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)
“It’s a lovely town,” Zara said as they walked behind the others. The town was fairly sleepy, and very few cars passed by. Many packs were similar unless they were tacked on to the edge of a Dick-and-Jane city. “Beautiful weather. It’s nice to get out of the humidity.”
“Truth,” Nina replied, meeting the watchful gaze of a shifter they passed. The man held her stare for a touch longer than was prudent, before glancing at Austin and then away. This is his turf, not yours.
More shifters patrolled down the way, and Aljoe knew gargoyles not only stood near walls, invisible, but sat on roofs and soared overhead. This place was heavily guarded. Heavily guarded. He’d never seen such a power-heavy pack where everyone was on alert. And still, someone had gotten in.
Shivers coated Aljoe’s flesh. That was inconceivable…but here they were, living with the proof that shifters were not enough against this threat. Gargoyles couldn’t fill in the gaps. It would take a mage to combat this.
Or maybe…a mage and a very tech-savvy Jane.
His sisters fell quiet as they walked, clearly sensing his turmoil. They didn’t have a clue what was going on. They would have to understand the various pieces of the convocation for that, and Aljoe hadn’t told them much at all. They wouldn’t believe it if he did. He regretted that now, because they also didn’t know what level of danger they were in.
They reached the end of the downtown area and turned toward Ivy House. Sebastian stepped awkwardly off the sidewalk and pitched toward Austin.
Austin put out his hand to catch the mage, only to have Sebastian arch to avoid it.
“No, thank you,” Sebastian murmured, veering farther away. “There’s a lot of very aggressive alpha energy in this crew, and it is unsettling.”
“Yeah.” Fred nodded with her whole body in that way she did. “I can actually feel what you’re talking about. It’s like…constant shivers of the primal fear thing. This is how I feel in the woods, but worse. Think about that for a moment! I will tell you something. I will never go into the woods with basajunk again. I don’t care how much you pay me.”
Aljoe started laughing, drawing the incredulous gazes of his sisters. He’d hardly ever laughed in his former pack, even among family. It was freeing, not to mention impossible to avoid with Fred hanging around.
“Sebastian, handle the bubble, would you?” Jessie asked, slowing a little.
“Yup.” His hands moved near his chest. “We’re all in it.”
Jessie slowed further until everyone was in a tight cluster. Austin pushed up to be by her side with Sebastian, Fred, and Niamh right behind.
Sue glanced over at Nina, speaking with his posturing. Are you okay?
She didn’t catch on. Sue was on a level of his own, with tightly controlled body mechanics. Aljoe was having to up his game.
“Do you need more space?” Sue asked her.
Delight in his attentiveness and flirtatious interest subtly rang through her body, something most people would miss within her usual stoic demeanor. Sue wouldn’t. Nina would have to up her game, too, unless she wanted this shifter to know all her embarrassing little secrets. She wasn’t one to fawn over a potential suitor.
“No, not at all,” she said cordially, her tone even. “Thank you for asking.”
His dark eyes lingered for a moment, assessing. Was that reciprocal interest? Or maybe just receptive to the possibility. He was a strong, handsome man, and she was an equally powerful, beautiful woman, or so most people thought. With their roles, past and present, they’d have a lot in common. Maybe Nina could finally coax Sue into a little more fun in his life.
“We’re now in the cone of silence,” Jessie said. “Try not to advertise your talking, but for the most part, we should be fine. An update: I’m still monitoring connections. The person is working their way out of the territory on foot. Our people can barely feel this person’s passing. If we weren’t watching, they would slip in and out unfelt. They must be steering clear of our people.”
“There is no way to steer clear of us to that magnitude,” Austin replied. “I think the problem is, they don’t feel dangerous. Not like a shifter or gargoyle.”
“Even Nessa tipped us off,” Sue said.
“We should use Fred to test,” Sebastian said.
“Yeah, I’m in.” Fred put up a thumb. “I am ready for action. Put me in, Coach.”
“We saw this in Kingsley’s territory,” Sebastian said. “Same playbook. This is a person who excels at gathering information. They’ll be decently strong in magic themselves, and clearly they are armed with magic even Jessie and I can’t match in power level. They’ll be good at avoiding detection, and as we’ve seen, good at getting out of the way if things go wrong. What were they after?”
“Agnes, the town witch, is right there,” Austin said.