Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
I put my hand on my hip and allowed myself a smile, shrugging a little. “Thank you for saying that. I still see all the faults, and I don’t like that I missed shielding some of our people, but thank you.”
“Hey, guys.” Nessa bounded up, a little blood spattered on her face and her smile radiant. “Helluva battle, huh? I think it went well, and look—naked party! There’s a lot of really fine backsides here.” She winked at Tristan.
“Austin, Jessie.” Sebastian walked up, looking relieved. “Crap, sorry. Alpha, I meant. Alphazzz, whatever. Anyway, that battle went best of all. The mages were decent at best, but we handled them well. How’d the situation with the gargoyles go?”
I knew what he was asking. Did this battle change any minds?
Time would tell.
THIRTY-TWO
Niamh
Niamh sat on her porch, rocking slowly back and forth. Her rocks sat in their little pile by her chair, ready in case any tourists might happen by. They’d stopped coming for a while as magical people flooded the area and made Dick and Jane visitors feel like outcasts, but now that news was spreading about Jessie, magical visitors were starting to come for a gawk.
She caught sight of the large shape coming down the sidewalk.
“What’s that feller up to, I wonder?” She reached down and grabbed the rock on top.
Gimerel was supposed to have left that morning. They’d hung on for a couple days after the mage battle just in case more were on the way. They’d passed it off as a desire to help Jessie out, but given the gossip in the bar, it seemed their leader was worried about getting attacked on the way out of here.
Their big lead enforcer drew closer, leaving the sidewalk and taking a route through the middle of the street, directly for Ivy House. His glowing, turbulent gaze met hers, a spark of a warning within.
“What is that now, a threat to mind me manners?” she called.
She chuckled a little to herself, let him get that much closer, stood, and threw. Her aim was true, of course. Any fool could throw a rock. The throw was hard, too.
He didn’t seem to notice, continuing on. It would clunk him right in the melon.
At the last moment, though, without even looking, his hand came up and snatched the rock out of midair.
That lad sure had a magical boost from whatever part of him wasn’t gargoyle. She had been racking her brain, tryin’ to figure out what else he could be, but so far coming up blank. Every time she tried to badger him, or manipulate him, or coax him into giving something away, he resisted admirably. He was a hard nut to crack. She was a little in awe, to be honest. She’d never met anyone quite like him.
It was also infuriatin’.
He turned his head to glare at her, pulled his hand out of the sky, and dropped the rock into his slacks pocket.
“Lucky catch, ya bastard,” she muttered, and damned if he didn’t smile like he’d heard her. “Ye’re gonna have dogs hunting ya if they ever find out what ye are,” she called after him as he stepped onto Ivy House soil.
“You’re going to be inundated with family if they ever find out where you are,” he called back as that gobshite Mr. Tom opened the front door.
“Will I, me arse,” she said, sitting back down. Her cousins were all scattered to the four winds. They didn’t have a care where she was or what she was up to, just like she didn’t wish to see them. Though if they did show up at her doorstep, they’d love the basajaunak concoction. That stuff was legendary. Assuming a body could get past the taste.
“Don’t mind her,” Mr. Tom told the gargoyle. “She has never been housebroken. What can I do for you?”
“I’m here to see the miss, if she’s available.”
“Right this way, please.” Mr. Tom opened the door wider to admit the gargoyle, who was probably here to tell Jess about another list of grievances his wanker of a boss planned to file.
Mr. Tom stood in the doorway after the gargoyle had passed and gave her a dirty look before shutting the door behind him.
After rocking for a while longer, Niamh felt curiosity get the better of her. She wanted to know why that lad had come here alone, and if the alphas would be running the whole cairn out of here when Austin found out they hadn’t left.
Jessie
I felt Tristan enter and then Mr. Tom head in my direction.
“What is it?” Naomi asked me. She held her computer, showing me a sample design for the billiard room while we stood in said billiard room. She’d thought it would help with visualization.
The gargoyles were leaving within the next couple of days—they were definitely dragging their feet about it—but the work on Ivy House continued. We had a long way to go.