Page 6 of Magical Midlife Rescue (Leveling Up #11)

FOUR

Jessie

The sun danced across the windowsill as the leaves outside wiggled and spun in the late winter breeze. I lay curled up against Austin’s side, his arms wrapped around me tightly, even in sleep, and his hard chest rising and falling. I stroked my thumb across his pec, letting my mind wander.

It wasn’t often I woke before he did. He’d been going hard these last couple of months, preparing his people to meet the alphas from across the country. We’d be leaving soon on our grand tour, and he was feeling the pressure.

I really should be, too. I was the weakest link in all of this.

A rare creature with a bunch of magic she got from a house wasn’t the sort of thing shifters understood or wanted as a leader.

Austin had impressed upon me time and again that Kingsley wasn’t a normal sort of alpha.

He was a lot more open-minded and patient than most, a rare example of someone who could be taught new tricks.

The rest wouldn’t be so open to gargoyles, and definitely not a gargoyle who could do magic like a mage.

They wouldn’t care that, technically, I was a sorceress.

In fairness, I didn’t understand the difference between a mage and sorceress, either.

Even though Austin should have been incredibly frustrated that my people still couldn’t walk in an organized line, or stand in one, or even get to a line without tripping and falling over their own feet, he wasn’t.

He didn’t seem troubled about my side of things at all.

Not even that I couldn’t seem to close down my body language, despite my best efforts.

My heart warmed, and I pulled back so that I could see his face. As I moved, so did he, rolling toward me. His arms shifted, but his touch lingered, never wanting to be far away. He rarely admitted it, but he was still freaked out over nearly losing me during and after the battle at Kingsley’s.

I got it. While I was still sad over Nathanial’s loss, keeping busy was helping.

The hard days of training made me feel like I was doing something to prevent losing anyone else.

My growing knowledge of spells, sought out in the Ivy House library and all old as dirt, helped further.

I might not know how to wow an alpha, but if a mage tried to attack when we were on the road, I had a vastly growing arsenal of horrible ways they would die.

I felt Mr. Tom moving around the kitchen, but our privacy was safe for the moment—he wouldn’t come in our room until Austin was up. He was probably making breakfast and thinking about the best ways to force it on Austin before my handsome alpha went about his day.

My heart swelled as I ran my hand up his muscled arm and over his shoulder before lightly trailing my fingertips along the base of his stubbled jaw.

We had a hard road ahead of us. Impressing the shifters, dealing with the mages, connecting with more gargoyles, finding other creatures for our convocation, and eventually presenting ourselves to the most influential family of basajaunak in the extended family…

but I wouldn’t trade this life for any other.

Peace would be nice, but if the choice was living here with Austin and Mr. Tom and everyone else, and leaving it all behind for a quieter existence, I’d choose this every time.

I’d choose them, even with the danger. I’d choose magic and this house and even the gnomes over my old life.

Maybe not the dolls, though. Some things just crossed the line.

Austin’s eyes fluttered open, the cobalt blue so beautiful. He focused in on me for a moment before closing his eyes again and scooting closer. His arms tightened, and he laid his head on my chest, his face against my cream silk nighty.

“Morning, baby,” he whispered, and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders.

“I love you,” I blurted.

I could barely see his lips tweak up at the corners. “Love you too.”

I ran my fingers through his unruly hair before smoothing the pad of my thumb across his forehead.

“I should probably get going,” he murmured. He didn’t move.

“You haven’t had any breaks. You’re due a lie-in. Or a lazy Sunday.”

“Today isn’t Sunday.”

“A lazy Wednesday, then.”

He laughed softly before rolling away from me. “It’s not Wednesday, either.”

I let my hand fall on his side of the bed, still feeling the warmth as he sat on the edge and ran his hands down his face.

“Aurora is challenging for placement today,” he said.

“It’ll be a tough challenge for her. A vicious fight, most likely.

I’ve let Mr. Tom know to put it on your schedule.

” He turned back with a weary sigh. Austin definitely needed a day off.

