Page 43 of Magical Midlife Rescue (Leveling Up #11)

TWENTY-SIX

Jessie

The knock at the interior door was a little more forceful than was absolutely necessary. Austin moaned and snuggled into me, breathing in my scent before settling again.

“Miss, we’ve been requested to attend the other alphas,” Mr. Tom called in. “Kingsley is out here, giving me an impatient sort of scowl while refusing the coffee I’m happy to provide him.”

“Is it too late to quit?” Austin mumbled against my hair.

“Come in,” I called.

The door swung open to admit Mr. Tom with two steaming mugs in his hand.

“Good morning, miss, sir. It’s a lovely day if you don’t mind the horrible chill and boring hotel landscaping.

I trust you’re not at all rested after the amount of exertion we’ve been forced to do with very little rest in between.

Alas, Kingsley seems to think his schedule is the only one that matters. ”

He set my coffee on the nightstand before walking around the bed to deposit Austin’s.

“This is why I try to get out of the room by the time he comes in,” Austin grumbled, still not rolling away.

Mr. Tom wasn’t wrong. After staying up all night and well into the morning, we’d talked with Nessa and Sebastian on the way back and continued once we’d returned here. By the time we’d eaten, showered, and gotten to bed, it was late afternoon, and we’d been up for an obscene number of hours.

The red letters on the clock radio read 9:58. That was a normal time for getting up, assuming one night of sleep was enough. It hadn’t been. I’d have to heal the whole team.

“He doesn’t have any other chores for us, I hope.” I pulled the bedsheet with me as I sat up and reached for the coffee.

“Even if he does, we’re not doing them.” Austin rolled to his back and scrubbed his hands down his face.

“Can I bring you breakfast in bed, miss, or would you rather get up and face the surly alpha darkening the living room?” Mr. Tom waited patiently for an answer. I knew Kingsley could hear all of this. Mr. Tom’s comments had probably been what soured his mood in the first place.

“No, thanks, Mr. Tom,” I answered. “I’ll get up after I finish this cup of coffee. Keep ’em coming, though. I’m going to need the caffeine.”

Austin finally sat up, resting his forearms on his bent knees. “That was close last night. It might’ve gone a lot differently if we hadn’t arrived when we did. Niamh and Fred figured it out in the nick of time. Hell, Mr. Tom secured us transportation in the nick of time.”

I didn’t like thinking of how close the mages had come to being captured.

If we hadn’t hired Fred, we never would’ve known they’d been taken in.

We never would’ve thought to look for a detention center, or whatever that had been.

Even if we had, Niamh and Tristan wouldn’t have been good enough to find it. The mages would’ve been lost to us.

No. That wasn’t true. Sebastian would’ve tried to make a deal to bring us in and let Nessa go. We would’ve faced Momar before we were ready, and we surely would’ve died. It had been a close call for all of us.

I broke out in a cold sweat. “I’m not ready to think about any of that yet. We have a lot of work to do.”

“We also have some things to talk about, you and me.” Austin watched me with fierce eyes as I exited the bed.

My stomach wiggled in unease. He meant my going after Sebastian without him, putting myself in harm’s way without proper backup or regard for my safety.

His anger was on simmer because we hadn’t had time to properly hash this out, and worse, it was justified.

I’d been stupid trying to battle that many mages on my own.

They’d nearly taken me down by the time reinforcements showed up.

If they’d been any stronger, or used to fighting someone in the air, or hadn’t been surprise-attacked, I would’ve taken serious damage or accidentally gotten killed.

“I know,” I muttered, heading into the bathroom.

After I’d washed my face and put on jeans and a T-shirt, I met the others in the suite’s living room. Austin was finishing a breakfast bagel, while Kingsley had finally relented and taken some coffee.

Their chatter died down when I entered.

“And here we are.” Mr. Tom turned from the preparation area with another cup of coffee. “This will be just the thing. Maybe a nip of healing might help as well, miss. I don’t have any cucumber for those puffy eyes.”

“What’s the plan?” I asked Austin and Kingsley, ignoring Mr. Tom and my puffy eyes. I wanted to work out how much energy Indigo had before I wasted any on appearances.

“Kevin has been called back to his pack, and the others agree it’s a fine time to wrap things up. They’ve seen all they need to see.” Kingsley watched me steadily. “There’s something I wanted to discuss before we head to the meeting.”

“Oh, please don’t tell me you’re mad at me too.” I’d always had a guilty conscience, and I hated being in trouble.

