Chapter 24
Jessie
I walked down the hallway on the ground floor, two days after the conclave was officially over.
“Hello, miss.” Mable, one of the garhettes that had been helping us through the conclave, stopped in front of me in the hallway outside the kitchen.
She wore her blonde hair piled on top of her head in a messy ponytail, and a purple muumuu with leggings underneath. She’d decided that was her uniform.
Given there were so many purple muumuus coming and going around here, it kinda made sense.
I still wore mine from the morning’s training, even though we were sliding into midafternoon.
I’d had to meet Sebastian at his house to try to convince him that Ivy House was sorry about trying to drag him out the other day (even though she wasn’t), and she’d agreed not to do it again (she hadn’t).
Also that, yes, she would stop having the dolls follow him around, threatening to drag him out again (I’d have to intervene on this one—she thought that was a hilarious joke).
He warily agreed to meet me in the library soon to start poring over and cataloging all the books, but adamantly refused to go back to work in the crystal room. He’d moved his camping stove to his backyard.
Nessa and Aurora had gone back to that house, too, it having been vacated when the—widely believed to be very successful—conclave officially ended.
We hadn’t brought in everyone, and we needed to extend invites to those who hadn’t attended, but we’d increased the convocation exponentially with both gargoyles and especially shifters.
We’d done it. We’d unified. More importantly, Austin had changed his stars.
He’d gone from a troubled youth and the center of petty rumors in the alpha network to the king of the mountain.
Now when he spoke, people listened, and it wasn’t just the generational alphas.
It wasn’t just the original alphas, who’d basically claimed him as theirs despite his upbringing.
He’d bridged the gap between shifter types, with Kingsley’s help.
He’d unified his kind (mostly), and he’d done it with a good heart and well-intentioned plans.
As far as the basajaunak, the Elder had decided to stay for a while, praising Dave for following his stars so long ago. They’d move onto his mountain with open access to the Ivy House wood and Edgar’s flowers. Dave had imposed strict rules on how and when to scare hikers.
Edgar was thrilled. He was planning extensive improvements to his flower sections, as he called them, away from Mimi’s prying eyes. Basically, he’d probably plant way too many, and since it was in gnome country, no one really cared.
We still hadn’t gotten a hit on his and Nessa’s setup leading to those magical attack flowers. That was likely because of all the commotion and chaos within the territory. Edgar said to just be patient. Terrible things came to those who waited.
When dealing with Momar, that seemed like a universal truth.
“Hi, Mable,” I replied. “How are you?”
“I’m great, thanks!” She beamed at me, always in a good mood.
“I wanted to ask you about our continuing to help you at Ivy House. Because, you know, Sue has decided to stay on, that poor dear.” She tsked at me, her eyes going sorrowful.
“His family is here now. His people. There’s no point in him going home to an empty house. ”
Even though his house had been occupied by enforcers and vacated before the conclave was officially over, he’d been slow to leave.
The garhettes, being mind readers, had realized that he didn’t really want to.
Given the garhettes were also the pushiest and most stubborn group of women alive, they’d taken it on themselves to convince him to stay. It hadn’t been hard.
“And, you know, Aljoe doesn’t plan to leave,” Mable went on. “And then there are his sisters, who will be visiting him often. We’ll have to put them up. Especially”—her eyes twinkled—“you know who…”
I frowned. “Who?”
She gave me a secret smile and leaned in a little. “Seems like there’s a mutual attraction between a certain alpha’s sister and a certain alpha-beta.”
Alpha-beta was the new term for actual alphas who took up a “beta” role in the convocation. A shifter had come up with it to describe Sue, because shifters could not let the power thing go within a hierarchy, and it had caught on. Well…not with the gargoyles, who didn’t much care.
“Wait…” I smiled at her in glee. I’d seen Nina give Sue some hard, long looks when she thought no one was noticing, but I hadn’t realized the attraction was mutual. “Did he say something?”
Mable looked up and down the hall, stepping closer.
“He’s not here,” I told her in hushed tones.
All the alpha-betas were meeting with Austin about expanding their strategies to be able to incorporate shifters and basajaunak better.
Tristan had devised something for the gargoyles, and now they’d need to do so for the other magical types.
Eventually, hopefully, also mages. We just had to find some.
