by K. F. Breene
“Yes. Ms. Evans.” He gestured at the chair in front of him, not bothering to stand for her or show common courtesy. He clearly thought she was well beneath him.
Anger simmered deep within Austin’s gut, but he pushed it down. This was not the time or place to let his feelings for Jess provoke his animal. She could use this contact in the magical world. He wouldn’t get in her way.
He pulled the chair out for her.
“I see you let him through.” The mage didn’t look at Austin. “I didn’t think you’d even know what the ward was, new as you are to magic.”
Jess’s rage boiled again and her hands tightened at her sides. The mage noticed, and a tiny grin played on his colorless lips. He liked that he was getting to her.
“I’ve heard of him,” Kinsella said. “The bear who killed the phoenix, right? Tall tales, of course, but I like fables as much as the next mage.” That watery-eyed stare slid to Austin. Kinsella flinched when he met Austin’s gaze and pulled back into himself, his shoulders rolling forward, compressing his chest. A primal defensive technique to protect the vitals.
Jess slowly lowered into the chair. She didn’t comment.
Her people filed into the room, spreading out, choosing tables alone or in pairs. Niamh sat across from one of Kinsella’s people, and his brow lowered in annoyance. She winked at him. Only two tables were left vacant.
Kinsella observed them as they came in and sat, his eyes narrowing at Cyra. Fire puffed in her wake.
“Is that actually a phoenix?” he asked. “Wow. What do they cost? I don’t know anyone else who has one.”
“She is actually a phoenix, yes.” Jess clasped her fingers in her lap. “They’re free, if you believe in fables.”
Kinsella watched her for a beat, and Austin pulled out the chair next to her, half wondering if maybe he should find somewhere else to be. This mage would make an issue of having Austin so close. Kinsella’s body language indicated he was trying to ignore the fear racing through him at Austin’s power and proximity. Trying to assure himself that his magic and/or his people would—could—subdue Austin if anything went wrong. He was desperately trying to put on a brave face.
The foolishness of it made Austin appreciate Sebastian, who’d never tried to conceal his fear. Somewhere along the way, he’d stopped being wary of Sebastian, and clearly for good reason. He didn’t seem to be like this mage at all.
Pretend all you want, but we both know the status quo, and we both know I am no fable.
“Peculiar, your situation, isn’t it?” Kinsella rested his forearm on the table.
Jess cocked her head, listening. If these mages could see Sebastian, they gave no sign of it.
“If you plan on breaking custom, so will I.” Jess put a hand on the table as well.
Kinsella’s eyes twinkled, but he kept his hand where it was. He thought he was the bigger player here, and the hand thing was an intimidation tactic if Austin had ever seen one. He thought he could get a spell off before Jess could counter. He was an utter fool.
“You were a Jane, and a magical house gave you a little power.” His smile was insulting. “Lucky you. But you’ll always be a Jane at heart.”
Anger throbbed within Austin as he sat down. He pushed it away. Forced it back. He needed to let Jess handle this.
“Clearly you don’t think much of Janes,” Jess said as the waitress approached.
The woman handed out menus and asked, “May I get you something to drink?”
After they ordered, Kinsella said, “Dicks and Janes are inferior. It’s nothing personal.”
“Ah, but I did get a little magic, so…”
Kinsella narrowed his eyes, looking at her as though he wanted to tilt back her cranium and get a peek at her brain.
“Yes, you did. I looked the house up. Back in the day, it had much status. Its mistresses have always had large quantities of power. How far it has fallen now, hmm? It had to elevate a Jane so that it could be said to have elevated someone at all. When you start below nothing, rising up is not hard.”
“This is true,” she said, and Austin’s anger throbbed. He wanted to reach over the table, rip this fool out of his chair, and tear him apart.
“Tell me, why is Elliot Graves interested in you?” Kinsella asked. “Don’t get me wrong, the joke was a nice touch, sending a team of animals at you when you employ animals. He’s always had a strange sense of humor.”
“Do you know him, then?”
