“Alpha.” Austin bent his head in greeting.
Kingsley’s gaze roamed over the people Austin had brought and then over Jess’s crew, settling on the cooler at Niamh’s feet and the doily-wrapped can in her hand.
“Is that alcohol?” he asked, unable to hide how mystified he was.
“Champagne.” Niamh hoisted it up. “I found it in the corner store near the hotel. They didn’t have any proper black tae, so I figured this would do the trick. Fierce handy, putting it in a can like this.”
“It’s nine o’clock,” Kingsley said.
“Yeah. That’s why I’m drinking champagne.” She said it like duh. “It’s a perfectly respectable drink for the morning. Like a mimosa, but without the orange juice.”
Kingsley stared at her for a moment, then at Austin. Without a word, he passed into the building, his people following.
“Nice goin’,” Ulric murmured.
“What was I supposed to do? I don’t drink coffee,” she shot back. “I could be drinkin’ the moonshine I got off one of the locals last night, but am I? No. I’m drinking a mimosa.”
“Except it’s not a mimosa, it’s straight champagne,” Jasper said.
“Better fer ya.” She took a swig. “Orange juice is too sugary.”
“Off to a great start,” Jess murmured, entering the building at Austin’s side.
“Could be worse,” he replied. “He could’ve had one of his people try to take it from her.”
“I think at this point we know it could always be worse.”
On the second floor, they entered a large room with a custom-made table in the middle supporting a 3D map of the pack territory and the town therein. Kingsley had clearly continued updating it through the years, the town having grown since Austin was here last.
“You’re expanding the town?” Austin asked, noticing his mom, Mimi, Aurora, and Mac standing at the back. It was customary to invite the former alphas to such meetings for their experience, and the possible future alphas for training.
Kingsley took a stance at the side of the table with his back to the windows. “I buy land whenever the neighboring farmers will sell it to me. The town expands at its own pace.”
Austin took the opposite side of the table, looking down on all the little figurines, then the grid of fishing line not too far above it.
“Cute,” Jess said, stepping beside Austin. “Look, there are little wolves and— Oh, these are the creatures your people turn into, huh? Neat.” She pointed at the fishing line. “Awesome! That’s for the gargoyles, right?”
“Yes,” Kingsley said. Most alphas Austin had ever met would’ve given clear signs that she was wasting time. Not Kingsley. He watched her patiently, allowing her to analyze each street and smile at the little animal figurines.
“Very cool.” She put her hands behind her back, finally straightening up. “We should do something like this.”
Cyra pushed in next to her and pointed to a strip of land on the eastern side. “I found an area here
that is a bunch of rock and dirt. No bushes or anything. I could unleash all my firepower on the enemy, and you wouldn’t need to sap the heat afterward.”
“This map is mostly accurate in the details,” Kingsley said, stepping back now to allow Jess to pass by if she was so inclined. “The map indicates that there is vegetation there. Possibly you were in a different location?”
“There was some vegetation, yeah. That’s the right place.” Cyra nodded as Jess traveled around the table, checking out more details. Cyra trailed her before pointing at another spot. “Right there, too.
Your map hasn’t been updated since yesterday at about noon. Those areas are all black now.”
“You were supposed to keep that to yourself,” Hollace said through his teeth. “Remember?”
“Oh, I was?” She glanced over at him. “I thought the secret was about the—”
“Stop her,” Ulric tried to interrupt.
“—strange creature that I accidentally-on-purpose killed this morning?”
“No, that was information you were supposed to tell the alphas,” Hollace murmured, looking at his feet with his hands behind his back. “Except you were supposed to do it either before or after the meeting, not right at the beginning while everyone was staring at you.”
“Especially after Niamh already cast a bad light on our crew by drinking on the job,” Jasper muttered.
“Jaysus, Mary—it’s just a little champagne, like!” Niamh replied. “It gives me less of a kick than that horrible dredge, coffee.”
“How dare you!” Mr. Tom said, turning on her.
“Now sucking down the basajaunak brew,” she continued, “would be drinking on the job. That stuff’ll put hair on yer—”
“Enough,” Austin barked, crackling power through the room. Too much power, unfortunately, showing everyone he had more than the reigning alpha. Still. It couldn’t be helped. Kingsley was only so patient, and judging by his posture and his crimson hue, his head was about to pop off. “Alpha, I apologize. Some of the people gathered in this room are not used to pack life.”
“Not even yours?” Kingsley asked, his direct gaze aggressive.
Austin held on to his beast and lowered his eyes, showing submission. “Not even mine. They are a subset of our convocation, led by Jess, who has a much looser structure. They are more of a peer group than a defined hierarchy.”
“That is not how we do things in this pack,” Kingsley said, his tone like ice. “If rules are set, like temporarily not leaving the boundaries of the town, I expect those rules to be followed.” He raised his voice for the whole room. “Do I make myself clear? ”
His power rippled through the room, followed by a surge of hostility through the Ivy House bond.
Jess straightened up slowly, her eyes suddenly on fire and pointed at Kingsley. Her power pumped, stronger and more volatile than the surge that Kingsley had just sent out. She’d also just unconsciously proved she had stronger magic than the reigning alpha. Not a great start for either of them.
“We’re good, Jess,” Austin said softly, pushing warmth through their bonds. “That is a standard and justified request. We’d ask the same.”
Kingsley noticed her stare and was thankfully slow to turn to meet it, likely because he sensed what Austin did. His people probably wouldn’t know that, though, treating her power with the same vague indifference that they did Tristan’s.
She blew out a breath, braced her hands on the table, and slowly bent her back. The movement looked like it cost her a great effort. “Sorry.” She shook her head. “I mean, yes, you make yourself clear. Or whatever I’m supposed to say.”
“Strange creature?” Kingsley asked Cyra, easily navigating away from Jess’s borderline disrespect of his position.