The intoxicating feel of her slid from his body. Their connected energy pulled taut and then stretched apart, nothing anchoring them together to keep it put.
After taking a deep breath of his own, he started in one part of the garage and slowly worked his way around, identifying everything of use in it. The mage breathed quickly whenever Tristan neared, his nostrils flaring, sweat running down his temples. Maybe Tristan wouldn’t need any tools. Mages definitely seemed an easily intimidated, breakable sort. When they were trapped or without use of their magic, at any rate.
When the voices caught his ear, he retreated to the corner, arms crossed over his chest again.
“Hey, Tristan.” Jessie entered the room with a tight smile. “Thanks for watching him.” She looked around the garage quickly and then stopped in front of the mage as Edgar slunk in behind her, finding a corner in the shadows near the door. “Thank God this is not my jurisdiction. This is Austin’s gig. I don’t have to make the call on what needs to be done with this guy.”
“You two co-lead well. It’s rare when both parties so effortlessly move into and out of the power role.”
“I think it’s more of a struggle for him than it is for me.”
“I could be wrong, but I don’t think it is a struggle for him at all.”
She turned to Tristan, taking a quick moment to glance at his arms and down, assessing him for any injuries. She did it any time one of her people came out of a not-totally-safe situation.
She took in what he’d said with a flush and a little smile. He’d never in his life seen two people so happily matched.
“Well,” she said, taking a deep breath. “If you’d like, I can watch him while we wait. Nessa said something about you wanting chocolate.”
“If you’d just let me run in and use the restroom really quickly, I’m fine to watch him. Natasha can bring dessert out to me. Unless you don’t think Austin would mind if I just used a bush around the side?”
“Oh my—no.” Jessie gestured him in. “No, please. The restroom. Use the restroom, where you can wash your hands…”
He grinned and nodded, exiting and now hurrying. With the vampire watching Jessie, he wouldn’t be creeping around. Of everyone in her crew, Edgar was probably the easiest to lose track of. He always seemed to turn up when Tristan least expected him.
He headed through the front door, pretending he was doing what he’d said he’d do, and heard Mr.
Tom arguing with Natasha in the kitchen about how to properly drug Sebastian. Four people down.
So where was that weird mage?
“Hey.”
Tristan kept himself from freezing, barely, as he finished shutting the door. Then he turned to see the droopy-eyed mage.
“Hey,” Tristan replied, giving a cursory glance over his shoulder to denote his impatience at leaving Jessie. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Sebastian said, bowing. “I’ve been up for too long. I’m just waiting for the alphas to get here so we can secure that mage. In the morning we need to go over what we’re going to do with him
—how we’re going to get the information out of him, I mean.”
Wow. He was tired. His brain had clearly turned to mush. Good news. It would help knock one of the items off Tristan’s to-do list.
Pointing toward the backyard, he said, “Why don’t I help you quickly get that camping stove and stuff squared away so something doesn’t fall over and light the house on fire, and then you can take a catnap before the alphas get here?”
“What about Jessie?”
“I’ll send Mr. Tom out to her. Edgar’s in the garage, too. She’ll be fine for a moment with that mage, won’t she?”
Sebastian swayed a little, furrowed his brow, and straightened up. “Crap, I’m tired. Yes, she should be. The worst thing that could happen is if the mage breaks free somehow and tries to attack her. She’ll accidentally kill him, most likely, or Edgar will get there first and bite him. I think we’re fine on that front. She hasn’t yet met a mage at the top of her or her class. His or his, I mean. Hers—
You know what I meant. The closest she came was in my caves, and they were all preoccupied with me, mostly. Anyway, I’m babbling. Yeah, if you could help, that would be great. I have a potion I’ve worked really hard on and I don’t want to spill it. Especially because if I do, it’ll likely blow us all up and spray acid on everything.”
Sebastian continued to babble as Tristan quickly stepped into the kitchen to tell them what he was doing and direct Mr. Tom on what he needed to do.