Chapter 27 #2
His questions were direct and intelligent, and his follow-up questions were insightful.
He wanted to know how much money Austin had pumped into it and how much it had grown.
How much Ivy House did, and our plans for the future.
Our goals of more housing and more production cairns widened his eyes, as did the current house prices, the rate at which businesses were being proposed to the city council, and how many people were currently a part of the territory.
Things started looking grim when he tried to break down our various duties, however.
I could feel myself shrinking before his eyes.
When it was all laid out, I didn’t do much.
Austin led the shifters, created their fighting plans, and protected the borders.
Tristan managed the gargoyles. I looked after the Ivy House crew, which was only comprised of a dozen or less people and they didn’t follow orders unless we were in a battle.
I did magic, sure, but I didn’t use it to protect the territory or in the day-to-day.
I didn’t even control the basajaunak, since Dave or his mom led them.
Hell, Ivy House could handle her own grounds.
It finally boiled down to his needing clarification.
“And so, what is it that…” Evan squinted, choosing his words carefully.
“What would you say is the chief item you bring to the table within your territory, Jessie?” He put out his hand.
“I know you are an outstanding asset in battle.
I saw the footage from the raid against Gimerel.
As shaky as the camera people were on their phones, your prowess with magic is exemplary.
You are a huge asset in battle, no question.
But when it comes to daily life in a territory, what would you say—“
“She’s the glue,” Tristan said, cutting in from his place by the wall. “She’s the backbone. She’s the person who is deeply in touch with the well-being of the people.”
“She’s the heart,” Sue said, anger lining his tone.
He was feeling protective. “She’s the reason Alpha Steele can push so hard, and demand so much.
People go above and beyond for her. To protect her.
To please her. Because they know she does it for them.
She accomplishes the intangible part of being a leader, which is such a struggle for so many, and that is creating a community.
Creating a family. She has bonded our territory better than any alpha or cairn leader I’ve seen.
She’s brought everyone together and keeps them unified. ”
Tristan cut in. “She’s only been magical for a year or so.
She’s only been in this position for the same amount of time, and she has had no grace period, no time to get her bearings, like you are doing.
She had no training, like Austin, Sue, and I have had.
Suddenly, she must create and lead a territory, create and lead an army, learn magic and unite the magical world…
all at the same time. While she does that, she buys businesses, learns how to run them, learns how to fly, and manages an obscene amount of power.
I realize you are asking about stability, and so I say this to you—you come into this cairn after someone has set it all up for you.
It’s a prosperous cairn that is running smoothly, and you hope to take over and gradually make your mark.
She has built her cairn from the ground up, and thankfully she has someone knowledgeable to help her do that, just like you’ve had someone knowledgeable help you.
What makes you so different from her? Neither of you have any past experience leading.
Why should you get handed status because of the cairn someone else setup, and she should not? ”
Evan’s eyebrows rose. My heart swelled to twice the normal size. I wiped away a tear at all their kind words.
“Food for thought.” Austin pulled his arm from behind me and stood, reaching down for my hand. Tristan stepped forward at the same time as Sue, ready to go.
My first inclination was to hesitate and smooth this over, but I’d tried that the first time with gargoyle cairn leaders, and it didn’t work out. It didn’t help even a little. So, I took Austin’s outstretched hand and gracefully stood, offering Evan a disarming smile.
“Thanks so much for the snacks. I look forward to dinner. Your home is beautiful. Truly a work of art.”
Evan stood with us, and so did Gerard.
“Tristan does have a very solid point about stepping in and being handed status for someone else’s work,” Gerard mused, following us. “I hadn’t thought about it like that—or at all, actually.” He clapped. “Anyway, where did that puca go? I might be able to sneak in one or two before dinner.”
At the front of the house, and after Gerard gave us a wave and headed off in another direction, Tristan made a subtle movement I couldn’t decipher.
“Sound proofing, Jess,” Austin murmured.
I nodded when it was done, covering the four of us as we headed to the last remaining van at the front of the property. Gargoyles lurked against the stone house, invisible to everyone but gargoyles, but surely felt by Austin. Our shifters were well trained in detecting presences.
“He was trying to be delicate,” Tristan said, his gaze scanning the surroundings.
“He wasn’t trying to offend you or say you weren’t valuable in the daily life of the territory, but he’s trying to figure out if it is wise to align with you.
He has very little room for error when taking over a cairn this prestigious.
Withor will be watching Evan’s every move, wanting to step back into his role, and so Evan has to be smart.
He’s not sure you’re a good play. I was simply…
helping him think a little more realistically about the situation. ”
“They were good points.” Austin reached the van first and pulled open the sliding black door, stepping back so Tristan and Sue could climb in first. “I wouldn’t have thought of them.”
“I’ve spent fifteen years studying gargoyles and cairn leaders,” Tristan said.
“I’ve had to manipulate a few from time-to-time.
Evan is one of the easier situations because he’s new, he’s green, and his rise to cairn leader isn’t usual.
He probably thinks it was too easy. And it was, made so by you.
He’ll be easier to impress because he won’t be inclined to stick to tradition.
But he’s still a gargoyle. He can’t be pushed into it, and if we try, he’ll dig in his heels, and it’ll be months or years before he’ll come around. ”
I climbed into the van, followed by Austin. He closed the door and the driver nodded, putting the van into drive.
“It was also a good speech by…Sue now, is it?” Tristan asked. “Are we officially switching all our names or what?”
