Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up #4) - K.F. Breene Page 0,64

downcast, his body relaxed. He was yielding to Austin’s rage. To his dominance.

Austin leaned over him, face inches away, aggression plain but fingers not squeezing Kace’s windpipe. This wasn’t like last time at all. Austin wasn’t out of control, lost to the blackness. He was letting his rage send a message, but he wasn’t succumbing to it. He was proving the status quo, like Ulric had said.

I took my hand away and stepped back, thinking maybe I’d acted prematurely with the magical screen.

“Niamh, do I let people see this?” I shouted.

“Let the angry one by the door see it,” she replied. “Leave the rest out. They’re wreckin’ me head.”

Fair enough.

I ripped Sir-Stares-a-Lot’s inverted shield away, and he stepped forward, his own rage consuming him. He roared, not entirely human, and surged toward me.

A blistering spell was at my disposal immediately, muscle memory, ready to be unleashed.

Austin got there first, so fast that I startled. Pinning Kace one moment, he was in front of me the next, tucking me behind him and putting himself between me and the charge.

“Don’t release that, whatever it is, Jess,” Austin snarled, though his anger was not directed at me.

The other man slowed, perhaps sensing the change in the tide, or maybe he realized I had some ammo he didn’t want to mess with. Still, he was bristling with anger, power surging from him.

But Austin’s power was mightier. I could feel it vibrating through me, singing through my blood and electrifying my body. I touched his back, unable to help it, and leaned into his warmth, needing more. Lost to it and not sure why. Drowning in it but not wanting to come up for air.

“It’s done,” Austin said to the man savagely, reaching back and bracing me against him. “It’s done. Back down.”

“Are you in control?” the other man asked, and I wondered the same thing about him.

“Yes. Unless she’s harmed. Then it’ll be a problem.”

I took two fistfuls of Austin’s shirt and leaned against his strong back, feeling the play of muscle as he braced and altered his weight, not at all worried about what would happen, even though logic dictated that I should be worried.

“What is happening to me?” I asked myself, pushing away from Austin, struggling out from under his arm.

I stepped out from behind him, but his arm flared, creating a divider between me and Sir Stares-a-Lot, who did not tear his focus away from Austin.

“It’s fine.” I pushed at his arm. It didn’t budge.

Sir Stares-a-Lot nodded curtly, and his muscles relaxed little by little. Austin followed suit, as though they were doing the shifter equivalent of putting down their swords. Kace had stayed where Austin had left him, hunched a little, his eyes downcast.

“You can let everyone back in, Jess,” Austin said, and his arm loosened, dropping to his side.

“Wait.” Sir Stares-a-Lot’s focus was on me again. “What happened here?”

“Sit.” Austin jerked his head toward Niamh. “I’ll join you. There’s something I haven’t told you.”

Sir Stares-a-Lot nodded again, his gaze shrewd, and made his way toward Niamh.

“Me too, or…” I pointed at my chest.

Austin turned to face me, deliciously close. “Of course you. I don’t see any blood. Did you finally do it?”

My mood fell.

“Oops.” His smile was a welcome sight after all the hard faces. “I struck a nerve. Go sit. I’ll be right there.”

I made my way over, moving very slowly because I wasn’t in a hurry to sit so close to Sir Stares-a-Lot. One wrong word and I might incite some sort of riot. I glanced back, feeling Austin move toward Kace.

Austin stopped just in front of him, hands at his sides, giving the other man some breathing room this time.

“I apologize, alpha. I didn’t know,” Kace said.

“Neither does she,” Austin said. “For a long while, neither did I. You’re blameless. I should’ve gone about this differently, but…”

“I would’ve reacted the same way you did, alpha. Probably worse. Bad timing. It’s good to see you, sir.” Kace stuck out his hand.

Austin took it, and he pulled the other man in for a bro hug, with a chest bump and much beating each other on the backs.

“Do you eavesdrop on private moments often?” Sir Stares-a-Lot asked, and I realized I’d wandered a bit too close without realizing it. He was leaning away from me on his chair to avoid touching me.

I jerked my arm the other way, happy to follow suit. “Yeah, when it’s juicy stuff. Don’t you?”

I wrestled Faith’s chair away, then pulled mine out a little