by K. F. Breene
“Yes. Just a misunderstanding,” Austin said, transferring his glass to the other hand and resting his arm over the back of my chair.
Ulric pointed at me, needing the final say-so, and I gave him a thumbs-up. “You guys can go, if you want. Or…whatever you want to do.”
Ulric swung the finger to Sir Stares-a-Lot, a silent question for Austin, wondering about the danger level.
“Jess, Ulric, Niamh,” Austin said, “meet Kingsley, my brother.”
Nineteen
“Any fool could’ve seen that coming,” Niamh said, her ice cubes chasing each other around the glass.
I raised my hand. “Not this fool.”
Ulric stepped back, behind Sir Brother-Who-Stares-a-Lot, and gave me a sympathetic grimace before heading off to talk to the woman he’d called dibs on earlier.
“Kingsley, this is Jess, a good friend of mine,” Austin said. “And Niamh, part of the Ivy House crew.”
“Good to meet you both,” Kingsley said, but instead of shaking my hand, he kept up that unwavering stare. “This Ivy House—you mentioned it on the phone. We are helping you defend the heir. That is…”
I raised my hand.
“And you were…a Jane before all this, is that right? But somehow you’re now a female gargoyle?”
His expression didn’t change, but his tone conveyed his utter confusion.
Fair enough.
“Where did Ulric go? He likes telling stories,” I said.
Austin pulled his arm away from my chair and stood. “I’ll send him over. There’s some stuff I need to take care of, but I’ll head back in time to answer questions. Yes?”
“I can’t say this isn’t going to end badly for you,” I told him.
His smile was slight, but it was there. That was twice tonight. Maybe he’d bought another bit of time with his last outburst.
“Hey, real quick…” I hopped up and put a hand on his hard bicep, directing him away a little and reducing my voice. Shifters had excellent hearing, but he dipped his head closer anyway. “The flying-off-the-handle thing… How can we compromise on that? I don’t like when you lose yourself to the shadows. I also don’t like trying to come up with ways to let guys down gently. So maybe you can lean on them a little, use just a smidge of rage, I don’t have to be the bad guy, and we all win. Doesn’t that sound nice?”
He ran his thumb across the edge of my lower lip, over my chin, and down the front of my throat. Something about that touch, and his liquid cobalt eyes, made me shiver, and also turned my body to flame.
“We’ll talk about it, okay? I promise you. Now’s not the time, though.”
“Totally. I’m good with using a place marker.”
He nodded and dropped his hand. “Talk to you soon. Don’t stress my brother out too much.”
“Stress him out?” I murmured, making my way back to my seat. “He stresses me out.”
“You don’t like when he opens up to his beast?” Kingsley asked me after I’d sat down.
“Now who is eavesdropping on private conversations?”
“It isn’t so private when it’s in a bar.”
“So then why’d you say it in the first place?”
He studied me for a while, and I knew his visit was going to feel really long. Then it occurred to me that he was still waiting for an answer.
“Oh, uh…” I shrugged. “You know his past, so I don’t have to tell you about that. Not that I would—it’s not my place. He doesn’t want any recurrences, and I don’t like seeing him…out of sorts.”
“Troubled,” Niamh said.
“Right. I didn’t know if I could describe a shifter as troubled.” I took another sip of my beer.
“You know nothing about shifters?” Kingsley asked.
“I only learned shifters existed less than a year ago.” I paused for a moment. “I sure wish you’d allow in some emotion. It’s like speaking to a cyborg.”
Niamh laughed. “He is practically yelling his confusion at you right now. He does it in body positioning. Don’t tell the mage, though. He’s much too interested in shifters, if you ask me.”
“Yes, the mage. I’d like to hear why you have one hanging around,” Kingsley said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Ah.” I nodded and pointed. “An action. That’s better. I can work with that.”
“She still doesn’t know what it means.” Niamh laughed harder, bending over her cider. I figured she wasn’t talking about the crossed arms—that message seemed obvious—but about whatever Austin had mentioned to Kace.
