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)
“My job is done. I took out Alpha Noah from the Greenwich pack.”
Aljoe huffed. His chest expanded for a moment before deflating again.
“Thanks.” Aurora’s lips twisted in pride. “My dad told me to go for someone a little lower in power, but, I mean, I get beat up by you. I figured I could handle Noah and get the job done.”
Clearly, she was talking to Aljoe.
I turned to her, running my hand down his leg to his big paw, and whispered, “Do you think his sister and him are mad?”
“Not a-t’all,” Niamh drew out. “Do ye hear her? How could they be mad when ye rode him around the field like a little horsey?”
I bit my lip. So…yes, then. That was way too far.
Aurora put her fingers on my shoulder and shook her head. “Firstly, he challenged you. He gets whatever comes. You could’ve magically tied him up and had Edgar braid flowers into his hair while talking about his favorite types of doilies. He doesn’t get to be mad at how you handled his challenge.”
His paw moved in my hand. I glanced down at it.
“He’s agreeing,” Aurora told me. “Second, he proved how mighty he is by taking on those other shifters. One was a beta. The other has good standing in the community. The gargoyles are—well, who knows. Guardians, at any rate. So that’s good. He handled them ruthlessly.” She glowed with pride. “His prowess was called into question, and he answered in exactly the way he has always been known for. Anyone who wondered if he can fight no longer does.”
“Oh.” I took a sip of my champagne. “So, he’s okay, then. I didn’t ruin his image.”
Aljoe huffed.
“Tristan is up.” Niamh pointed that way.
“Oops.” I half stood, catching his eye as he took the field. “Do you need me to ref?”
Tristan put out his hand. “No thank you. Someone less gleeful in battle would be fine.”
Sue stepped in.
I put my hand back on Aljoe’s leg. “All gargoyles are gleeful in battle.”
“No,” Aurora said in a singsong voice, tilting her head. “I don’t think so. Not like you. As I said, Aljoe showed he was mighty—aggressive, primal, precise, and calculating. There were no extra movements. No fluff, we’ll say. He handled the job hard and fast. He took minimal damage even against so many attackers. And then here you were, dancing around in the middle of the whole thing, directing people like traffic, not at all concerned that you would get attacked.”
“I didn’t know he was going to attack me until right before he did.” I turned back to watch the burly wolf shifter face down Tristan, who’d shifted to his gargoyle form. This wouldn’t go well for that shifter. Had he not seen the gargoyle-monster in this form before?
“No, not Aljoe,” Aurora said, “the others.”
“The others weren’t going for me. They were just trying to figure their life out.”
“Yeah, see? You didn’t even notice because you didn’t count it as a threat.”
“Right…because it wasn’t.” I crinkled my nose. “That’s not gleeful. I was doing my job.”
Ulric squeezed through two people with a chair.
“Jessie, tell that one there to move.” Niamh pointed at the man standing beside Aurora’s chair.
I glanced up at him, but he was already pushing back to allow Ulric in.
“Sweet spot.” Ulric paused in confusion at my sitting on the ground. “What’s happening?”
“Sit down there, you.” Niamh held out a beer.
“Oh.” Ulric shrugged, unfolded the chair, and took a seat. He grabbed the beer from Niamh. “How’d I get so lucky?”
“Jessie is squatting in the dirt with My Little Pony,” Niamh answered, not having looked away from the fight. Tristan snapped out his wings, but he didn’t take to the air.
“Let’s not…” I showed her my teeth to shut her up.
Aurora held back chuckles. “Yeah, so after not at all caring that you’re in a dangerous situation with a mighty shifter—”
“Oh! Are we talking about that challenge?” Ulric showed me a lopsided grin. “That was great, Jessie. All the gargoyles are so firmly in your camp, we’ll never have a problem from Gimerel again. Evan is tickled. He’s ready to return home and say I told you so to the people he fired. Patty has the footage up everywhere.”
The shifter attacked Tristan, lunging for him with snapping jaws. Tristan barely moved. He leaned forward and swatted the wolf away. The furry body slammed into the crowd on the other side of the cones.
“After you got everyone safely away,” Aurora went on, topping off her champagne, “you did not bat an eye that Aljoe had chosen a new target. It’s like you were the challenger all along, given how easily you rolled with it.”
“What was I supposed to do?” I asked.
“Right?” Ulric put out his free hand. “That’s what I said. He’s coming for you. What are you going to do, not engage?”