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)
He cradled her face in his palms. “Do not let him hurt you. Don’t let him even touch you. Defend yourself, okay? Don’t take damage to prove a point. Don’t take any damage at all.”
“Okay.” Her fingers wrapped around his wrists. “I’ll be fine.”
He let go a breath and kissed her soundly. “I hate this,” he murmured, echoing what she’d said when Drex had challenged him.
She smiled, realizing it. “I know.”
He let her go and stood his ground, not shadowing her toward Derrick as he really wanted to.
She stopped ten feet from Derrick, probably because that’s the distance Drex had given Austin the other day. Her nervousness was plain as she fidgeted.
“I just want to give you a moment to think this through,” she told the shifter, worry seeping into her voice. “I do magic, and I am very powerful. I have trained solely for battle, and I’ve trained hard. I do not need to shift to kill you, and accidently killing you is a very real possibility because I am still learning. This is a very dangerous challenge for you. You’ll be dead before anyone realizes I did a killing spell, including me. I won’t be able to heal you from some of the stuff I do, and I do them on accident. I can’t stress that enough. I’ll be desperately trying to do the safer spells, but if I get nervous…” She shrugged. “Curtains. Do you really want to go through with this?”
Drex had a lopsided smile on his face. One of the other alphas, Selene, a stocky woman, allowed a hint of confusion in her expression. They likely didn’t know what mages could really do, and this probably seemed absurd to them. Jess was one hundred percent correct in warning him, though, especially after what she’d done in that battle. She hadn’t had Sebastian to practice with for a handful of months, and it showed. They needed to carve out more time for her magical training. It affirmed the change in plans he was thinking of.
“He’s showing you that he will proceed,” Brochan said, and Austin forgot about Jess not being able to read the subtler body mechanics of shifters, a necessary trait when leading in animal form.
Jess bowed in defeated resignation. “Fine,” she grumbled. She stripped off her dress. “Sebastian, can you think of any way you can help if I go too hard?”
“Not unless I keep up a shield for him, and that defeats the purpose. They need to see what Momar and his people—what you and I—are capable of.”
Austin couldn’t agree more.
“Fine,” she repeated grumpily.
“I notice you didn’t give your phoenix all these theatrics,” Derrick said in smug indifference. He thought Jess was full of shit. It showed in his tone and every line in his body.
“Yeah, because she comes back from the dead, genius,” Jess said without missing a beat.
Brochan grunted, a laugh for him. Drex’s smile couldn’t get any bigger.
“This is a terrible idea,” Sebastian said, pushing forward and walking around Austin.
“What are you doing?” Austin asked as Jess shifted into her gargoyle form.
“He’s going to rile her up, and then she is going to hammer him. I can’t be the only one who sees that. When she does, I’ll try to put a wall or something between them to filter some of those spells. It’s the best I can do.” He lowered his voice to a murmur. “She better not challenge me after this. I hate when she does that.”
“Welcome to the bloody circus,” Niamh said from somewhere in the back.
“Yes, we realize you present yourself with the utmost decorum in any situation,” Mr. Tom told her. “Your cooler says it all.”
Austin held up his hand to quiet them as Jess took to the sky, shedding her magical light. The alphas’ eyes glittered even if they didn’t show any other reaction. She was a beautiful sight to behold.
Derrick shed his loose clothing and shifted into his panther, sleek and graceful and way outmatched. No doubt he had experience with fliers, having run across them over the years, but not like Jess. Fliers had to swoop in to attack. She didn’t.
Derrick prowled around the ground, looking up at her, waiting patiently.
“Shheeed,” Jess called down.
“What?” Sebastian asked.
“Shh-eee-lll-ddd,” she enunciated.
“Shield,” Tristan said. “Shield him.”
The panther tensed, flicking his tail.
“He doesn’t want it,” Brochan called up.
“She didn’t ask,” Tristan said before she could attempt more words. “Strong as you can, Sebastian. The gargoyle has emerged. Time to make an example.”
18
Austin
Tristan was correctly reading the situation.
Jess lowered until she was just beyond jumping distance and then let loose. She slammed down a spell. It hit the panther and knocked him flat. She hit him with another, and another, firing them as fast as she ever had in battle. She was practicing.
How had he ever felt fear on her behalf?