by K. F. Breene
“Fancy meeting you here.”
I recognized that voice, like a growl, but not angry. Not unpleasant.
Turning, I scowled at my “rescuer.” “You scared off my nemesis,” I said. “Now how am I going to find a way to stab him without getting in trouble? He tattles.”
“May I sit with you?” He stood straight and tall, as though at attention, waiting patiently for the verdict. His face was a closed book, no hint of the easiness I’d heard in his tone.
“Sure, why not, invite all yer friends,” Niamh said dryly.
He ignored her, continuing to wait for my response.
“Yeah, sure, if you want,” I said.
He nodded, grabbed a chair from down the way, and placed it behind us, forming a triangle. I scooted out and turned my chair a little out of politeness. Niamh didn’t move.
“I came to ask the alpha about your game,” the man said, and then stuck out his hand. “I’m Kace.”
I shook it. “Jacinta. Jessie to those in the know.”
“Miss Jessie, eventually, when that God-awful butler makes his rounds,” Niamh muttered.
“That’s Niamh.” I hooked a thumb at her, belatedly realizing Sebastian hadn’t come in with us. For a guy who didn’t usually feel fear, he’d sure gotten a wake-up call on this trip.
“Sebastian is going to train me,” I told Niamh while he was on my mind.
“Oh yeah? That’s good news, now. As odd as they come, make no mistake, but he does know his stuff.”
“Sebastian, is that the mage?” Kace asked, interested rather than aggressive, his mannerisms subdued, not at all like he’d been with Sasquatch pushed against the fence.
“It is, yeah,” I answered. “He hasn’t been here long. Where’s Sasquatch, Niamh?”
She huffed out a laugh. “He came in here shaking like a leaf, so he did. Pure terrified of something. He took one look at my new friend Faith there, sitting next to me, turned around, and walked out. If Faith weren’t the worst thing to happen to sunny days, I’d be relieved for the peace and quiet.”
“Just wait until my—” Faith started.
“Yeah, yeah, yer leash. Jaysus, do ye not get out much or what?”
“Kace did that.” I thanked Donna for the drink and then pointed at Kace. I didn’t really want to play conversation host to a stranger today, but he’d been trying to help, and the least I could do was be polite. If I’d actually been in trouble, he would’ve been a welcome sight. “Whatever he wants.”
“No.” Niamh put out her hand. “She doesn’t know shifter rules. She is offering because of Jane manners.”
“What’s the matter?” I asked, pausing with my beer raised, ready to pour it into the glass Donna had provided.
“Let me get the round,” Kace said.
“No.” Niamh shook her outstretched hand. “No. She stays on my tab, and that is that. She will neither buy nor accept drinks from nice-looking gentlemen who gave Sasquatch a good clatter across the head.”
“I didn’t—”
I waved Kace away. “Let her dream.”
He shrugged at Donna. “I’ll have a beer. Bud.” Kace nodded to Donna.
“What’s the deal with buying drinks for a shifter?” I asked.
“We—”
“No!” Niamh half turned so she could glare at Kace. “Fer feck’s sake, lad. Do ye have no sense? Leave her be. Mind yer business.”
“Today is getting on my last nerve,” I said.
I finished pouring my beer into the glass and took a large gulp as Niamh said, “I am right there with ye.”
Too bad she was part of the problem.
A couple of hours passed, and the drinks were still flowing. Kace turned out to be pleasant company, but I was tired and still heart-sore, and I honestly didn’t want to have to try so hard. Being polite wasn’t normally a lesson in patience, but Kace had caught me on a bad day, and Niamh definitely wasn’t helping.
Thankfully, Austin was finally getting close. He’d answer Kace’s question, and then Kace would be on his way.
Except I knew that wasn’t quite true. Kace was trying to get to know me, and since he hadn’t come right out and said he was interested, I couldn’t think of a polite way to tell him that I wasn’t.
“I’m going to head to the bathroom,” I said, and slid off my stool, squeezing between his left leg and the back of Niamh’s chair.
Kace twisted his knees to the side and lightly touched the top of my hips to help guide me through.
