“You look just like your daddy,” Patty said, zooming in to Mac, taking his cheeks in her hands and squishing them.
“Poor bastard,” Nessa said, and winked when Kingsley turned on her with a steely gaze.
“And you, young lady.” Patty stepped back and surveyed Aurora, her fists on her hips again. “My goodness, beautiful like a lightning storm, you are. So wild and electric. I love it! Are you going to take over the pack someday?”
“Why does no one ever ask me that?” Mac grumbled.
“Oh my, no.” Patty was back in front of him, squeezing his cheeks again. “You’re much too nice and kind and uninterested. Aren’t you uninterested? You seem so. In the business we’ve discussed, at least. You’re interested in the weird mage, though, right?” She released him so she could tap her finger to the side of her nose. “Aunt Patty notices everything. And why did the family decide to stop by?”
“Dad thought it would be nice if we visited Uncle Auzzie,” Mac answered. “We haven’t seen him in a while. Except for the other night, but some of us didn’t act properly.”
Patty surveyed Aurora immediately. “Ah, love, that’s okay. Of course it is!” She bent to lightly touch Aurora’s cheek, making the young woman freeze. “I heard all about that trouble in the past. You still looked up to him anyway, of course, and then he left.” She tsked. “It must’ve been very hard for you. Good for you for not keeping it bottled inside. Maybe just don’t…incite the gargoyle, hmm?
We’re a prickly breed, all of us. Very unpredictable.”
“Don’t be alarmed,” Nessa said. “This woman has the real estate for the gossip mill.”
“Well.” Patty straightened up, looking around again. “Good.” She drifted toward Tristan, smiling up at him for no particular reason. “And how are you finding things? Quite the change from ordinary cairn life, hmm? Gerard is gleeful about what is going on here. When he’s not too drunk to fly, that is.
I’ve heard he was bragging to some of his closer cairn leader friends about all the training and the upcoming battle and all that. His gargoyles positively revere him for joining the fray—getting to work with you and two powerful and very advanced alpha shifter leaders…”
She nodded as though to herself before looking everyone over.
A moment later, she leaned into Tristan again, lowering her voice. “I think this convocation idea is a wonderful way of including the gargoyles, don’t you? It isn’t a cairn; it is a collection of various creatures and leaders all working together. Gerard can be a part of this without jeopardizing his cairn.” She put her finger in the air. “He’s not in Jessie’s cairn or Austin’s pack—he is part of the whole.”
She leaned away again, her brow furrowed.
“No, no,” she said, clearly having a conversation with herself. “That explanation is too confusing.” Back to Tristan. “But you see what I’m saying, don’t you? The convocation is an umbrella, see? Other cairn leaders can be under it, too, but they all keep their current cairn status in the gargoyle world. Because a convocation is a large, formal assembly of people.” She tapped his arm. “I looked it up. It isn’t gargoyle, it isn’t shifter, it isn’t mage—it’s a meeting of the minds led by a faction of each.”
“Oh I like this,” Nessa said softly, throwing a grape at Sebastian. “Are you listening? It won’t be the shifters taking on the Guild and Momar, it’ll be a convocation. Not one species against another, but a group of us trying to establish a sort of governing power for the magical world at large.”
Kingsley blew out a breath. “When you go for something, Austin, you really go big.”
“Go big or go home,” Austin replied.
“Go big. Yes!” Patty poked Tristan this time. “We’re onto something. Okay, let’s let that stew for now. There is no sense in getting ahead of ourselves. I’ll see you all tomorrow. Get some rest.” She pointed at everyone in turn. “No sleep for the wicked was said by people who did not do a good job at wickedness. Remember that.”
“What?” Mac asked as she bustled down the hall.
“You really just need to roll with that woman.” Nessa started laughing. “I love her.”
Austin’s family stayed for a little longer, Kingsley wanting more details about the weapons exchange. Then they left, Kingsley muttering about the need to tell Earnessa about the barbecue.