Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Austin reached over with his free hand and braced it against my thigh to stop me. “I was going to tell you this when we were getting ready to leave as a surprise. There’s been a change of plans. I’m not going to continue the shifter tour like some sort of door-to-door salesman. Like someone begging them to join a cause that will save their lives.”
“What are you suggesting?” Tristan asked, but I already knew from the arrogant sparkle in Austin’s eyes.
“You’re going to go full peacock, aren’t you.” I smirked at him.
He shook his head at me, warmth now competing with the arrogance. “Not me, us. You’re going to dazzle them with the riches and history of Ivy House, while I strut my posh businesses and fancy toys in front of them. Then together, we are going to create a spectacle of power and ferociousness that will widen their eyes and make them check their boxers. I will not beg for their time. Not anymore. I will force them to beg for mine, and I’ll do it without mercy.”
“An Alpha Conclave,” Sue murmured. “There hasn’t been one of those in…”
“Over a hundred years,” Austin said with a nod. “Mimi was at the last one. The way she tells it, it devolved into chaos. Too many big egos and far too much power and need to dominate.”
“There’s a reason it hasn’t been put on since,” Sue said.
“Yes.” Austin got a little more comfortable. “Most of the alpha network wants to see me fail, and some of them, especially those jealous of Kingsley and my family, want to see me fail in a huge way. They won’t resist the invitation because they’ll want to see it in person. They’ll want the stories from this. It’s the one way to get them all to come to me. I’m going to invite every powerful alpha to one place, and I’m going to harness Jess’s and my team’s power to control it.”
Goosebumps rose along my flesh. “Not just shifters, though.” It felt as if Fate lodged a heavy weight in my middle. Talk about gut feelings. “All the alphas. The gargoyles, basajaunak—invite them all. Let’s show the shifters they’re not the biggest and baddest creatures that walk this earth. And then, when we dominate, we’ll go after the mages once and for all.”
37
John
The jet hit the landing strip, sending the plates and trays sliding forward as the plane braked. Austin caught a tray headed for Jessie’s lap, but another slid onto the floor, scattering truffles.
Tristan bent and scooped up the truffles trying to roll down the aisle. “Five second rule.” He popped one into his mouth and dropped the rest into his empty pocket. The other pocket was already filled with a different kind of chocolate. The guy was like Willy Wonka.
A glass fell over in the back. Other trays were grabbed and John—who everyone was now calling Aljoe because they thought Edgar’s logic was hilarious—looked at all the snacks in utter bewilderment.
Why would anyone think all this food, littering every square inch of available space, was a good idea? Past mistakes or no, this was beyond rationality.
Then again, wasn’t that the very nature of Jessie’s crew? No rules. No logic. It was just pure chaos. No pack would ever survive run like this.
The mind-boggling thing was that it worked. And honestly, it worked really well. John was pure astonishment.
“I really do need to tell Mr. Tom that this is all way too much,” Jessie whispered to Austin. John assumed Mr. Tom couldn’t hear. The butler was sitting a few seats back without a table to monitor. That couldn’t have been by coincidence.
Ulric leaned across the aisle. “Yes, you do. It’s one thing being covered in a mountain of cheese and another eating the stale leftovers from these flights. One I can tolerate. The rest I guilt-eat so as not to waste, and I am not a fan.”
“Would you have the miss go hungry?” Mr. Tom asked Ulric with a sniff, who’d been too loud by far.
Ulric’s eyebrows pinched together, and he centered himself back in his seat.
John, sitting across from him, grinned. The whole group was honestly hilarious. He couldn’t remember ever laughing so much in his life. Or seeing such powerful shifters being so expressive.
Mind-boggling, all of this. He felt like he’d stepped through into a different realm where everything was upside-down.
They disembarked from the plane and headed toward passenger and cargo vans, not unlike what Evan had sent for them in the cairn. The land here was much different, though, tucked into the Sierra foothills in California. The air was dry, the sun warm, and a few puffy white clouds scudded through the blue sky. Green trees crept up the mountains in the distance, the height far less than John had grown used to.