Chapter 19
Jessie
“This is a show of weakness.” I let my head thunk against Austin’s shoulder. I’d hammered that shifter and then Sebastian with a lot of high-powered spells. They always required a lot of energy, but it was good practice. “I shouldn’t be carried home when my challenger is only limping into a house.”
“One challenger is limping, and that one had a mage protecting him from you.” Austin set her into the Jeep gently.
“The other challenger is being helped to the car by Nessa, and Tristan, who got in the way, is carrying Indigo like a toddler on his hip so that she can still touch him to heal him. I’d say you’re fine to be looked after by your less than concerned mate. ”
“Less than concerned?” I quirked an eyebrow at him.
“I’m not concerned that they’ll think you’re weak, but if they do, and try to make something of it, you’ll have me standing in the way. You’ve proved your worth. If they press, I will get to prove mine, and I’ll do so viciously.”
My heart swelled. I angled my head up for a kiss and he moved in slowly, cupping my face in his hands and touching his lips to mine.
“You were spectacular,” he murmured before deepening the kiss.
A wave of lightheadedness overcame me. I gripped his shoulders as my head got woozy.
“Let’s get you home.” He buckled me in. “Stop healing Sebastian. He can be tired for now. You’ve overdone it.”
I shouldn’t have, because I’d gone that hard in practice before. Then again, this was a much higher elevation. That probably had something to do with it. Also, I was defending against spells from Sebastian this time. Usually, I was just doing spells towards trees.
The Jeep started, and I closed my eyes. As it rolled forward, I heard Austin say, “She doesn’t have enough energy. Is it dire?”
He must’ve been talking to Sebastian, who then responded, “Sorry, I didn’t realize.”
“It’s fine,” I said, more quietly than I’d meant to.
“They just need a nap and some food,” Nessa called. “We’re good.”
The wind of the moving vehicle felt good against my heated cheeks.
“That shifter hadn’t a hope of standing up to me,” I said, eyes still closed. “When in gargoyle form, they’d be sitting ducks. When on the ground, they’d have to sneak up on me or come at me with numbers. The first wave of those numbers would die before they were able to bring me down.”
“And now they know.”
“Yeah.” I heaved a sigh. “We already did, but it’s been a while since I’ve made it that clear.”
“But you’re forgetting the garhettes. I’ve gotten reports that a great many are squeezing their way into our territory.
We need to start stockpiling weapons that they can use to level the playing field until we get more mages.
Those blaster guns work at a distance. Throwing knives, axes.
.. Hell, spears, I don’t know. They’re as fierce as the males but not so hardheaded.
They’ll be easier to train, and they’ll want to prove themselves, one and all. We need to use them.”
“True. I heard they showed well at Kingsley’s.”
“They did, and not just on the battlefield. They are also incredible for community and morale. We had to adjust to the gargoyles, but I think the garhettes will fit in easily.”
I nodded as the Jeep slowed to a stop, and the engine cut off.
“C’mon, let’s get you inside.”
I didn’t bother trying to get out, just sat there and waited for him to open my door, unbuckle me, and lift me into his arms. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I snuggled in close.
“Food or nap first?” he asked.
“Maybe a protein shake and then a nap. Later, I’ll want a victory bang where you do most of the work.”
He laughed quietly. “Already in the plans, love.”
“You need to bulk up,” Sebastian said on the right, “so you can carry me like he’s carrying her.”
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” Nessa replied.
Austin opened the door and carried me into our bedroom, where he laid me on our bed.
“Clothes on or off?” he asked. “Covers or no covers?”
“Just as I am is fine. I’ll be good in a while. Just need to give my body a chance to rest.”
“You need fuel. I’ll go make you a protein shake.”
“Thank you. I love you.”
He kissed my forehead before making his way out.
Nessa
“I’ll be nice and let you nap in my bed, so you don’t have to climb up to the top bunk.” Nessa pushed the front door open and marshalled Sabby through.
