Magical Midlife Battle （Leveling Up, #8）(59)

I shoved against a hairy side to get more space, opening my eyes but not seeing anything. The vibration continued, a sense of stealth wiggling into it. The gargoyle was working his way closer to whatever had grabbed his attention in the southeastern part of the territory. There was a cover there, trees in addition to the usual river and brush.

“Alpha,” Austin said, drawing my attention.

Kingsley entered the front door of the bar, immediately taking in the scene. His gaze stalled on the drinks at the end of the bar, and then everyone gathered around me. Closer still and he saw the blood

where the large rodent shifter had lain. Either Indigo had moved her, or she’d moved herself.

“A claim challenge?” he asked as the vibration in my middle increased in frequency.

I breathed faster, adrenaline starting to pick up.

“Shoot, where’s my phone?” I tapped the coat pockets as though it would magically appear there.

Then looked along the ground. It would’ve been in my back pocket or…

I spied it on the edge of the bar, belatedly remembering that I’d set it down before heading off to the bathroom. I always worried about dropping it into the toilet.

“Yes. Two women,” Austin said. “She handled them both. I didn’t touch either of the women. She managed her control incredibly well, better than you or I would have.”

“Yes, I saw her control the other night.” Kingsley looked around the bar as I grabbed my phone, my hands shaking. “Witnesses? Oliver?”

“Yes, Tristan,” I whispered into the phone after tapping his name. “I’m getting a strong caution and stealth feeling from the southeast border. Could be something. Could be nothing.”

“What’d you say?”

I opened my mouth to repeat myself, only to realize that hadn’t come from the phone. Austin had turned, exposing me to Kingsley, both of the men looking at me with mirroring hostile stares. I wasn’t totally sure which one had asked.

“Do I check it out?” Tristan asked through the phone.

“Yes. Fly high out there. Mind the moonshine. You’re hard to see but not impossible. Keep your phone in your hand. Do not engage. Report back with what you find.”

Austin stepped closer. “Jess, what’s going on?”

I told them quickly, staying attuned to that connection. I couldn’t send out a burst of magic to direct any of the other invisible fliers because a mage would feel it. They wouldn’t know what it was or what it meant, but they’d be spooked.

“Damn it,” I said softly. “We need a better way to communicate with the people on the territory line.”

“My gargoyle form is dark, Jessie,” Jasper said. “So is Nathanial’s. He’s still on the roof. He couldn’t get in because of the altercation earlier.”

“Go,” I said without thinking about Austin or Kingsley. “Stay out of sight. See what Tristan needs, if anything. I’d be seen. I don’t have any potion.”

“Are you sure someone is there?” Kingsley asked as Jasper took off running, shedding clothes as he went. “Wait—” Kingsley reached forward to grab my arm. “Stop giving directions—”

Austin grabbed Kingsley’s wrist before his hand reached me, his knuckles white, his body braced.

Kingsley’s jaw clenched, but he pulled his hand back quickly. “Stop giving directions until we can think this through,” he finished.

“I’m sure that one of the gargoyles is slowly moving up on something in order to check it out,” I told him, wanting to step toward the door and put my eyes on the sky. At the same time, I didn’t want to trigger Kingsley with my insubordination, something that would in turn trigger Austin. “If the mage is invisible, like him, he’s going to have to be damn close to be sure. Tristan is an insanely fast flier, and he’ll be able to see through the spell. Hopefully. We should know in a moment—”

“Make sure your people are out of there,” Austin told Kingsley, thankfully jogging for the door.

“We can’t have a visible runner scaring them off.”

“I have no way of doing that,” Kingsley said, now jogging with him. “They’ll know not to engage with any intruders, though.”

“Miss, your clothes,” Mr. Tom said as we exited the bar. “What is going on?”

A blast of alert radiated through the connection. Then surprise and alarm bled through one of my Ivy House links. It took me a moment to realize they were in the same location.

“It’s Edgar,” I said, now afraid for a different reason. “The patrol has found Edgar. Why the hell is Edgar way out there?”

“He was going to inspect locations for his flowers,” Mr. Tom said, catching up to me as the others fell back. “He didn’t think anyone would notice.”

I could read the Ivy House link so much easier than any of my other connections, feeling a flash of pain, a surge of moping, and then a burst of adrenaline. He was battling—he must be.

Humor came through my connection to the invisible gargoyle, followed by pride, while Edgar gave me more moping and some embarrassment. His pain hadn’t totally diminished, but it was a dull ache instead of a life-threatening injury.

“He didn’t think anyone would notice?” I rounded on Mr. Tom. “We have a patrol specifically to ensure someone notices! Why wasn’t this cleared with me?”