by K. F. Breene
“I heard him. I know where he is.”
“How do you know it’s a mage?”
“Invisible and clumsy, and I felt the brief sting of useless magic.”
I frowned at him. “The sting of magic? What’s that like?”
“Gargoyles, too.”
“Yes.” I pointed. “There’s one right on the roof, looking down at you.”
The shifter didn’t so much as flinch. If he wanted to look up, there was absolutely no sign.
“And another at my back,” he said. “That’s a very dangerous place to be.”
“Oh no, I assure you, I mean no harm.” Mr. Tom’s magic wavered and then slipped away as he moved toward me. “I am merely standing by in case the miss needs something.”
The shifter’s eyes flicked over, and he did a double take. He’d only meant to sneak a glance, I knew, but Mr. Tom’s get-up created something of a disconnect between the brain and the eyes. The shifter craned his neck for a better look.
“That’s Mr. Tom, my butler,” I said, knowing that wouldn’t really ease the blow.
“What kind of dog and pony show is this?” the shifter ground out.
“It’s…” I grimaced. “There really aren’t words. Listen, thanks for trying to help, but I’m magical. I’ll heal the stab wound right up. No biggie.”
The shifter leaned back, releasing Sasquatch, who still didn’t move. The stranger’s dark eyes held mine before roaming over my face. I felt Jasper move into the alleyway. The shifter made no sign that he knew, though I suspected he did.
“What sort of game ends with a beautiful woman getting stabbed?” he asked.
Heat bled into my face. “I call it a game, but it’s actually training. It’s like hide ’n’ seek. If I can’t properly hide, I get stabbed by the worst human being this town has to offer. If I do, I’ll get to stab him, something I dream about.”
“He can smell you. How could you possibly hide?” A crease formed between his brows. “What are you? I haven’t smelled magic like yours.”
“She is—”
“A nutcase,” I said, cutting Mr. Tom off. If this guy didn’t know who—and what—I was, there was a reason. Austin wanted to keep it a secret. “Listen, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get this game over with so I can meet my friends at the bar. We’re out of the public eye, as Austin requested, so we should be good.”
The shifter studied me for a long moment.
“Shall I walk five paces, turn, and blaze you with my peashooter, mister?” I asked, once again ruining my hard stare with my big mouth.
He held out his hand to Sasquatch. Without needing to be told, Sasquatch filled it with the knife.
“All due respect,” the shifter said, “I wasn’t told about this activity. I’ll need to clear it with the alpha. I would recommend, however, that you find a different way to practice. Being stabbed is probably more detrimental to your training than it is helpful.”
“Maybe, but I will stab him one day, without Austin having to raise a fuss, and it will be glorious.”
“Austin…” The shifter was staring at me with renewed focus. His expression was locked down tight, and I didn’t have a link with which to read him. “Does the alpha know you use his name so frivolously?”
“If he didn’t, would you tell?”
“Yes.”
“No one likes a tattletale.” I took a step back. “Thanks again. For trying to help, I mean. You couldn’t have known this idiot had the green light to stab a bitch.”
“How did you know to intervene?” Sebastian asked, then sucked down the liquid from another vial.
“Reveal your—” The shifter cut off as Sebastian slowly hazed into focus, standing now. He tucked the empty vial into his back pocket.
The shifter didn’t speak for a moment, scrutinizing Sebastian. Which was understandable. He didn’t telegraph his emotions much more than shifters did, and his crooked smile didn’t reveal the fear I knew he was feeling.
Finally, he said, “It’s my job to know.” He nodded at me. “We’ll have to have that duel at high noon some other day, when I’ve had a chance to bring my pistol.” He mimed tipping a two-gallon hat. “Ma’am.”
He left the alleyway and turned right down the street. I watched him go, taking in the sleek grace of his movements.
“He’s good at his job,” I said.
“He literally came out of nowhere.” Sebastian ran his fingers through his hair. “He could’ve killed me if he’d tried.”