“I’ve met him a time or two. If he didn’t have so much magic, he’d be a laughingstock. He might have had high status for a while, but he fell into obscurity. He’s a has-been.”
“Then why do you care that he’s interested in me?”
Kinsella shrugged. “Curiosity. He has never been interested in anyone. Why you? What am I missing?”
“Fashion sense. Tact. Manners. A good barber…” she murmured, so softly that Austin could barely hear. Given a mage’s hearing was nothing compared to a shifter, Kinsella wouldn’t be the wiser.
It took everything Austin had not to bark out a laugh.
“Is it the money?” Kinsella wondered aloud. “That house had wealth back in the day, correct? It’s been a long time. Does it still have holdings?” His gaze dipped to the necklace adorning her neck.
“Austin Steele gave me this, actually.” Jess touched his shoulder as she said it.
Kinsella laughed. “Sure, sure. Why not, huh?”
Jess frowned, not understanding the joke. Austin didn’t require clarification: Kinsella thought the notion of a shifter with money preposterous.
He leaned forward a little, as though getting intimate. “Why don’t you send away your lap dog? You’re perfectly safe.”
Austin didn’t need the link to know the rage Jess had barely been keeping at bay was finally crashing over her and dragging her under. It rolled across her face and screamed through every line in her suddenly tense body. Her beast was emerging. The female gargoyle was indeed a violent species where it concerned her intended mate.
He thought about touching her arm to reassure her it was fine—that he could change tables—but Niamh’s movement at the edge of his vision caught his notice. She was looking directly at him and shaking her head. Don’t interfere.
“If you disrespect him like that again,” Jess said in a deathly quiet voice, “I will kill you where you sit, do you understand me?”
Kinsella’s eyebrows lowered and a spark of anger lit his eyes. Cunning took its place.
“Oh, now I see,” he said, leaning back and placing his other hand on the table. Austin felt a hand press down on his shoulder and squeeze twice, reassuringly. Sebastian. Like Niamh, he was telling Austin to stay put, to leave this to Jess. “You like to bed filthy, dimwitted animals.”
A jet of red zipped from Kinsella’s fingers, and Austin couldn’t stop himself from jumping up and reaching for Jess. Only he didn’t get his butt far off the seat before a hard rush of magic slammed him back down. A comforting feeling came through the link with Jess. She was the one who’d held him in place.
The red jet of magic hit the air right in front of her chest and dissolved. She shoved out her hands, and tables skidded across the floor, chairs toppling over. Some were empty—belonging to the invisible people, Austin felt sure—and others contained Kinsella’s associates, who were then shoved against the far wall. They cried out as they were magically pinned.
Jess’s people still sat calmly in their places, untouched.
Kinsella’s eyes widened. He shook in his place, trying to get up and unable to move.
“I did warn you,” Jess said with a little smile. “Apparently I shouldn’t kill you, though. Something to do with the Mages’ Guild? I didn’t even know there was such a thing before you sent the invite. Doesn’t matter. I don’t need to kill you to make an example of you.”
Kinsella screamed before his feet were ripped out from under him. They saw the sky as his body was dragged off his chair and hoisted up into the mi
ddle of the room.
“Austin did force the phoenix to submit.” Jess clasped her hands in her lap. “He owns this restaurant and bought the jewels I’m wearing. And no, I didn’t know what that ward was out front. My associate had to tell me. He then told Austin he could break it by walking through it. Which Austin did. No problem. You don’t even have half the power my boyfriend has.” She put her hand on Austin’s arm. “My boyfriend, the animal, in case that wasn’t clear. I turn into a gargoyle, did anyone tell you that? I’m an animal, too, I suppose. And you are a clown.” She stood. “Oh, and my associate has been here the whole time. I’m sure you took a revealing potion, but you couldn’t reveal my invisibility potion, could you? Your people are disguised very poorly.”
Her chair moved backward, seemingly by itself, before it pulled to the side and out of the way.
Kinsella’s eyes widened further. Apparently the invisibility potion he couldn’t detect was more surprising to him than anything else that had happened.
