She lifted her eyebrows, her gaze losing focus again. “Well, let’s see. Someone usually consolidates an arms order like this for a couple of reasons. The two most common are money and information.”
“If it is for money?” he said.
“If it is for money, the situation is not much different than I’d already expected. There is always the risk of one party trying to kill the other for the goods or profit. So I’d show up and they’d kill me, take my money, and keep their product. Given I’ve made this deal under an alias that isn’t well known on the circuit and with no real background or records—on purpose—the sellers will be skeptical.
They might think I mean to show up, kill them, and take their guns without paying. But I’m paying more than the guns are worth, and not enough to raise any alarm. So yes, I’m thinking this is an informational query.”
“And what does—”
A blast of rage ate through the bonds from Austin. It crackled and burned. He was on the move now, headed in my direction and coming fast.
“Crap,” I said as my phone vibrated.
“What’s up?” Nessa said, pulled out of her reverie.
Text from Broken Sue: He knows about the attack. Keep him from killing anyone.
“Crap.” I grimaced at the phone and then glowered at Tristan. “How did Broken Sue know about the attack on me today?”
“From me,” he said with zero remorse.
I’d sought him out after training, asking him to make sure the gnomes hadn’t gone overboard.
“I specifically told you not to tell him, Tristan. I wanted to think about it a little more before I approached him. I gave you that command as an alpha.”
“And I respected that command. I didn’t breathe a word of it to Austin.”
“But you told Broken Sue?”
“Well, first I asked Edgar about it so that I could get the particulars. He spoke mostly gibberish about gnomes, though, so I called his shadow.”
“He didn’t mention he planned to use the information for evil,” Nessa said, her focus back and applied to me.
“Once I had that information, I retrieved Indigo so she could help the downed shifters heal faster.
I didn’t want to lie to you about their being on the mend. The gnomes had done a number on a couple of them, seemingly trying to emulate what my little monster had done.”
“I’m not your little monster, and…” Nessa grimaced.
“Yeah.” He started to laugh, of all things. “They were having a good time. I don’t recommend being left alone with one of them when incapacitated.”
I was sure the whole kitchen could hear my teeth grinding. “And so you sought out Broken Sue in hopes he’d tell Austin and absolve you of your promise?”
“Not yet. First I spoke to Niamh so that she could call off her plans to drink in the border towns tonight in favor of getting a seat at the bar Kingsley’s beta regularly goes to. When we first got here, she expressed a desire to watch Austin teach those…gobshites, I think was the term she used, a lesson.”
A smirk pulled at Nessa’s lips as she watched Tristan with obvious delight.
“Then I told Brochan,” he finished. “Every last detail. Edgar’s shadow was incredibly thorough.”
“I like to give an accurate account of my travels,” she said, playing off Tristan the way she always played off Sebastian.
Austin drew closer, his rage pulsing in time to his quickly beating heart.
I swore.
“Do you know what you’ve done?” I shouted at Tristan, then swung my glare at Nessa. “He’s been waiting for this. He’s been building it up in his mind since that idiot Bruce first stepped up to me.
He’ll be out for blood.”
“This is a shifter matter, Jessie,” Tristan said, his voice holding compassion. “It would be the same for gargoyles. Those shifters attacked someone he loves. He will first ensure she—you—are okay, and then he will respond in kind. You have to let him.”
“As if I’d be able to stop him.”
“Would you want to be kept in the dark if someone attacked him?”
My mute stare of angry frustration was answer enough, because yeah, I’d want to end anyone who dared attack Austin like that.
Tristan inclined his head. “Your job now is to make sure he doesn’t actually kill anyone.”
“Or ruin the bar,” Nessa said. “Destruction of property makes business owners unreasonable.”