Page 95 of Magical Midlife Conclave

“You can go at any time,” I told Sebastian. “He shifted. You’re fighting.”

“Oh.” He straightened and squared his body and started rapid-firing spells like he was in the middle of a battle.

The first two hit the shifter and he jerked, as though not having expected that. He attempted a roar, tried for a leap or a lunge, and got two more spells. He yowled, dodged to the side, then to the other side, no escape. No cover.

Head lowered, his friends losing their cheerleading spirit, the shifter struggled on. His body shook. Blood ran down his sides and dripped onto the ground. It was a visible effort not to succumb to Sebastian’s magic.

“I lied.” I jogged forward so I could see the shifter. I wanted him to feel it in the worst of ways. To brush up against the line between living and death before the magical barrage stopped. That required watching him closely.

“Keep going?” Sebastian asked, not having broken a sweat.

“Yeah. Maybe lighten the power so our friend here, with all his strutting and bullshit, can learn how a mage really works. They seemed to think mages use knives to kill people. They need an education.”

“What is this?” one of the cheerleaders asked aggressively. “Are you helping him?”

“Your pal? Yes, I am. I am keeping the mage he challenged from killing him.” I straightened. “Or I could just let Sebastian end it now? I don’t like death on these mock battlefields, but for you, I’ll make an exception.” I winked at him.

He tensed and took a step forward.

I smirked, because that really enraged mad shifters. “I’ll give you two more steps, and then I’ll let Sebastian kill your friend, and I will kill you. Spoiler alert, I don’t have to move from my location, either. I only ride my friends like a pony. You, I’ll kill in glorious fashion. The audience will bathe in your blood.” I shrugged. “Up to you, bro.”

He paused, suddenly wary.

I didn’t look away from him. “A few more hard ones, Sebastian, and then let his friends drag him out of here.”

“Hard, like…painful, or hard like ‘nearly kill him’?”

“Both?”

“Yep.”

Sebastian paused for a beat, letting the other shifter struggle to his feet before delivering four more spells. He didn’t put any bravado into it. Didn’t grunt or show any effort. Simply delivered his magic and then ran his fingers through his hair.

He looked around. “Now what?”

“We go home, I think?” I turned back to Sue with raised eyebrows.

“Cyra’s challenger backed out,” he said, “so yes, you’re done for the day.”

“Oh.” Sebastian shrugged. “This wasn’t bad. I was expecting Austin’s caliber of attack. This was just…” He turned his lips downward. “This would’ve made me feel bad if that guy wasn’t a horrible person.”

It was now very clear what Niamh had been saying about being offensive. Too bad it was the truth. I guess they were learning the hard way.

20

Austin

A hush fell over the speakeasy as he walked in. He’d opened up the invite to this dinner to more than just the generational alphas he already knew. Only shifters, though. Gargoyles were finally, irrevocably onboard. Sure, there were various cairns that wouldn’t join up or might drag their feet, but Jess’s status in the community was as high as it could be. People were excited by her, honored to fight with her, and rooting for her to take on more shifters in an extravagant, gargoyle-style fashion.

Tristan, of course, had already been a favorite because of his flight plans and battle know-how, but leaving a shifter in a tree to end a fight—the height of gargoyle-style fashion, they thought. They hadn’t known what that was before today, but now it was a thing.

Austin had to admit, the last was funny. And maybe Jess’s antics might’ve been funny if they hadn’t been against Yazanth. That lion was every bit as exacting as Austin had always heard. Every bit. Each movement was targeted. Each strike was precise. He worked hard and fast and calculated.

But Jess was right—he was easy to anticipate. He fought to kill, and if you knew the pressure points, you’d know where he was aiming for next. Aurora didn’t seem to have realized that. She’d probably grow by leaps and bounds now that she did. At least when fighting him. Maybe when fighting anyone, looking for those patterns, fighting the man and not the skill. Clearly, it was something Jess did without being specifically taught how.

That did not make it any easier to bear seeing her battle that beast without being able to get in and help her. When he flipped her onto her back and went for her⁠—

Austin broke out in a cold sweat. He paused before the crowd of people, larger than he’d anticipated. Kingsley or someone else must’ve invited more than he had originally. He didn’t even know if they would fit at the tables he’d had set up. This place, newly up and running, had been closed tonight for this dinner.