“You weren’t expecting him,” I said, taking Cheryl out of my pocket. I held it out for Sasquatch. “Here, do it with my knife.”
“A-are you k-kidding?” Sasquatch stuttered.
“Oh. He lives,” Mr. Tom said.
“He said no.” Sasquatch wiped his hand down his sweaty face. “You don’t defy the order of the pack.”
“Or what?” I asked.
“Or you get punished, obviously.”
“Yeah, but…that’s just, like, the law, right? You shouldn’t do it, yes. Fine. But if you don’t get caught, who’s the wiser? In two seconds, there will be no proof. I’ll hold up my shirt so I don’t get blood on it. Besides, they can’t tell me who can and cannot stab me.”
“No way.” Sasquatch shook his head and hurried away. “I’m not playing anymore!” he hollered over his shoulder as he left the alleyway.
“Great. Just great.” I closed up Cheryl and jammed her into my pocket. “That shifter just screwed up my plans to stab Sasquatch. That’s such crap.” I stormed out of the alleyway, and everyone except for Ulric followed me. He was hunched on the roof, changing back to human.
Somehow he was still the first person to try to talk sense into me.
“No offense, miss, but it makes sense,” Ulric said, catching up. He pulled his shirt over his head, having already put on his pants. “If the new people catch wind that this sort of violence is tolerated, things could get hairy really quickly.”
“I don’t care about that. I had a training system in place, and these new people are just going to march in and tear it down?”
“I agree.” Mr. Tom nodded. “This is no time for sense and logic.”
I sighed. “I’m going to go find Niamh at the bar. I’ve about had it with today.”
“I don’t know why you’d want to take a bad mood into her company,” Mr. Tom said. “She’ll just drag it down until you say uncle.”
“Where do you want me?” Jasper asked.
“I mean…” I threw up my hands, feeling annoyed, hungry, and just all-around unsettled. Clearly I wasn’t done moping. “I should be plenty safe in the bar with all the shifters hanging around. Unless Austin’s brother is setting him up, but if that’s the case, we’re all screwed.”
“Maybe we’ll hang out at the bar, Jasper, huh?” Ulric said. “Sebastian can come. Mr. Tom, maybe you should head to Ivy House in case more mages show up or someone responds to the last summons. Or, hell, someone could come to attack. You really just never know with that house.”
It was an obvious excuse to get rid of Mr. Tom, but he was happy enough to accept it. He clearly didn’t want to have his own mood dragged down. “Yes, that sounds fine,” he said, peeling away.
“I’m still the alpha,” I said, only because it felt like I probably should. I certainly didn’t feel like much of an alpha. A high-powered shifter had crashed my pity party, and I’d had no idea how to react to him. No wonder Austin had offered to handle any big personalities that showed up in answer to my summons.
I’d have to get better at reading people. That thought in mind, I ran through everything that had happened with the new shifter.
“That’s why he called me beautiful,” I muttered. “I wasn’t backing down from his stare, so he tried to disarm me another way.”
“He wasn’t trying to disarm you,” Ulric said, “or manipulate you—he was giving you a very obvious hint that he was into you when all his other much-too-subtle hints didn’t land.”
“
What subtle hints?” I glanced back at him.
“Exactly,” he replied, smiling delightedly.
“But he was trying to dominate me, right?” I asked, hitting the edge of the street and turning left toward Austin’s bar. I felt him on the move, but I couldn’t tell whether he was coming back to town or headed somewhere else entirely.
“Yes,” Jasper said.
“Have you learned nothing, Jacinta?” Ulric asked. His joyful mood was starting to annoy me, something I knew better than to admit, because it would just tickle him. “Packs have a hierarchy. Tiers. Levels. Gargoyles do too, but not to the same extent. Every time a shifter meets someone magical, you can bet they’re going to size them up. Test them. The new shifters the alpha brought in have a lot more experience, and they’re used to dealing in a lot more power. They’re reading that in you. I doubt they are allowed to actually challenge you—no way would the alpha allow that—but they’ll keep testing you. It’s their way. It’s ingrained. If it weren’t for the setup, testing would likely evolve to challenging."
