Chapter 16
Tristan
Two days later, Tristan slowed the Jeep as he noticed Fred in the middle of the road. She was walking toward the houses they were all staying in at the end of the cul-de-sac. She had a flowery reusable shopping bag looped around her shoulder, but it didn’t seem to have much in it.
He pulled up beside her and matched her speed. “Need a ride?”
She glanced over like she hadn’t heard the Jeep approaching. “Oh, hey,” she said, recognition lighting her expression. She kept walking. “How goes it?”
“Good. Need a ride?”
“No. I’m just going…” She pointed at the houses at the end of the street. “I’m almost there. Thanks, though. Nice day, huh?”
He glanced up at the partly cloudy sky. The heat seemed to boost the humidity to almost unbearable proportions. He wasn’t used to it. Fred clearly had no problems.
“Doing a little shopping?” he asked with a grin.
“Nah.” She looked at the bag. “I was wandering around downtown for a little exercise and this nice lady in the flower shop insisted I take this bag to hold my computer. I’ve found it is very hard to argue with these people.
They’re extremely pushy in their kindness, you know?
They don’t take no for an answer. I like it as much as I hate it, I think.
I mean…I like it, I’m not Satan, but it also kinda weighs on you, you know?
Now I feel like I owe her something because I took her bag. ”
He chuckled. There was something so fun and refreshing in her eccentricities. He found no end of amusement in her.
“You should buy one of her flowers,” She suggested.
“I can’t! I can’t run fast enough to get away after paying for things.
Yesterday, I bought a burrito and tried to pay and got that push back I was talking about.
So, I smiled and nodded and laid the money on the counter.
The man pushed it back, so I tried to explain that I’m not really part of this pack thing, that I’m a Jane, and so I would rather pay for it.
I pushed it toward him, he pushed it back.
I slid it at him again, and he tried to push it back, but I’d already turned around and started running.
Well.” She stopped and faced Tristan angrily.
“He ran after me, right out of the store, caught me down the street, smiled at me and curled my fingers around the money. Then he patted me on the back and asked if I needed a hand carrying anything. That man is eighty years old!” she hollered.
“How can I feel good about myself when I can’t pay for things, I can’t be as nice as they are, and I can’t even outrun an octogenarian! ”
She shook her head and started walking again.
“When are we leaving, anyway?” she asked. “I can’t stand the niceness.”
“Maybe you are Satan.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she muttered. “What a thing to find out about yourself, right? I like the rude, surly Irishwoman better than salt of the earth, heartfelt, lovely people.”
He laughed. “Well, it’s a good thing you are employed by the former, then. The alphas have the meeting with the original alphas in an hour. If that goes well, we can leave as early as tomorrow, I think. Maybe the next day depending on transportation.”
“And if it doesn’t go well?”
“Then there will probably be challenges and Jessie and Indigo will probably want to hang around and make sure no one dies. But we shouldn’t have to stay too much longer.”
Fred nodded and trudged on. He figured that was his cue to leave her alone.
She and Niamh had had their heads down a lot lately, working closely with Sebastian and Natasha on the information they’d gathered from Tilda and the other mages.
They were a solid team, but they were still way behind Momar.
They had a lot to figure out about his operations, motivations, and goals before they could start going after him directly.
He parked the Jeep and then let himself into the alphas’ house. Mr. Tom bustled by holding a stack of folded laundry. He didn’t pay Tristan any attention.
Jessie sat at the table wearing a flowing pink dress and no shoes.
Shifters dressed like that when attending a meeting where there might be an unexpected challenge or an attack.
It let them get out of their clothes and into their animal as quickly as possible.
She held a steaming mug of coffee, and her shoulders were tight with anxiety.
“You okay?” Tristan asked, dropping the Jeep keys onto the table.
She gave him a half-smile. “Yeah.” She didn’t elaborate, which meant she had multiple things on her mind.
He pulled out a chair and took a seat across from her. “What’s going on?”
She studied him a moment, eyes narrowed, as if trying to decide whether to burden him with her issues.
“Wait.” He held up a finger, then rose and crossed the kitchen to a pile of papers Fred kept there for safekeeping. At the bottom was the little kid’s diary Mr. Tom had started for Jessie.
He slid it out and grabbed a pen from the junk drawer that was heavily organized. Clearly, no one lived in this house long enough to accrue the sort of junk that should live in that drawer.
Jessie snorted when she saw what he’d grabbed.
Back in the chair, he twisted the key in the metallic lock and popped it open. On a blank page, he positioned himself and prepared to write.
“Okay, fire away.” He held up his finger again, his expression utterly serious. “Don’t pepper in your hopes and dreams. It is my duty to make those up for you.”
She blurted out a laugh, easing a little tension. Then she sighed, breaking down. He had learned that she rarely asked for help when she needed it.
Still, she hesitated, a crease forming between her brows. Her thoughts must’ve been jumbled.
“Start with the first issue,” he instructed.
“These alphas we’re about to meet—” She took a deep breath. “Drex warned us they’re rough and tumble. They are all powerful, and they’ve all had to fight off attacks from other shifters trying to take their territory. They might be compelled to challenge.”
“Austin can handle them. Even if there are multiple attacks, he can handle them. He’s primed and ready for it. He’s in his element. And you’ve shown that you’re adept at breaking it up. You’ve both got this.”
