It sounded less like a house, and more like a woman trapped within it.
“Rely on no man, for it is he who will betray you. Set yourself free.”
“Yup, everyone has an agenda,” I murmured, feeling the darkness in the voice. The bitterness. I wondered how much of it would corrode me if I relented and took the magic. How much of myself I would lose.
Only as much as I allow. And that voice was entirely my own. Thanks to my marriage, I know the signs, and this time, whether I’m aligning myself to a man or bitter woman posing as a house, I will make sure to lose none of myself.
A sound drew my attention to the right. Just over the canvas sack, I could see a new shape fall in beside us, streaking through the moonlit sky like spilled oil.
My mouth gaped yet again.
The horse creature had nightmare black scales, a golden mane and tail, and a crystalline horn coming out of its head. The soft black feathers on its mighty wings had a blue sheen in the moonlight, and its shimmering golden hooves clawed at the air. The sallow vampire riding its back waved at me. Edgar.
“Where’d we get the nightmare alicorn?” I asked stupidly.
It struck me that this was my new reality. I was being transported through the air in a large canvas sack by a gargoyle, fleeing a crew of invading creatures, beside a black alicorn ridden by a vampire. Only the severely twisted could make something like this up. It was too insane not to be real.
Which left me with a choice: I could either join this magical world with the magic stored in that house or run like hell and never look back.
Twenty-Five
As soon as all four hooves touched the ground, Niamh bucked, trying to fling Edgar off. She hated having people on her back. She didn’t understand how normal horses stood for it.
He held on, his long nails digging into her sides. She neighed and readied for another, but before she could rise he threw his leg over and jumped to the ground.
Austin Steele waited for them near a large clearing in front of a small cabin, pushed back some ways from a lake. A lone camping chair sat in front of a fire pit.
He came out here to be alone, Niamh knew. This was his escape from the town and all the people who knew him, looked up to him, or wanted something from him. He also came out here to heal after he had to turn someone away at the border. The cabin was his sanctuary, a place where he could be physically alone instead of just emotionally alone like he was within the town.
Niamh was surprised Earl even knew about this place. Before Jessie had moved into Ivy House, Niamh hadn’t even realized Austin Steele spoke to Earl. Most people tried to avoid the old nutter. Niamh only knew of the cabin because she’d seen Austin Steele running through the trees in animal form when she was flying over the area at dusk one night. She’d gotten curious and stalked him from the air for a few months.
She shifted to her human form, one of three forms she had to choose from, as Earl reduced down to a statue. Jessie stiffly climbed out of the sack she’d been carried in. She rubbed her butt.
“I’ve had better escapes,” she said. She froze when she noticed Austin Steele. Her eyes widened, and then her gaze slowly tracked down his exposed upper body, cut with muscle. He kept himself in pristine condition as befit one in an alpha role.
Loose, light gray sweats covered his powerful lower half. With no Jeep in sight, he had clearly run here in his animal form and pulled on sweats while he was waiting.
“You made it.” His smile was still startling. Before Jessie had shown up, Niamh hadn’t even realized his face muscles could move that way.
“Yeah.” The breath gushed out of her, and she glanced back at Earl, emerging from his stone stupor and beginning the transformation back to human. “Thanks to you.”
“Why, what happened?” Niamh asked, poking through the sack for a change of clothes.
“He changed into stone before telling me I needed to think about what I wanted from him,” she said, crossing her arms over her braless chest in a futile attempt to hide it. Her face flamed red, and it was clear she embarrassed much too easily, both with her bralessness and with the nudity of others. “Austin had to tell me.”
Niamh put her hands on her hips, waiting for Earl to complete his transformation. When he had, she said, “Well that was pure stupid, now wasn’t it?”
He blinked in confusion for a moment before putting it all together. His eyebrows lowered defensively. “I’d used my magic earlier in the night. I thought she was in the loop.”
“She didn’t understand what she was doing earlier,” Austin Steele said. “But it doesn’t matter now. She had the presence of mind to call for help. We made it this far.”
