“Where are we going to take him, though?” Sebastian asked, rubbing his face, willing the fog to clear from his mind. “We can’t have him screaming in a motel room in a small town, not to mention stealing a car to get there is probably going to be noticed. It’s not like there are woods we can run through and hide in.”
“I’ll figure that out. You get some sleep, then start thinking of ideas for how we can get him out of here without anyone being suspicious. We need to magically hide his scent, too, remember.”
“Okay, okay.” Sebastian nodded, now squeezing the bridge of his nose. “We should come up with a reason for why we can’t interrogate him right now. Just in case Kingsley or Austin have a few questions and our guy gets chatty when he has one of those big alphas in his face.”
“I don’t think he’ll be any worse off with them than with the monster gargoyle and all his party tricks. C’mon. Let’s get to Jessie before the alphas come back.”
SIXTEEN
Tristan
THE MAGES PAUSED to tear down their ineffective sound-deadening spell, which hadn’t done much more than fuzz their voices a little. For him, anyway. Sebastian should’ve known that. His fatigue was affecting his performance.
While they were occupied, Tristan silently strode along the wall of the garage and stepped back through the door, walking in far enough for his gargoyle magic to fall away. He crossed his arms over his chest a moment before Natasha came into sight, stopping in the doorway.
His heart beat a little faster as she smiled radiantly and gave him a thumbs-up, her eyes shining with cunning intelligence. With laughter, trying to hide her fear.
“You okay to hang?” she asked, her gaze turning just a bit intense. Her pulse sped up to match his
—he could feel it inside her. And then came the lightning bugs of energy sparking and zooming between them—something that often happened when they were together. The lights pulsed and danced, ethereally beautiful.
She couldn’t see them, which meant she wasn’t open to him or to that facet of her magic. Not yet.
That was okay. He liked the hunt. He had limitless patience.
And she liked being prey.
“Am I just supposed to watch him or what?” Tristan asked, purposely sounding a little grumpy.
“Yes, you are. That’s what it means to be a gargoyle beta after the shifter beta has arrived. You’re expendable.”
“I’m not the only one, it seems. Why don’t you wrangle me up some dessert while you’re standing around with your thumb up your ass, waiting for your almost-brother to create some useful magic?”
She minutely flinched, her brow pulling in just a little, and then her eyes started to sparkle. A high heel clicked as she stepped farther into the garage, her hip swaying, full of sass. The lights frenzied between them.
“Okay, Daddy,” she said softly, tightening him up. He hadn’t realized he was into that kink, but the way she said it, teasingly, nodding to the inside joke from when they first met—it was like bait he knew would trap him but still couldn’t refuse. “I’ll make a little chocolate for the left-behind beta, how would that be?”
“Sounds like a good consolation prize for not being the pack favorite.”
She tsked at him. “You know better than that,” she purred. “It’s not a pack, it’s a convocation, and
you’re still an outsider.”
He wasn’t sure if she was trying to dig a knife in his ribs with that last comment, but it definitely didn’t. He’d always been an outsider, in every place he’d ever lived. Every “home” he’d ever dwelled. Cairn, pack, convocation, wandering the wilds—he was the odd one out. There was strength in that, as long as a guy knew his situation and accounted for the foolishness of those around him. She knew that better than anyone.
He watched her silently, watched that radiant smile slip as intensity soaked up her eyes. Watched her body sway, just slightly, her breasts heaving with her breath.
“You best get back in,” he murmured, eyes on her mouth. “I’m sure Edgar is asking to be retired, and I doubt Jessie wants to hear it.”
She blinked rapidly, sucking in a breath and looking a little lost for a moment. And then she turned and quickly strode from the garage, brought back to reality.
The intoxicating feel of her slid from his body. Their connected energy pulled taut and then stretched apart, nothing anchoring them together to keep it put.
After taking a deep breath of his own, he started in one part of the garage and slowly worked his way around, identifying everything of use in it. The mage breathed quickly whenever Tristan neared, his nostrils flaring, sweat running down his temples. Maybe Tristan wouldn’t need any tools. Mages definitely seemed an easily intimidated, breakable sort. When they were trapped or without use of their magic, at any rate.
When the voices caught his ear, he retreated to the corner, arms crossed over his chest again.
“Hey, Tristan.” Jessie entered the room with a tight smile. “Thanks for watching him.” She looked around the garage quickly and then stopped in front of the mage as Edgar slunk in behind her, finding a corner in the shadows near the door. “Thank God this is not my jurisdiction. This is Austin’s gig. I don’t have to make the call on what needs to be done with this guy.”
“You two co-lead well. It’s rare when both parties so effortlessly move into and out of the power role.”
“I think it’s more of a struggle for him than it is for me.”
“I could be wrong, but I don’t think it is a struggle for him at all.”
She turned to Tristan, taking a quick moment to glance at his arms and down, assessing him for any injuries. She did it any time one of her people came out of a not-totally-safe situation.
She took in what he’d said with a flush and a little smile. He’d never in his life seen two people so happily matched.
“Well,” she said, taking a deep breath. “If you’d like, I can watch him while we wait. Nessa said something about you wanting chocolate.”
“If you’d just let me run in and use the restroom really quickly, I’m fine to watch him. Natasha can bring dessert out to me. Unless you don’t think Austin would mind if I just used a bush around the side?”
“Oh my—no.” Jessie gestured him in. “No, please. The restroom. Use the restroom, where you can wash your hands…”
He grinned and nodded, exiting and now hurrying. With the vampire watching Jessie, he wouldn’t be creeping around. Of everyone in her crew, Edgar was probably the easiest to lose track of. He always seemed to turn up when Tristan least expected him.
He headed through the front door, pretending he was doing what he’d said he’d do, and heard Mr.
Tom arguing with Natasha in the kitchen about how to properly drug Sebastian. Four people down.
So where was that weird mage?
“Hey.”
Tristan kept himself from freezing, barely, as he finished shutting the door. Then he turned to see the droopy-eyed mage.
“Hey,” Tristan replied, giving a cursory glance over his shoulder to denote his impatience at leaving Jessie. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Sebastian said, bowing. “I’ve been up for too long. I’m just waiting for the alphas to get here so we can secure that mage. In the morning we need to go over what we’re going to do with him