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)
Drex was certainly well informed. He’d gone past the rumors and done some serious research. Austin wondered what Niamh made of that.
His gaze came back to Jess. “I’ll be frank with you, Jessie, because you seem like an honest person, given you are advertising your every thought. My first inclination is to be humbled, but I’m inspired. More so because Alpha Steele doesn’t boast about his incredible power or the might of his team. He doesn’t flaunt it, or swagger, even as I stand here, waiting to engage. There is no ego in his posture or smug pride in his people. He, and they, are calm, rational ruthlessness. This wasn’t rumored. Not by anyone. People are too busy being wary about his wildness to take in his stoic efficiency, and that is a real shame.”
Austin inclined his head again, accepting that great compliment with the pride for which it was meant. “Given what I’ve heard of your madness, that is all anyone sees in you, as well.”
Drex’s gaze slid back to Austin. “I’ve cultivated that persona, but yes, that is all they see. And that’s fine. It serves our purposes here. But should I leave the safe seclusion of these woods, I’ll use you as inspiration—as a model, perhaps—of a more dignified way of making people nervous.”
Austin nearly laughed. “High praise, though probably misguided.”
“Credit where credit is due, and yeah, probably. Doing things the traditional way is boring, as you seem to know.” He hesitated. “I must know, did you really best the phoenix? I know you have one, and legends say you must dominate them to earn their loyalty but…that is a little farfetched, no?”
“I did. I had no choice. Jess called in the phoenix with her magic, but she didn’t yet have enough power to take one on. There was no one else. It was kill the phoenix or get taken down by her and my mate along with me. Since then, Jess has fought her own battle with the phoenix and bested her.”
“Something I never want to do again,” Jess said, her hand still tucked into Austin’s. “Though now I have some very serious spells that might make it a bit easier. Maybe.”
Drex nodded and his power started to rise. The challenge would come soon. There would be no avoiding it.
“Please, Jessie, how did you know about our ambush?” Drex asked. He wanted the challenge, but he wanted information more. This alpha was highly intelligent. “I haven’t heard of that kind of magic.”
Jess tilted her head at him and then glanced back at Sebastian again. She was probably wondering what kind of shifter knew enough about magic to catalog spells. Even Austin didn’t know what was, and what was not, possible. He left that to Jess.
“I have a lot of power, as does my mage friend. We do have the magic to suss out hidden figures. Many powerful mages do—most, in fact, I’d wager. When I got closer, I would’ve known you were there.”
“But you didn’t get closer.”
“No, because I am also a gargoyle, and sometimes…” She glanced back the way they’d come. “I don’t know, I just get a feeling. There’s no explanation. I’d thought I was jumping at shadows there for a moment.”
Drex assessed her for a long moment. A grin played at his lips, the first break in his alpha persona since they’d met.
“Very honest, indeed,” he said. “I’d heard gargoyles were expressive. You don’t disappoint. You’ll find my pack is, too, when we allow ourselves to be. Please, Jessie, call me Drex.” His grin fell away. “Listen, there is a reason we haven’t allowed strong shifters into our fold, why the people who enter these woods without permission disappear. There is a reason we’re hidden away. And there are two reasons we admitted your faction, but before we discuss that, we should resolve the present issue.”
“The overuse of eloquent linguistics in mundane conversations?” she said, probably without thinking.
His smile grew and faltered, and his gaze swung back to Austin. Drex’s beast nearly jumped out of his skin, and wildness swirled in his eyes.
“My people might not be able to pull us apart,” Drex said, glancing at Brochan and Tristan. Everyone discounted Jess, even people who had apparently done their homework. Then again, shifters discounted mages in general. It was why shifters were in this situation in the first place.
“Remember how we’ve practiced monitoring challenges?” Austin asked Jess, loud enough for Drex to hear.
“Wait…” She yanked his hand on impulse, her magic pulsing at her sudden confusion and unease. “What do you mean? I thought we were all getting along fine. He complimented you. You’re not here for his pack or his people or to push your weight around. Can’t we address this like we did with Kingsley and his friends?”
He turned to face her. Leaning down into her space, he offered her confidence and comfort. “This is a shifter thing. His beast won’t back down until he is forced to. It’s built into him. Neither will mine. Even if he could control it, and I could ignore it, our situation will always have the push and pull of our beasts until we handle this. You need to mitigate it. Remember what we’ve gone over? Remember what you did for Aurora’s challenge?”