“I suppose not. Does yours play Bruce Springsteen on repeat?”
“No.” He walked down the hallway toward the kitchen. “Mariah Carey. We can’t seem to get the CD out, and the volume button doesn’t work. Another of the cars has a cassette player with the Spice Girls. The alpha clearly has a sense of humor. I never would’ve guessed.”
“He does. He’s actually a really cool guy. Austin’s in the shower. Do you want something to drink?”
He sat on the bench and leaned back, spreading his arms along the top of the cushion. “No, thanks.
Is Nessa around?”
“Doesn’t seem to be.” I got myself some water and leaned back against the fridge. “Last I—”
The door opened and hurried footsteps came down the hall. Nessa appeared a moment later with her hair thrown up and flyaways all around her face. She carried two paper bags.
“Hello, handsome,” she told Broken Sue as he hopped up, reaching for the bags. “No, no, you’re fine. I’m already here. Sit down and relax.” She set the bags down on the island before turning back to him. “Did you bring six white stallions and a carriage to take me to the ball?”
“I’m here to speak to Alpha Steele…but I can take you to the barbecue after if you want?”
“Yes, I do. Sebastian always manages to get the good back seat, and I have to sit on a spring. Or maybe they both have springs. Hard to tell. Are you going to be here long? I can go get dressed.”
“What were you up to?” I asked, moving to peer into the bags.
“Nope.” She put her hand out to stop me as Austin walked into the kitchen. “Okay, Mr. Alpha, here’s the situation.” Nessa pointed at the two bags. “Those are ingredients for a blind cooking contest. The ingredients are exactly the same. You can cook whatever you want—”
“I’ve seen cooking shows before. I know how they work,” Austin said, eyeing the bags with interest. “Who picked out the ingredients, or is this a cheat to win scenario for you? Not that it would matter. I am going to absolutely slaughter you.”
“Patty did, smarty. I just picked them up.” She waved him away. “I’ve got your number, now.
You’re a one-trick pony.”
“One-trick pony meaning I use salt with every meal?” He grinned.
She narrowed her eyes before pointing a finger at him. “Laugh it up, chuckles. After this is over, I’ll be the one making fun of you.”
“Dream on. Hurry up—the barbecue has already started.”
“I can take the mages,” Broken Sue said. “Sir, before you go, I wanted to bring to your attention that there are several places in the small mountain range to the north where a helicopter could land.
Farther out, there are more. They might not be coming through the towns at all; they might fly in and use an off-road vehicle to get here. They could hit us at first light without us getting any advance warning.”
Austin grabbed the keys from the counter slowly, his gaze distant. “Yeah, you’re probably right, though we’d hear helicopters.”
“True,” Broken Sue said slowly.
“Still, it’s worth covering our bases. I’ll talk to Tristan and Gerard about posting a couple of gargoyles high enough to see.”
“It won’t be any one thing,” Nessa said, looking at the plain brown bags. “It’ll be several. A helicopter. Campers through town. Horses, who knows. And while they’re moving in, there’ll be a distraction to provide them cover. Burning buildings, those dog things racing through town, and other atrocious things all of us would prefer not to think of.”
Broken Sue and Austin stared at her for a silent beat.
She turned their way and issued a glittering smile. “Not to be Debbie Downer or anything. I think an extra pair of eyes is a very good idea. Now, Austin, we have a problem to solve. There are bound to be items in those bags that need to be kept cool. How are we going to get them into the fridge without you cheating?”
A HALF-HOUR LATER, Austin and I were en route to the barbecue, those razor-tipped butterflies once again fluttering through my stomach. “I want to fly ’round and ’round this territory, not go to a barbecue.”
He was quiet for a beat. “I think everyone does. We’re all wound up. Patty’s right—it’s probably a good idea for us all to have a distraction.”
I wanted to mention that Sebastian was worried. That I was worried. That Nessa wasn’t normally this keyed up. But what would be the point? Worrying more wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t somehow make us all more prepared.