Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Tristan got within a few feet of the ground and let go. The man staggered toward Austin before he got his bearings. It was a nice touch.
Austin reached out for me, moving me so I was partially behind him. I knew it wasn’t only for my safety—it was shifter language to show this shifter that I was his mate and he’d protect me with his life.
“Is your pack the one that’s been attacking us these last couple of weeks?” Austin asked the shifter.
The shifter’s jaw clenched. He didn’t plan to answer.
Austin’s face was granite. He shook his head slowly. “You don’t want to play the silence game with this pack. We’ll split your mind. It’s a fate worse than death.”
Austin’s glance at Tristan was barely perceptible. Swirls of Tristan’s nightmare magic washed over me, slithering along my skin. The shifter’s chest rose and fell rapidly. More gargoyles flew in, this group likely coming from town. Shifters started to show up, too, running out of the trees.
“What is this?” the enemy asked through his teeth. “What unnatural magic does this pack possess?”
I couldn’t help chuckling. He thought this was unnatural magic? Tristan wasn’t laying it on very thick, and this was nothing compared to the power I could unleash with a similar sort of spell.
“This is the Dusky Ridge Convocation,” Austin said, “not only housing our shifter pack, but the Ivy House heir and her crew. Your alpha didn’t do his homework. Now, I will ask you one more time, and then I will let my mate consume you with magic. Has it been your pack—”
“Yes,” the shifter ground out. “We’d heard rumors of magical creatures, but your territory is so new that my alpha presumed the stories were invented by your big brother to help keep your territory in one piece. We didn’t encounter any of those magical creatures when we first attacked, so my alpha figured we’d guessed right.”
Austin closed the distance and got right in his face. “Look at how many have died here today. Look at them!”
“I know how many have died,” the shifter spat back. “They were my pack. You’ve killed them all.”
“You surrounded me and endangered my mate, trying to take the pack like a bunch of cowards. You’re damn right I killed them all. Let that be a lesson for anyone who tries again. Spread the word.”
“To whom? There’s no one left,” he said, angry.
“To the next pack you slither to. Your people, those who lost family today and need somewhere to go, are welcome here. You are not. If I see you again, I’ll kill you.”
The man stared at Austin for one beat, just long enough for a rush of fire to light Austin up from the potential challenge, before dropping his gaze.
“Convocation?” he said. “That’s what you’re calling yourself?”
“We’re greater than a shifter pack. We have some of the oldest magic in the world within our territory, some of the best and most powerful mages, along with gargoyle guardians and supernatural beings out of legend. What else would we call ourselves?”
He shook his head and spat to the side. “I’d heard stories about Kingsley’s little brother before all this. No one thought they were true.”
“And now you know different. Shift and make for the nearest territory crossing. You’ll have gargoyles keeping track of you. They’ll kill you if you stray. Got it?”
“Yeah,” he grunted.
Austin looked at Tristan again, handing over the reins, before turning. He kept his body between me and the retreating shifter, more silent shifter language that I didn’t exactly understand. I’d have to ask him about it once things calmed down.
He walked me back into the winery, then picked up my clothes and handed them off.
“It’s a waste,” he finally said as we both got dressed. “Killing shifters is not what we should be doing.”
Broken Sue ran into the area in his gorilla form. He must’ve driven because he didn’t look sweaty or out of breath for running.
Austin paused before striding to the side door and pulling it open.
“Organize our shifters,” he told Broken Sue. “Let’s round up the bodies. We’ll need to get them back home for a proper burial. Don’t let the basajaunak get too extreme. If you can’t back them off, let me know. Dave should know the drill, though. Tristan has the gargoyles under control.”
Broken Sue grunted and got to work.
“Then why did you do it?” I asked, returning to our conversation. “I know you wanted to make a statement, but why did you go to such an extreme if you thought it was a waste?”
He shook his head. “They gave me no choice. Their pack crossed the line. They strategically tried to get us alone so they could kill us and take the pack. They knew the punishment for failure would be death. Any shifter would.”