“I’m good, thanks,” I murmured dismissively, stepping away from his touch.
I might not be great at subtlety, but I did know when someone’s interest was piqued. His touch, more intimate than helpful, confirmed what I’d already suspected. Crap. I wasn’t in the mood to gently rebuff someone. He might react badly, and then I’d feel threatened, and then magic would start flying around, and suddenly it would be a whole thing. What a mess.
Still mulling over how to get out of this situation—I had to do something, because I didn’t want to lead him on—I used the restroom and made my way back, feeling Austin nearby. His progress had stalled, though, indicating he was probably talking to someone outside.
Sir Stares-a-Lot still stood by the door, and I found myself veering that way. His presence actively squashed mirth, and his watchfulness had been overwhelmingly applied to me for the last couple of hours. I didn’t know why he was so bothered by me—I was clearly not a shifter. I should’ve escaped his notice altogether, unless he was that worried about naïve mages without much magical experience. Regardless, full of liquid courage and a black mood, I decided it was time to put this to bed.
“Hey,” I said, stopping beside him, leaning against the wall.
He didn’t respond.
“Why do you keep looking at me instead of spreading your attention around the bar?” I asked.
“I am learning this territory and the people in it.” He angled his body, his presence overbearing and his height topping mine by about half a foot. Although not as tall as Austin, he was just as broad and muscular. I felt his focus beating down on me, his dominance almost a palpable thing.
I just was not in the mood to pay attention.
“Rather than stare at me all creepy-like, why don’t you just ask questions?”
He was silent for a beat.
“What are you?” he finally asked.
“Amazing.” I spread my arms. “Also a female gargoyle.”
His face might’ve been painted on for all the emotion he showed. “I haven’t heard of a living female gargoyle.”
“It’s a new situation.”
For the first time, I saw a flicker of something on his face. Doubt and maybe annoyance. I narrowed my eyes, now watching for all I was worth.
“I am staring, ma’am,” he said, his voice rough, “because I monitor dangerous things. Within this bar, you are the most dangerous thing. You are wild and unpredictable, mouthy without worrying about the consequences, and too confident for your own good. I can’t sense much power in you. You’ll be killed if you keep this up.”
“I’m the most dangerous thing in the bar, but you’re worried I’ll be killed?”
“You are the most dangerous thing because you’ll incite violence. You’ll say the wrong thing and set someone off. If not for my control of the situation, you would’ve created a problem already. Tensions are high in this territory. There is a lot of power, strength, and aggression with a lack of proper higher structure to keep it contained.”
I lifted my eyebrows, thinking about defending myself. About telling him that he had it wrong, and even if he didn’t, I’d be just fine to defend myself, thank you very much. I’d lasted this long—I could keep going a while longer. But Austin was approaching the door now, and I figured he could weigh in.
I gave Sir Stares-a-Lot a thumbs-up and stepped away, looking out the door. Austin approached with a short, bull-faced woman who was nodding at whatever he was telling her. His bearing was stiff, and I saw the fatigue l
ining his eyes. Stress. He was under pressure.
Kicking myself for not having noticed that before, I pulled the mute off his link and trickled healing magic into him, taking the edge off. Soon he’d be right as rain, still stressed but less tired.
His gaze snapped up, pleasure and gratitude filling the link. He nodded, the gesture barely perceptible.
I gave him a little smile and couldn’t help a stupid wave. He had plenty to do, though, and I didn’t need to bother him with my stuff. I ignored Sir Stares-a-Lot and made my way back to my seat, having to squeeze in again, this time pushing more toward Niamh’s chair so I wasn’t as close to Kace.
“Here.” Kace moved his knees again, but not so far this time, reaching for me to help me pass.
“No, no, I’m good, honest.” I tried to twist away from his fingertips. “It’s fine.”
He nodded, and I’d almost made it past him when he placed his hand on the small of my back, the feel of his touch all wrong. The pressure, the size of his hand, the warmth.
It was at that moment that I realized two things. The first was that I’d grown so accustomed to Austin’s touch that I knew it by feel. I knew when it wasn’t his, and it felt wrong.
