Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up #4) - K.F. Breene Page 0,40

asked me to, but she is the only person in the world I would allow to have that much control over me.”

“So if I tried that spell on you?”

“I would not stand still to fight it like I just did. I would fight it as I ripped your throat out.”

Sebastian shivered. “Jesus, you’re intense.” He draped his arms across his thighs. “She said you were in incredible pain. I couldn’t tell.”

“Thanks for the update.” Austin looked back at me. “What’s next?”

“Are all shifters this selfless?” Sebastian asked. “Allowing someone to magically experiment on them even though it causes them great pain? I assume this isn’t the first time you’ve done this.”

“To be an alpha is to sacrifice,” Austin replied. “If I can help Jess by undergoing something so trivial as pain, then it’s an easy decision.”

“Many shifters will tolerate a great deal to help their packs,” Niamh said. “Most successful alphas will sacrifice a great deal more, like he said. But only one in a million could endure the sort of magical treatment Jessie throws at this great lummox, and still he comes back for more. Some of the spells are brutal. Sometimes I wonder if he’s touched in the head.”

“That started out so promising,” Mr. Tom mused. “But I see you quickly slid back into your trough of bad manners and name-calling.”

“Ye are much too sensitive, ye donkey,” she replied.

“Yes, that’s the ticket, double down on the bad behavior. Fantastic. I do so enjoy your company.”

“Yer about’ta enjoy my foot up your hole in a minute.”

That crooked grin worked at Sebastian’s lips as he watched them argue.

“Right.” I took a deep breath and shook out my fingers. Now for the hard part. “While Edgar translates the next spell, I should probably work on tweaking this spell so I can use it for smaller stuff. Like knocking away your knife without taking away your ability to change. Or”—I snapped—“I know. It would be really good to quickly know what sort of dangers a person is hiding. This spell, if tweaked just a little, should be able to tell me that.”

Austin nodded and looked down at the knife. “I don’t have anywhere to put this at the moment. Maybe we should wait until Ulric is back with the sweats so I can hide it on my person?”

“Well…ye do have somewhere to put it. It just won’t be entirely comfortable.” Niamh’s eyes flicked down and then back up.

“I’m not going to make him put a knife up his keister, Niamh.” I rolled my eyes. “Okay. Sebastian, this would be a great time for you to instruct me so Austin doesn’t get hit with something ugly.”

“I want to see how you problem-solve. I don’t want to teach you spells; I want to teach you how to create spells. How to figure them out. You’ll be able to make your own, improve others’, and tear them down.”

“Give a man a trout, fill his belly for a night,” Edgar muttered, still looking at the book. “Teach a man about trout, fill him for a lifetime.”

“Something like that, sure.” Sebastian chuckled.

I dragged my teeth across my lip as I faced Austin again, his emotions expectant and patient, with a trickle of leftover heat worming through. The goal was not to hurt him, obviously. Instead of knocking away his weapons, I just wanted to see which ones he had. This was informational, that was all. And sure, I hadn’t waited for the sweats, and I could literally see what he was packing—all of it—but that shouldn’t matter.

“Here we go,” I said, breaking out in a sweat, reminding myself of the trickle of power I needed. That was it, just a trickle. Anything more would turn the spell into something dangerous.

Spell ready, I reduced the power a little more, just in case, and let fly.

The spell hit a magical wall three feet from Austin. Sparks fizzed and sputtered. Fire flared before purple smoke curled into the air.

“You were really going to let her hit you with that?” Sebastian said to Austin, awestruck. “She cannot control her power, she just made up an intricate spell, willy-nilly, and you were going to let her fry off patches of your skin?”

“Is that what it would’ve done?” I asked, aghast.

“He’s had worse,” Niamh murmured as Ulric jogged back toward us, sweats in hand.

“I thought you all were showboating. I didn’t think she’d actually do it. But clearly this is how she’s been training, huh?” Sebastian shook his head, looking down at his