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)
His jaw clenched. “You did, yes. It was ingenious how you handled that. The soft touch for Austin to keep him in line while working yourself closer so your spell would be effective. I explained how you can connect with your team. How you were able to call in the basajaunak when you needed them. That’s what you were doing, right? All that?”
“Yes. There was a lot going on. Everyone was keyed up. I was trying to time everything so those kids stayed safe.” She shook her head. “As safe as possible, at any rate.”
“I was about ready to detonate,” Alpha Steele said gruffly. “It took every ounce of control I possessed to keep from exploding into my beast.”
Kingsley inclined his head. “You showed well. Those in my car could see your battle for control. Margery almost got out when we saw their hostages. I told her not to aggravate matters, that you’d handle it.” He put his hand on Jessie’s shoulder. “You showed extremely well. You can’t keep your people in a line while walking, but when it really counts, your level of precision and battle acumen is unparalleled. The way you handled everyone, including checking in with the people afterward…” He nodded proudly. “You’ve proven every single claim I’ve laid at your feet, and you’ve done it spectacularly. Your gargoyles have as well, especially your monster.” His eyes sparkled for Tristan, his version of a full-blown smile. “Brochan, however, didn’t get to do nearly as much as he would’ve liked, I think.”
Brochan’s shoulders hitched, and he turned just slightly. Not relevant…
Kingsley glanced over at Aurora, who was clad in a purple muumuu and talking to the townspeople. Brochan hadn’t been relevant because Aurora had handled matters.
“Yes, she’s always been great at anticipation,” Kingsley said.
“She beat me to it.” Brochan cocked his head. Fair play to her.
“She said…” Kingsley shifted his weight. Uncomfortable. “She mentioned, Jessie, that you worked her out of her beast in a challenge. Not forced her out, as usually has to happen, but coaxed her out.”
“Yeah.” Jessie checked her phone screen again. Still nothing. “I had to learn that myself. It helps when someone guides you. I had Austin, and she has both of us.”
He looked at Alpha Steele. “I didn’t realize she had that much of Dad in her.”
“I didn’t either,” his brother replied. “I also didn’t realize it was a problem until Jessie gave her a teaching moment in front of all her peers. Amazingly, it just made Aurora look more badass.”
“Jessie has a gift.” Kingsley winked at her. “Controlled chaos. I cannot wait to say ‘I told you so’ to the other alphas. I’ll see you back at the hotel.”
With that, he turned and strode away, any looseness of manner quickly returning to his stoic alpha façade.
“It speaks highly of you two that he treats you as equals,” Alpha Steele told Brochan and Tristan. “Now, let’s get all this cleared away. The others have already agreed to set this place to rights and offer the help these people need. We’ll head back.”
Tristan asked Jessie about Cyra’s fire—about burning all the blood and goo so the townspeople didn’t need to clean up.
“Yeah, probably should. Damn it, why no news?” She handed her phone off to Tristan. “Hold that, will ya? She’s going to go too extreme, and I’m going to have my hands full trying to keep the whole place from burning down.”
TWENTY-THREE
Sebastian
Nessa was probably asleep.
Sebastian sat on the couch in the living room in near darkness, watching a muted cooking show Nessa had left on. The hour hand on the wall clock had slowly worked its way past two. A critter scurried in the bushes outside the window, stopping in its foraging. After a moment, it slowly worked its way down the wall, not unlike the movement of that hour hand.
There were a lot of critters this near the woods. When they first settled here, it had put him on edge. He’d constantly checked the windows, trying to figure out what was lurking out there. He’d sent spells out the door looking for prowlers. He’d always come up empty, only finding animals, and so his anxiety had mostly subsided.
You’ve got a tagalong.
A spy. Someone hanging around without Nessa being aware. That meant a level of personnel the Guild had never employed. It meant a new, harder sort of game. One Nessa was barely fit for.
Being off-grid was hard, but it was safer.
Another critter scurried on the other side of the house, this one larger. Too large?
He looked that way, but what would he see? There was only a sliver of a moon tonight, and it was mostly obscured by clouds. The streetlamp on this run-down corner of nowhere was fifty yards away and sported one of those incredibly ineffective LED lights. It glowed, but the light barely reached the ground.