“Ah.” Fred bobbed her upper body with an affirmative. “I was about to ask.” She went back to her task. “Because Niamh is very good at getting revenge, and she goes about it in such a calculated way that it is neither scary nor horrifying. Eventually I’m sure reality will slap me in the face, but by then, maybe I won’t care.”
I toggled my hand, a mere spectator in this conversation so far. I needed some caffeine or a snack or something to get back some energy.
“When you find out what these people are capable of,” I said, “you certainly won’t care as much as you might think. But I’m still not comfortable with half the things we’ve been doing lately.”
“You’re softer than me,” Fred said without preamble. “With more morals. I think that bodes well for my mental health, don’t you?”
How was I still the most squeamish one in this group when we had a Jane thathadn’tacclimated to a violent animal like mine? It defied logic.
“Okay.” Nessa got everyone’s attention. She studied the heaps of food on all available surfaces. “Let’s get this food distributed. Boys, you’ll be the runners. Here we go.”
Sebastian hadn’t looked away from Fred. “Niamh is going to help me get revenge, yes. So are you. So is Jessie and Austin. By tearing down that organization, and Momar’s with it, that is allthe revenge I need. Putting up a better organization in its place, one fair for all magical people,that’show I heal.”
“And also,” Nessa said, “everyone who laid a hand on him, and who ordered it done, are already very dead in the most painful way we could imagine.”
“Well, yeah, and that,” Sebastian murmured.
10
Jessie
Once the extrafood was delivered to the other houses, raising interest in what we were having, Nessa and Austin started collaborating on a meal that would take much too long for my level of hungry.
“Seriously, I can’t wait,” I said, holding my growling stomach. “Lasagna takes a long time, especially with Austin making pasta from scratch, and I am starving.”
“Excuse me!” Nessa gave me a hoity expression. “I will also make pasta from scratch. You could’ve picked another dish to be your favorite since there is no way this is it.”
Austin smirked at me. “This is Jess trying to be fair to our competition while also knowing we can make large batches and feed others.”
“How is she being fair?” Sebastian asked.
“Because she thinks lasagna isfine,” Austin said. “She neither loves nor hates it. For that reason, I’ve never made it for her. Tristan, before you help Fred, can you run down and ask Mr. Tom to make us some sandwiches to tide us over? He’ll beall too pleased. Also, tell him that we’re making enough lasagna to act as a side for dinner tonight. I’ll get some steaks and tri-tip marinating, but if he could start working on some salads and prime some potatoes and things like that, that would greatly help.”
I smiled at Austin. “See? Now this is perfect. He gets to help without being a nuisance, you guys get your challenge, everyone gets to participate in the voting, and we get lunch rather than all passing out waiting for your perfection to manifest into cheesy goodness.”
“Voila!” Fred said without looking up, and kissed the tips of her fingers.
“Nessa, you can use that oven.” Austin pointed at it. “It won’t fit all four of our lasagnas. That’s what we’re doing, right? Two each?”
“Yep,” she replied.
“Feel free to set the temperature. I’ll use the oven in one of the other houses.”
“Cool.” Nessa stepped back from her carefully organized ingredients for a moment. “Let’s do this.”
After Tristan had delivered the message to Mr. Tom, Fred said, “Tristan, you’re tall. C’mere and help me.” She grabbed the satellite portion of the setup and motioned him toward the front door.
Sebastian moved seats so that he could face the kitchen, and we settled in to watch them work.
Tristan
“That’ll do, thanks.”Fred gave Tristan a thumbs up while looking at the satellite, a mostly flat, rectangular device they’d attached to a long pole. He’d had to work that pole into the hard packed earth, driving it down deep enough that any wind that kicked up wouldn’t knock it down.
They’d only need it for a short while. They couldn’t stay here long—they still had to get to the Nikken cairn to meet that new leader. Then Austin had a few smaller but influential packs he wanted to hit before he tackled one of the larger, prestigious, long-established packs whose alpha dominated the collective brain of the shifters. That alpha likely wouldn’t agree to work under Austin’s tutelage, but that meeting and the probable standoff between the two would go a long way to showcase Austin’s power and organization. It was necessary to finally put the rumors to rest.
It was time for Austin Steele to flex, and Tristan could not wait to see the reactions he got, or for them to pick on Jessie. She would rock their world.
Tristan nodded and held out his hand for his shirt. Mr. Tom should’ve been here with sandwiches by now. He was starving.