“What a stupid end to a crappy day,” I mumbled. “Anyway, it’s very helpful when Austin gets super violent in a battle, but when it happens in the bar, because someone has disrespected me or whatever, then no, I don’t like it. The mage is here to help train me. I’m new to everything, including my magic.”
“That maggot the other day had it coming.” Niamh shook her head. “Talking about that sorry excuse for an alpha taking you and being quick about knocking you up? You should’ve let Austin finish him.”
Kingsley stiffened. “Tell the story.”
“Say please,” Niamh replied.
He didn’t, and she didn’t push.
After she was done, he reverted to staring at me. “You pulled him back?”
“Yes,” I said. “He doesn’t want to go to that place. I caused it, so I figured I should fix it.”
“But you did. You did.”
“Well, yeah. I made everyone else leave the bar.”
“You forced everyone out like you did today?” Kingsley asked.
I nodded.
“And you were obviously the one who trapped me in.” The growl riding his words was evident. He was not amused.
“Yes. I didn’t know whether it was okay for everyone to see Austin…do his thing. The last time he was glad people hadn’t witnessed him lose control.”
“Tell me about Ivy House,” Kingsley said, and I didn’t even mind that it was a command. I was not an accomplished storyteller, which meant I had a ready excuse to get up and grab Ulric, since Austin hadn’t made it to him yet. Within seconds, Ulric had Kingsley captivated with what hopefully would be a long and drawn-out version of Ivy House history.
I turned back toward the bar, hoping to catch Austin as he walked past, but he was already down at the opposite end, speaking to Kace and the others.
“Is this how it’s going to be going forward?” I asked Niamh, doing a quick check of all the magical links, re-muting all of them but my connection to Austin. “All this drama?”
“Nah.” Niamh poured cider into her glass, the sparkling liquid rushing through the ice. “After the territory is in full swing, it’ll be mostly like before, just with more powerful people who hopefully talk a little less.”
“Kingsley originally said mage magic wasn’t allowed in here.”
Just for kicks, I tried to completely cut off the link between Austin and me, both the input and output.
His head snapped toward me, his eyes hard. Reinstating the link, I felt his confusion and wariness.
“Ack.” Niamh leaned her elbow against the bar. “He was trying to get a rise outta ya. See what you’d do. Yer not supposed to use magic in a social place like this, where people are trying to let off a little steam, but it doesn’t need to be said. He was just throwing his weight around to see if you’d push back.”
“I did. I threatened him.”
“Good girl, yerself. Right bold of ’im to walk into someone else’s home and start barking orders.”
“That’s what I was thinking. Also, I’m just in a piss-poor mood.”
“Yeah. These shifters are laying it on a little thick, so they are, with all the brooding and strutting around. Bunch o’ donkeys.”
I amplified the sensitivity of my link with Austin now, experimenting with him because I could see him, and also because he wouldn’t get annoyed and give me a box, as Niamh would say (and do). It wasn’t just his emotions I could feel now, b
ut his senses—the whiffs of identifying scents, the cool glass under his fingers, the dried sweat clinging to his body from hard work earlier.
His eyes drifted back toward me, having looked away after I’d reinstated the link. Arousal licked up my middle, and I couldn’t tell if that was from him or me. Memories of our late-night activities crowded my mind. We still hadn’t talked about our new…pastime, but we also hadn’t stopped it. I wondered if he’d be around tonight, or if he’d be too busy with pack business.
He braced his hands against the bar, ignoring those in front of him. I felt a little bad about that. He clearly knew Kace and the others. He obviously wanted to catch up.
Just one more experiment, and I’d let him get back to his night. Maybe it would encourage him to take a much-needed break later.
Breath coming a little heavier, the arousal fanning higher, I ran my fingertips up the inside of my thigh, spreading my legs a little as I did so.
His eyes were cobalt fire. His fingertips dug into the wood. I slipped my other hand under my shirt and felt along my stomach, focusing on my soft skin, drifting upward…
“That’s goin’ta get awkward real fast,” Niamh drawled.
