Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up #4) - K.F. Breene Page 0,113

Austin told him.

“Sebastian—stop laughing—you stay too.” Jess looked behind her. “Make sure none of ours get hurt.”

“What about us?” Niamh called as Austin pulled the door open for Jess.

“We should go.” Cyra pushed her glasses farther up her nose with her pointer finger. “That man’s ego was very fragile. Jessie made him feel small—rightly so—and he will seek revenge. He seemed clueless. It would be best to surprise him with our—all of our—talents.”

“She has a valid point,” Austin said. Then he waited for Jess’s response, making sure Cyra saw that Jess had the final word in this crew. If there’d been a question on leadership, he’d just helped Cyra answer it.

“They have a lot of people, though,” she said, and concern bled through the link. “They have a lot of mages and who knows what else. Kingsley’s people are outnumbered.”

Austin huffed out a laugh. “But not even close to outmatched. We have a lot of shifters in the woods. He’ll be fine.”

She shrugged. “Okay, then. Let’s go back to Ivy House. I’m starving. I would’ve liked to try the food there. It’s a nice restaurant.”

“We’ll come back when the company is better.” He closed the door, and Sebastian appeared five feet away, putting an empty vial into his pocket.

“Any intelligent mage would pack it in and head out after that scene inside,” Sebastian said. “She gave him a show of her true power, and a smart mage would know when he was beaten. This mage is a moron, and Cyra is right: he has a fragile ego and will not think kindly on Jessie’s”—he shook with laughter, having a hard time getting the words out—“response.” He laughed harder and wiped his eyes. “Her response was so brazen it was comical. Mages and power players are usually subtle and sly to their enemy’s faces and then cunning and lethal behind their backs. Jessie just made him look like a chump!” He held his stomach and guffawed. “In front of all his people!”

“Is there a point?” Austin asked.

“Yes, sorry.” Sebastian wiped his eyes again. “Sorry! Yes. The point is…” He straightened up. “The point is that this mage will want to get even. You haven’t seen the last of him. If—when—they engage, make sure your shifters make your response a spectacle. The more brutal, the better. Most mages I know think like he does. Even I had no idea of your power. Of your types of power. To best protect Miss Ironheart, you should make a display my kind will think twice about before deciding to engage.”

Thirty-One

“What an absolute…” I huffed out a breath, trying to think of a swear big enough for Kinsella, and pushed back in my seat as Austin hit the gas and the car lurched forward. “Drive fast. I’m still really angry about the things that mage said about you. Lap dog…” My jaw ached from clenching it so hard. “He was clearly afraid of you. Who was he trying to fool? He was spitting in my eye, that’s what he was doing.”

Lust filtered through the link. Delight. Austin was responding to my possessiveness. He probably thought it was funny, like Sebastian did, but my God, when that idiot mage was so dismissive of Austin, it had set something off in me that I couldn’t hope to control. It was like a tidal wave of black rage had wiped out all my logical thinking and ability to reason. All I’d wanted to do was kill. If Sebastian hadn’t talked me around, I would’ve. It had been a very close call.

I looked at my incredibly handsome boyfriend in his slick suit, the red dash lights highlighting his cheekbones and shapely lips. Maybe it was time to ask the guys about mating as a female gargoyle. Ulric would know the scoop, and if he didn’t, he’d find out. I needed to know what was coming my way. This thing between Austin and me might blow over in a couple of days maybe, but…

I stopped that thought even as my heart surged, expanding until it filled my whole chest. My whole being. No one had ever supported me like Austin did. He’d always bent over backwards to accommodate me, to change his life to make mine easier, and he’d ignored that awful man’s slights tonight so I could keep the meeting peaceful if I wanted to. At one point, he would’ve even allowed that disgusting human being to wave him away from the table like he had that woman. Austin would’ve