Magical Midlife Battle （Leveling Up, #8）(38)

The table beside it held balls of dough, large cutting boards, and bins of flour. A third held wooden trays, plates, utensils, and tomato sauce.

Kingsley crossed the room to the far French doors.

“Don’t tell me you got a brick oven,” Austin said, following him.

Kingsley stopped before reaching for the handle, though. As he looked out, his body tensed and his power swirled, but he didn’t push through the door to confront whatever was troubling him.

“One of yours, I believe,” he said, turning.

Mr. Tom stood just outside wearing a trench coat, large gold glasses with dark lenses, a checkered scarf, and a fedora hat.

“What is that?” Mac asked, coming to see.

“It’s a weird gargoyle who can actually blend into stone and buildings but instead chooses to put on these ridiculous, elaborate disguises that paint him as the nutcase he is.”

“Sticks and stones, sir,” came Mr. Tom’s muddled voice through the door. “Sticks and stones.”

“Nothing wrong with his hearing,” Kingsley said, finally opening the door.

TEN

Jessie

“I’M REALLY sorry about that, Jessie,” Earnessa said as I quickly changed into a navy dress that was a bit loose everywhere but the bust area, which was very loose. “She’s always had an affection for her uncle despite…the past.”

“They have a similar intensity.” I stepped out of the large bathroom decked in marble with threads of gold running through it. “No sweat. I get it. I was just surprised, is all. It’s hard to be rational where Austin is concerned.”

“I get that.” Earnessa led me out of the bedroom and down the arched hall with ten-foot ceilings.

“It was like that with Kingsley when we first mated. I was love and rage side by side, throwing girls across bars and challenging anything that got near him. But you’ve been mated awhile, haven’t you?”

“Yes. A few months now.”

“Does the mating fervor last longer with female gargoyles?”

“Honestly, nobody knows. There’s not much information about my beast. We’ve had to do a lot of guessing.”

Mimi and Denise were murmuring quietly in the kitchen together when we walked in.

“Where are the guys?” Earnessa asked. “Getting the fire ready, I hope?”

“Yes.” Mimi pushed off from leaning against the counter. “We chased them out so we could have a little peace. Kingsley mopes much too frequently for my taste, always put out when we have these dinners.”

“I wonder why,” Earnessa murmured, giving me a knowing look before bustling me toward the side of the big room. “Let’s go join them. Jessie, I heard the craziest thing today, by the way. Did you get townspeople to transport your Bigfoot? Or…is it Bigfeet when plural?”

I let her coax me out of the door as I explained the various details about the basajaunak, including their names, as I took in what Earnessa had referred to as a sunroom, which held three long tables filled with food items. A hot tub sunk down into the floor at the other end.

“Here we go…” She led us toward two French doors beyond the hot tub, and we stepped out onto a deck that ran the length of this side of the house. Lawn chairs and umbrellas had been folded up and stowed to the side under a canopy. To my right, under a covered area, hunkered a large grill with space for charcoal and gas burners lined up below it. A counter unit with a granite top held what looked like a small refrigerator and other drawers and cabinets. Two round outdoor tables had been

arranged next to it, the chairs pushed in, and beyond them stood the three guys, with Kingsley stoking the fire of a big brick pizza oven.

Mr. Tom stood off to the side in a “disguise,” the leaves of a nearby tree partially covering his face but nothing else. I’d felt him near but ignored him and, given the others were also ignoring him, figured it couldn’t hurt just to leave him at it. It would be far too much effort to shoo him away.

“Very cool space,” I said, feeling the overwhelming urge to return to Austin’s side and glue myself to his body.

He must’ve felt it, because he turned, his hand in one pocket and the other holding his glass of wine. His hand left his pocket, reaching for me, an irresistible temptation. I met him halfway, wrapping my arms around his middle and soaking in his heat.

“You look nice,” he said, holding me tight. “Feeling a bit better?”

“I’m usually pretty good at this family stuff, but this time I’m a little overwhelmed.”

“Understandable. Life within a house of alphas isn’t easy to navigate.”

“Okay, everyone.” Earnessa smiled and clasped her hands in front of her. “As you can see, we will be having brick oven pizza tonight! You have everything you need set up in the sunroom, and when you have the pizza of your dreams, bring it out here and my amazing mate will fire it up for you.

He is incredible with that oven, I’m telling you! All our friends rave. Denise, you know, you’ve had it before.” Her smile burned a little brighter, almost at half-mast now. “Okay, let’s eat!”

“Finally, ” Mac said, the first one through the doors.

“She talked you up pretty hard,” Austin told Kingsley as we followed the others. “You’d better deliver.”