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)
“As dull as the man,” Tristan joked.
“Hmm,” Brochan said noncommittally. “It wasn’t until…after…” After the attack. After he’d lost everything. “I kept my position long enough to reestablish the survivors in a safe location. To help them pick up the pieces and start over. During that time, they dubbed me Brochan. No last name, no remembrance of the name before it, real or assigned. Just Brochan. It’s how we all felt. It fit.”
“And Sue?” Tristan asked, his tone light but his eyes solemn.
“Sue was an accident. The best accident. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was a lifeline. It makes me just as odd as that Ivy House crew.”
“It’s your membership card,” Tristan surmised.
“Must be. One I will always hold on to with a tight grip. Names for alphas result from circumstance, half the time. I don’t have much in common with Spencer Whitman anymore. I’m no longer that man. I’m not Brochan anymore, either. That was a name for a different alpha. A directionless, hopeless, futureless alpha. I have plenty in common with Fred, though, as odd as she is. With Jessie Ironheart and Alpha Steele, starting over, come what challenges may. Trying to pick up the pieces and make something of themselves. With Mr. Tom, trying to look after his people. Like that vampire—” He shook his head. “Nah. Step too far.”
Tristan blurted out a laugh. “Good catch.” He tapped his glass with a finger. “I didn’t get a membership card.”
Brochan—Sue, now?—lifted an eyebrow. “You are your own membership card. Changing your name would be that step too far. Nice eyes, by the way. Where’d you get them peepers, again?”
Tristan’s lips twisted to the side. “Touché,” he said quietly, still the dark mystery of the group. Not even Niamh had been able to piece his clues together. Rumors in the gargoyle world came up empty. This gargoyle-monster had done a great job hiding his past.
Austin didn’t think he’d be able to hide forever.
Brochan shifted the conversation gracefully. He no longer seemed worried or even interested in Tristan’s past. Somewhere along the way, Tristan had shown the untrusting alpha-turned-beta that he was in this genuinely, that he cared about protecting Jessie and the convocation. That he could be trusted.
“Regarding Fred—she’s in,” said Brochan. “She might be shell-shocked for a while until she gets used to all this, but you should’ve seen her light switch on when she worked with Niamh earlier. Hook, line, and sinker.”
“Will she be able to help us infiltrate the mage world?” Austin asked, leaning forward. He could get all the shifters in the convocation, Jess could bring in all the gargoyles, but if they didn’t have a way into the mage world, it would be all for nothing.
Brochan met his gaze. “Her light wasn’t the only one that came on. Fred opened the door, and Niamh waltzed right through, like it was her own personal theme park. I think we’re about to see what that puca can really do, and I don’t think the mages know what’s coming.”
THIRTEEN
Sebastian
The lights in their little bungalow went out, plunging Sebastian into darkness. He paused where he sat at the kitchen table, papers scattered around him. His mind, however, went in a million directions at once.
Light from the street glowed around the drawn blinds, indicating the neighborhood hadn’t lost power, just their house. Nessa was very good about paying the bills on time. It couldn’t be that. No storms. No wind. This event was isolated.
Though his heart sped up, he put his pen down slowly. At just after midnight, the house lay quiet. Nessa was in her room, sleeping. If the cameras facing their yard had captured movement, the chimes would’ve woken her. That meant no random Dick or Jane was prowling around. If someone were out there, it would have to be someone with an invisibility spell.
He rose at a measured pace. There could be another explanation for the lights going off besides an invasion.
At the kitchen, he flicked the light switch off, then on again. Nothing happened. The one in the hallway yielded the same result. The oven clock was out, as was the microwave. Definitely a house-wide power issue.
His footsteps were nearly silent—he’d learned a thing or two from the shifters. At one time, he would’ve assumed a person with an invisibility spell could still be heard moving around. Now, with Momar employing mages with a crapload of power, he couldn’t be so sure. If Sebastian and Jessie could make a potion for both, then they could too.
And if they had that much power, they could disable his wards, no problem.
Controlling his breathing as his thoughts spun, he felt around for a flashlight. He wouldn’t use it unless he had to, as light would reveal his location. That procured, he walked through the darkness toward the back rooms. Nessa came first. Once she was safe, he could check the other areas.