“Do ya me arse,” she responded. They bickered at each other like they’d been doing it for years. “Ye don’t know yer head from yer foot.”
“I will help you get situated,” the resident gargoyle said as the ranks of shifters and gargoyles broke.
Aurora threaded through everyone to him. “Alph—John. Sorry. That’ll take some getting used to. I thought maybe you’d want to hear about the trouble in the shifter world right now,the attack on my dad’s pack, and maybe how Jessie tends to run things. I forgot how structured you had to be in your time. This must be quite a shock.”
Structured. A nice way of saying brutal, culling trouble at a moment’s notice so that it didn’t grow and take him down. The early years had been nothing but, and in the later years he had to keep up pretenses or else people would think he’d gone soft and push harder.
He shook his head at the closed door. “Does that sort of thing happen all the time?”
Her eyes glittered with humor, but she didn’t let it reach her expression. “You have no idea.”
“And the alphas don’t react at all? I realize most packs don’t have to adhere to the level of structure I had to, but I’ve never heard of a pack so…” He shook his head, at a loss for words.
“Alpha Steele runs his people one way, and Jessie… Well, if you’re willing, let’s go get a coffee somewhere and I can explain.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, his mind whirling. He was prepared for different, given all the creatures in this convocation, but notthisdifferent.
“Let’s go to wherever that puca goes,” he finally said. “I want to see if she starts a fight.”
27
Jessie
“Tristan, great to see you again!”Gerard put his hand out for Tristan to shake with a big smile. “I heard about the raid on Gimerel. Wow! Talk about leveling up, huh? You put the heat on that cairn. They are still reeling. They’re losing guardians left and right. You gotta show me some of that setup so we’re prepared to fight with you next time.”
Tristan smiled politely at him. “Of course. I’ve devised a pretty seamless system that can expand with more people or reduce to just a small team. It makes things safer, while being easy to integrate other guardians.”
Gerard blew out a breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “Intense.” He put his hand on Tristan’s shoulder and faced Evan. “This gargoyle right here”—he pointed at Tristan— “is a genius. He’s the best there is.” He looked at me. “You got lucky to snap him up. I’m telling you.”
“I think I’m the lucky one, actually,” Tristan said humbly. “I didn’t level up on my own. I followed Alpha Steele’s exemplary leadership and pack structure, and I get to battle and train witha female gargoyle. She connects and organizes us all with magic, so I can much more easily do my job.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember that connection.” Gerard put his hands on his hips. “That was excellent. The battle was terrible, truly awful, but you can’t help feeling alive during stuff like that.”
“You are a battle species, after all,” Austin said, his hand resting on the small of my back.
“Yeah, we definitely are.” Gerard nodded.
“Thank you again for coming to visit.” Evan smiled at me. “And thank you for the service you did for my family in helping my cousin. It showed what a caring person you really are.”
“Don’t believe any of those rumors from her first connection meet-up.” Gerard shook his head at Evan. “They didn’t even give her a chance at that meeting. It was over before it even began, and then the others had to lick their wounds. I mean…” He indicated Tristan. “Gimerel’s best walked away from a cushy post and took a place in what he must’ve thought at the time was a risky venture. That’s how well she showed, and they crapped all over her.”
He did a raspberry and waved it away.
Evan smiled but didn’t comment. He’d be making up his own mind. Hopefully, that mind would be open.
“Please.” He stepped aside and gestured toward the house. “Come through. I have us setup in the drawing room.”
The interior of the house was dimly lit and strangely hushed, like sound didn’t travel very far. Colorful light bounced around the front room from the stained-glass windows. We walked into the main hall where a vaulted ceiling arched over us, supported by ribbed columns. In the center of the large space stood a round table with a polished black top. Showcased on the table was a sculpture I recognized from Ivy House. While very pretty and probably expensive, given the gold inlaid in the stone, it wasn’t priceless, unlike some of the other pieces in that house. It hadn’tmade the cut into the art room that Mimi had set up. Clearly, Tristan thought it would be better used for this purpose.
Given it was on display in a prominent place in this gorgeous house, he’d been correct.
“You outdid me.” Gerard paused at the sculpture, narrowing his eyes at me. “This is classyandexpensive. I can never seem to get the two together.”
“I beg to differ,” Tristan said, following us with the other guardians. “The Porsche you gave Jessie was expensive and very classy. I love that car.”
Gerard shrugged. “I’ll take it, though it definitely isn’t classy like this.”
Evan paused to admire the sculpture. “It’s stunning. Every time I pass it, I’m riveted. The gold could be fake and the stone cheap, and I’d still stop and stare at it. The design, a flame in a breeze swirling with gold, is entrancing. The artistry is excellent.” He shook himself out of his daze, his eyes shining as he looked at me. “It’s perfect. You’ve pinpointed my love of art.”
