She studied him a moment, eyes narrowed, as if trying to decide whether to burden him with her issues.
“Wait.” He held up a finger, then rose and crossed the kitchen to a pile of papers Fred kept there for safekeeping. At the bottom was the little kid’s diary Mr. Tom had started for Jessie.
He slid it out and grabbed a pen from the junk drawer that was heavily organized. Clearly, no one lived in this house long enough to accrue the sort of junk that should live in that drawer.
Jessie snorted when she saw what he’d grabbed.
Back in the chair, he twisted the key in the metallic lock and popped it open. On a blank page, he positioned himself and prepared to write.
“Okay, fire away.” He held up his finger again, his expression utterly serious. “Don’t pepper in your hopes and dreams. It is my duty to make those up for you.”
She blurted out a laugh, easing a little tension. Then she sighed, breaking down. He had learned that she rarely asked for help when she needed it.
Still, she hesitated, a crease forming between her brows. Her thoughts must’ve been jumbled.
“Start with the first issue,” he instructed.
“These alphas we’re about to meet—” She took a deep breath. “Drex warned us they’re rough and tumble. They are all powerful, and they’ve all had to fight off attacks from other shifters trying to take their territory. They might be compelled to challenge.”
“Austin can handle them. Even if there are multiple attacks, he can handle them. He’s primed and ready for it. He’s in his element. And you’ve shown that you’re adept at breaking it up. You’ve both got this.”
“I know, and I’ve mostly made peace with that…but Drex is wondering if they might also challenge me.”
“Ah.” Tristan tapped his pen against the diary. That would be a great entry. His goal was to fill this little journal and give itto her so she could laugh at it. “And you’re worried you’ll go too hard?”
She swallowed and then shrugged. “I can do some very serious damage now. You saw that skirmish with the mercenary and mage attack. That was me trying tomaim.”
He hadn’t seen her get challenged in an official capacity, but he’d heard about it. She’d been so incredibly vicious, apparently, and theatrical in her violence, that no one had ever challenged her again.
“Maybe just stick to the old spells,” he offered. “That’s easy enough, isn’t it? I do think it will help this convocation to show what you can really do. They are probably only thinking of challenging you because Drex told them what he saw with those mages. You need to be a part of Austin’s urban legend. You need to show them what you bring to the table, but also how terrifying mages are.”
She took another deep breath. “That’s true.”
“And it is a shifter challenge. For all they poo-poo how mages do things, they bake a lot of killing into their culture. If they challenge, that means that they know they could die. You won’t be at fault for killing them.” He shrugged. “They took the risk, and they have to accept the results. Austin had to harden himself to the mage culture. You’ll have to harden yourself to shifter culture.”
She put her elbows on the table and slumped over them. “Yeah.”
He gave her a moment to ponder that. “What else?”
“I had a bad dream about going after that rogue last night. Like maybe he was more powerful than Austin and I didn’t get there in time.”
Tristan pursed his lips in thought, deciding the best way to counteract that one. Her gargoyle had been giving her some great warnings of things to come on this trip. That was likelybecause of the connections she had with the basajaunak, but maybe not. Maybe it was another facet of her magic rising to the surface. She was probably worried the dream had been a premonition. He didn’t want to ask, though, in case she hadn’t thought of that.
So instead, he went for reassurance.
“Austin fought and killed a phoenix. He’s more than just powerful. He’s got a strong will and unstoppable motivation. Even if this shifter is stronger—even if he is better in every respect—Austin is a hard man to kill. Before this shifter could manage, you’d feel Austin’s pain or hear him, and you’d show up to play hero. Austin would hang on until you did. You two are a team. Ain’t no shifter strong enough to tear you two apart.”
She smiled at him gratefully. “Yeah,” she said softly.
“Next?” He made akeep it movinggesture. “I need to write down all these thoughts and dreams before we go.”
She put out her hands expressively, her eyebrows raised. “We’re three days late in meeting Evan from Nikken.” She tugged her ponytail in frustration.
Austin walked in wearing a white, button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. The top few buttons were undone, showing his chest. His slacks had the top button undone. He also didn’t wear shoes. This wasn’t like the meeting that Kingsley arranged. He wasn’t trying to show his control and decorum. For this meeting, he was ready to rumble.
Shivers washed over Tristan. He sincerely hoped one of their betas wanted to play, as well. Tristan never got challenged at these things despite his not-very-subtle taunting.
“I realize he said it was fine when I called him to explain, but I’d wanted to make a good impression. Being late is not it. And we’re not even sure if we can get out of here tomorrow. Mr. Tom is having some problems with the transportation since we missed our initial reservation.”
