Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up #4) - K.F. Breene Page 0,50
direction, not far from the young man and easily able to rush in front of him if something were to happen.
“No, no,” Jess whispered, laughter in her voice. She plucked at Austin’s stupid shirt. “Wait.”
“I really don’t think—”
“It’s fine. I have a protective wall up. I’d singe every hair on that basajaun’s body. The smell would be terrible. But can’t you see? He’s doing his sneaky thing.” Her grin was evil. “Can’t you see him, slowly moving up through the trees?”
Austin could smell him, and he could feel him with Ivy House’s magic, but he couldn’t see anything but trees. No movement, no big, hairy body, nothing. He shook his head, continuing to look.
“Oh, right,” she murmured. “With Sebastian’s help, everything feels so second nature now. I just did that spell for finding dangerous things, and now I can see him, clear as day. Watch.” She looped her arm around his again.
“Got another one.” Jimmy straightened up and wiped his head. “This is tough. Good call on making them money eggs. Otherwise I don’t know that I’d keep going.”
“Why not?” Niamh called, near the house now. A sparkly pink egg caught the light from the grass a few feet away from her. She’d clearly thrown it after finding it, since Mr. Tom hadn’t made any eggs that easy to find. “This is good craic. We should do this more often.”
“If you followed Christianity, you’d go straight to hell,” Mr. Tom said, readying another mimosa. Jess’s was getting low.
“Shows what ye know, now doesn’t it? Ye don’t go to hell until ye die. I’d have a lovely, long life being perfectly wicked, and then I’d head down under and pull on the devil’s whiskers.”
“Down Under is Australia.”
“Same difference. Hot as the bejesus.”
“Look,” Jess whispered. “The basajaun wiggled a branch. Just one. Jimmy didn’t even notice.”
Jimmy sure didn’t. If this were a dangerous situation, he wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Are there more over here?” Jimmy called.
“Another branch,” Jess said. “A bigger one.”
“I heard it,” Austin said. The branches were scratching each other, the leaves rattling.
“Just one more to find before you look for the golden egg, Master Jimmy,” Mr. Tom called. “It’s hidden over there somewhere. Or maybe a little closer to the woods.”
Jimmy took a big step over a tightly packed bunch of flowers and then stopped abruptly, looking down between them. The basajaun pushed forward, put out his hands, opened his great mouth, showing his large teeth and longer canines, and softly growled.
Jimmy’s head snapped up. His body tensed. The large wicker basket in his hand dropped and plastic eggs tumbled out.
“Mom!” Jimmy yelled, back-pedaling over the flowers, crushing them under his feet. “Help! Mom!”
“Oh no! My flowers!” Edgar darted from the hedge maze.
The basajaun straightened up, all nine feet of him, and roared, filling the space with his mighty frame before he bent forward. Jimmy, face white and eyes wide, raced for his mother and ducked behind her.
Niamh cackled from beside the house.
“Now, that’s not funny,” Mr. Tom called. “The poor master will have nightmares. I feel guilty for the part I played, however almost innocently.”
The basajaun’s roar turned into hearty chuckles. He shook with them, bending over his knees and shaking his head. “Did you see his face?” The basajaun’s laughter increased in pitch. “Did you see his face?”
Jess turned to comfort her son as the basajaun finished laughing and straightened again, his gaze coming to rest on Austin, not Jess.
“Alpha. Per our agreement, I must tell you that a band of shifters was in the process of crossing my mountain when I returned from my family reunion in the Redwoods. They were headed in this direction, though they were not hurrying. The most powerful of them traveled at the front until they crossed my scent. He then altered their course and repositioned his people so that he was always closest to my scent. I watched from high in a sycamore tree. He respected my claim and removed his people from my territory in the fastest way possible. He does not owe me blood.”
“What did he look like, the one in lead?” Austin asked.
“A great tiger, strong and fierce.” The basajaun scratched his chest. “This one would give me trouble. Not the sort of trouble you would give me, but nearly.”
Adrenaline flooded Austin. He should have known his brother would show up a day early and sneak in through the back door. He’d want to test Austin’s territory borders. He’d want to see what resistance stood in the way.