnesses and no cars matching that description happened to pass any cameras around town during the possible time frames. But you know Niamh—she finds clues out of thin air.”
“She doesn’t have much to offer for the conclave,” Sue said. “She has the availability and innate ability to handle this. We need to let her so that we can do other things.”
“Tristan mentioned that,” Jess said. “I just…worry, that’s all. It feels like Momar is starting to close in. He gathers information, and then he strikes. He’s clearly gathering information now, and if the people on our side are actually working for him…”
Austin squeezed her hand. “Niamh will figure it out, and Fred has been grinding away to help her. We have no choice but to focus on the conclave, and then we’ll put all our attention on Momar and the mages, okay? One more hurdle.”
Well…two.
The time to take the Ivy House magic was drawing near, he could feel it. He had to enter this fight for real. He just wasn’t sure how that would turn out. He had more than a little volatility within him. If the magic made him worse—made him spiral—he wouldn’t be fit for society. He’d nearly killed his brother in his youth, and that was because of a girlfriend whispering in his ear. Those were just words. This was magic—potentially dark, corrosive magic he’d have to internalize. It might control him, and he was not the sort of person to let off the leash. His past had confirmed that.
Jess didn’t know him at all if she thought he’d take her down with him. That was never an option. He had to make this conclave a success. If he had a structured system in place, then his brother could keep that together, his betas could keep the castle together, and Jess would still be safe in her keep. She was the most important thing in his life, and part of protecting her was creating a plan in case he became a danger to her.
He stared out the window as uncertainty pooled in his gut.
“Hey.” Jess’s thumb moved across his skin. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t elaborate on the half-truth.
The vehicle rolled around the last curve in the road. People spanned out across the flat area ahead of them, the gargoyles and shifters keeping their distance for the most part, and the shifters separated into various cliques. That was the shifter mentality of sticking only with what they knew. He’d need to break that wariness down.
“Here we go.” Austin sat forward a bit so that he could scan faces and body posture as they passed.
“A lot of curiosity,” Sue said.
“This feels like the setup for an infomercial,” Austin murmured, seeing his brother within his clique and Drex standing within his. “We’re about to go on and sell our wares.”
“Damn fine value, if you ask me,” Aljoe said, his wolfish grin wobbling the magic again. If Austin didn’t know better, it seemed like Aljoe was excited to re-emerge into the shifter world. This time, he didn’t have the solo responsibility of holding things together. He’d get to work in a team to break things apart…with a wrecking ball. And he’d get to be splashy while he did it.