“Also…” James went back to his slip of paper, turning it over to retrieve more notes. “When the vampire cornered me after Austin and Jessie had gotten into the van, he talked about planting flowers in the territory.” His eyes dulled. “Weaponized magical flowers, to be precise.”
Kingsley pushed to standing. He couldn’t handle any more of this right now. This territory was a home to ten thousand people, most of whom wanted to live peaceful lives, untouched by the darker, stranger parts of the magical world. He wanted to keep it that way—a goal that had seemed doable with Austin’s help. The magical attacks on the edge of the territory thus far had been mostly manageable, with few losses. If there were mages in the border towns, they hadn’t caused any trouble.
It had led Kingsley to re-evaluate the nature of the threat he’d once perceived. Honestly, since the attacks hadn’t escalated, it didn’t seem like mages would risk waging a full-scale attack on them after all. It made Kingsley wonder—and his top shifters with him—if the enemy actually had the resources to take on a pack of Kingsley’s size. It didn’t seem so from the last grouping of months.
Except that mage earlier had been telling the absolute truth as he knew it. His body language had made that perfectly clear. Jessie had been obviously worried, as well, no better at hiding her feelings.
Kingsley needed to think. He needed a second.
He excused himself from James and made his way home, his mind still in turmoil as he parked and then made his way to the front door, letting himself in.
“I’ve been calling you—where have you been?” Earnessa said, walking into the foyer with her hair in curlers and wearing a robe. “The pizza oven needs to be started, and you promised to help set up the food stations. I don’t know what sort of things your brother’s mate would like, and I never seem to get it right when it comes to your grandma.”
He shook his head as he pushed past her. “I had a run-in with Austin.”
She followed him into the kitchen, where he pulled his wallet and keys out of his pocket and dropped them on the edge of the counter. She whisked them away immediately, opening the drawer in front of her and depositing them inside.
“What sort of run-in?” she asked, an edge to her voice. “I thought you said he’s changed.”
“He has. He’s more confident now. He’s grown into the leader he always had the potential to be.”
She popped out a hip, leaning heavily on the counter. “What does that mean? You don’t think he’s going to challenge for placement and remove you, do you?”
He could hear the worry in her voice. She’d never trusted Austin, not before he’d challenged and almost killed Kingsley, and certainly not after. The fear that Austin would take over the pack and displace Kingsley and his family had haunted her. Haunted all of them, maybe.
Now, here he was again, stronger and better than ever, ready to lead a large pack.
“I don’t know,” Kingsley said, peeling off his suit jacket and putting it on a nearby chair. “If he challenges me, he’ll win. There is no question. His gargoyle beta—lead enforcer—would even be a hard battle for me. That gargoyle would dominate James, no problem. And I hear Austin has a shifter beta who used to be an alpha. As small as Austin’s outfit is, it’s stacked.”
“But I thought you said he had his own territory,” Earnessa pushed as she started taking things out of the fridge. “I thought you said he was happy where he was and wouldn’t want this territory.”
“I’d thought that, yes. I still think it. But the way he pushed back on me today…” Kingsley gripped the edges of the counter. “I don’t get the feeling he’s going to play submissive even though I’m the alpha of this territory. He’s going to fight me on each decision, and Jessie isn’t always going to be there to calm him down.”
“You were submissive to him when you visited him, though, weren’t you? You followed protocol?”
“Yes. And I’m realizing now that it wasn’t hard. What is hard, however, is puffing myself up as more dominant when we both know I am not.”
Earnessa was quiet for a moment. “If he challenges…he’ll stop before he kills you, right? He won’t get so mad he can’t stop?”
Kingsley let out a breath, turned, and pulled her into a hug. “I’ll be okay. I don’t think he’d kill me.” Kingsley hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Not again. “I just worry about his taking over for the coming attack. My job as alpha is to keep life as normal as possible for everyone. I don’t want our pack to become a war zone if it doesn’t need to be. I’m worried he’ll finish the job he started when he left and tear our territory apart.”
EIGHT
Jessie
I DID a quick last check in the mirror and then changed my mind about the necklace.
Austin had said to look semi-dressy but casual and have some bling but not go overboard. Which was all well and good, but without the Ivy House crew around, I had to dress myself, something I’d never excelled at. My ex would constantly tell me that I was too formal, or too casual, or wearing black to this particular luncheon was all wrong. I’d always had to go “run and put something a little more appropriate on.”
Except Austin would be happy with anything I chose because he was a little too supportive about my terrible fashion sense. Could the guy not have given me a picture or something?
After trying on everything in my suitcase, I’d decided on a black halter turtleneck gown that showed off my shoulders and had a slit up to my mid-thigh, but otherwise the bottom reached down to my lower calves. To make sure I wasn’t too dressy, I wrapped a wide leather belt with a stylish buckle around my waist. To complete the ensemble, I’d chosen a gold strappy sandal with a three-inch heel, a gold and diamond bracelet, matching dangly earrings, and a necklace that did not work at all.
Hence the decision to lose the necklace.
After grabbing a clutch that only had lipstick in it, I headed downstairs, ten minutes late.
“No, no!” I heard Nessa shout. “Get out of here! This is not your dinner.”
She and Austin were in the kitchen, both at the large island that took up a bit too much space.
Austin stood near the double sink by the oven—I’d never seen both of those things built into an island
—and Nessa held her hands out over a cutting board, keeping him from peering too closely at the contents.
“All I’m saying is—” he started.
“I hear what you’re saying,” she replied, “and all I’m saying is it’s not your dinner. Mind your own business.” Nessa lifted her eyebrows at him, stared a moment longer, and slowly dropped her hands to continue chopping an onion.
“You’re gonna ruin it,” Austin said, shaking his head but not wandering away. He wore a pink dress shirt tucked into slim-fitting navy slacks, ending in brown leather shoes that matched his brown leather belt. His five o’clock shadow and messy-styled hair, teamed with the fancy watch I’d gifted him, made him look modern and sophisticated, a little trendy, and a polished sort of rugged.
The man could do posh in his sleep. It was really annoying.