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)
The shifter couldn’t stop a deep crease between his eyebrows. His body screamed wariness.
Edgar nodded, as if that had been the divine plan, and strolled over to the next person. He whispered, “I have the snacks. I hear they’re delicious. I wouldn’t know; I drink out of a vein. If you want to trade, we can. Or if you just want to reach into my basket, that’d be okay, too.”
This shifter edged away slowly, as if he were afraid to turn his back on a hungry vampire, which was probably the right way to play it.
“That vampire…” Austin murmured to himself, looking off into the distance.
I waited with him patiently, letting the shifters grab my things and prepare to move them to our room. Austin surveyed the proceedings like he was the captain of the ship and didn’t trust them to properly swab the deck. It was all for show. If anyone was watching—and they probably were, since all the packs attending the meeting would stay at this resort—they’d know he was alpha.
I guess they’d also know I was his mate, or maybe the co-ruler, but that wasn’t why I was by his side. His nerves were worrying me. For the first time I could remember, it felt like he was doubting himself. He had what it took to do this, we all knew that, but from what I understood, his reputation might be the thing to sink him. They might not even give him a chance, all because of his actions when he was young.
Which was crap, obviously. The real problem wasn’t his reputation. It was fear. They were afraid of trusting a new setup, or maybe of being a target of Momar. Hell, maybe they were afraid of losing the status of “most powerful shifter in the room.” Austin, with his wild past, was a scapegoat. In time, they’d see that. And if they didn’t? We’d force them to.
Austin bumped my shoulder with his and looked at me. “You’re confident enough for the both of us, huh?” He must’ve felt my assurance and determination through the bonds.
I smiled up at him. “It is my turn, after all. You were my rock with the gargoyles, and then in Elliot Graves’s caves. And actually, with the basajaunak, too. It’s my turn to be the tough guy.”
He leaned down to kiss me. “Too true.” Taking a deep breath, he straightened. “I didn’t, in my wildest dreams, imagine myself being this nervous.”
“Then why are you?”
Austin started forward, pulling me along with him. As we set off, Broken Sue emerged from a hallway, clutching something. He gave off a distinct aura of annoyance, and I had a feeling that was due to Mr. Tom pushing him around.
“A lot is riding on this,” Austin said. “Some of these shifters are prickly. They don’t give second chances—hell, they barely give first chances. If we can’t get these bigger packs on board, I worry we won’t have enough might to bring it all together. We don’t have a lot of gargoyles, we won’t have the shifters, we have zero mages who want to work with us right now…” He sighed. “This venture is off to a rocky start, so we don’t have a strong case with these people. We can’t fail—our safety depends upon this working—but our odds aren’t nearly as good as I’d prefer.”
“Okay, yes, the venture is off to a rocky start, but we do have one of the bigger cairns on board, and we have interest from another. We have the basajaunak, which is huge. We have a phoenix and a thunderbird. And a warning: come together, or next time, the large pack Momar is targeting will fall, and the rest of the shifters with it.”
“Yes,” he murmured.
I knew him well enough to know that he needed a pep talk, and later, he’d need a distraction. I was ready to provide both, and I’d be thorough. He’d done the same for me a few times over. “Look at it this way. The gargoyles were never in any danger. They didn’t know me or anything about me, but they still joined up. So did the basajaunak, even though they didn’t want to leave their cozy refuge in the trees. They didn’t have any reason or need to, but they joined our cause. But the shifters? The shifters have a lot to lose. They’re targets. Their families are on the line, their packs. They need help, and we’re offering them that help. They’d be idiots to ignore what we have to say.”
He stopped in front of Broken Sue.
“Mr. Tom is preparing your suite, alphas,” Broken Sue said. “He wrestled your key away from me.” He held out a plastic card. “This is the ghost key, if you will. It works for every room in this building—well, for our collection of rooms. Everyone else will get their specific room key.”