Chapter 3
Jessie
It was six months until the conclave, and we were all gearing up. That time would pass in a blink, I knew it would. It needed to go well, and to do that, preparation for it was so incredibly important.
I slipped on my muumuu as the sun was sinking toward the horizon. A sheen of sweat covered my limbs, and I still hadn’t totally caught my breath.
“Looking good, Jessie.” A newer guardian gave me a thumbs-up as he strolled by with a buddy. They both had long wings and big shoulders, and each held a muumuu. They were strong and fast fliers, like many of the gargoyles coming in by droves to join our team.
“Yeah, real strong.” The other guy nodded with a delighted grin.
“Thanks.” I tucked my hair behind my ears as Tristan met me at our clothes pile.
“How do you feel?” He slipped his muumuu on and started walking.
I shrugged and fell in step beside him. “Good. I think I have the flight pattern thing down.”
“You do. You look great up there.”
“The spells Sebastian has me learning are a little weak, though.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. They’ll be fine for most non-magicals, but they won’t get through a magical shield.”
Tristan nodded in understanding. “He’s preparing for the conclave right now. Neither he nor Nimah—nor Nessa, for that matter—think Momar will make a large-scale move just yet. They’ve all agreed he’ll want to get information first. Weaker spells are safer.”
That was definitely true. It just felt like a waste of time for what was to come.
Conclave first. Attacking mages after. We needed our army. Without it, we wouldn’t have enough power behind us.
I sighed. “What a crazy turn my life took, huh? I am trying to amass an army, Tristan. That is absolutely wild. Some days I can’t believe this is my life.”
“I hear that. I thought I would wander forever. Now I am trying to put down roots in a small town in the Sierra foothills and trust my life and the secrets of my past to a female gargoyle, her off-kilter team, and a little sprite who has stolen my heart.”
I lifted my eyebrows, knowing who he was talking about and surprised to hear him admit it.
He shrugged. “There’s no point in hiding it anymore, is there? You’ve offered me a life, and now, for the first time, I’m dreaming of a future.”
A wave of emotion overcame me. “Does she know?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly weary. “No. Nor do I know if she’ll ever give in to her feelings. Doesn’t matter if she does or she doesn’t. Hope is eternal.”
Tears pricked at my eyes. “Since when are you a poet?”
“I don’t think…that is all that poetic…?”
I laughed and hugged him. “We’re all going to get a happy ending, you’ll see. Just as soon as I’m back to exploding heads, we’ll be cooking with fire.”
“And other clichés and stuff.”
I laughed again and continued through the door. “There’s just one thing.”
“What’s that? Poetry lessons?”
“You never did tell me about your mysterious past.”
“Yeah.” He paused for a beat. “One day.”
“You know what they say…hope springs eternal.”
Mimi’s office area was empty. She was in the large back sitting room with Austin, Sue, Aljoe, and Aurora, organizing the invitations that would be sent out today.
I needed to meet up with them before I met Niamh at the bar.
She wanted to talk with Austin and me about something and scoffed when I suggested we do it here over dinner.
“Mind if I use a shower?” Tristan asked.
I headed for the stairs. “I told you that you don’t need to ask.”
“Mr. Tom always reminds me that a guest should ask permission to use the facilities.”
I sighed. “I’ll tell him you’re welcome anytime.”
“Why in the world would you spoil my fun?”
I rolled my eyes, smiling.
After a shower and with my hair still wet, I headed down to the others. Tristan had beaten me there, now drinking out of a white mug. Coffee, probably.
A table was pushed against the far wall with the extravagant, personalized invitations spread across them in various groups.
“You cannot hold grudges, Austin Barazza.” Mimi arched an eyebrow at him as they nailed down the final list of attendees. “You have heard several of these alphas talk dirty about you. You will need to treat them as if they didn’t.”
“You’re going to single me out?” Austin pointed at Aljoe. “He’s had people talk badly about him for longer.”
“That was out of jealousy. He should flaunt that. You earned the rumors.”
I laughed, leaning against Austin’s back as he spread his hands. “I’m not still earning them, though.”
She pursed her lips. “That remains to be seen.”
Aljoe’s eyes twinkled. “It’s a pity our packs were so far away from each other. They would’ve gotten along well, I think. It’s a shame you didn’t know my dad, Naomi.”
She flicked a glance at him but didn’t comment.
Aurora had told me that Mimi had lost her shit when she heard who’d joined our team—who’d be living within Ivy House.