The second was a lot more jarring.
Eighteen
Rage bled through me, but it wasn’t my rage.
Movement made me jerk my head up before I could fully lower into my seat.
Austin reached us in a few steps, his face still hard but his eyes burning.
He grabbed Kace by the back of the shirt and ripped him upward. Kace’s butt caught the back of the chair, and it toppled over. His shirt ripped up the back and he dropped, struggling to get his bearings.
“Crap.” I hurried forward, knowing this had happened because Austin had sensed my discomfort through the link. He didn’t have all the information and was just trying to protect me.
Austin let go of Kace’s shirt, letting him fall to the ground, then grabbed his arm and swung him toward the back of the bar.
Just like last time, I magically sent people running from the bar, closing them off from the action. Only Niamh and one other person remained, Sir Stares-a-Lot. Niamh wasn’t bothered by my spell, but he clearly felt my shove and was pushing back.
I didn’t have the time to make a point.
I slapped an inverted shield around him to keep him from seeing what went down. Austin was ashamed of his darkness, and if he let it leak out again, he wouldn’t want everyone to know. The spell was crude but serviceable. And although the big shifter got to work fighting it immediately (he couldn’t see me, but I could still see him), it was a powerful spell. Not even Austin would have been able to break out of it. Probably.
Austin pinned one of Kace’s arms with one hand and grabbed his throat with the other. I grimaced, knowing Kace could easily land a punch on Austin’s exposed face. If he still had that knife, he could stick it into Austin’s exposed neck.
“Hey, hey.” I paused with my hand on Austin’s shoulder, only then registering that Kace’s eyes were downcast, his body relaxed. He was yielding to Austin’s rage. To his dominance.
Austin leaned over him, face inches away, aggression plain but fingers not squeezing Kace’s windpipe. This wasn’t like last time at all. Austin wasn’t out of control, lost to the blackness. He was letting his rage send a message, but he wasn’t succumbing to it. He was proving the status quo, like Ulric had said.
I took my hand away and stepped back, thinking maybe I’d acted prematurely with the magical screen.
“Niamh, do I let people see this?” I shouted.
“Let the angry one by the door see it,” she replied. “Leave the rest out. They’re wreckin’ me head.”
Fair enough.
I ripped Sir-Stares-a-Lot’s inverted shield away, and he stepped forward, his own rage consuming him. He roared, not entirely human, and surged toward me.
A blistering spell was at my disposal immediately, muscle memory, ready to be unleashed.
Austin got there first, so fast that I startled. Pinning Kace one moment, he was in front of me the next, tucking me behind him and putting himself between me and the charge.
“Don’t release that, whatever it is, Jess,” Austin snarled, though his anger was not directed at me.
The other man slowed, perhaps sensing the change in the tide, or maybe he realized I had some ammo he didn’t want to mess with. Still, he was bristling with anger, power surging from him.
But Austin’s power was mightier. I could feel it vibrating through me, singing through my blood and electrifying my body. I touched his back, unable to help it, and leaned into his warmth, needing more. Lost to it and not sure why. Drowning in it but not wanting to come up for air.
“It’s done,” Austin said to the man savagely, reaching back and bracing me against him. “It’s done. Back down.”
“Are you in control?” the other man asked, and I wondered the same thing about him.
“Yes. Unless she’s harmed. Then it’ll be a problem.”
I took two fistfuls of Austin’s shirt and leaned against his strong back, feeling the play of muscle as he braced and altered his weight, not at all worried about what would happen, even though logic dictated that I should be worried.
“What is happening to me?” I asked myself, pushing away from Austin, struggling out from under his arm.
I stepped out from behind him, but his arm flared, creating a divider between me and Sir Stares-a-Lot, who did not tear his focus away from Austin.
“It’s fine.” I pushed at his arm. It didn’t budge.
Sir Stares-a-Lot nodded curtly, and his muscles relaxed little by little. Austin followed suit, as though they were doing the shifter equivalent of putting down their swords. Kace had stayed where Austin had left him, hunched a little, his eyes downcast.