A zing of embarrassment and I pulled my hands away and clasped them primly in my lap. I yanked my focus away from Austin. “You didn’t feel that, did you?”
“Through the link? No. You’re starting to be very handy with muffling it. Earl won’t like that one bit. But Austin Steele is about to combust, and I can see that yer the reason. Unless ye want to get nailed in the bar’s office, I’d stop.”
Heat such as I’d never known washed through me, burning me alive.
“Now, that I felt,” she said. “Maybe just keep going, then.”
I clasped my hands more tightly in my lap, barely able to breathe. “I should probably head home.”
“Nah.” Niamh lifted her hand. “Donna, get Jessie another one.”
“No, no, I have one—”
Donna wasted no time in plopping one down in front of me. I sighed.
“There. Now. Enjoy yerself until he has a spare moment, and then I’m sure he’d be happy to clean yer pipes. Lord knows you need it. Yer too wound up, girl.”
“Please stop.”
“You need a good rogering.”
“Seriously, stop.”
“Ye’ll be glad ya did.”
I took a long sip of my drink and tried not to agree with everything Niamh had said. Tried not to wonder when I’d get Austin alone again. Tried not to make a plan for how I could kill this desperate itch he’d put inside me.
Twenty
“Hey, you—”
I jumped and swung out my hand, just barely stopping from saying, “Hah!” with my lame karate chop.
Austin ran his hand down my back, releasing pleasant tingles throughout my body.
“It’s just me. I was about to ask if you were good, but I guess I somehow snuck up on you even though you have the link wide open and should be able to feel my every move.” He didn’t smile, but I felt it in every fiber of his being.
I blew out a breath, which would’ve probably caught fire if a candle were close by. Ulric had wandered away a while ago, but Kingsley had stuck around, getting rid of the extra seat and pulling up closer, still staring. Always staring. I’d mostly ignored it, chatting to Niamh and watching Austin either work the bar or step away to talk with someone or other. His mood had become darker, likely as a result of more bad news. I’d have to ask him about that.
Tomorrow. Everything could wait until tomorrow. Especially now that I was neck-deep in suds and wouldn’t be able to keep my eyes open much longer.
“Yep.” I wobbled a thumbs-up at him. “I miss my son, though. I think he had a really good time, don’t you?”
Austin pushed in closer, his side pressing against mine. I leaned into his comforting warmth.
“Need this seat?” Kingsley half rose, his hand on the back of his chair.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll stand.” Austin swished my hair over my shoulder, seemingly in a playful mood despite whatever he’d learned. Or maybe he was just laughing at me. I hadn’t been this tipsy in a while. “Yes, I do think he had a good time. A great time. He took all of this in…well, almost in stride.”
“I wish he could’ve stayed.”
“He’s becoming a man. He can’t have his mother’s butler coddle him all the time.”
I spat out a laugh.
“What are ye at?” Niamh leaned away, yanking her arm up to ward off my flying saliva.
“Sorry.” I wiped my mouth, leaning harder into Austin because that was the way my body decided to head. I tried to push off with my head, super ladylike, but he curled a hand around my ribcage.
“Those beers are strong,” I murmured, straightening up and trying to get back on track. I rolled my shoulders, shrugging Austin away. He wanted to laugh—I could feel it—but his expression didn’t show the slightest glimmer of humor.
“I thought, with advanced healing, ye’d eventually grow a tolerance.” Niamh rattled the ice in her glass. “Wrong.”
I grimaced. “So it seems.”
“We’re about to do last call,” Austin said. He’d slung a hand over my chair’s back but respected my desire to sway on my own. “Do you want something else, or should I walk you home?”
“She’s no quitter, boy!” Niamh threw back a shot of Jameson. “May as well just finish’r up.”
“Hear, hear.” I leaned heavily against the bar, sagging. Then groaned.
“You should take her home,” Kingsley said.