“Earl, did you not think to put a few pieces of clothing or a towel or something in the sack while you were bungling your escape?” Niamh asked.
“Might I remind you that I am Tom, now. Mr. Tom to you, you awful jackass. Respect my new identity—”
“Identity? It’s a name for a nitwit and I don’t have to respect anything.”
“—and for your information, we were running for our lives. We barely got out of there! I had to lead her to the spiral staircase. Hopefully that doesn’t jeopardize her ability to access the magic, but I didn’t see any choice. The house should understand. I was acting in her best interest. I couldn’t wait around all day for her Royal Heinous to come break us out. So no, I didn’t pack a wardrobe for you. Or myself, as you see.”
“Yeah, we all see,” Jessie muttered, making a point of looking the other way.
“Enough,” Austin Steele said, and a current of power snapped Niamh’s mouth shut.
She hated when he did that. She could resist the urge to fall in line, but she had to be actively thinking about it. She almost never was.
“Explain what happened. Start from the beginning,” he said.
“I’m just…” Jessie eyed the camp chair by the fire pit, then the lake. “I’m just going to take that chair and go think for a while, if that’s okay?”
“Yes, of course.” Austin Steele’s hard demeanor melted in an instant. He left the others waiting as he grabbed the chair and carried it down toward the water to place it for her. Once she was settled, he massaged her shoulders for a moment, his voice reduced down to a soothing murmur.
“He was doing that all evening,” Earl said, and his meaning was as clear as his confusion.
Austin Steele was treating that Jane like an alpha would his mate: looking after her, trying to make things easier for her, protecting her. But there didn’t seem to be any romantic attachment with it. He wasn’t flirting or sexual, like he would be in a courtship. It…didn’t make any sense.
“Is he trying to sweet talk her into doing what he wants?” Edgar asked through a mouthful of fangs.
“Put your teeth back in your head, will ye?” Niamh said, rubbing her temples.
“He might be,” Earl said. “Though he did eventually say it was in her hands. That might be a tactic, though. He’s suave with the ladies when he wants to be.”
“Everyone is suave with the ladies compared to gargoyles,” Edgar said.
“You’re starting to sound like her.” Earl pointed at Niamh.
“Speaking some sense, yeah, I agree,” she said. “Edgar is right. Austin Steele doesn’t try to get the ladies. At least not from what I’ve seen. He treats them exactly like he treats everyone else—distantly. Almost like strangers. And still they follow him home like he’s the Pied Piper. He’s not suave about it.”
Austin Steele returned, his hard mask clicking into place and his raw power oozing out around them. This was the reason he’d been given his new last name, something a pack chooses for its alpha, once he’d officially been accepted into O’Briens. Austin Steele had tried to deny its legitimacy, but the magical folk had insisted, one and all. They might back down from actually calling him alpha, but they wouldn’t back down from that name. It fit, and it was a matter of respect. Even Austin Steele had had to relent.
“Explain,” Austin Steele said, not offering anyone else a chair. “Start from the beginning.”
Niamh listened quietly to Earl’s account of how he had muddled up the situation. A gargoyle, even an old one, should’ve been able to take that wraith. He should’ve been able to secure that house with the magic on his side. His fearful attempt to run didn’t make sense.
“Ivy House didn’t use any defensive measures to cast them out?” Edgar asked, his brow crumpled in confusion.
“No,” Earl replied. “Nothing I’m aware of. I couldn’t feel the wraith at all. Not in the normal sense. I only felt the magic when it came into the room. And it came fast. Faster than it should’ve been able to. It had some powerful magic behind it.”
“How’d it get into the house at all?” Niamh asked, scratching her head. “Ivy House should be protected against creatures like that. Naturally protected. Are we sure the magic is still in place?”
“It’s in place,” Austin Steele said. “A door slammed in my face. The magic is connected to Jess. She looked scared, and the door slammed. Later on, she wanted me to help her test the passageway viewing area. I felt no issue from the house at all. It let me into its walls without a problem.”