Sue huffed. “Fred is working on John now, but yeah. I’m not lost, and I’m not broken.
Not anymore. I hurt, that’ll never go away, and I will always miss what I had, but…
it’s time to live again. My mate would’ve wanted me to keep living.
Indigo has really helped me work through things, if I must be sappy about it. ”
“Oh, yes, that is incredibly sappy—work through things,” Tristan said dryly. “I’m nearly bursting into tears here. Put all that emotion away, big guy.”
“You sound like Niamh.”
“Someone has to.”
Sue huffed again. “Becoming Sue made me official in this crew, both because it was the first foray into danger with everyone, and because it is weird. Now it fits.”
“It does fit the weird, that is true,” Tristan murmured.
“Anyway, Jessie, keep being you. Austin, you, too. I bet you got him thinking with that business proposal. He’ll probably want more information, but he’d be a fool not to entertain it.
I’ll step in as I need to. I’m respected among the guardians again, ever since the raid.
I have sway here. I’ll use it to help steer. ”
Austin nodded, taking my hand and entwining our fingers.
“He’s right, though.” I chewed my lip. “I’m so often a passenger with all this stuff. I don’t do all that much in the day-to-day.”
Sue’s hand covered my shoulder. “Did you not hear Tristan? You have an incredible amount on your plate. We don’t need you walking around playing mayor, and your time is not well spent opening businesses and learning how to operate them.
We need you learning your magic and training for battle.
After the threat is extinguished, then you can be an entrepreneur. Not before.”
“Not to mention I no longer have time to do those things, either,” Austin said. “Mimi is stepping into the managerial role. She’ll take over and that’ll be that. Even if I wanted a say, I won’t get one.”
Tristan chuckled. “Exactly. This is something Gerard understands and no one else seems to. He saw the battle. He knows what we’re up against. No one else does, and it is blinding them.”
“How do you think we can enlighten them?” Sue asked, pulling his hand away. I appreciated the gesture. He didn’t often use touch to connect with others.
“We’re going to train,” Tristan said, “and we’re going to dazzle them with a female gargoyle and how natural it feels with her leading.
We’re going to make the gargoyles beg to be included in our reindeer games, and we’re going to include the garhettes in our fun.
Evan won’t be able to stay practical for long.
He’s going to have to take a risk, and he probably already knows it.
That is the only way forward in a changing world.
We’re going to push him to it. And right now, Niamh is very likely working on that. ”
I sighed and leaned into Austin. “All she seems to do is needle people anymore.”
“She is prodding people who need it,” Tristan said. “Aggressive types. They respond well to these tactics. Or so I’m inclined to believe because it’s working.”
“She hardly glanced at John.” Sue shifted in his seat as the van pulled in front of a long two-story structure that lacked the architectural finesse of everywhere else.
This seemed like a late addition to the city, and I guessed it was to accommodate more guests.
Cheap and cheerful. “She stayed well away from him. She sized him up all right, but the moment he clued in that she was assessing him, she found somewhere else to be and something else to do. She knows what she’s about, even if the way she goes about it can be horribly annoying. ”
Tristan barked laughter as we climbed from the van. “Very.” He paused for a second as a gargoyle stepped forward from beside the door. “Why is that do you think? I’ve heard his story, and I know he’s a legend in the shifter community—or was, back in the day—but why would Niamh avoid him?”
Austin put his hands on his hips and turned away from the building, his eyes going distant.
“The guy is like a celebrity in the shifter world. The way he was able to hang onto his pack in the beginning is just shy of miraculous. The amount of times he was on death’s doorstep would make your balls shrivel up.
He ended up having to be an incredibly brutal alpha to maintain his position—incredibly brutal.
Tristan turning people inside-out kind of brutal, but some of those people were his family and friends.
His uncle’s people and his dad’s were all trying to pull the rug out from under him and assume control.
That territory and all the family’s holdings was—is—worth a fortune. ”
He paused for a second, the breeze ruffling his hair. The gargoyle who was clearly trying to lead us to our quarters waited in confusion a few feet away. He probably wondered why our lips were moving but he couldn’t hear any sound.
“I really feel for that guy. I see what my life could’ve been if I was older and felt used up, and it’s not a pretty realization.
I had the same realization when a broken alpha gorilla asked if he could squat in my territory.
” Austin showed Sue a small grin. “If I had to guess, I bet Niamh knows how fragile John’s situation is.
How likely he is to spook. Needling Sue kept Sue focused on her and distracted from his past.” He looked at Sue.
“I assume you’ve figured that out by now? ”
Sue grunted in acknowledgement.
Austin nodded. “She clearly doesn’t think she’s what John needs.”
“Needs for what?” I asked.
Austin pulled his lips to the side in thought. “I don’t know, exactly. To hang around, maybe.”
“Would he be helpful to your organization if he were to join?” Tristan asked.
Both Austin and Sue blew out breaths, Austin with a sardonic grin.
“Without doubt,” Austin said. “Coming back from perceived death would just make him more of a legend. I would love to see Armendale’s face when he found out.
” He lost his humor. “But he’s been through hell.
I knew who he was when he burst out of those trees, but my offer stayed the same.
He needs a community. He needs peace. We’ve built a safe harbor for people, and I will stand by that. Anything else is up to him.”
Tristan nodded like a riddle had just been solved. “Niamh’s giving you guys room to be altruistic until she can find an angle. Then she’ll move in, just you watch.”