“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I wasn’t thinking back there. You were right—the basajaunak deserved better than traveling like a bunch of sardines in a can. Forgive me?”
I threaded my arms around his neck. “I had it all planned out—I was going to prove to you that I was right, then give you the cold shoulder until you owned up to it. But now here you are, taking away all my self-righteousness.”
“Please kiss her in an area that won’t ruin her makeup,” Mr. Tom called out from the van behind us, having to lean over the gargoyle in the front passenger seat to do it. “I won’t be able to fix her from way back here. I’m not Go-Go-Gadget!”
I held my breath for a moment. “He’s amazing at ruining a moment.”
Austin smiled down at me. “Yes, he is. And he apparently thinks you don’t know how to do your own makeup even though you just did it, without his help, an hour ago.”
“I think he’s trying to forget that, actually. He’s tucking it into his blind spot and hoping he still gets to do it in the future.”
Austin kissed me on the forehead, and then the tip of my nose. His eyes lingered on my lips, and I felt the heat of his body pressed against me, the gravity of our mating bond within me.
“Don’t do it, sir,” Mr. Tom called. “You don’t have the makeup in that car to fix her up.”
Austin laughed just a little before hugging me tightly. “If he wasn’t trying to help me by helping you, I’d probably go back there and pull his arms off.”
“He’ll never know how close he came.”
Austin handed me into the van and stepped in after me. He pulled the door closed and gave the order to get going. Tristan sat in the front passenger seat, with Sebastian and Nessa in the far back.
Mimi shared the seat with them.
“You moved the mages up to the front van, huh?” I asked, seeing Sebastian turn around to access his suitcase.
“I want my brother’s pack to know that I value these mages,” Austin replied, clasping his hands in his lap as he looked ahead. “That they have a place of importance in our setup. There is going to be some animosity toward them because of the situation. This is my effort to negate that as much as possible.”
“They’ll be glad for these mages before it’s all through,” Mimi said.
“It might not be a fun ride getting to the finish line,” Sebastian murmured as he pulled a watch from his carry-on. “Especially since I’m strapping on my arrogance.”
“That’s the very thing that will keep them at bay,” Mimi told him. “At least long enough for Nessa to sneak up behind them and stick one of her knives in their throats.”
“You know me too well,” Nessa replied with a laugh.
“Does Kingsley allow his people to terrorize guests?” I asked Mimi. “I know his patrols can’t be everywhere at once, and there are always going to be skirmishes, but from the way you’re talking, his territory sounds lawless.”
“Austin has a unique situation,” she told me as the land spread out around us. We’d passed the town, and farms dotted the way. “He’s dealing with a variety of magical creatures in a new and quickly growing territory that’s faced several attacks already. There are a lot of moving parts, so he has to keep a firm handle on any aggression.”
“Safety, at the moment, comes from having control,” Austin said.
“Exactly.” Mimi nodded. “Kingsley, however, has mostly known peace. He was handed an established pack in a smooth transition from mother to son. He’s had virtually no challenges to his authority.” Austin’s arms flexed and his emotions went turbulent, but he didn’t comment. I knew he was thinking about his past. “Furthermore, his pack is solidly organized, with almost everyone knowing where they stand in the hierarchy. He can allow random challenges and posturing between pack members without it unsettling the overall pack structure. Everyone in his pack knows where the line is and what’ll happen when they cross it. But you’re bringing in an influx of foreign creatures, some incredibly aggressive. There’s no telling how things will go if aggression starts to boil.”
“We’ll watch out for our own,” Tristan said from the front, supremely confident. “Gargoyle cairns are more tightly controlled. I’m used to stomping out even microaggressions—brutally—and I’ll use that ability if the situation calls for it.”