Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up #4) - K.F. Breene Page 0,126

the magical world. My people would have to live with that, or they could leave.

“Jessie, how can I help?” Sebastian asked as he neared me.

“Can you heal?”

“No. Not without a camping stove, pot, and potion ingredients.”

“Then just rest. I’ll handle it.”

A roar ripped through the battlefield, and the basajaun literally drop-kicked someone over the edge of the hill, their body somersaulting through the air before it landed awkwardly and rolled away.

He stuck up his hand, not turning. “Last one, Miss Jessie. He tried to stab me. Vengeance was necessary. It is done.”

I just blinked at him for a second. I didn’t miss Kingsley’s tiny smile before it morphed back into his hard alpha frown. Shaking my head, I got to work.

A few hours later, Austin pulled up to Ivy House and I just sat in the passenger seat, exhausted in a way I hadn’t known I could be. There had been a lot of people to heal. A lot. Each took energy. Some had required a lot of energy.

“I’m pissed Kinsella took off,” I said, not lifting my head off the headrest. “He left all his people to fight and die for him, and he just left? What kind of a coward is that?”

“Mages aren’t usually on the front line,” Sebastian said from the back seat. The basajaun hadn’t come back with us. He’d decided to head back to his mountain through the trees. I suspected he wanted to see if he could track down any escapees and deal with them how he saw fit.

Gargoyles landed on the front grass, the night cloaking them. Cyra and Hollace followed, the night showing off their respective flames and lightning. The police would probably get a few calls of unidentified animals flying through the night sky, but Austin’s inside guy would hopefully handle it. The rest of my people had already landed, Edgar having been carried (it would be an incredibly long flight as a swarm of insects).

“You were,” I commented as Austin got out of the Jeep.

“I wasn’t doing it for myself,” Sebastian said. “I was doing it for you. Difference. I’m a peon, and you’re a gargoyle, so we aren’t breaking any stereotypes. In case that might bother you.”

I smiled, happy he was okay. “Can you stay a little while? For tea or a beer or something?”

“Sure. I’m too tired to walk home right now, anyway.”

Austin stopped next to me and, before I realized what he was doing, lifted me into his arms.

“I’m not hurt,” I told him, though I didn’t try to escape his arms. I didn’t want to.

“You’re more powerful than those spear guns,” he murmured, his voice low and still full of pride.

I leaned my head against his shoulder. “I guess so.”

“Are we thinking dinner or a snack?” Mr. Tom asked as Austin walked me to the door, having just shifted back to human.

“We’re thinking ye need to cover yer bollocks,” Niamh said. “They’re down around yer ankles.”

“It is an awful burden to have your company always forced upon us.” Mr. Tom sniffed as he followed Austin and me indoors.

“I’m starving,” I told Mr. Tom.

“Perfect. I shall prepare something and alert you when it’s ready. Austin Steele, will your brother be joining us?”

“No. He’s going straight back to my house. Sebastian, follow us.”

Austin took me back to my smaller, mostly private sitting room and situated me on his lap. It wasn’t strictly the most professional setup, but I didn’t care to fix it.

“You were magnificent today,” he said as Sebastian detoured through the kitchen, apparently thinking he needed to take the long way and give us a moment. “I’m glad you stood up to my brother. I would have done things differently, but you need to stick up for what you believe in. I respect that.”

“You did do things differently. I saw your guys help a few of the wounded into that good night.”

Austin trailed his lips along my jaw. “It was your fight, but it happened in my territory, so…bygones? They were calling us filthy names.”

I closed my eyes, soaking in the feel of his lips against my skin. “That’s what I figured. I didn’t try very hard to save the surly ones.”

“You saved a good few mercenaries.”

“Yeah, well, they were just doing a job. Niamh said that if I saved their lives, they wouldn’t ever take a job against me again.”

“They won’t, especially since a good few of them want to join our territory.”

“Our territory?”

He touched my chin and gently applied pressure until my lips were