Page 44 of Magical Midlife Conclave

Delight in his attentiveness and flirtatious interest subtly rang through her body, something most people would miss within her usual stoic demeanor. Sue wouldn’t. Nina would have to up her game, too, unless she wanted this shifter to know all her embarrassing little secrets. She wasn’t one to fawn over a potential suitor.

“No, not at all,” she said cordially, her tone even. “Thank you for asking.”

His dark eyes lingered for a moment, assessing. Was that reciprocal interest? Or maybe just receptive to the possibility. He was a strong, handsome man, and she was an equally powerful, beautiful woman, or so most people thought. With their roles, past and present, they’d have a lot in common. Maybe Nina could finally coax Sue into a little more fun in his life.

“We’re now in the cone of silence,” Jessie said. “Try not to advertise your talking, but for the most part, we should be fine. An update: I’m still monitoring connections. The person is working their way out of the territory on foot. Our people can barely feel this person’s passing. If we weren’t watching, they would slip in and out unfelt. They must be steering clear of our people.”

“There is no way to steer clear of us to that magnitude,” Austin replied. “I think the problem is, they don’t feel dangerous. Not like a shifter or gargoyle.”

“Even Nessa tipped us off,” Sue said.

“We should use Fred to test,” Sebastian said.

“Yeah, I’m in.” Fred put up a thumb. “I am ready for action. Put me in, Coach.”

“We saw this in Kingsley’s territory,” Sebastian said. “Same playbook. This is a person who excels at gathering information. They’ll be decently strong in magic themselves, and clearly they are armed with magic even Jessie and I can’t match in power level. They’ll be good at avoiding detection, and as we’ve seen, good at getting out of the way if things go wrong. What were they after?”

“Agnes, the town witch, is right there,” Austin said.

“Agnes?” Sebastian shook his head. “What does she have that Momar might want? Not magic. I’ve spoken to her a few times—had a look around her…store. It’s pretty generic stuff. Low level.”

“You can’t think of anything in there that Momar might want?” Austin asked him.

Sebastian shook his head slowly, thinking before answering. In the end, he shrugged. “No. She doesn’t even have anything on Ivy House. Maybe he thinks there’s something in there worth looking for, but he’ll come up empty. I’m sure of it.”

“This person that they sent in,” Aljoe said. “Are they expendable?”

“Not in the way you’re thinking,” Sebastian said. “They weren’t sent here to die. They’ll be good at their job and trained appropriately. No, they are after something specific here, and they sent in someone they thought could get the job done.”

“They would have to break in to an establishment to get that,” Austin said. “Right?”

They turned down the street to Ivy House. Something gave an inarticulate yell. A shape moved in the darkness.

Everyone stopped. Sebastian put up his hands and stepped in front of Austin like he was actually the resident alpha. Austin didn’t react other than to step back, out of the way.

Aljoe’s sisters widened their eyes at Aljoe, surprised Austin would so easily allow someone else to usurp his power. They didn’t understand this place. They couldn’t know that by allowing Sebastian to seamlessly do his job, Austin saved lives.

Visiting shifters wouldn’t understand, either. That sort of behavior would invite challenges at the conclave.

Jessie stepped forward too, the two mages side by side.

Something flailed in the middle of the street. A humanoid shape ran toward them, out of the darkness. Standing seven or so feet tall, it had two divots for eyes, a slit for a mouth, and no defining characteristics. It almost looked like gray matter, constructed from dirt or clay or something.

“What the hell is that?” Fred said, backing away.

The creature bellowed and waved its hands, each ending in three fingers and a thumb, before breaking left and running into the trees.

Jessie and Sebastian both exhaled, dropping their hands.

“It’s just the golem,” Jessie said, shrugging.

Lights blinked on down the street. They swung around, headlights now pointed their way. A car sped toward them.

Jessie stepped in its way, her hands out again.

The plain gray car slowed to a stop and an older lady stuck her head out the driver’s window.

“It went that way.” Jessie pointed into the trees.