“What about me?” Sebastian asked.
“I’m sure you’ve guessed that shifters don’t like mages any more than mages like them. But the alpha has allowed you on his turf. The smart ones will just sneer at you or ignore you completely. The idiots will wait until no one is around to tattle and try to kill you. The good news is that only the weaker shifters will come after you, the ones who don’t have great standing in the pack. They’re the sort that’ll pick on anything they don’t like or understand.”
“How do you know all this?” I asked Ulric.
“I’m someone a shifter might want to pick on. The second I got here, I started learning all I could.”
“The shifters you mentioned…the bullies…” Sebastian paused, and I slowed down, nearly to the bar and sensing he wouldn’t want to advertise what he was saying. “Would they be missed?”
Ulric chuckled. “The ones I’ve come across haven’t been…”
I widened my eyes. “When was this? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“They picked a fight with the wrong guy. I handled the situation. What’s there to tell?”
Jasper snorted, nodding.
“You too?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “They weren’t a problem.”
“Well, clearly I don’t even know what’s going on under my nose.” I started walking again. “I’d be a terrible alpha of a shifter pack.”
“In fairness,” Ulric said, “the alpha didn’t know about it either. Maybe he’s guessed why a few people didn’t show up for duty, but…”
A woman walked down the sidewalk on the other side of the road and pinned us with a stare that seemed to say, I see you, and if you step out of line, I’ll be on you like white on rice.
I glared back and thought about snapping a tiny spell at her to dislodge those peepers.
“That’s going to get old,” I murmured.
We slowed near the bar door, Ulric and Jasper stepping to the side, not planning to go in.
“This won’t go on forever. Once you’re established as”—Ulric’s voice hitched and he scratched his head, watching the shifter across the street—“whatever status you end up claiming, then it won’t be so dramatic. They’ll check the status quo, but they won’t police you like that very attractive, clearly very confident lady is doing. Dibs.”
“Damn,” Jasper said softly. “I had my eye on her.”
“I don’t mind sharing if you don’t find anyone else.”
“Wow. And that’s my cue to go inside.” I turned and strode forward, only to walk into a wall of man.
Seventeen
“Excuse me,” I murmured, putting my head down and scooting to the side, my default for when I’ve smashed into someone and want the brief awkwardness to quickly pass so I can continue on my way. No need for forced conversation or over-the-top apologies—better to just be embarrassed and then move on with life.
Only, the wall of muscle didn’t move. Nor did the people behind me edge forward. They didn’t even shift their weight in impatience, instead pushing back and giving us room. They clearly didn’t think I was going anywhere.
I gave a cursory glance up, the guy’s wide chest and broad shoulders taking up a good portion of the doorway. I wouldn’t be squeaking by him, and given that he was just standing there, silently expecting something to happen, he clearly didn’t intend on brushing past me.
He looked down at me, his piercing blue eyes and stony expression pegging him as one of Austin’s brother’s people, and his air of patient importance and raw intensity marked him as someone powerful who thought the sun shone out of his ass.
Or maybe that was just my bad mood and fraying temper.
“Apologies, my lord. Please, let me humbly stoop out of your way.” I took a step back, using my magic to shove the people who’d lined up behind me, Sebastian included (I’d have to apologize later). I bowed with a flourish and swept my hand out, indicating he should walk on.
“You are?” the man asked.
“Late for tea.” I straightened, about at the end of my tolerance, and met his stare with one of my own.
“We don’t allow mage magic in this bar.”
“I’ll use my mage magic to throw you out of that bar if you push me. Otherwise, please move aside. I’m a regular.”
Dead silence rang in my ears, hinting at the very bad decisions I was currently making, but I didn’t care. I could just hear Niamh hassling Paul about getting her another drink, and I wanted to sit among familiar company and complain a little.