His slight frown was relieving…well, until Austin’s mood darkened.

Kingsley noticed and quickly moved things along, for which I was grateful.

“You and Austin showed your battle prowess. You backed up my claims. You also proved how much you care about those you fight beside and about team members in trouble. All in all, you proved that there could be no better commanders of a unified army. The other alphas solidly agree with that.”

I sipped my coffee. That was great news. We’d have to keep proving it to new people, obviously, and there was bound to be some hothead alpha who thought they could do it better, but this was a good first step.

“They also believe me when I say you won’t try to take over their people. You will command when it’s needed, then leave the packs without further disturbing them.”

“I don’t know what that means,” I said.

“He means that we won’t try to recruit their people for our territory,” Austin explained. “We also won’t try to claim alpha status over them and their people.”

“You won’t try to put yourself above us,” Kingsley added. “They saw Austin’s indifference at how Brochan and Tristan postured as a good sign. It also helped that none of my pack went back with you when you left.” He paused. “Except Aurora, but that’s a family matter. That doesn’t count.”

“That wasn’t our fault either,” I reminded him.

A crease formed between his brows. “Yes,” he drew out. “I’d love to have a talk with those mages…”

“That all sounds good, then,” I said quickly. “They’re right—we know our way around a battle, we won’t steal people, and we do care about lives.”

“There is one problem.” Kingsley set down his mug. “You made them nervous the other day.”

“Ah.” I grimaced. “Yeah, sorry about that. I did go a little overboard. But honestly, they needed to see what a mage can do.”

“It’s not just you.” Kingsley braced his ankle on his knee. “Austin has said it himself—he’s wild. He has a lot of control, which they were pleased to see, but he’s still…”

“Vicious,” Austin supplied. “Ruthless. Barely housebroken.”

“ Wild really did sum it up just fine.” I waved it away. “Fine, we’re vicious and wild. So, what does that mean for them joining us? They don’t want to because we make them nervous?”

“We spoke yesterday, and all but Margery were still on the fence. That battle was a lot to take in from people who’ve mostly known peace their whole lives.

” Kingsley’s gaze beat into me. “I passed on what Austin had mentioned to me in private as a possibility of a way to ease their misgivings. But as he spoke for you at that time, I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter.”

Nervousness ate at me again. There was that danged guilty conscience. “What?”

Kingsley’s frown was subtle. I was probably advertising my (hopefully baseless) guilt. He looked at Austin to continue.

Austin didn’t hesitate. “I told them that after we defeat Momar, tear down the Guild, and unify magical people into a fair governing system, represented by all, Kingsley would be the best person to move forward with the organization. This is his brainchild, and he’s perfectly suited to handle it.

We’d step down when our vicious and wild talents become obsolete. ”

“Oh. Well, yeah. Wasn’t that always the plan?” I gave Austin a confused expression. “I was just in it to create a sanctuary for people. We can, which means we should, right? You promised that once we did, we could finally have our own peace.”

Kingsley’s eyebrows lifted. He huffed out a laugh and shook his head. “You two are perfectly suited for each other, do you know that? If I believed in fate, I’d think it had a hand in all this.”

“Seriously, though, that was always the plan,” I said. “It was for me, at any rate.”

“That makes things worlds easier, then.” Kingsley finished his coffee and glanced at the time. “Mr. Tom, I think I’ll have one of those bagels, if you have one handy.”

“If you’d just had it in the first place,” Mr. Tom said, “you wouldn’t have been so unbearably grumpy while waiting for the miss to peel herself from her much-needed slumber.”

“Is it really worth it with all the backtalk?” Kingsley murmured to me. “It’s settled, then. You will be the original alphas of the convocation. There will be those who won’t believe you’ll step down, and those who won’t want you to, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“We need to put someone in charge of creating and maintaining a database of the shifter packs.” Austin looked at me. “Is that something Nessa or Fred can handle?”

“Is Fred short for something?” Kingsley asked in dismay.

“No. She chose that name, much like Mr. Tom chose his.” I shrugged. “At some point, you just learn to roll with it.”

“I’ve always wanted to be a Tom,” Mr. Tom murmured as he prepared Kingsley’s bagel.

Kingsley looked like he was sorry he’d asked. He took a deep breath. “Aurora wants to return home with you guys. It’s been made clear to me that she’s an adult, and I have no say in the matter. With the mages back, though, she’s not sure of her living situation. I’ve?—”