Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up #4) - K.F. Breene Page 0,65

so I had more space. Once sitting, I picked up my drink.

“Today has been a shitshow. What did he mean, Niamh, ‘neither did she’? What don’t I know?”

“How much time have ye got?” she replied.

“Right. Great. You’re in one of those moods, are you?”

“Yes, I am. Go around the bar and get me a drink, won’t ya? I’d do it, but I don’t want to set that eejit off again.”

“I got it.” Austin sauntered around the bar, his T-shirt showing off his perfect upper body, his hair messy, like he’d just gotten out of bed. I soaked in his easy grace, the power in each movement.

“What don’t I know?” I asked him.

“As it concerns the magical world, I think it would take every night for the better part of a month to tackle that,” he teased, and though part of me was annoyed, a larger part welcomed his light tone. “No wine?”

“She’s going to get langers tonight, just ye wait,” Niamh said. “If she doesn’t have to be carried home, I haven’t done my job.”

“No.” I pointed at her. “No. A lovely buzz, then home.”

“Sure, yeah.” Niamh nodded dutifully.

Sir Stares-a-Lot studied each of us in turn, his eyes coming back to me the most, sticking for way too long. If he kept it up, I would either start squirming, or lose it and blast him off his stool.

Austin handed a Bud across the bar, and Sir Stares-a-Lot leaned forward to grab it. Next up, he finished pouring what was left in my bottle of beer, and backed me up with another. Niamh got two bottles of cider. For himself he poured a whiskey.

Austin came back around the bar, stopping behind me and reaching over me to put his drink next to mine. His smell stole over me—clean cotton, sweet spice, and a little sweat mixed in. Masculine. He pulled a chair over and settled onto it, his knee rubbing against mine. “Let them in, Jess.”

I tugged away the spells and opened the bar door. “I didn’t know it would’ve been okay to let them stay.”

“No, you did good. Kace submitted quickly. It calmed things down.”

Speaking of whom, Kace didn’t leave the bar. He took a seat at the other end, ripped shirt and all, quickly joined by two others. I hoped he wasn’t embarrassed.

“He’s fine,” Austin said softly, pushing my hair off my shoulder before grabbing his drink. “This isn’t like the Dick and Jane world. We’re all good now.”

“Hey, Miss Jessie, are you okay?” Ulric hustled over to us, his eyes lingering on Sir Stares-a-Lot for a moment before landing on Austin. “Alpha, everything okay?”

“Yes. Just a misunderstanding,” Austin said, transferring his glass to the other hand and resting his arm over the back of my chair.

Ulric pointed at me, needing the final say-so, and I gave him a thumbs-up. “You guys can go, if you want. Or…whatever you want to do.”

Ulric swung the finger to Sir Stares-a-Lot, a silent question for Austin, wondering about the danger level.

“Jess, Ulric, Niamh,” Austin said, “meet Kingsley, my brother.”

Nineteen

“Any fool could’ve seen that coming,” Niamh said, her ice cubes chasing each other around the glass.

I raised my hand. “Not this fool.”

Ulric stepped back, behind Sir Brother-Who-Stares-a-Lot, and gave me a sympathetic grimace before heading off to talk to the woman he’d called dibs on earlier.

“Kingsley, this is Jess, a good friend of mine,” Austin said. “And Niamh, part of the Ivy House crew.”

“Good to meet you both,” Kingsley said, but instead of shaking my hand, he kept up that unwavering stare. “This Ivy House—you mentioned it on the phone. We are helping you defend the heir. That is…”

I raised my hand.

“And you were…a Jane before all this, is that right? But somehow you’re now a female gargoyle?”

His expression didn’t change, but his tone conveyed his utter confusion.

Fair enough.

“Where did Ulric go? He likes telling stories,” I said.

Austin pulled his arm away from my chair and stood. “I’ll send him over. There’s some stuff I need to take care of, but I’ll head back in time to answer questions. Yes?”

“I can’t say this isn’t going to end badly for you,” I told him.

His smile was slight, but it was there. That was twice tonight. Maybe he’d bought another bit of time with his last outburst.

“Hey, real quick…” I hopped up and put a hand on his hard bicep, directing him away a little and reducing my voice. Shifters had excellent hearing, but he dipped his head closer anyway. “The flying-off-the-handle thing… How can