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)
“Meh.” She waved me away, her gaze not leaving the screen. “There’s no point in paperwork for a few coffees and a truckload of sugar.”
“Okay, well…the offer’s there.”
“Thanks.” She gave me a smile before going back to her task.
She was certainly diligent. A hard worker. Also, clearly great at her job. Niamh had made a good call with Fred. We were that much closer to closing the gap between us and our missing mages.
My heart ached to see them again. My gut said I’d better hurry up and make that happen.
Austin
“Her crew is incredibly messy,” Kingsley said, resting in his suite’s living room with his feet up on the coffee table. He held a scotch and closed his eyes as he leaned his head back. It had been a long afternoon. “I didn’t warn the others before the meeting.”
Austin gritted his teeth against a surge of anger. Kingsley wasn’t trying to be mean-spirited toward Jess—he was stating the truth. Austin knew he was right. Had always known and had never been able to do anything about it. He’d stopped trying.
“They’ve been practicing lining up for a couple months,” Austin said, watching the fading light dance across the brown liquid in his glass. The suite was quiet. Mac was playing golf, and Earnessa was at the spa.
Kingsley laughed quietly. “Huh.”
“Yeah. In practice, they actually looked mostly okay. Passable. Then, today…it just went all to shit.” Austin joined his brother in laughing. “Spectacularly. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like when she tries to push order onto them, they become that much harder to control.”
Kingsley took a deep breath. “The thing is…” He shook his head. “It’s not a deal breaker. I’d worried it might be. Did you see Jessie’s reaction when someone asked what would happen if her crew turned on her?”
“I felt her tense. Her feelings through the bonds were confusion.”
“It was this…” Kingsley started laughing again. “This that is the stupidest question I’ve ever heard expression teamed with absolute confusion, yeah. I figured I better interject before she came right out and called someone an idiot. Though by then, everyone knew there’d be no challenges. It was a solid move to wear what you did. Her as well. It immediately put people at ease.” He paused. “A little more at ease, anyway.”
“That was the point. I know the rumors that surround me. I’m exactly as wild as people fear.”
“Nah. You’re a controlled wild.”
“To you. You’re my brother—you’ve seen my absolute worst. What you see now is a far step above that, but it isn’t far enough to make the alphas in there today comfortable.”
“They’re entrenched, generational alphas without any strife. They don’t understand the sort of issues that your territory and your mate face. I didn’t either, and I’d been to your territory.”
“Exactly. And seventy-five percent of the big-time alphas in this country are generational alphas. Maybe just second generation for some of them, who might be more modernized in their way of thinking, but Armendale is an eighth. His territory has done things the same way for literal generations. Why? Because it works. In the world they think they’re living in, it works.”
Kingsley released a slow breath before taking a sip of his scotch. “Armendale, yeah. He’s what stopped my momentum the last time. He wanted to do things the right way. His words.”
“And that’s challenging for dominance?”
“Yes. Even though this isn’t a traditional pack setup, and I didn’t want anything to do with the leadership of his pack, those were his terms.”
“You couldn’t take him, and he knew that.”
“Exactly. Since you almost certainly can, he’ll probably have a different right way. The end result will be the same. I doubt he’ll join, and he’ll try to make sure no one else does, either.”
Armendale wasn’t as strong as they came—a legendary alpha called Yazanth Golden Fang had that honor—but he was one of them. He had power, money, and a lot of connections. And ever since Yazanth was exiled from his pack five or so years ago, presumed dead, Armendale had become something of the king of alpha network—at least, he thought so. His influence could be far reaching, and he would not like an upstart with a bad rep, like Austin, trying to climb up onto his perch.
Austin had purposely stayed away from the alpha rumor mill in his past, knowing how heavily he was featured in it, but he’d had to get caught up for this. Armendale was stuck in his ways and felt justified in that because he had a strong, prosperous pack—a peaceful pack that hadn’t hit a bump in the road in generations. He had wealth and privilege, and no one was stupid enough to challenge his authority.
Well…almost no one.
“Yes, I can take him,” Austin said. “I can make him say uncle. And I will, just to prove a point. But do you know what he’ll say once I do?”