“I know, and I’ve mostly made peace with that…but Drex is wondering if they might also challenge me.”
“Ah.” Tristan tapped his pen against the diary. That would be a great entry. His goal was to fill this little journal and give it to her so she could laugh at it. “And you’re worried you’ll go too hard?”
She swallowed and then shrugged. “I can do some very serious damage now. You saw that skirmish with the mercenary and mage attack. That was me trying to maim.”
He hadn’t seen her get challenged in an official capacity, but he’d heard about it. She’d been so incredibly vicious, apparently, and theatrical in her violence, that no one had ever challenged her again.
“Maybe just stick to the old spells,” he offered.
“That’s easy enough, isn’t it? I do think it will help this convocation to show what you can really do.
They are probably only thinking of challenging you because Drex told them what he saw with those mages.
You need to be a part of Austin’s urban legend.
You need to show them what you bring to the table, but also how terrifying mages are. ”
She took another deep breath. “That’s true.”
“And it is a shifter challenge. For all they poo-poo how mages do things, they bake a lot of killing into their culture. If they challenge, that means that they know they could die. You won’t be at fault for killing them.
” He shrugged. “They took the risk, and they have to accept the results. Austin had to harden himself to the mage culture. You’ll have to harden yourself to shifter culture. ”
She put her elbows on the table and slumped over them. “Yeah.”
He gave her a moment to ponder that. “What else?”
“I had a bad dream about going after that rogue last night. Like maybe he was more powerful than Austin and I didn’t get there in time.”
Tristan pursed his lips in thought, deciding the best way to counteract that one.
Her gargoyle had been giving her some great warnings of things to come on this trip.
That was likely because of the connections she had with the basajaunak, but maybe not.
Maybe it was another facet of her magic rising to the surface.
She was probably worried the dream had been a premonition.
He didn’t want to ask, though, in case she hadn’t thought of that.
So instead, he went for reassurance.
“Austin fought and killed a phoenix. He’s more than just powerful.
He’s got a strong will and unstoppable motivation.
Even if this shifter is stronger—even if he is better in every respect—Austin is a hard man to kill.
Before this shifter could manage, you’d feel Austin’s pain or hear him, and you’d show up to play hero.
Austin would hang on until you did. You two are a team.
Ain’t no shifter strong enough to tear you two apart. ”
She smiled at him gratefully. “Yeah,” she said softly.
“Next?” He made a keep it moving gesture. “I need to write down all these thoughts and dreams before we go.”
She put out her hands expressively, her eyebrows raised. “We’re three days late in meeting Evan from Nikken.” She tugged her ponytail in frustration.
Austin walked in wearing a white, button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. The top few buttons were undone, showing his chest. His slacks had the top button undone.
He also didn’t wear shoes. This wasn’t like the meeting that Kingsley arranged.
He wasn’t trying to show his control and decorum.
For this meeting, he was ready to rumble.
Shivers washed over Tristan. He sincerely hoped one of their betas wanted to play, as well. Tristan never got challenged at these things despite his not-very-subtle taunting.
“I realize he said it was fine when I called him to explain, but I’d wanted to make a good impression. Being late is not it. And we’re not even sure if we can get out of here tomorrow. Mr. Tom is having some problems with the transportation since we missed our initial reservation.”
Austin stopped behind her and ran his hands up her arms to her shoulders. He kneaded slowly, further draining away her tension.
“Actually, that’s why I’m here early,” Tristan said. “Gerard sent his own connection request to Evan. Patty called to let me know. Sorry, I should’ve led with that.”
“So, he’s going to take our slot or something?” Jessie asked in confusion.
Tristan shook his head. “Apparently, Gerard has kept tabs on you since he helped us with the battle at Kingsley’s.
You gave them a taste of what they were meant for, being a battle species, and he doesn’t want to be left out of the next fight.
I think he cares about that more than joining the convocation.
” Tristan chuckled. “Anyway, when he heard you’d sent Evan a connection request, he sent one of his own.
Obviously, there is no way Evan would turn Gerard down, since Gerard is one of the other three top cairns.
Gerard needs a week or so to get there, and Evan needs to prepare for another leader, so we have a little buffer. ”
“Oh.” The breath gushed out of Jessie followed by a relieved smile. “That’s great news! For meeting the cairns, at least.” She leaned her head back against Austin and looked up at him. “What does that mean for your plans?”
He gazed at her for a quiet moment, drinking her in, Tristan knew. He ran his thumb along the edge of her jaw and his eyes softened. Her smile turned serene. He didn’t need words to make his love for her known. Tristan needed to take notes.
“I’m good,” he finally said. “I’ll make it work. Rather than hang around here, though, maybe we can swing by and check out that rogue. It’s not all that far away from our destination. I’m curious about him, not to mention I feel sorry for him.”
Her brows pinched together, but she didn’t comment.
He bent to kiss her forehead, a comforting gesture. “No one is going to take me down, baby, I promise. Not in”—he glanced at the oven clock— “half an hour, and not when I meet that rogue. I got this.”
Tristan had the utmost faith that Austin did. When Austin was the one being challenged, anyway. He wondered how Austin would handle it when an alpha challenged Jessie, something that might happen very soon. He couldn’t imagine the big man would take it lightly.
Then again, in the world of shifters, he also didn’t have much choice. And if she wanted to lead, neither did she.