Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Tristan shook his head slowly, and damned if respect hadn’t kindled in his eyes.
“Who knows about this?” he asked.
“Brochan, Kace, Niamh. Now you. Niamh was the one who figured out something was up. Together, we surmised what it was.”
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because it’s important for you to know all of this so you can do your job correctly and keep my mate, the most important thing in my life, safe. You need to get good at reading incredibly subtle body language. Shifters will show you how. A whole different world opens up when you can read the subtle cues.”
“And if I tell the mages?”
“I don’t think you’re that stupid.”
He paused for a moment. “No,” he said softly, his eyes glowing brightly. “She thinks they sold you hook, line, and sinker.”
“I know.”
“She has a lot of respect and love for your mate, though. You should know that. Natasha was fighting her guilt over the situation when she asked me to stay longer. She’d already told me to put my trust in Jessie. I think they were genuinely trying to help.”
“And that is why they are not dead.”
Tristan nodded slowly, his eyes glimmering now. “This is the first I’ve seen of this side of you. I was starting to think you were too much of a boy scout. Natasha seems to think so.”
Austin sank the next ball and then one after that, forgetting to pretend to be bad.
“I have a very dark past, actually. I was a nightmare in my youth. So much so that I almost killed my own brother.” He tapped the pocket where he’d drop the black ball, and then did it with a hard shot. He straightened up, as serious as the grave. “When I said I’d do anything to protect my mate and my territory, I meant it. Jess is the rainbows and flowers half of our pairing, but even she has a deep darkness within her, too, created and churned by her gargoyle. In life, we are open and honest people, trying to do right by our pack. In war, we will not hold back. I see the same sort of darkness in you. You’ll fit here, no problem. I ask that you fit on our team, and not against it.”
Tristan started gathering the balls. “One thing, though.“
Austin waited.
“Why am I given so many perks? Free food, fast cars, the white glove treatment whenever I’m here…”
“Because that is how they do things here. Have you ever gotten a free drink at my bar? A free meal at any of my restaurants?” Tristan leaned against the pool table, watching Austin silently. “Jess is treating you like family, and she is the matriarch of this family. She takes care of her own. She sees it as her duty, but it’s actually just her way. And because she’s so open and accepting, so are her people. Everyone in the crew gets those perks, and with them you have to deal with the oddity of this place and these people. Trust me, it’s an even trade.”
Tristan huffed out a laugh, going back to the balls.
“That was your big concern?” Austin asked, rubbing the chalk across his cue stick. “Too many perks?”
He shrugged. “It’s unusual. I wondered if you were…setting me up, I don’t know. Sounds stupid when I say it now, but…”
“Were you really treated that badly in the cairn?”
“We weren’t treated badly. We just…weren’t pampered. There’s a difference.”
“I suppose there is.”
He stepped out of the way for Austin to break. “Does Jessie know you set up Ulric?”
“I didn’t set up Ulric. I heard he was in some trouble and had my people watch out for it. When my people went to step in, Ulric asked them to leave it be. I think he thought word would get out that he needed help and other people would pick on him. I’ve heard he didn’t always have it easy in his cairn growing up.”
“A lot of the smaller guys don’t. I stopped it in our cairn, as much as I could, but it was unusual for anyone to intervene.”
“That’s why it kept going on here, I think. Jasper wouldn’t say anything, and Ulric wanted to handle it himself. I left him to it.”
“Then why did Natasha step in?”
Austin gave him a quirked eyebrow. “Haven’t you been listening? Jess is the reason. She worried something was up, asked for Nessa’s help, and Nessa handled it. My people found the blood and recognized all the scents. As I said, I’m not blind. I know what goes on in my territory. Strange thing, though. Everyone walked away from the altercation that night. Well…walked or limped. Yet, a few days later, the original perpetrator was nowhere to be found. He seems to have vanished.”
“Strange. Maybe he realized he was picking on the wrong people and took off.”