“You need to start preparing yourself to watch grisly challenges. You’re going to witness them when we meet the other packs. ”

I sat up, watching him. I didn’t voice my concerns, as I knew my misgivings about what he was saying showed in my body language.

It wouldn’t be random pack members I’d have to watch—it would be Austin.

Maybe Broken Sue. Probably Tristan. It would be the cream of our pack that the other alphas or betas would challenge and try to dominate.

That was the issue that had stopped Kingsley’s efforts. If he’d had to meet those challenges, there were a few he didn’t think he could beat. And if he did, it would be tough going. The hope was that Austin could win those fights, but that hope was anything but a guarantee.

I’d get challenged as well, but only once by each pack, as I would make an absolute spectacle of my challenger. My gargoyle was already spoiling for a battle just thinking of Austin being in danger.

His gaze traveled my body, landing on my hands. He didn’t reassure me. It was time I got used to the harsher realities of shifter life.

I took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then nodded. “It’ll be fine,” I said, because someone had to reassure me. “They’ll see the need for a unified front. Only a fool wouldn’t after what happened at Kingsley’s.”

He shook his head and pushed up to standing.

“I have a bad reputation among alphas, and my brother has a vested interest in me. We’re family.

The alpha network assumes he’s trying to protect me, which isn’t unreasonable.

Half the alphas don’t believe any of the stories are true, including the extreme danger Kingsley’s territory faced. ”

“What?” My brow furrowed. “But…the entire town can vouch for it.”

Austin went to the dresser and took out his daily uniform, jeans and a white T-shirt.

“They don’t want to hear it. They want to put their heads in the sand and pretend life doesn’t have to change.

Once dominance is proven, shifters will listen, and then they’ll come around—but until then, they’ll approach this a lot like the gargoyles did.

Remember? They didn’t want the new kid on the block to have more status than they’ve spent their lives building.

It’ll be the same here. They just won’t hold out as long to face reality. ”

Yeah. The freaking cairn leaders. All but one of them refused to admit my power or grant me status. The lone leader who’d joined the convocation was powerful, but the others still ignored me. It was frustrating as hell.

“Well.” I pulled the covers away and swung my feet over the edge of the bed.

“We’ll show those shifters that we can handle them.

” I hesitated. “ You will, at any rate. I still can’t get Indigo to stop tripping over nothing and bowling down the rest of the Ivy House crew.

I’ll probably get the first challenge out of the gate. ”

He grabbed a pair of socks and sat with me on my side of the bed.

“Your gargoyles are organized and pristine. Tristan has that down. The Ivy House crew will be ignored or looked down upon—at the start, anyway. Once the packs realize the rumors they’ve heard are true, they’ll come around.

We really do have a phoenix, we have the basajaunak, and our thunderbird is awe-inspiring.

Once they see the proof for themselves, they’ll give you some grace, I have no doubt.

No, I’ll raise the most contention. It’s about my past versus my present.

The packs view stability like the gargoyles do—they want to make sure I can foster it.

They want to make sure I can lead. That I won’t drive a pack—or this convocation—into the ground.

They don’t trust me. I’m going to have to prove that they can and should. ”

I put my hand on his leg and leaned over to rest my head on his shoulder. “Once they see you now, you’ll get just as much grace as we will. Probably ten times more, since your people can actually form a line. Like…it’s a line ! How hard is it to get in a freaking line?”

He huffed out a laugh and put his arm around my shoulders. “Let’s hope so.”

“I know so. It’ll be fine,” I assured us both, or maybe just me again. “We can do it. We’ve overcome worse.”

That had to be true. We’d be sunk if it wasn’t.

A knock sounded at the door. “Your link is open,” Mr. Tom called. “I presume that means you’re merely chatting and not about to launch into time-eating fornication. May I come in, or will it kill the mood that you don’t have time to indulge in anyway?”

I sat up straight again. “Since when is Mr. Tom the keeper of my schedule, by the way?”

Austin hesitated in getting up. “Hasn’t he always been? That’s how he talks.”

“You know very well that the jobs he says he has aren’t actually the jobs people have given him.”

His smirk was unapologetic. Apparently, Austin thought I needed to be marshaled so my team’s random problems couldn’t slow me.

