Page 69 of Magical Midlife Conclave

“Dave?” she said calmly.

“His guy made an unprovoked sexist slur to a female in another pack. The Elder decided he crossed the line, and she drop-kicked him. She was going to just kick him, but you’d mentioned drop-kicking at one point, and she wondered if that would improve her range. It did.”

“That’s all she did for a sexist slur?” Jessie asked, her brows pinching together.

“Off the ledge!” Samuel shouted, starting to lose his cool.

“Ah.” Jessie nodded. To Samuel she said, “You were warned. He’s been punished. A tree likely broke his fall. Shifters heal fast. He probably lived. Hopefully he’ll know better for next time.”

“What if he didn’t live?” Samuel demanded.

She shrugged, completely blasé. A shiver trickled down Aljoe’s back at the offhand violence of it all. Her gargoyle was in firm control.

“Then he won’t get a chance at a next time. Killed before the lesson was learned. I can’t say it would be a pity.”

A few gargoyles chuckled. The shifters were dead silent, not even their clothes rustling.

“Wha— This is ridiculous! How was he supposed to know bad language was against the rules?”

Her bearing turned hostile. “If I were in your position, I would be embarrassed and apologetic. I certainly wouldn’t feign ignorance at the real crime. Regardless of what you think of women and how it is appropriate to address them, flinging a slur at anyone is inciting violence. That is common knowledge. As I said, you were warned. Punishment has been carried out. If he can walk away, he can challenge her, or she can challenge him.”

“Is this how you plan to run your pack?” another alpha asked. Aljoe couldn’t see who it was.

“This is how we plan to run the conclave, yes. Which is why you were warned. Did you think we were joking?”

“I think he means⁠—”

Jessie held up her hand to stop Armendale. “He can tell me what he means.”

“You just let your people carry out punishments without your say-so?” the other guy said.

“As Austin said, we are a collective. The Elder is the basajaunak alpha. Yes, I trust her judgment, and yes, I expect her to handle it. You’ve just learned what handling it means. If you do not like that, you are free to leave.”

“What about you, Austin?” Samuel demanded, and he was using the way-wrong tone. He was about to make a very bad mistake. “You’re just going to step aside and let this bitch Jane and her hairy bigfoots take over?”

It was unclear who moved first, but neither Dave nor Austin reached the alpha.

The air froze, and they bounced off. Neither of them tried harder to get through, giving the punishment to Jessie.

She shoved her hands forward as the alpha morphed into a wolf. Gashes and slashes and red holes covered the wolf in a blink. The shifter howled and thrashed, but he could go nowhere. Nor did his blood hit the ground, caught in a magical layer.

She set fire to his fur and raked across his neck with more magic. Then again, bombarding him.

The wolf howled again, and she lifted him into the air. He was lying down now, unable to fight back.

“That is what it is to fight a mage,” she told the crowd in an icy tone. “And this is what happens when you disrespect me in my territory. I was a past Jane, that is true. But now I am a female gargoyle, and we give no quarter. As I said, if any of this is unsettling for you, you are free to leave. Otherwise, you will respect this territory, and you will follow the rules. It really is that simple.”

She stepped closer, and the shifter moved through the air.

“I’ll just put this outside. He won’t die. When he heals enough to limp out of here, he will be asked to leave the territory. If anyone even flinches at me while I am handling this, I will kill you spectacularly. I think we can all agree that my warnings are not for show.”

“What about that other one?” Dave motioned at the shifter who’d run in to tell his alpha about the drop-kicking incident.

“He hasn’t broken any rules. Escort him out peacefully. If he resists, drop-kick him.”

Even the gargoyles were still now, some of them with gaping mouths.

“And that is why I chose to come dressed as I am,” Nina said with a smile in her voice. “I figured there’d be a big brawl tonight. Now? I think likely not. I doubt anyone else will chance getting drop-kicked off the ledge or turned into a pincushion and hovered out of here.”