“It’s okay. Take it down.”
I shook my head at the lion, my mouth turned down in frustrated unease. I lifted my eyebrows, still incredulous, and debated not listening to Austin. I could takethisone down and then put up an invisible one instead, just in case. It wouldn’t be as strong, but it would give us a little buffer if this beast lunged, which he very much looked like he wanted to do.
“We can read your every thought, Jessie,” Broken Sue said. He’d clearly changed back into his human form. The shifters around us were doing the same.
“Bring down the gargoyles and have them shift,” Austin told me.
“I think this is madness,” I muttered, hesitating there, too. My worry got the better of me, and I addressed the lion. “This is my world”—I pointed at Austin— “and I will not tolerate a threat to him. If you try to harm him, I will kill you before you can reach him. Gruesomely, I might add. It’ll be gross. We’re here to help you. We don’t want trouble. Don’t make me hurt you.”
Now the lion was staring at me, the force of his gaze incredibly unsettling. It was hard to keep looking him in the eye. My instincts said to apologize and lower my gaze.
Threat delivered but unsure if it was properly received, I took a deep breath and sent a pulse to the gargoyles to bring them to the ground. That done, after another pause, I tore down thespells containing the lion. I was happy we were going to a cairn next because I was getting tired of all this shifter hostility and posturing.
“There,” I said, releasing a breath. I debated whether to keep my hands raised in case I needed to quickly fire a spell.
The lion didn’t move. His gaze was rooted on me now. Austin kept silent, apparently letting the lion assess. The ball was in his court.
Feet hit the ground as the gargoyles landed, and I heard the sound of boulders, which meant they’d shifted.
The lion backed up. There was a bright flare of light and a wave of heat, and a man stood where the lion had been. He straightened from a crouch. He was about ten years older than Austin and me, pushing fifty, with salt and pepper black hair. Scars marked his chiseled body. He was slightly leaner than Austin, probably from a lack of food, but just as in-shape. He was probably six feet tall, maybe a smidge taller. Hard hazel eyes assessed us from an incredibly striking face. Age had not stolen any of this man’s beauty.
He didn’t speak for a minute, and everyone in the clearing silently waited for someone to speak first. I glanced at Austin, figuring it wasn’t me but making sure just in case.
“Since when do shifters work with mages?” the man finally said.
“Since I mated a female gargoyle and she pulled mages into our territory,” Austin answered.
“That would explain the gargoyles, then. There’s a cairn not terribly far away.”
“Yes, we’re on the way there. We heard about a powerful rogue that couldn’t find a place to settle, as is often the case with people like you. Like me. I was one myself, once. I finally settled in a Dick town.”
“I tried that,” the man said ruefully. “I got tired of fighting for the privilege.”
“I didn’t,” Austin stated simply. “Your sisters said you were dead.”
I looked at Austin in confusion. I didn’t realize he knew who this guy was.
“Exiled,” the man said without emotion. “What do you want?”
“Nothing.” Austin lifted his hands. “I came to offer you a place to settle, if you’d like. A community where you won’t be bothered. If you didn’t take anything from your former pack, we can help you get started.”
“I have no interest in challenging into a pack.”
“We don’t run a pack, firstly, and second, you don’t need to. We still have some Dicks and Janes in the territory, as well as all manner of creatures. Gargoyles and shifters, as you see here, a couple mages and hopefully more, some legendary creatures, and anything that shows up besides. We are a mix of magical types, and only those interested in joining the convocation challenge in. Everyone else lives and works and minds their own business. I’d ask only that you follow the territory rules and keep things peaceful. Other than that, your life is your own.”
“Convocation?”
Austin briefly and simply described what that was and why. He went over why he took the alpha title and how we ended up here. When he was done, he said, “Our territory is dangerous, I won’t say it isn’t. It’ll probably get worse. But you’d be among those our convocation would protect.”
“And if I decide I want to join the pack down the road and help do the protecting?”
“Then you would challenge in, like everyone else. You’d work your way up the shifter portion of the convocation.”
“And if I decide I want to be an alpha again?” The man’s face was emotionless. “If I decide I want to take over?”
A warning shiver trickled down my back, but I tried to keep my wariness from showing on my face or through my body.
Austin matched his tone. “You couldn’t get out of the magical box my mate devised. Do you really want to try a forceful takeover and test her magic?” He paused for a moment. “But I’d be happy to take that challenge. Now or down the road, doesn’t matter to me. You already know the outcome.”