“It would be a mistake to listen to someone who barely knows me but thinks he should tell me what to do.” I straightened up and reached for the full beer that had magically appeared in front of me. Niamh was good. Or Austin was. I’d stopped paying attention to who was ordering them.
“Ah, but he wasn’t telling you what to do,” Austin said, the humor bleeding into his voice this time. “He was telling me what to do. He thinks he has that right, being my big brother and having done it all of our lives.”
“Sometimes you even listened,” Kingsley replied.
“Not this time, though.” I took another sip. It tasted like water. I was going to regret all of this tomorrow. Maybe not the hangover, since I could probably heal that, but you couldn’t heal regret over acting like a fool. “He would get an awful surprise if he listened to you this time.” I leveled a finger at Kingsley, then drew a circle in the air. When I’d done that earlier, he’d leaned back and crossed his arms, as though greatly debating grabbing my finger and yanking it off. Now he just sat placidly, one hand curled around a bottle of Bud, and the other splayed in his lap. He’d finally realized I was not the threat he’d imagined. “You killed my game earlier today. Or your man did, anyway. I might’ve gotten stabbed this time, okay, fine. But I was nearly there. I would’ve definitely gotten him next time.” I made a stabbing gesture. “I would’ve gotten him right in the back.”
“What’s this now?” Austin asked.
“This is the fifth time she’s berated me for Kace stopping her…game.” Kingsley’s displeasure was evident. “She was about to be stabbed, apparently by design.”
“Ah.” Austin’s gaze roamed the bar, ever watchful.
“You let those sorts of…games happen in the territory?” Kingsley asked.
“That, my dude, is the shifter version of talking trash.” I put my finger to my nose. “I’ve learned a thing or two.”
I chuckled under Kingsley’s hard stare. Niamh outright laughed.
“No,” Austin answered, running his palm across my shoulders gently and down my other arm. “Only Jess gets that privilege.”
“Does that not…cause problems?” Kingsley asked. “Tension? People don’t like to see a favorite get privileges others do not.”
“First of all, not many people, even shifters, would be jealous of a game that always ends in a stab wound. Second, the game was offered to any who wanted to play. Every
one knows how unpredictable she is. How powerful…” Austin paused when Kingsley moved his hand. “You know it’s true, brother. She locked you in a spell, right?” Kingsley moved again, almost imperceptibly. Austin inclined his head, some sort of affirmation. I wasn’t drunk enough to miss that they were conducting a second conversation in gestures. “You might not be able to feel or smell her power while she is swaying in place right now, but you felt it when she used it. That was no mistake. Right now she is learning, and so she gets passes any trainee would. She doesn’t mean anyone harm, and this territory knows that. They are content to allow her these rare…privileges because they like watching when it blows up her in face.”
“Well, that is new information,” I muttered.
“Only to ye.” Niamh chuckled.
“And outsiders?” Kingsley asked.
“Outsiders typically challenge me.” Austin ran his fingertips along the back of my neck.
“Wait.” I swatted his hand away. I couldn’t think when he was doing that. It was turning me into a puddle of goo. “People are challenging you because of me?”
Austin’s eyes were soft. “They would’ve anyway.”
“No.” I took another sip of beer. It dribbled down the side of my face. “Damn it.”
“Ye’ve got a hole in yer lip,” Niamh said.
“Yeah. Awesome.” I wiped it away with the back of my hand, swayed toward Austin, was gently nudged back, and clunked my glass down on the bar. “That’s probably a good cue to stop.”
“Sure, ye’ve just gotten goin’. Only good things will happen from here on out.”
“You just want to see me fall on my face. Little do you know that I am a professional. I do not fall on my face. Down a flight of stairs, sure, nobody’s perfect…”
“The video feature on my phone is already cued up,” she replied.
I waved a hand at her image—one of them, at least—and turned in my seat to glare at Austin, closing one eye to keep his image from multiplying. “The stabbing game has them challenging me? I mean you? Because just send them to me. I will rock their world.”