So far, the summons I’d sent in Evan’s cairn hadn’t produced any results.
“They got to talking on the phone before she came for the conclave, and they apparently hit it off. He’s been…veering to talk to her.” Mable gave me a knowing look.
“I don’t know what that means.”
“You know…like…he’s not going out of his way or anything, but if she’s on the way, if a little to the side, he’ll veer toward her.”
Semantics. I nodded.
Mable went on, “It seems like having his family in a permanent location has grounded him, somewhat. Maybe released him a little? He mentioned to me that it’s a weight off that Ivy House will look after them in case something happens to him.
That their memory will live on after he’s gone.
His burden has…not been lifted, we’ll say, but shared.
It’s not so heavy anymore. That’s what I think, anyway.
And then bam, a beautiful alpha with power and smarts?
The legendary Yazanth’s sister? Who finds him attractive and is interested?
” She nodded adamantly. “Check all the boxes and give me a yes, please!”
I laughed in delight. “That’s fantastic!
She is really smart and good at small talk.
He’ll need that, because he doesn’t talk much.
And she can read his body language—a plus.
And they’re both alphas who’ve led packs, so they have that in common.
” My heart swelled. “I hope they at least find joy in each other, if nothing else. A steppingstone for him, maybe. And I know Aljoe wants her to find companionship. She’s never really committed to anyone. ”
Mable nodded adamantly again. “So anyway, I foresee her visiting Aljoe a lot.” She crossed her fingers. “And then Sebastian stays a lot—or did, before the doll incident.”
“He’ll be back.” He loved that crystal room. He just needed to get over the trauma of being dragged out by cackling dolls (I didn’t even know they could cackle, and it had freaked me out, too).
“Right. And Nessa stays sometimes, even though now she might find her way over to Tristan, instead.”
My whole body glowed this time. They’d sorted out their differences, and I’d never seen Nessa happier, or Tristan smugger.
Any time they were in the same room, touching or not, talking to each other or not, each’s attention was wholly on the other.
You could feel it, like a tangible thing.
Their games hadn’t stopped, either, or their taunting of each other.
It was just that now, they also cuddled into each other and shared lingering kisses.
“And you know, various alphas and cairn leaders will come for meetings,” Mable said. “They’ll need somewhere to stay, not to mention any guests. Mimi is still here—”
“What is this about me?” Mimi strolled up the hallway.
“I was just saying to Jessie that Vera and I should probably stay on to help with all the people that come and go around here.”
“Oh.” I sagged a little. “Uh…”
Mr. Tom would kill me if I said yes. He hated having help, for whatever asinine reason.
But the thing was…the two garhettes were so pleasant, and such great cooks—when they weren’t physically wrestled out of the kitchen by Mr. Tom—and always bustling about, taking care of things.
Obviously Mr. Tom did those things, too, but Mable was right—with all these extra people and their eating needs and laundry…
It was a lot for one person to handle, no matter how diligent. He really could use some extra hands.
Mimi stared at me expectantly, brows slightly raised. That meant she’d cause trouble if I didn’t say yes.
It was only logical. It really was. It was just a little help.
“Maybe just…one of you?” I hazarded.
“Fine.” Mimi nodded at Mable. “You can handle the house. Vera will help me with various things I need now that I do a lot more managerial duties for the businesses.”
“Oh…” I felt like I should argue, but it wasn’t easy when I was pinned by Mimi’s hard gaze. I bowed in defeat. “Okay, but that’s on you. Actually, it’s all on you. You can explain it to Mr. Tom.”
“Of course.” Mimi continued on her way. She was incredibly efficient, that woman.
Mable beamed at me and then hurried down the hall toward the kitchen.
Good thing Mr. Tom was at the store. I’d need to maybe go to a movie or something to be out of here by the time he got back and heard the news. My afternoon was supposed to be free.
As I climbed the stairs to my room, needing a shower, my phone vibrated. I waited until I was in my room before I pulled it out of my backpack. The call was from Tristan. The phone vibrated again.
“Hey,” I answered. “What’s up?”
“Jessie.” Tristan’s tone was hard but wary. “I’m not supposed to call you…for your own wellbeing. Austin’s orders. But you wouldn’t want him to make this decision on his own. I do listen, some of the time.”