Page 83 of Magical Midlife Conclave

And now here we were, another duty I didn’t much care to bother with. It looked good for me to be here, though. Just like it looked good when Austin joined the gargoyle raids. Didn’t mean I liked it.

And now I wondered if he secretly hated helping with the raids.

In all that time, I hadn’t said two words to Tristan. I was a little put off by what had happened earlier.

I entwined my fingers in my lap. “I’m not sure what there is to say.”

“Try.”

You don’t tell me when to try, I wanted to snap back. I kinda also wanted to blast him from the car. A part of me wanted to cry in frustration. If only a vacation was something I had time for. The stress was starting to get to me. So was the necessity of being an adult.

“Who do you answer to?” I asked.

He went still. “Most of the time, Austin.”

“Well, then. Now we know where we stand.” I moved to get out of the car.

“Wait, wait.” He put his hand on my forearm. “Wait. Stop. Talk to me.”

I sighed. “Austin needed you, Tristan. No one in the bar could call me because of what was going on—though Sue should’ve when he stepped out. He defaulted into the shifter culture, like Austin did. Still, both of you should’ve called me. When Austin gets in trouble, when he is backed against the wall, I need to help him. If Armendale had gone for him, I would’ve lost my true love, Tristan, and that terrifies me.”

Emotion bubbled up. I hadn’t thoroughly processed that information. Hopefully, Austin was right and Armendale was just bringing out his beast. That he didn’t plan to kill Austin right then.

But Armendale had also helped orchestrate a death to make Austin and me look bad. That was mage behavior, and mages did not at all care about rules. If Armendale wanted Austin gone, he and his boys would probably do it and only later come up with a reason why it was justified. Any reason would do.

Austin hadn’t kicked him out yet. He’d debate with the generational alphas tonight about the best way to handle it. Which meant Armendale was still roaming around this place. And now he was pissed.

I then explained to Tristan what I’d explained to Austin. The horror of not knowing someone had been killed. How callous bystanders must’ve thought I was. How I’d been distanced from the pack I was supposed to be leading.

“And none of this addresses the state of the territory when I finally got out there. We still don’t know if someone unwanted slipped in during the turmoil because no one was at their post. No one was doing their job. That’s so incredibly dangerous. It puts everyone at risk. We have children here, Tristan. Elderly. They need us to do our best. Their wellbeing—their lives—depends on it.”

He let out a slow, deep breath. “I’m sorry I asked.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry I had to spell it out.” I turned to push the door.

“Wait, wait. Jessie, please. Wait.” He kept his hand in the air for a moment and then put it to his heart. “Man, that hits me right here.” He paused for a moment. “It was a shifter face-off, and the way Sue was acting, things were about ready to explode. Maybe…I should’ve gone in, too. Keeping the gargoyles away certainly wasn’t doing much good. I apologize. I was swept up in everything. I was trying to get my bearings within the shifter world. I wasn’t thinking. I should know better. I should’ve trusted you with what was going on, and I didn’t.”

I put my face in my hands, relieved to hear him say that. “This is all so much.”

“It is. It feels like we’re juggling a lot of balls here. But if we can manage, we’ll bring it all together.”

I nodded slowly. He had a point when it came to shifter matters. I usually handled my team and Austin handled shifters. In this instance, my team wasn’t needed in the way they usually were. I could see how it would be confusing, especially when the guy who should know shifters best told everyone to get away.

“When it comes to danger, please just keep me in the loop,” I finally said. “I can’t lose him, Tristan. I can’t lose any of you. I’d never forgive myself if something should happen to you while I’m having a lovely lie-in within a quiet house.”

“I bet you’re rested now, though.”

I scoffed. “If only.”

“You know, I thought I was pretty hardcore in the air. Strong, fast. I fly you around, I see what you can do, but in the back of my mind, I thought I wouldn’t be as affected. Magic slides off me to some degree. I thought I was stronger than most.”

“You are.”

“Yeah. Except you blasted me out of your way without breaking a sweat.”

“Well, yeah. You can shrug off magic, but I affected the air. When you have wings, you don’t have a lot of choice in how things go when the air currents get wonky.”

“Yes. Something I was humbled to learn earlier today.”