“I need food.”
“And I will make you food just as soon as I can stop babying you.”
“Just the table is fine for now,” Sebastian said, pointing toward the kitchen. “My brain is whirling. She’s gone after me with that level of power before. In the caves, remember?”
Austin paused in front of them. “Need help?”
“Nah, I’ve got it.” She gave him a salute. He nodded and went into the kitchen.
“No, I don’t remember,” Nessa told Sebastian, guiding him after Austin. “I was ineffectively hiding from a large gorilla and then being carried down to you like a sack of potatoes.”
“Oh, yeah, right.” Sebastian slouched against the edge of the table.
“Crap, I’m tired.” She helped him climb into the seat, and he slumped forward, arms out on the surface.
“Well, she’s always had more brute strength than me.
She hammered me and hammered me until she eventually incapacitated me. And then she let me live.”
Nessa nodded as she stopped behind Austin.
He was bent over, grabbing things out of the fridge.
She would’ve offered to make something for Jessie and let him get back to his alpha meeting, but she knew it would be a waste of time.
This shifter liked to take care of his mate, and cooking was his love language.
He not only wanted the duty, but he also loved providing her something she so obviously cherished.
Nessa’s heart glowed for them. Theirs was such a perfect, reciprocal love.
It was probably that, more than anything else, that kept peeling back Nessa’s reservations and letting her dare to hope there was someone out there who would treat her so well and with such devotion.
Someone she could fully trust and open up to.
Someone who wouldn’t judge her for her past and that would make her feel safe within that intimacy.
She’d never thought anyone out there could forgive her multitude of wrongs, but now…
“What are you making?” she asked Austin.
He put some spinach on the counter before straightening up. “Protein smoothie. Lady’s request. You?”
“A big omelet. It’s his favorite after he’s done too much magic.”
Austin grunted in acknowledgement before moving away. “Any surprises in making it?”
“Maybe.” She gave him a hoity one-shouldered shrug, lifting her nose into the air. “Not like I’ll tell you.”
He huffed with a grin and began prepping his ingredients.
She smiled, looking over at Sebastian for him to keep talking.
“Well, so she’s always had brute strength,” Sebastian said.
“I can manage for a while, but eventually—in close range, at least—her spells overcome me and would eventually kill me. But they don’t drain me as much because it’s basically blocking and casting, blocking and casting.
Her new spells, however, are not only powerful, but also incredibly complex.
The blocking is not as simple, and her defenses aren’t as straightforward.
It takes more energy to counteract one of her spells now.
It’s exhausting. And…” He propped up onto an elbow.
“The complexity of her spells is odd. Not like I’m used to. Like any mages are used to, I’d wager.”
“It’s those Ivy House books,” Nessa said, pulling out a cutting board. “They’re from a time lost.”
“Yeah.” Sebastian’s voice drifted away, obviously thinking that through.
Nessa chopped the ham and then pulled over a bell pepper.
The red of that reminded her of Tristan and the wound he’d taken in getting Sebastian to safety.
He hadn’t balked or even flinched. He certainly hadn’t backed away.
He took the pain and pulled Sebastian to safety without a moment’s hesitation.
He deserved a really chocolatey dessert.
“You should’ve seen the spells she did in that battle the other day,” Sebastian said, laying back down on the table. “They were hardcore. Like, I haven’t seen spells that grisly ever. Mages can be horrible, but they don’t dream up spells like that.”
“They would if they could, I bet,” Nessa said, taking the seeds out of the tomato. “The Guild would throw money at her for those spells.”
“Yeah,” Sebastian said again. “I’d wondered if they were outlawed. I mean, Nessa, they were that bad. Death on delivery. Boom! But according to her, mages don’t outlaw stuff, and she’s right.”
“Maybe not now.” Nessa sliced up the tomato. “But the Guild and mages as a whole weren’t always this corrupt and vicious. They weren’t always the bad guys. There have been times throughout history when they’ve regulated magic for the safety of the user.”
