Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
She shook her head in lighthearted reproach. “One of these days you’re going to learn that we are best when we do things together.”
“And until I do, you’ll just keep forcing me to remember.”
“Obviously.”
He let his lips linger on hers, feeling this new buzz of shared magic. His mate’s eyes still shimmered a little, a hint that she was more than she seemed.
“Your eyes sparkle now,” he murmured against her lips. “As if you needed another way to be drop-dead gorgeous.”
She laughed. “So do yours. And…same.”
He hugged her close and turned to look out at the woods. Then the house. Peace and love settled within him, overlaying the darkness that still lurked, volatile and brimming with fire. Ruthless and vicious. Honestly, though, it wasn’t so different than what he’d already learned to control.
“I’m good,” he said with assurance. “I’m okay. I can feel the power buzzing, but I don’t want to”—he shook his head—“destroy the world, I don’t know. Parts of that magic are dark.”
“Darker than yours?”
He looked down at her. “Can’t you feel mine within you?”
A shiver of arousal wound through him as he thought of his mate sharing something so personal, so intimate, as his magic. As his beast.
Her smile was serene and full of love. “Yes. I don’t find it so dark. More…restless, is probably the word. Gargoyles are a battle species. Shifter magic seems more primal. It wants to hunt more than battle.”
He nodded. “That’s a good way to describe it, I guess. I think yours is just unfamiliar. You’re a little more used to dealing with new, strange magic.”
“Oh really, you think?” She laughed. “You might have a wobble when you really use it for the first time.”
He turned to cup her face, looking down into her eyes. “We’ll do it together.” He kissed her softly. “We’ll get our peaceful retirement and happily ever after, Jess. I know we will. We just need to kick a little ass first. Sharing magic will help us do that.”
Her eyes turned glassy as she looked up at him.
“Don’t bother yer arse,” Niamh said behind them somewhere. “Retirement is boring. Less so with a basket of rocks.” She sighed. “Ah sure, might as well go for a pint now. This magic business was anticlimactic.”
Austin snorted, turning toward the house. “Not us. We’re going to take the night off.”
“Muffle the links, please,” Jasper said. “Your stamina is a sore point among some of us.”
“Not me,” Ulric replied. “Too much effort to last that long. Rapid fire Os for the ladies, and then some shut-eye. Seems to work out just fine.”
“Who watered Ivy House?” Edgar asked as the large group on the grass moved to allow Austin and Jess passage through.
Jess jerked to a stop. It took Austin a second to realize what she was looking at. Part of the back area of the house had changed shape, grown, as Edgar had oddly suggested.
“What in the world?” Jess said, stepping out from under his arm. Grabbing his hand, she tugged him along. “It’s the council room. It’s bigger.”
He felt the map of the house, now so incredibly detailed in his mind’s eye. Given it hadn’t been before, he couldn’t accurately compare the new with the old.
They walked in through the back door and made their way to the council room where Austin had first officially joined her team. The shape of the room was now indeed different. Longer. Instead of one circle of chairs, there were two interlocking loops, the chairs set in the shape of an infinity symbol, eighteen in all. Where the loops intersected, there was a large space…for the heir and her Mate Protector.
“You will need to choose your council anew,” Ivy House told them. “Larger, for there are two of you now. These are your battle advisors, with you until the end. Choose wisely.”
“But how did the room get bigger?” Jess asked in confusion.
“With magic, obviously. I am a magical house.” If a house could roll its eyes, this one just had.
Jess looked at Austin with wide eyes, and then at the people crowding into the room to see. Everyone had been set free. They’d need to choose to join once again, assuming she would ask them. Which she would, of course. They were her family in this turbulent magical world. They’d join just as quickly, one and all, already wanting to be with her until the end.
But now Austin would need to choose, too. He’d taken the magic, and now he’d assume the burden of the responsibility.
He wondered if people would be as eager to join him as they were to join Jess. Somehow, he doubted it. She’d probably have to ask people on his behalf. That would be embarrassing.
He looked at his mate and knew it didn’t matter. Whatever he had to do, he would, no questions asked. It was a small price to pay—this magic, the council, the surly house talking in his head—to be with her. Worth any cost. He knew she felt the same way.