“Sorry you had to come all this way.” She took a step back, and the invisible hold she’d had on Austin released, allowing him to stand. She took his hand. “But it’s pretty clear we can’t be friends.” She turned to go, but stopped. “Oh, and I saw your fear when you looked at Austin Steele earlier. The only reason he didn’t tear you apart was out of respect for me. Next time, he can do as he pleases. Trust me, you’d rather deal with me.”
As she turned, Kinsella fell from the sky, landing on the chair and crashing to the ground.
“That sounded like it hurt,” she said, holding Austin’s hand on the way out. Her people stood and followed without a word.
Outside, Kingsley lifted his eyebrows.
“Make sure they leave without destroying anything,” Austin told him.
“Sebastian—stop laughing—you stay too.” Jess looked behind her. “Make sure none of ours get hurt.”
“What about us?” Niamh called as Austin pulled the door open for Jess.
“We should go.” Cyra pushed her glasses farther up her nose with her pointer finger. “That man’s ego was very fragile. Jessie made him feel small—rightly so—and he will seek revenge. He seemed clueless. It would be best to surprise him with our—all of our—talents.”
“She has a valid point,” Austin said. Then he waited for Jess’s response, making sure Cyra saw that Jess had the final word in this crew. If there’d been a question on leadership, he’d just helped Cyra answer it.
“They have a lot of people, though,” she said, and concern bled through the link. “They have a lot of mages and who knows what else. Kingsley’s people are outnumbered.”
Austin huffed out a laugh. “But not even close to outmatched. We have a lot of shifters in the woods. He’ll be fine.”
She shrugged. “Okay, then. Let’s go back to Ivy House. I’m starving. I would’ve liked to try the food there. It’s a nice restaurant.”
“We’ll come back when the company is better.” He closed the door, and Sebastian appeared five feet away, putting an empty vial into his pocket.
“Any intelligent mage would pack it in and head out after that scene inside,” Sebastian said. “She gave him a show of her true power, and a smart mage would know when he was beaten. This mage is a moron, and Cyra is right: he has a fragile ego and will not think kindly on Jessie’s”—he shook with laughter, having a hard time getting the words out—“response.” He laughed harder and wiped his eyes. “Her response was so brazen it was comical. Mages and power players are usually subtle and sly to their enemy’s faces and then cunning and lethal behind their backs. Jessie just made him look like a chump!” He held his stomach and guffawed. “In front of all his people!”
“Is there a point?” Austin asked.
“Yes, sorry.” Sebastian wiped his eyes again. “Sorry! Yes. The point is…” He straightened up. “The point is that this mage will want to get even. You haven’t seen the last of him. If—when—they engage, make sure your shifters make your response a spectacle. The more brutal, the better. Most mages I know think like he does. Even I had no idea of your power. Of your types of power. To best protect Miss Ironheart, you should make a display my kind will think twice about before deciding to engage.”
Thirty-One
“What an absolute…” I huffed out a breath, trying to think of a swear big enough for Kinsella, and pushed back in my seat as Austin hit the gas and the car lurched forward. “Drive fast. I’m still really angry about the things that mage said about you. Lap dog…” My jaw ached from clenching it so hard. “He was clearly afraid of you. Who was he trying to fool? He was spitting in my eye, that’s what he was doing.”
Lust filtered through the link. Delight. Austin was responding to my possessiveness. He probably thought it was funny, like Sebastian did, but my God, when that idiot mage was so dismissive of Austin, it had set something off in me that I couldn’t hope to control. It was like a tidal wave of black rage had wiped out all my logical thinking and ability to reason. All I’d wanted to do was kill. If Sebastian hadn’t talked me around, I would’ve. It had been a very close call.
I looked at my incredibly handsome boyfriend in his slick suit, the red dash lights highlighting his cheekbones and shapely lips. Maybe it was time to ask the guys about mating as a female gargoyle. Ulric would know the scoop, and if he didn’t, he’d find out. I needed to know what was coming my way. This thing between Austin and me might blow over in a couple of days maybe, but…
I stopped that thought even as my heart surged, expanding until it filled my whole chest. My whole being. No one had ever supported me like Austin did. He’d always bent over backwards to accommodate me, to change his life to make mine easier, and he’d ignored that awful man’s slights tonight so I could keep the meeting peaceful if I wanted to. At one point, he would’ve even allowed that disgusting human being to wave him away from the table like he had that woman. Austin would’ve endured the treatment…for me.