She had been beside herself, surprised and delighted and giddy to meet a legend in the flesh.
I hadn’t noticed any of this, even though I’d been standing right there.
Then, another time, Aljoe had complimented Mimi on how absolutely incredible Ivy House was, each little detail adding to the extravagance of the whole and making it one of the most beautiful places he’d ever stepped inside. Apparently she’d almost fainted.
Once again, she just looked the same ol’ grump to me.
Since then, though, she’d settled back into her job, which had grown exponentially.
She was now in charge of building up the territory, managing Austin’s various businesses, overseeing all the employees that workload required, and finishing the little bits of Ivy House that couldn’t wait until the visiting alphas had come and gone.
She didn’t bat an eye about any of this.
If she was stressed, she didn’t show it.
Then again, maybe she did and I just couldn’t tell.
“We’re set?” Austin touched a couple of the invitations before hovering his hand over a couple others in the nope pile. His indecision was plain.
“We’re at max.” Mimi stepped away. “If you want more shifters, you have to hold back some of the gargoyle invites.”
Austin let a breath out slowly. He pulled his hand away. It was important to balance the various magical types, and he knew it. This whole situation was a trial run, seeing if they could all work together. Seeing if they could put ego aside and form an alliance.
“Is the list still finalized for the gargoyles?” I looked over at Tristan.
Because this was an entirely different situation than a connection request, one that gargoyles wouldn’t be familiar with, Tristan had decided to call each individual cairn and explain the dangers.
“Yes,” he replied. “Every one of them wants to attend. We have backups as well if we want them.”
“Okay.” Austin stepped away. “That’s it, then. We’ll see if any of the shifters show up.”
“They’ll show up,” Aljoe and Mimi said together.
Aljoe inclined his head for Mimi to go on.
She nodded in thanks, and Aurora wrestled with a smile behind her back. There might’ve been another almost-faint just there.
“One of these hasn’t been done in decades,” Mimi said.
“I was at the last one and it was chaos. Mayhem. There were too many deaths to count. Challenges happened constantly. Constantly. The hosting pack didn’t have the resources to quell the aggression.
Most packs left early. Any sort of meaningful meetings were impossible. It was an utter failure.”
“Then…why would people show up this time?” I asked in confusion.
“Because they would’ve all heard stories about it, that’s why.
Because they don’t learn from history.” She paused.
“But also, because the packs who didn’t lose anyone raised eyebrows.
They were viewed as the best and strongest. Their alphas the smartest. I made a lot of connections from that conclave.
From those connections, I received life-changing help for my pack.
It was worth it for us, as rough as it was to make it through. ”
“How many did you lose?” Aljoe asked.
“One. He wasn’t where he should’ve been, and I didn’t notice until it was too late. I didn’t have the power to drag him out of trouble. We couldn’t get him healed in time to save him.”
Aljoe nodded gravely.
“And your pack?” I asked him.
His gaze flicked to me and then away. “None. My grandfather had several people get into trouble, but he did have the power to drag them back out. From what I’ve heard, that’s basically all he did the whole time.”
“He’d already been at the top level,” Mimi said. “He stayed there.”
“He did,” Aljoe confirmed. “And now he thinks Austin is a damn fool.” He grinned. “He’s mad at Austin for putting one on, and I’ve lost my mind for being part of it. He thinks the youth are making the same mistakes as their elders.”
“Little does he know,” Sue said, “that this one is going to have more magical types, which will make it ten times more dangerous.”
“Or ten times safer.” I lifted my eyebrows at him. “Most of the other magical types are already in our corner.”
“Which is why the basajaunak or gargoyles might decide any offense toward us is a grievous one and try to kill someone for it,” he replied.
There was that.
My stomach churned in unease. Austin rubbed my back.
“We’ll be good,” he reassured me. “It’ll be like balancing on a knife’s edge, but we can handle it. We can manage.”
“We can.” Aljoe crossed his arms over his chest, his biceps popping. “I’ve seen you and Austin work miracles, and I’ve just come on board. Just like the convocation, no one else could make this work. You two are uniquely qualified. Where everyone else would fail, you will succeed.”
“That guy is so good at inspiring confidence,” I murmured a while later as we walked down the street toward Austin’s bar downtown. The warm evening air brought the scent of flowers on a soft breeze. “He says a thing and you can’t help but believe him.”
Austin entwined his fingers with mine. The others would meet us there, Tristan staying behind with Aljoe to talk about something to do with the gargoyles.