“You can let everyone back in, Jess,” Austin said, and his arm loosened, dropping to his side.
“Wait.” Sir Stares-a-Lot’s focus was on me again. “What happened here?”
“Sit.” Austin jerked his head toward Niamh. “I’ll join you. There’s something I haven’t told you.”
Sir Stares-a-Lot nodded again, his gaze shrewd, and made his way toward Niamh.
“Me too, or…” I pointed at my chest.
Austin turned to face me, deliciously close. “Of course you. I don’t see any blood. Did you finally do it?”
My mood fell.
“Oops.” His smile was a welcome sight after all the hard faces. “I struck a nerve. Go sit. I’ll be right there.”
I made my way over, moving very slowly because I wasn’t in a hurry to sit so close to Sir Stares-a-Lot. One wrong word and I might incite some sort of riot. I glanced back, feeling Austin move toward Kace.
Austin stopped just in front of him, hands at his sides, giving the other man some breathing room this time.
“I apologize, alpha. I didn’t know,” Kace said.
“Neither does she,” Austin said. “For a long while, neither did I. You’re blameless. I should’ve gone about this differently, but…”
“I would’ve reacted the same way you did, alpha. Probably worse. Bad timing. It’s good to see you, sir.” Kace stuck out his hand.
Austin took it, and he pulled the other man in for a bro hug, with a chest bump and much beating each other on the backs.
“Do you eavesdrop on private moments often?” Sir Stares-a-Lot asked, and I realized I’d wandered a bit too close without realizing it. He was leaning away from me on his chair to avoid touching me.
I jerked my arm the other way, happy to follow suit. “Yeah, when it’s juicy stuff. Don’t you?”
I wrestled Faith’s chair away, then pulled mine out a little so I had more space. Once sitting, I picked up my drink.
“Today has been a shitshow. What did he mean, Niamh, ‘neither did she’? What don’t I know?”
“How much time have ye got?” she replied.
“Right. Great. You’re in one of those moo
ds, are you?”
“Yes, I am. Go around the bar and get me a drink, won’t ya? I’d do it, but I don’t want to set that eejit off again.”
“I got it.” Austin sauntered around the bar, his T-shirt showing off his perfect upper body, his hair messy, like he’d just gotten out of bed. I soaked in his easy grace, the power in each movement.
“What don’t I know?” I asked him.
“As it concerns the magical world, I think it would take every night for the better part of a month to tackle that,” he teased, and though part of me was annoyed, a larger part welcomed his light tone. “No wine?”
“She’s going to get langers tonight, just ye wait,” Niamh said. “If she doesn’t have to be carried home, I haven’t done my job.”
“No.” I pointed at her. “No. A lovely buzz, then home.”
“Sure, yeah.” Niamh nodded dutifully.
Sir Stares-a-Lot studied each of us in turn, his eyes coming back to me the most, sticking for way too long. If he kept it up, I would either start squirming, or lose it and blast him off his stool.
Austin handed a Bud across the bar, and Sir Stares-a-Lot leaned forward to grab it. Next up, he finished pouring what was left in my bottle of beer, and backed me up with another. Niamh got two bottles of cider. For himself he poured a whiskey.
Austin came back around the bar, stopping behind me and reaching over me to put his drink next to mine. His smell stole over me—clean cotton, sweet spice, and a little sweat mixed in. Masculine. He pulled a chair over and settled onto it, his knee rubbing against mine. “Let them in, Jess.”
I tugged away the spells and opened the bar door. “I didn’t know it would’ve been okay to let them stay.”
“No, you did good. Kace submitted quickly. It calmed things down.”
Speaking of whom, Kace didn’t leave the bar. He took a seat at the other end, ripped shirt and all, quickly joined by two others. I hoped he wasn’t embarrassed.
“He’s fine,” Austin said softly, pushing my hair off my shoulder before grabbing his drink. “This isn’t like the Dick and Jane world. We’re all good now.”
“Hey, Miss Jessie, are you okay?” Ulric hustled over to us, his eyes lingering on Sir Stares-a-Lot for a moment before landing on Austin. “Alpha, everything okay?”