The feeling swelled until I could barely stand it. Until I had to reach out and touch him, placing my hand on his thigh, the urge to straddle his lap overwhelming.
“Thank you,” I said softly. “For everything.”
He sped onto the highway before covering my hand with his. “I’m at your service.”
This wasn’t going to blow over. Maybe some would call this a rebound—the divorce had only gone down a year ago—but it felt like I’d finally found my home. Finally found the person who both grounded me and lifted me up. There weren’t one in a million guys like Austin Steele, and having met his brother, I knew he came from a family of good, solid people. This wasn’t an act. Why keep looking when I’d found someone who was perfect for me?
I let my head fall back against the headrest and looked out the window, taking a deep breath.
“I really like you,” I whispered.
“I really like you too,” he replied, just as quietly, his words almost inaudible over the roar of the engine. “I’ve always really liked you, since the first moment you walked into my bar.”
I felt the warmth of his thigh through my palm, and I increased the sensitivity of the link so he could feel the aching for him in my core. He sucked in a breath, and I smiled.
“Ironheart,” I said. “Do the people of this town think I’m a jerk, or something?” I asked as he slowed for a turn. “Why else would they give me a name like that? Iron is worse than a heart of stone.”
Austin chuckled. “I think the iron alludes to your strength. It’s one of the hardest metals on earth, and it’s been a go-to metal for tool and weapons makers throughout the ages. It’s also one of the components in steel. I think the whole town knows the pack wouldn’t exist without you. They know that I do all this for you. To protect you.”
I wiped a tear away. “Stop being so sweet. It’s ruining my makeup.”
He smiled and squeezed my hand. “Heart refers to your generous heart. Your empathy. Your mercy. You always think of the safety of those around you. Everyone in thi
s town knows they can count on you clearing them out and keeping them safe whenever anything dangerous happens in a crowded place. You are strong and your heart is pure. Ironheart.”
“Wow.” I didn’t know what else to say. That was incredibly touching. It was better than any name I could have chosen for myself.
“Haven’t you ever wondered why Ryan sits near you?”
I frowned at his mention of Sasquatch, but I had to admit, yes I did. He got so much abuse from Niamh, and he couldn’t stand me. Yet he always seemed to sit near us.
“He isn’t much of a shifter, but he knows how to survive,” Austin said. “He chooses the safest place in the bar. When you’re there, it is near you.”
Now I really didn’t know what to say.
“Kingsley told me that I’d leveled up with you.” He slowed as he approached Ivy House. “I agree with him.”
“I think you guys have that backwards.”
“Agree to disagree. Do you mind if I stay tonight? I’d take you to my house, but under the circumstances, I think Ivy House is safer.”
“You never have to ask. The answer is always yes.”
“You say that now. Wait until I piss you off.” He turned off the car and got out. He opened my door a moment later and reached down to help me out.
“I don’t think it’s me you have to worry about when it comes to that.” I stepped close, pressing my body firmly against his. “It’s pissing off Ivy House that you should be wary of.”
“Until you get rid of those dolls, I’d have to agree.” He leaned down and met my lips with his, his kiss deep and sensual. He shut the car door before swooping me up into his arms and holding me to his chest. “It was hot when you defended my honor.” He started walking to the house. “No wonder Kingsley never checks Earnessa when she violently reacts to other women flirting with him.”
“Shifters are nuts.”
“Apparently so are female gargoyles.”
“Did you hear what that guy said about Elliot Graves? He confirmed what Sebastian said. He’s a has-been.”
“Yes. In all of this, it has become increasingly apparent how ignorant we are of the larger world of magic. You’re not to blame, obviously, but the rest of us have practically been hibernating from the rest of the world. My brother has not been subtle in his disapproval. When this is over, we’ll need to remedy that.”