“Yeah,” Sebastian repeated.
Austin pulsed the blender before wiping his hands on a kitchen towel and dragging his phone from his pocket. He tapped it a few times before giving it to Sebastian.
“I thought Niamh would’ve shown you this,” he said, heading back to the blender. “She’s had her hands full, though. That’s a video from an onlooker at a pack we aided. It was right before we went to help you, actually. That day, Jess was trying out some of her Ivy House spells.”
Sebastian tapped the screen to play it. The sound had been turned off so Nessa couldn’t glean what was going on. That was, until Sebastian started reacting.
“Good God,” he whispered, his eyebrows pulling together. He leaned away from the phone, then leaned back in. “Holy hell.” He squinted an eye, his face screwing up in horrified humor. “Jesus…phew.” He flinched. “This is way worse than the other day. This is like a spoof horror movie or something.”
He put the phone in front of him before picking it up to watch it again. This time he’d analyze. Then he’d alter. Then he’d likely make something even deadlier but more effective in some way, reducing energy or hitting more people or who knew what.
“You definitely do not see spells like this anymore,” he murmured, stopping the playback for a moment and tilting his head in thought.
“We’ve seen a decline in overall magical power through the ages.
Meeting Jessie and learning about the books in Ivy House has made me realize this.
Jessie is the most powerful mage—or sorceress, whatever—in the world.
That we know of, obviously. I’m a close second, and then that team of twins Momar has is more powerful than me, maybe Jessie, when they work together.
In general, on average, we don’t see brute strength like Jessie, anymore.
And Tamara Ivy might’ve lost some power when transferring her magic to the house.
I can’t do the higher-level spells Jessie can do.
But to create actual books with those types of spells in them, they would’ve had many people who could. ”
Austin poured his concoction into a glass.
“There could be any number of reasons why the power level dwindled through the generations. Maybe it happened because of mage in-fighting—the powerful killing each other in political maneuvering or power plays. Not to mention the fact that the mages we’ve met haven’t been family-oriented people.
They seek money and power and don’t spend their time procreating. Not the powerful mages, anyway.”
Sebastian flared his eyebrows to concede those points.
Nessa had to say, the family dynamic aspect was certainly true.
Mage culture was more independent, each mage working toward riches and power and not so much toward building communities.
Not in the traditional sense, at any rate.
Obviously, some mages did settle down and have families, but the more powerful mages tended to pursue their interests, rather than family.
At least in this day and age. There was no saying what it was like in the past.
“Anyway, it doesn’t really matter,” Nessa said. “However it happened, very few people can use those Ivy House books.”
“Momar does happen to have a couple that probably could, though.” Sebastian sighed and laid his upper body down on the table again. “The moment they see what Jessie can do, they’ll want to know how. They’ll want those books.”
“Ivy House is a strong deterrent,” Austin said as he headed out of the kitchen with Jessie’s shake.
“Yes, but I was able to get people on those grounds undetected.”
There was a scuff in the hallway as Austin abruptly stopped.
“I did the research, and I figured it out,” Sebastian said.
“I devised a potion to hide from Ivy House. Momar has a few ingenious mages who made that thing at Kingsley’s.
Ivy House isn’t impenetrable, Austin. It would be a mistake to assume it is.
But even if they can’t get in to steal those books, if they see what is possible, they have an opportunity to devise something similar.
The question is, are they good enough? And after seeing what they did at Kingsley’s, I think the answer is probably yes, they are.
This battle we’re fighting might get a lot harder before the end. We’ll want to be prepared.”
“Which means we’ll want to pour through those books,” Nessa surmised.
“Pour through them and weed out our competition.”
They needed to focus on the mages, rather than on touring the packs.
They couldn’t study if they were constantly on the go.
Austin and Jessie might have to split up to see this through, something that had probably occurred to everyone earlier when Jessie had made that speech, and later when that alpha had agreed with her.
Austin would not like that one bit.