I rested my head on the seatback. “And I’m going to enjoy it out of spite.”
TWENTY-NINE
AUSTIN
JESS’S PHONE trilled as they neared Kingsley’s territory, with Austin slowing to travel through the nearest border town. Her face lit as she looked down at the screen, her eyes still shining and her magic softly pumping through the van.
It felt incredible, that magic, sliding against his heated skin and soaking down into his middle. It tantalized him, promising him more power if he gave in and accepted its counterpart. Promising him a closer connection with her and an enhanced ability to protect her. He didn’t feel the dreaded darkness of it anymore, threatening to ruin him. To turn him wilder than he already was. He wasn’t sure if that was because he trusted her to pull him back from the verge, just like he’d do for her, or because they’d made peace with themselves.
“Oh my—” She pulled the phone up closer to her face. “Oh no,” she said softly, in a tone reserved for her reactions to Edgar’s messes.
“What is it?”
She shook her head, swiping across the screen. “Nessa sent me pictures of Edgar’s setup in the warehouse.”
“Grotesque?”
“I mean…it depends? He chose a dark corner in the back, it looks like, and then made flowers out of papier-m?ché to drape all around it. There’s a couple scattered, off-kilter doilies and then…like…
a bunch of random decorations propped around the place. But the decorations aren’t right.” She tilted her head. “Some of them look like heads on spikes. And then there’s a canopy of sorts made out of streamers. But he cut and tore the streamers so they kinda look like…entrails.” She grimaced.
“Something’s not right with that vampire.”
“Why didn’t he clean up when they decided not to grab the mages in town?”
“I don’t know. Nessa said the mages are already incredibly nervous. Which is a good thing. They don’t like weird, and they walked into…one of Edgar’s creations. So… Oh, and the garhette who dropped Sebastian off at the warehouse decided to stay awhile. Get this—she thinks she could win the competition for scariest torturer.” Jess shook her head in dismay. “She didn’t even bat an eye at them getting ready to extract information. Like…who are these freaking people, you know? I don’t understand them. They make an art out of incredible violence.”
“Magical beings can be truly vicious, especially when put in situations like this. Where’d she get
the car?”
“Borrowed it, stole it, I don’t know. Well. I guess the mages don’t own the monopoly on being terrible. Give some of these people a green light, and they really run with it.”
Austin rolled onto the pack’s land, the joy at being home and close to family tainted by his reception over the last couple of weeks. He’d hoped coming back with a mate and a pack, somewhat well adjusted and with a good head on his shoulders, would show people he’d changed. He’d hoped it might prove how much he’d grown and evolved.
Now, he knew it would never happen. He still had some friends here, but even they were once again wary of him.
It wasn’t the fact that he’d answered the challenge the other day—that had been his right—but how he’d answered it. His wild, vicious, seemingly uncontrolled power set people on edge. They viewed him as a feral animal, one who might seem house-trained…until he killed everyone in sight.
The realization hurt his heart, especially since he knew it would never change here. His perception among these people had been carved into stone years ago.
“You okay?” Jess asked for the second time that night.
“Yeah.” But he didn’t have a chance to elaborate.
Kingsley’s black Range Rover waited in Austin’s driveway.
His brother hadn’t said much to him in the last few days, since shortly before the attack on Jess.
They had worked in unison to train their people, but they’d gone their separate ways after each day’s training. Austin knew Kingsley was mulling things over before approaching him. That had always been his way.
This was him approaching.
Kingsley waited in the living room with Aurora, Mac, and Mimi, and all of them quieted down when Austin and Jess entered the room. Kingsley picked up the remote and turned off the TV.
“Hey, guys, how goes it?” Jess asked brightly. “Mimi, it’s been a second. I’ve had to think for myself. It’s awful.” She put her hands to her hips before remembering she wore a purple muumuu.