Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up #4) - K.F. Breene Page 0,72

little more broken up than I’d expected to be.”

“Ah.” Surprisingly, Kingsley sat down next to me, legs crisscrossed. “I didn’t realize. I’m sorry. My kids are getting to about that age now.” He paused for a moment. “Since you are not a shifter, or in the pack, or even part of this territory, I wonder if I might be frank with you?”

“Ugh. I’m not sure I’m up for your criticism right now. Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

“No, I meant…can I be open about my own situation?”

“Oh sure, yeah. I didn’t realize you shouldn’t be. I don’t know the shifter rules.”

“Yes. That is apparent.” He glanced away, watching the quiet town. “I have a boy and a girl. They both have the makings of a good alpha, but my girl is…cutthroat. She’s a handful. She’ll leave first, I know she will. She is eager to start her life away from her parents’ guidance. I just want to hold on with everything I have. To keep her home, safe. Every time she takes my hand, I worry it will be the last.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks again, but this time I didn’t stop them. I nodded and clasped my hands so that I wouldn’t give in to the urge to pat his knee or shoulder and send him scurrying away. “It is hard, but as parents, that means we’ve done a good job. We’ve prepared them for the world and empowered them to find their own path.”

Five animals ran into the back woods of Ivy House. They were moving fast.

“Do you know what animal they are?” I asked Ivy House, only not really, because I’d just said it out loud, and she couldn’t hear me when I talked to her like that unless I was on the property.

“What?” Kingsley asked, sensing my change in mood immediately.

“Do you know what animals they are?” I asked Ivy House properly this time, using our connection.

“Wolves. Shifters. Friend or foe?” she answered, keyed up, I could tell.

“Crap.” I wobbled up onto my feet. “Crap, I’m drunk. I need to figure out how to heal drunk.” I staggered forward, wondering if drunk flying would be as dangerous as it sounded. “Five wolf shifters just ran onto Ivy House property.” I upped my speed, feeling like I was running a million miles an hour. Kingsley was barely jogging beside me. “I need to heal drunk. Get Niamh.”

“I’m not leaving you. Are they with Austin’s pack?”

“I wasn’t talking to you…” I tapped into my connection with Ivy House again. “Bring in Niamh and the others. What is Mr. Tom doing?”

“Preparing to call you.”

Austin was away to the south dealing with his own problems. I didn’t need him for anything other than identifying the pack members.

“Are they with Austin’s pack?” Kingsley asked again, a growl riding his words.

“I don’t know.” My phone rang, and I answered it on the run, the world jiggling around me. “Mr. Tom, hi, ask Niamh to bring in someone that can identify…” More shifters blipped onto my radar, behind the others, spreading out within the woods and coming our way. The intruders weren’t attacking Ivy House: they were cutting through the property to get into town.

There was not one person familiar with this town that would do something like that. Everyone knew better.

“They aren’t friendlies,” I said into the phone. “They can’t be. Mr. Tom, hang tight. Ivy House will bring in the others.”

Twenty-One

I handed the phone off to Kingsley. “Find Sebastian’s name and push it. I can’t look for it, run, and try to cure alcohol poisoning all at the same time.”

He did as he was tasked, and I focused on going faster, feeling those shifters eating up ground. I wanted to be on Ivy House soil before I had to use her defenses. Or offenses.

The phone was handed back.

“Hello?” Sebastian said, his voice crisp. Alert.

“Were you awake?”

“Yes. Are you drunk?”

“Very. Do you have something to help with that?”

“Yes. How quickly do you need it?”

“Now-ish.”

“Then no. What’s going on?”

“Someone is using Ivy House as a… Oh crap—” Something else burst onto my radar: the basajaun was following the shifters, and given his size and my current lack of speed, he’d get to them sooner than I would. I pulled the phone away from my face. “Kingsley, can you run faster than this while carrying me?”

“Yes.”

“Do it.” I staggered to a stop and put up my hands like a child. “Do it now! Head toward Ivy House.” I directed him down the correct street, just