Magical Midlife Battle (Leveling Up, #8)(19)

“The vans are pretty tight,” Phil said.

Austin glanced over, in the middle of directing people into the vans in the order he wanted them to arrive at his brother’s territory. I knew he wanted to make a flashy entrance. A bunch of camping trailers would not fit the image he wanted to project.

Her paused to hear the verdict, her position—halfway in and halfway out—looking incredibly uncomfortable.

I sighed and looked back at the man. “I’ll pay you for your time,” I told him. “You’d really be helping us out.”

“No problem.” He put his hand up in a wave that turned into a thumbs-up. “I’ll be back right quick. You just wait there.”

He half jogged back the way he’d come, wasting no time.

My heart swelled, and I motioned Her out of the van. It always made me a little gushy when perfect strangers went out of their way to help me. I hadn’t experienced any of that growing up in L.A.

As I left them, making my way to the cargo vans at the back to check on the killer flowers, I noticed Mimi sitting on a bench in front of the motel. She made a point of nodding her approval.

Given the importance of image to shifters, I was suddenly nervous that Austin wouldn’t agree.

Putting that out of my mind, because what was done was done, I rounded an open cargo door and stared into the sleek black van. Even the killer flowers had been given top-of-the-line transportation.

Indigo sat amongst them, reading. These were the calmer flowers, the ones they called the Violators, which I would absolutely be changing to the Protectors, because Violators sounded seriously icky.

“How are we doing?” I asked her.

She looked up, blinked a couple times, and then glanced around at the flowers. They stood stock-still, waiting for permanent placement before they started interacting with their surroundings.

“Doing well, I think,” she said. “They didn’t seem to like the airplane much. I think it was the pressure change. But being in the car? I think they like it just fine. Don’t you, Violators?” Her voice changed, as though she were talking to a pet. “Don’t you just wuuv car rides? You’re going to be at your new home soon, isn’t that exciting? Yes it is, huh? Yes it is!”

“Okay, then.” I gave her a thumbs-up. “Looking great. We’re just waiting on some transportation help, and then we should be on our way.”

“Okie-dokie.” She smiled at me, adjusted her glasses, and went back to reading.

The second van, transporting the other half of the Protectors, held Hollace, also reading a book.

Out loud. To the flowers.

“Hey,” I said as I looked in at him. “How’s it going?”

He paused for a moment, lowering the book. “Fine. Edgar had to go do that thing with Niamh, so I said I’d take a turn watching the seedlings.”

“Okay great. We’re—”

“I heard. Campers, basajaunak, waiting. What do you think the accommodations are going to be like there? A tent in the woods, kinda like the basajaunak lands, or more like O’Briens?”

“I think more like O’Briens, though I’m not sure how much space they actually have for guests and strangers.”

He nodded and looked back at his book. “Life has never been dull since I joined this outfit.”

I grimaced. “Regrets?”

He lowered the book again to meet my eyes. “Not even a little. I’ve had enough dull for a while.

That’s why I answered the summons. I’m right where I want to be. We all like that you keep life interesting. The gargoyles included. They’re happier than pigs in shit since they signed up. I don’t think they realized how dull their lives really were with all those pseudo-battles and pretend fighting they did. We were made for this. You’re letting us do what we’re made for. It’s a damn good time.”

“He says as he reads to flowers.” I grinned.

He lifted the book again before turning a page. “Attack flowers. Big difference.”

The last two vans held the violent flowers. There was a metal grate sectioning off the driver from the flora, and the van doors had been kept closed. The only person they would chill out for right now was Edgar, and even that was hit or miss. Apparently, they didn’t much like traveling and wanted everyone to know it. How the hell we were going to unload the things was anyone’s guess. We’d barely gotten them into the vans.

“What’s the ETA?” Austin asked as he met me, checking his watch.

“Careful, people will think you’re a mage.” My smile had zero effect on his hard, expressionless face. His eyes didn’t even soften. “We’re just waiting for some help from the locals. The basajaunak were having a helluva time fitting into the vans. I know you wanted to look ultra sleek and—”

“It’s fine. Just hurry up if you can. We’re wasting time.” He glanced me over before about-facing and walking away, his emotions frustrated and annoyed.

I twisted my mouth to the side, watching him with trepidation. I’d never seen him like this, hard and unyielding. Rigid, almost. At the same time, I understood. He was going home after nearly sixteen years to a pack he’d left in tatters. It would be his first time seeing or talking to his mother in all that time, and I knew he was worried she wouldn’t want anything to do with him. He’d also have to face childhood enemies and people who’d told him he’d never amount to anything. Who’d predicted, when he hadn’t even been a teen, that he’d pick a fight with the wrong person and get stuffed into an early grave. Or, worse, that he’d turn into his father.