And boy, did my team seem to come up with the most random of problems. Apparently, Cyra was in a full-fledged war with the gnomes.

She was a powerful phoenix, and yet she hadn’t made much headway.

Ivy House had to be put in charge of making sure the resulting fires didn’t burn the whole place down.

I just didn’t have the time to keep on top of it and didn’t want to tell her to stop.

Edgar wasn’t getting rid of the problem, so Cyra was now our only hope.

“Well.” I didn’t know what else to say.

I pushed off the bed and headed to the table by the window. Austin met me there and slipped his arms around my waist, both of us ignoring Mr. Tom at the door. Austin’s lips trailed against my neck.

“Don’t worry about me going into these meetings, okay?” he murmured. “And don’t react to the things you hear them saying. You’re in charge of recruiting the gargoyles. I’ll manage the shifters.”

He needs room to earn the title of “King of the Shifters , ” Ivy House said, pride rising in her voice.

“Miss, you are giving me mixed signals,” Mr. Tom called. “Am I to keep waiting at the door like some sort of vagabond, or are you decent? At this rate, your coffee will be stone cold.”

I sighed as I sagged in Austin’s arms. “I really hate you for putting him in charge of my schedule,” I told him.

“How dare you,” he replied softly, mocking what had come to be Mr. Tom’s catchphrase. “And, as I said, I didn’t expressly put him in charge. I?—”

“Enabled him. Don’t try to get out of it. You knew what you were doing.”

He kissed me and pulled away. “I do need to get going.”

“Apparently, so do I, or didn’t you notice the urgency in Mr. Tom’s voice?”

I didn’t move from the window but did magically open the door.

“No shower?” I asked Austin as Mr. Tom hurried in.

“I took one before bed.”

I’d been sound asleep by the time Austin climbed in beside me.

He slipped on his shoes, his expressiveness and good humor giving way to a hard-faced alpha with a stern voice and hostile bearing. It was his way of keeping Mr. Tom from fussing after him in the mornings.

It never worked.

“I have a nice cup of not-so-steaming coffee for you, Austin Steele,” Mr. Tom said, holding two mugs and handing mine to me first. “You seem to be running late. I figured I’d strip a little time off your morning.

Additionally, I cut up some items for an omelet, but given the late hour, I figured you’d rather an already made breakfast sandwich.

How many would you like? One, two? Four?

I realize you can be quite hungry these days, what with all the hard work.

” He paused in the center of the room, his wings fluttering. “What will it be?”

Austin stared at him, a look that would probably make most people cower. Mr. Tom just waited patiently.

“I’ll grab a sandwich on the way out, thanks,” Austin said with a tight jaw. He hated when Mr. Tom succeeded in looking after him. But honestly, when a person was in a rush, it was amazing to have someone waiting to make life easier.

“Fabulous,” Mr. Tom said, doing a half turn to face me.

“What do we think this morning, miss? How about a breakfast sandwich as well? You need to get into the shower posthaste, and then meet with a very insistent garhette.” He meant Patty, Ulric’s mom and a world-renowned gossip within the gargoyle community.

“You can’t dally with her because after that, we need to meet Tristan at the practice grounds, and— Oh!

There are Edgar’s latest flowers to look over.

We need to get to those, or he’s liable to plant them anywhere he likes.

I really think his obsession with surprising and killing hikers needs some attention.

We missed the appointment with him yesterday?—”

“Okay.” I held up my hand. “Okay, okay. Let’s…”

I glared at Austin as he made his way out of the room. He winked at me.

“Let’s do one thing at a time,” I told Mr. Tom. “First, coffee. Then, shower. And so help me, if you start giving me T-minus warnings like Edgar does, we’re going to have a problem.”

“I wouldn’t dare ,” Mr. Tom said, ruffling his wings. “What do you take me for? I was not influenced by a woman we will not name.” He meant Nessa, and my heart lurched. “I am able to properly keep time, thank you very much, or why did I get the job to?—”

I let him rattle on as I headed for the shower. I’d just drink my coffee in there. It would be more relaxing.