That’s why I answered the summons. I’m right where I want to be. We all like that you keep life interesting. The gargoyles included. They’re happier than pigs in shit since they signed up. I don’t think they realized how dull their lives really were with all those pseudo-battles and pretend fighting they did. We were made for this. You’re letting us do what we’re made for. It’s a damn good time.”
“He says as he reads to flowers.” I grinned.
He lifted the book again before turning a page. “Attack flowers. Big difference.”
The last two vans held the violent flowers. There was a metal grate sectioning off the driver from the flora, and the van doors had been kept closed. The only person they would chill out for right now was Edgar, and even that was hit or miss. Apparently, they didn’t much like traveling and wanted everyone to know it. How the hell we were going to unload the things was anyone’s guess. We’d barely gotten them into the vans.
“What’s the ETA?” Austin asked as he met me, checking his watch.
“Careful, people will think you’re a mage.” My smile had zero effect on his hard, expressionless face. His eyes didn’t even soften. “We’re just waiting for some help from the locals. The basajaunak were having a helluva time fitting into the vans. I know you wanted to look ultra sleek and—”
“It’s fine. Just hurry up if you can. We’re wasting time.” He glanced me over before about-facing and walking away, his emotions frustrated and annoyed.
I twisted my mouth to the side, watching him with trepidation. I’d never seen him like this, hard and unyielding. Rigid, almost. At the same time, I understood. He was going home after nearly sixteen years to a pack he’d left in tatters. It would be his first time seeing or talking to his mother in all that time, and I knew he was worried she wouldn’t want anything to do with him. He’d also have to face childhood enemies and people who’d told him he’d never amount to anything. Who’d predicted, when he hadn’t even been a teen, that he’d pick a fight with the wrong person and get stuffed into an early grave. Or, worse, that he’d turn into his father.
He’d wanted to prove to those people that he’d changed. That he had done something with himself. Not only that, but he was using his resources to come to their aid.
Old me would’ve crumbled. I would’ve forced the basajaunak into the vans and told the guy thanks but no thanks. I would’ve tried to please Austin.
Magical me realized, however, that it did not matter one bit how the basajaunak showed up. They could be riding tricycles or wearing tutus, in some beater camper or stuffed in a luxury van too small for them. In whatever manner they arrived, they would bring the wow factor, more so than any other creature. Just having them on our team was incredible, something Austin was currently forgetting.
So I didn’t go after him. I didn’t try to smooth things over. I let him be grumpy and gruff and unyielding, and when I proved him wrong, I would absolutely expect groveling.
After ten or so minutes, a line of trucks ambled down the street. There must’ve been ten campers in all, from spruced up and shiny to a million years old but still running. Our new friend had called in favors to help us out.
Tears actually clouded my vision this time. I was such a sap about this stuff.
They parked on the side of the street, still taking up part of the road and not worrying about it. The guy from earlier stepped down from his truck and met me on the sidewalk.
“Thank you so much!” I gave him a hug. “This is really amazing. I can’t thank you enough. All of you.”
I stepped back and waved down the line. Beeps sounded back, their acknowledgement.
I stuck out my hand to him. “I’m Jessie.”
“Howdy, ma’am. Hank.” He shook it before looking at the motel. “Okay, then. Let’s get ’em all
loaded up.”
It didn’t take long, all the basajaunak organizing quickly and stowing away with plenty of head-and legroom.
“What are they? Bigfoots?” Hank asked after he closed the door to his camper.
“Basajaunak, actually. Don’t call them Bigfoots. They hate that, and if you piss them off, they are about the meanest, most violent creatures you’ll ever encounter. Grizzly bears might as well be teddy bears in comparison.”
“That right? Huh.” He flared his eyebrows and shook his head. “You see summin’ new every day.
All right then, what should we do, just follow y’all?”
“Yeah, that would be amazing. How much— What can I pay you for all this?”
“Ah now.” He waved that away. “We’re just bein’ neighborly. Happy to help.”
Austin met me at the first van, waiting beside the open door. Everyone else had been tucked in, with doors closed and motors running.
He stopped me before I took my place, his eyes so open now.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I wasn’t thinking back there. You were right—the basajaunak deserved better than traveling like a bunch of sardines in a can. Forgive me?”
I threaded my arms around his neck. “I had it all planned out—I was going to prove to you that I was right, then give you the cold shoulder until you owned up to it. But now here you are, taking away all my self-righteousness.”
“Please kiss her in an area that won’t ruin her makeup,” Mr. Tom called out from the van behind us, having to lean over the gargoyle in the front passenger seat to do it. “I won’t be able to fix her from way back here. I’m not Go-Go-Gadget!”
I held my breath for a moment. “He’s amazing at ruining a moment.”
Austin smiled down at me. “Yes, he is. And he apparently thinks you don’t know how to do your own makeup even though you just did it, without his help, an hour ago.”
“I think he’s trying to forget that, actually. He’s tucking it into his blind spot and hoping he still gets to do it in the future.”
Austin kissed me on the forehead, and then the tip of my nose. His eyes lingered on my lips, and I felt the heat of his body pressed against me, the gravity of our mating bond within me.
“Don’t do it, sir,” Mr. Tom called. “You don’t have the makeup in that car to fix her up.”
Austin laughed just a little before hugging me tightly. “If he wasn’t trying to help me by helping you, I’d probably go back there and pull his arms off.”
“He’ll never know how close he came.”
Austin handed me into the van and stepped in after me. He pulled the door closed and gave the order to get going. Tristan sat in the front passenger seat, with Sebastian and Nessa in the far back.
Mimi shared the seat with them.
“You moved the mages up to the front van, huh?” I asked, seeing Sebastian turn around to access his suitcase.
“I want my brother’s pack to know that I value these mages,” Austin replied, clasping his hands in his lap as he looked ahead. “That they have a place of importance in our setup. There is going to be some animosity toward them because of the situation. This is my effort to negate that as much as possible.”
“They’ll be glad for these mages before it’s all through,” Mimi said.
“It might not be a fun ride getting to the finish line,” Sebastian murmured as he pulled a watch from his carry-on. “Especially since I’m strapping on my arrogance.”