He probably figured I’d have enough of them for the both of us.
The shifters were convinced Austin and I were sliding into mating, a sort of permanent bond that magically connected two people, somewhat like the one I had with Ivy House but deeper. And they were probably onto something: with each passing day, my depth of feeling for him increased, my desire ballooned, and my happiness grew.
But I was newly divorced, dang it! New to magic, new to solo home ownership, and new to being the reluctant master of creepy dolls. I couldn’t just hop into another lifelong romantic commitment willy-nilly. I hadn’t even played the field! Austin was technically a rebound, for criminy’s sake. I had to approach all of this logically, which required at least a little freaking out. It required brakes, and if I had to bear down on them for a while, so be it. His infallible confidence could take it. He’d said as much a few times over.
Take as long as you need, Jess. I’ll wait. You will be mine.
I shivered and suddenly couldn’t stand the distance between us. I couldn’t stand to hear his voice but not feel his touch. He needed to be closer. We needed to be closer.
“Do you have a second to FaceTime?” I asked. If I couldn’t do it physically, I’d do it through the Ivy House bond. It would have to be enough.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll call you back.”
I hung up, bounced around in the bed organizing my pillows, and then lay down, splaying my hair out around my head. His heart throbbed in my chest, next to mine, something that had happened for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It should have felt strange, especially since I’d started life as a non-magical person, a Jane. But it didn’t. It was intimate and comforting.
The phone rang for FaceTime, and I answered, unable to help the excited smile. His handsome face filled the screen, his eyes hooded with fatigue and his hair standing every which way. His head rested against leather, and I imagined he was probably on his couch.
“Did you just get in?” I asked, feasting my eyes on him and enhancing Ivy House’s magical link between us, feeling the answer for myself. I immediately launched into healing his fatigue.
His little grin said that my magical touch was appreciated. “Long night. I had a few direct challenges, one from a very strong shifter, and then a raiding party came through.”
I furrowed my brow. “A raiding party? Like a bunch of Vikings?”
He sighed and scrubbed his fingers through his hair. I loved seeing him like this. At home and on his own (or with me), he was able to be so expressive, unlike when he was in public and donning his “alpha” mask of non-emotion.
“Basically, yeah,” he said. “They roll through and try to grab whatever they can. Or kill whoever they can. Or just create mayhem. It’s pretty standard for a newly established pack to suffer raiding parties. I’d thought I’d be immune, since my brother helped me set this place up and everyone knows I took down a phoenix, but no such luck.”
“Oh. You should’ve let me know—I could’ve helped.”
“Thanks, but it’s good. I used it as a training exercise. It cut into sleep time, though. I have a pretty packed day today. That’s the reason I called.” Frustration bled through the link. “Can you push off training for a few hours so I can stop by before I hit the bar?”
“Or maybe you should use those few hours to get some rest, and I’ll try to kill the phoenix on my own?”
He paused for a moment, and wariness trickled through our link. “Kill the phoenix? Did Cyra do something to piss you off?”
I told him what she’d suggested. “It won’t set us back too much. Apparently her magic is like the gargoyles’—it responds differently when she has an alpha who calls her, and through the link I’ve figured out how to call her. So there won’t be much of a delay training-wise if I’m able to kill her. She’ll regrow to her adult size pretty quick.”
“And if you aren’t?”
“It’ll hurt like the blazes, and I’ll need to drink a half-dozen protein shakes for all the energy I’ll need to heal myself…”
He issued a soft sigh. “If you think you’re up for it… I’d prefer to be there when you try, but…”
“When I succeed, you mean.”
His smile made my heart flutter. “Obviously. I’d prefer if you’d put it off until I can be there. I trust that she won’t go too far, but just in case.”
“You’d prefer it, but you’ll defer to your alpha’s decision?”
Hunger flashed in his eyes. I was the only person in the world who wouldn’t turn him rage-y if I talked about dominating him. Quite the opposite, actually. Bedtime wrestling was sexy as all hell, and I didn’t mind losing. Neither did he.
His voice was low and rough. “If I must…”
I ran my tongue along my bottom lip, catching his gaze.
“Do you have a few minutes?” I asked, then panned the camera down my body, red lace barely covering my flesh. Pushing the covers down more, I dipped my hand between my spreading thighs.
Desire flooded the link. My moan matched his.
“An hour, at least…” His hand drifted south, and through the now extremely sensitive link I could feel our combined passion building higher.
A few moments later, pleasure swept me away, pulsing hard and hot, leaving me wondering how long I could possibly resist the mating bond, and what sort of ritual a female gargoyle enacted once she’d finally chosen a mate.
Two
“Hey, Miss Ironheart.” Kace nodded as he entered the clearing, jet-black five o’clock shadow on his square face to match his hard onyx eyes. He’d come to town with Austin’s brother and stayed on as Austin’s second, his beta. Five grim-faced men and women followed behind him. “Alpha told us to report to you.”
I nodded and glanced over at my team. The gargoyles had shifted into their flying forms—they were stronger like this, in the air or not—but they hadn’t taken to the skies. Elliot’s place seemed to be a collection of tunnels running through a mountain. Any fighting would be ground-bound, so my team had been practicing that way in preparation.
“Just you guys?” I asked, wearing basketball sweats with buttons down the sides in case I had to change shape in a hurry. There were usually twice as many shifters.
“Yeah. He said you’d have plenty to deal with.” Kace stopped in the clearing I usually used for practicing, in the woods behind the house.
I glanced at Cyra, waiting patiently off to the side. I would have plenty to deal with, yes. The second I shot a spell at her, it was on.
I blew out a breath. Austin had barely managed to defeat Cyra, and he’d endured incredible pain. That guy could handle an awful lot without passing out.
I could not.
“Right, then. Let’s do this.” I clapped as Niamh skittered around to my back in her little gremlin form. She was a dirty fighter in any form, but this one, all teeth and claws, still haunted my nightmares. Didn’t matter that she was on my side.
Kace and the shifters stripped with quick economy and changed into wolves, he the brawniest of the bunch. One sleek brown one—Isabelle—had been around a few times before, and she always managed to get through my defenses and tackle me. While my magical shield kept her claws and teeth from finding purchase, she always knocked the wind out of me, and it hurt like Hades when I hit the ground.