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)
She shook her head and started walking again.
“When are we leaving, anyway?” she asked. “I can’t stand the niceness.”
“Maybe you are Satan.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she muttered. “What a thing to find out about yourself, right? I like the rude, surly Irishwoman better than salt of the earth, heartfelt, lovely people.”
He laughed. “Well, it’s a good thing you are employed by the former, then. The alphas have the meeting with the original alphas in an hour. If that goes well, we can leave as early as tomorrow, I think. Maybe the next day depending on transportation.”
“And if it doesn’t go well?”
“Then there will probably be challenges and Jessie and Indigo will probably want to hang around and make sure no one dies. But we shouldn’t have to stay too much longer.”
Fred nodded and trudged on. He figured that was his cue to leave her alone. She and Niamh had had their heads down a lot lately, working closely with Sebastian and Natasha on the information they’d gathered from Tilda and the other mages. They were a solid team, but they were still way behind Momar. They had a lot to figure out about his operations, motivations, and goals before they could start going after him directly.
He parked the Jeep and then let himself into the alphas’ house. Mr. Tom bustled by holding a stack of folded laundry. He didn’t pay Tristan any attention.
Jessie sat at the table wearing a flowing pink dress and no shoes. Shifters dressed like that when attending a meeting where there might be an unexpected challenge or an attack. It let them get out of their clothes and into their animal as quickly as possible. She held a steaming mug of coffee, and her shoulders were tight with anxiety.
“You okay?” Tristan asked, dropping the Jeep keys onto the table.
She gave him a half-smile. “Yeah.” She didn’t elaborate, which meant she had multiple things on her mind.
He pulled out a chair and took a seat across from her. “What’s going on?”
She studied him a moment, eyes narrowed, as if trying to decide whether to burden him with her issues.
“Wait.” He held up a finger, then rose and crossed the kitchen to a pile of papers Fred kept there for safekeeping. At the bottom was the little kid’s diary Mr. Tom had started for Jessie.
He slid it out and grabbed a pen from the junk drawer that was heavily organized. Clearly, no one lived in this house long enough to accrue the sort of junk that should live in that drawer.
Jessie snorted when she saw what he’d grabbed.
Back in the chair, he twisted the key in the metallic lock and popped it open. On a blank page, he positioned himself and prepared to write.
“Okay, fire away.” He held up his finger again, his expression utterly serious. “Don’t pepper in your hopes and dreams. It is my duty to make those up for you.”
She blurted out a laugh, easing a little tension. Then she sighed, breaking down. He had learned that she rarely asked for help when she needed it.
Still, she hesitated, a crease forming between her brows. Her thoughts must’ve been jumbled.
“Start with the first issue,” he instructed.
“These alphas we’re about to meet—” She took a deep breath. “Drex warned us they’re rough and tumble. They are all powerful, and they’ve all had to fight off attacks from other shifters trying to take their territory. They might be compelled to challenge.”
“Austin can handle them. Even if there are multiple attacks, he can handle them. He’s primed and ready for it. He’s in his element. And you’ve shown that you’re adept at breaking it up. You’ve both got this.”
“I know, and I’ve mostly made peace with that…but Drex is wondering if they might also challenge me.”
“Ah.” Tristan tapped his pen against the diary. That would be a great entry. His goal was to fill this little journal and give it to her so she could laugh at it. “And you’re worried you’ll go too hard?”
She swallowed and then shrugged. “I can do some very serious damage now. You saw that skirmish with the mercenary and mage attack. That was me trying to maim.”
He hadn’t seen her get challenged in an official capacity, but he’d heard about it. She’d been so incredibly vicious, apparently, and theatrical in her violence, that no one had ever challenged her again.
“Maybe just stick to the old spells,” he offered. “That’s easy enough, isn’t it? I do think it will help this convocation to show what you can really do. They are probably only thinking of challenging you because Drex told them what he saw with those mages. You need to be a part of Austin’s urban legend. You need to show them what you bring to the table, but also how terrifying mages are.”
She took another deep breath. “That’s true.”