“Why would you want to help my brother?” Austin asked.
“Me? I don’t, particularly,” she said without flinching. “If he wants to reclaim his mantle from Momar, there are safer ways of doing it. Shady dealings and double crossings. The mage way. But Sebastian fought beside your brother, I believe, against the phoenix.”
Cyra nodded. “He is noble, that tiger.”
“Sebastian talks about Kingsley with the utmost respect,” Nessa went on. “He also wants to help Miss Ironheart. She’ll want to help you. You will, without a doubt, help your brother. So Sebastian is connected to this cause. Even if you don’t consent to his friendship or his teaching, Jessie—may I call you Jessie?—he will try to help you. He promised as much when he took you on as an apprentice. Those pledges aren’t ironclad among mages, but it was to him.” She spread her hands and stepped back. “Look, you can figure all that out for yourself. You’ll see what you’re up against pretty quickly. Jessie has a crapload of power, but she doesn’t know dick. She needs a teacher, and you won’t find another mage as powerful and knowledgeable as Sebastian who doesn’t want to use you. It was his sister’s dying wish that he follow this journey to the end of his life. A smart woman would realize what that means.”
“A smart woman can deliver a manipulative speech in the guise of sisterly love,” Hollace said.
Nessa laughed. “If she’d killed Sebastian, I would’ve died trying to avenge him, hopefully taking her down with me.” Austin tensed, and power pulsed through the room. Nessa rubbed her arms. “Yeah, yeah, the bear is protective. I get it. Listen, think it over. And if you decide not to allow him into your life, can you leave behind that jewelry we gave you in the basket? That stuff was amazing. I’ll take it, no problem.”
“Let’s go.” Austin turned and strode for the door.
“I’ll arrange transportation to the jet—”
“Don’t bother,” Austin cut in. “Jess, can your people fly us?”
“Yep.”
Kace softly groaned.
“Okay, well,” Nessa called after us. “I guess I’ll just mail your stuff to you?”
“Sir, if I may?” Broken Sue murmured as we walked through the tunnel.
“Go,” Austin said.
“I know that your inclination is to keep the situation with your brother a shifter matter. In times of danger, especially with our families, we feel like we can only rely on those we trust. We stick with our own. I felt the same way, and I lost everything. Your mate is the doorway to survival, for all of us. Even if you get all of the shifters to stand together, it still won’t be enough, not against the kind of might these mages will throw together. They don’t fight even remotely fair. They go after the vulnerable, and they use the mercenaries they bring in like pawns. Lives to be thrown away. They have no loyalty themselves, and so they do not adhere to the normal principles of warfare. If you want to truly help your brother—help us all—you will heed that woman’s words. You will trust your mate to bolster your pack with people you otherwise wouldn’t have access to. To fight beside you with magic. I think you two were brought together for a reason. That is only my opinion, but that’s the way I see it.”
“The stars are guiding us,” the basajaun said. “This mountain is quiet. Peaceful. It does not want violence. This meeting was important. I will call on the elders. The basajaunak will join this fight.” Austin glanced back, shock riding the link. “Edgar, we will need more flowers,” the basajaun continued. “Maybe some of those violent ones. That was tasty.”
“My mother is the biggest busybody in the history of the world,” Ulric chimed in. “She knows gargoyles from all over. You want to talk about a network? My mother has a network. I’ve told her that she isn’t allowed to tell anyone outside of the parish there’s a new female gargoyle—I was waiting until Jessie was a little more up to speed—but say the word and she can make sure the biggest cairns in the world hear about you, Jessie. If there is a big battle on the horizon, they’ll want in because the status of fighting beside a female gargoyle will be passed down their family lines. We can get enough forces to fill the sky.”
“I told my mom,” Jasper murmured. “My village knows, but…”
“And that’s it, right? Yeah. My mom is not a normal gargoyle’s wife. She doesn’t keep business in the cairn. This is the only time I will brag about that fact.”
I slipped my hand in Austin’s and grabbed the muumuu that was still on the little table as we passed by. “Kingsley will be okay. We’ll make sure of it.”
He didn’t say anything as we continued, but I could feel the turmoil roiling within him.
Twenty-Eight
Austin had been quiet the whole plane ride home, us having used the plane waiting there instead of calling in another. It had been stuffed with snack foods and drinks, but by that point, I hadn’t been hungry. Austin had stared out the window, his emotions troubled. It wasn’t just worry. There was a certain prickly protectiveness that suggested Broken Sue had gotten it right. Austin wanted to react to danger the shifter way—banding together with those most trusted and fighting. They reached for loyalty and togetherness to get them through hard times.
I guessed I sided with the mages in how I handled things—I would reach for whatever would help us win.
In the limo on the way back, just the two of us, I said, “I’m going to say yes to Elliot.”
Austin didn’t comment, holding my hand, staring out the window.
“I’m going to have him teach me,” I continued, wanting to soothe his worry. “I’ll be pissed for a while, I’m not saying I won’t, but…I believe him. I hate to say it, but I believe him. And even if I didn’t…we need him. Your brother needs him. I’ll walk into the belly of the beast and come out on fire if I have to, but I will show up in your brother’s town ready to unleash hell. I’ll make you proud to have mated me.”
He met my eyes. “Nothing could make me prouder to have mated you. You’re perfect as you are. Don’t do this for me, or my brother. Do it for you. You need to trust your teacher.”
I leaned against him and rested my head on his shoulder. “I just have to get used to the fact that he seriously tricked me. I had zero idea. Absolutely no inclination. That guy is good.”
“He is. I wasn’t sure about him at first, but he seemed genuine when he was at Ivy House. He only wanted the best for you, and he helped protect you. That wasn’t an act.”
“Yeah.”
He was quiet for a moment. Then he breathed out a sigh and said, “Brochan is right. Every fiber of my being is telling me to push away from all these extra people and join my family with just you and my pack. That we’d be enough to face this thing.”
“And your logic tells you?”
“That if we do it that way, we’ll all die.”
“That’s why you called in Kingsley when Kinsella came,” I said, finally understanding.
“I wasn’t thinking about it at the time, but probably, yes. Call in family when things get too big to handle.”