Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
“The timing was…quite a coincidence,” he said slowly.
I leaned forward, knowing my expression was serious. “I hope you don’t think we planned that. Honestly, if I’d known something like that was coming, I wouldn’t have allowed any of the cairns to come in the first place. It wouldn’t have been the first time I warned potential allies of the danger following us.”
“I believe you. I think I speak for a lot of the gargoyles when I say that we got lucky the timing worked out.”
“Yeah.” I leaned back again. “You guys are crazy. Anyway, life in this territory won’t be fun and games. But if you want to join us, we’d love to have you.”
“Here we are.” Mr. Tom walked in much too quickly, his wings fluttering. “Yes, yes, yes-yes-yes-yes.” He stopped near Tristan, leaned over, and held out the tray carrying the coffee. “Here we go. It took a few tries to get it exactly right. I hope you don’t mind, but I altered the recipe just slightly. Try it and see if you like it.”
He tapped his foot as he waited for Tristan to take a sip, watching every movement. He’d clearly sampled the merchandise.
“Delicious,” Tristan said, gliding his tongue across his upper lip to dislodge some cream. “Many thanks.”
“Well.” Mr. Tom preened, bent his arm at the elbow, and tilted from side to side for some unknown reason. “Fantastic. I’ll just go find some cobwebs to clean. You let me know if you—”
He’d walked out while still talking.
“Ahem…” I held up a finger. “I should probably also warn you that my crew is…well, weird. They’re all pretty weird.”
“When trying to warn someone away, you might want to lead with that,” Tristan said.
Nelson was livid at Tristan’s resignation. He’d threatened to out his murky history, insisted he wouldn’t take him back after I inevitably ran my territory into the ground, and promised me he’d make my life a living hell.
The very next day, proof circulated of Nelson’s mishandling of his production cairns, embezzlement, abusive behavior, and even the murder of gargoyles who’d stood in the way of his securing better contracts. Nessa and Sebastian had been saving that little nugget for a rainy day, it seemed, and Patty had run with it.
We offered to take over their contracts, offering the production cairns a fair deal with a larger supply-and-demand chain, since we’d branch out into the world at large, not just stay within the gargoyle community. We took on Anthott, as well, who came to see Austin and me shortly after the battle. How that was possible?
Tristan’s defection had started a windfall.
A lot of guardians had been circling us, waiting for a nudge to take the risk and join us. Tristan was that nudge. He might’ve lost status because of his history, an arbitrary thing, but he was known for his battle prowess and levelheadedness. If he thought we were a good bet, a lot of other guardians weren’t about to say boo. He brought them on in droves, quickly and effortlessly working with Austin and me on how to best organize and manage them. He’d be Austin’s second beta, handling the gargoyles while Broken Sue handled the shifters, taking their orders from Austin and me.
I’d gotten my army.
Not just a gargoyle army, either.
The basajaun secretly going by Phil had turned into a sort of recruiter. He knew which of his people to talk into visiting, usually going for the ones around his and the basandere’s age, and once they were here, none of them wanted to leave. The basandere in charge of the wood was changing the feel of it, very slowly but diligently, and they liked the idea of starting fresh in a place with family. They liked the idea of building a wood of their own, that their parents had had no hand in.
Dave had brought two. Nine went to battle. Another ten came out shortly thereafter. We didn’t have them all, but we were gaining basajaunak allies.
The other great news was that Mr. Porsche, as Nessa called him, contacted me shortly after leaving. He apologized for the part he’d played at the end and asked if he might visit again. Maybe we could take a ride in the Bentley or have a BBQ at Ivy House.
He also offered his support in our upcoming battle to help Kingsley. Tristan said it was his way of offering his cairn’s friendship to us, and a huge step toward building our status.
I didn’t care about the status. I was absolutely giddy over his offer of help.
In mere weeks, we would head into Kingsley’s territory with real help. With hope.
In mere weeks, we’d head into the battle of our lives.
EPILOGUE
Niamh
“Ah here, we’ve got another one.” Niamh reached down next to her as a mousy woman in her late twenties walked along the sidewalk, looking at all the houses she passed. A navy bag crossed her body and hung at her hip, and her grip was tight on the strap. Rectangular glasses with thick black frames sat on her button nose, which was dusted by a smattering of freckles.