Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
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—”