“I will let you in, but know that the alpha is on his way. He might not be as forgiving as I am.”
“Awesome. Fantastic. Can’t wait.”
He continued to stand there.
I let my eyebrows climb. “Are you waiting for a red carpet, or did someone flip your switch and you don’t know how to get started again?”
“That mouth will get you in trouble one day,” he growled.
“Let’s hope so. I haven’t been in a fight for a while. I might forget how.”
He backed up, one precise step at a time, his body moving in perfect harmony, his age, early fifties, only showing in the lines on his face and the graying at the temples of his otherwise sandy-blond air. Next to no fat padded his body, and age didn’t seem to have touched his powerful physique. He’d be a handful in a fight. Cheryl would be outmatched by sheer brawn.
He turned sideways and gestured me into the bar.
“Please.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. It sounded more like a command than polite manners or a gesture of goodwill.
I returned the favor, only my tone suggested where he could shove his command. “Thanks.”
People glanced up as I came through, although, thankfully, most of them were people I knew.
As I approached Niamh, I kept an eye on the mountain by the door. He’d taken up a position against the wall, hands clasped in front of him, eyes firmly on me. Sir Stares-a-Lot would be watching me all night now, or until Austin got here and hopefully shooed him away.
“Well, Jessie.” Niamh pointed her thumb at me before turning to the short-haired thirty-something woman on the stool next to her. “Here, you, move down, would ya? I’ve got a friend coming through.”
The woman was also clearly imported, with the same staring problem.
“If ye are looking for sign language with all that gawking, I’m sorry to disappoint,” Niamh said, sounding just as surly as I felt. “All I know how to say with my fingers is feck off.”
“Faith,” the man by the door said, not a bark of command or even very stern, just the name, delivered with a crack of power.
Her lips tightened, holding something back, but she pushed herself up using nothing but her heavily muscled arms, and, still just using her arms, “walked” herself to the open seat next to it and slowly lowered back down.
“If yer trying to look intimidating, you’ve gone and missed the mark, love,” Niamh s
aid, reaching for her drink. “It’s foolish ye’ve managed.”
“Keep it up, old woman,” the woman said, so low I barely heard. “I won’t be on a leash forever.”
“What are ye going to do, do bar handstands and hope I die of fear?” Niamh shook her head.
“Going great here, then, hmm?” I slid into the seat. “Thanks,” I told the woman.
Her lip pulled up at the corner, like she was snarling.
“Don’t even bother, Jessie. She’s been at me all afternoon.” Niamh waved it away. “She’s trying to push my buttons, hoping I’ll start a fight. What a load of hassle that would be.”
“Miss Jessie!” Donna smiled at me. “Haven’t seen you in a while. What can I getcha?”
“Umm…beer, I think. Something strong.”
She nodded and moved away.
“Uh-oh, beer, eh? Not wine?” Niamh glanced over. “You’re going to be here for a while?”
“Yes, but not so long that I can’t get home.”
“Ah, sure, Austin Steele will make sure you get home.”
“Call him alpha,” Faith grumbled.
“He’s not my alpha, and you’re not in his pack,” Niamh replied. “But helluva try, girl. Helluva try. Drink up. Maybe you’ll be pleasanter when yer drunk.”
“All these new people do is stare,” I murmured to Niamh. “It’s really annoying.”
“Aye, it is. They aren’t allowed to make challenges, so they glare down powerful people and hope for the best.”
“And when nothing happens?”
“Well, Faith there just keeps at it, and it seems the bollocks behind ye isn’t giving up, so I’d say we’re in it for the long haul. Just ignore them. It’s more fun when they grind their teeth in frustration.”
“I won’t always be on a lea—”
“Yeah, yeah, I heard ye the first time. Janey Mack, she’s something.” Niamh rattled the ice around in her glass. “Paul, if you please. A whiskey, too. I need a little help drowning out my new dear friend.”