Magical Midlife Battle （Leveling Up, #8）(35)

“Well,” she said after a short while, pushing to standing. “We better go save poor Jessie from Grandma Mimi. Mimi didn’t bring her book this evening for some reason. She’s probably picking on everyone right now, running them ragged.”

It seemed Mimi hadn’t told them much about her time in O’Briens, and no one knew that she and Jess got along incredibly well. There was strength in an easygoing nature—it helped a person more easily navigate the assholes.

Maybe that was why he and Jess got along so well…

“Yes, Naomi, I understand that,” Earnessa was saying when they reached the kitchen, using her whole arm to point at the fridge. “But it fits in the hole. Why wouldn’t I get an enormous refrigerator if it fits in the hole?”

“I cannot fathom why you are going to such lengths to try to convince me that you didn’t want a big refrigerator,” Mimi replied. “You designed this house. You designed this kitchen. You had the plans drawn up. You created the hole that you then had to fill. This isn’t rocket science. You wanted a big fridge, you got a big fridge.”

“I cannot fathom why you always bring it up,” Earnessa shot back.

Everyone but Mac sat at the island or hovered around the kitchen. No pots were bubbling or smells were billowing out, something Austin had noticed when they got there, but he now wondered if they’d been waiting for him to help prepare. Except there weren’t any ingredients to chop up or work with.

“Excuse me,” he said to his mom, and made a quick detour to the couch, where Mac was bent

over his phone. “Hey, bud.”

The boy looked up—no, not a boy. A young man now, with a few whiskers and budding muscle tone. Austin had missed so much of his life. Of all their lives.

“Hey Uncle Auzzie.” Mac lowered his face a little, looking up from under his lashes. “Or are we calling you Uncle Austin now?”

“You can call me whatever you want. How’ve you been?”

Mac shrugged. “Same ol’， same ol’。 I’m learning to be an alpha even though I don’t have the right temperament or any interest—”

“You have the perfect temperament and plenty of strength,” Kingsley called from the island. “It’s the laziness that’s the problem.”

Mac rolled his eyes. “They think I’ll come around. Did Mimi tell you?”

“She filled me in on the hot buttons to avoid.”

“Yeah.” He lowered his voice so his dad couldn’t hear. “I’d rather skip the pack and try my hand at being a Dick engineer. I want to build things and live in a big city. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll play the dutiful son, you know? Aurora has the alpha game locked down. Not every alpha’s kid needs to follow in the family footsteps.”

Austin blew out a breath, half sitting on the back of the couch to look down at his nephew. “I just got back. I’m going to have to stay neutral on this one.”

“You’re going to be Switzerland?”

He grinned. “Exactly. Good luck. Hopefully having your black sheep uncle around will take some of the pressure off you.”

“Maybe,” he said grumpily. “Oh yeah…” He pushed up a little more so he could look over the back of the couch toward the island. “Is she really a female gargoyle?”

“Yeah. You should see her form. It’s…something else.”

He grinned. “That’s cool. I might stick with the pack if we can bring in some different creatures.”

Austin put up his hands. “Switzerland.”

Mac laughed as Austin crossed the distance to the island, stopping beside the end closest to where Aurora sat.

“Hey,” he said to her, his heart aching for not having kept in touch. For things having turned out the way they had. She’d been his little buddy back in the day. She’d blossomed from a preteen, all knees and elbows, into a young woman with a very hard scowl. “How’re you?”

Her eyes narrowed just slightly, her stare aggressive. Her power swirled, hitting him in a rush, one hundred percent alpha. The challenge caught him off guard, rattling through his mind and yanking on his beast. A rush of rage immediately flooded him.

Before he could blink or even get his bearings, the air in the kitchen flash-froze, turning solid.

Anger boiled up from his bonds with Jessie, quickly replaced by calm, cool understanding. Magic still pounded, though, slicing through the dense air, throwing a wall between Austin and Aurora. He could see it shimmering, knew who put it there, knew the cause.

“Jess,” he said, struggling to speak. He could barely see her through the now-throbbing magic, making his eyes sting. “Are you good?”

“I’m having a scary little moment just now. I felt her challenge you, and my gargoyle nearly swept me away. I’m good, though. I’ve got it. I’m just trying to calm everything down, which is not easy because Kingsley’s magic has popped off, and Earnessa’s magic is pounding at me and my people felt my stupid magical pulse I didn’t mean to send through the connections and are coming here for battle.

Lots of big personalities in the mix. I’d really love to step outside and cool down, but if anyone

rushes me right now, things might get…messy.”

It seemed Austin’s mom would have a new member of the family to worry about. At least Austin wouldn’t be alone with his title of unpredictably dangerous.