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)
She’d been the computer thief Jessie wasn’t sure about. A Jane with a tame criminal record.
Seeing her in the flesh, Aurora was certain that lady couldn’t hurt a fly. She wasn’t subtle in her movements or expressions. If she went to grab something, she’d advertise what it was, where it was, and that she’d just done it. They wouldn’t have any trouble from her.
Sue ticked his head forward again. Agree. He could read Aurora a little too easily. Only her family was as good, and they’d known her all her life. It was…disconcerting. For her, anyway. Good for Uncle Auzzie and Jessie. No one would get anything past this alpha gorilla.
“Hey.” Jessie plopped down into the empty seat next to Sue. “Sorry, I got delayed for a moment.”
NOT A PROBLEM, Sue said by way of a pronounced shrug.
Jessie squinted at him, her gaze flowing over his muscular shoulders. Then his face. Then to Aurora.
“Yeah, I don’t know.” She lifted her hand for a drink. “Let’s get a sip of wine and try, try again. Honestly, you’d think this would be the easy part. Nope. What’s easy is learning spells that literally blow a head off. This is my life now,” she muttered.
“You need to add a third under to your assessment,” Sue said to Aurora, and because it barely made sense, and because he was building off an already bad joke, Aurora let the humor bubble up. Her grin was minimal and purely for Jessie’s benefit.
Jessie missed it, the joke, and Sue’s calm patience as she waited for a drink.
“No, no!” The new person waved her hand in front of her face with her eyes squeezed tightly shut. “No! Not yet. I need at least one more whiskey, one more flashback of a huge monster turning into a dude my size”—she blindly pointed at Ulric—“and then we can talk about stalking your friends.”
“Stalking is a harsh term,” Ulric told her.
Her eyes opened. “Fine. We can talk about finding your friends who don’t want to be found and watching them without their knowing. Honestly, Jessie, my thievery was a concern? This one”—she hooked a thumb Niamh’s way—“is waging war on your former housemates. I’m the problem here?”
“Not at all,” Niamh said. “I’m helping them, like.”
The woman’s eyes were wide as she looked across everyone to Jessie, who’d just secured a bottle of wine. A new bartender, a male, was working, and apparently he was worried about pouring a drink for the alpha’s mate. Jessie didn’t seem to mind helping herself.
“She’s not waging war, she’s…” Jessie bowed in defeat. “None of this is sitting well with me, I’ll be honest. The mages overstepped on multiple occasions. They aren’t acting like themselves. And then Niamh and Tristan… Yeah.”
She shook her head and lifted the glass to her lips. The situation with the mages was bothering her greatly, adding stress to an already stressful existence. Jessie had a bad feeling in her gut, and Aurora was inclined to believe the female gargoyle knew her people were in danger.
“We aren’t going to watch them without their knowing,” Jessie continued. “We’re going to bring them home, for their own safety. We just…have to find them. And convince them.” She sagged in fatigue.
Sue’s shoulders tensed; he was damn near panicked and radiating helplessness. He couldn’t see a way to relieve Jessie’s burden. There was just too much to do and no time. Absolutely zero time, especially with how the mages were carrying on, setting them up and dragging them further into trouble.
“Anyway,” Jessie said, her focus snapping back to them, “this is Aurora, Austin’s niece.” Jessie pointed to her. “And Broken Sue.”
“Broken—Broken Sue, did you say?” the woman asked. Humor and delight peeked through her drawn face. She’d gotten quite a shock earlier, that was clear.
“Just Sue is fine, if you like,” he replied.
“Yeah.” The woman bobbed her upper body. TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!!!!!! “You don’t look broken. You look like you do the breaking. Heads, bones—but hey, I’ll work with what you give me. Broken Sue, Sue, you just let me know. I’m in. Do you guys actually go to the gym, or are magical people just in good shape? You look like you’re ready to crush a skull with your bare hands.”
“We don’t work out in a gym, but we do work out,” Ulric said. “You know, flying and—”
“Never mind. Forget I asked.” The woman waved to cut Ulric off. She reached for her newly poured whiskey with a trembling hand. “I’m Fred. Fred Foster. Sounds good, right? Alliteration. Well, Broken Sue, Sue for short, I’ve had a helluva start to the afternoon, let me tell you.”
She blew out a long breath and stared at nothing for a while.
Fireworks of movement exploded all over Sue’s body. Bewildered. Humored. She’ll fit here.
Aurora answered in kind. Definitely will.