Magical Midlife Meeting (Leveling Up #5)(30)

He slipped his fingers between hers and bumped her leg with his knee, knowing she was trying not to focus on her extreme discomfort with what they were doing. He played into it, knowing it wouldn’t do any good to try to convince her that they would pull through this. That he would make sure she made it out one way or another, with or without him.

“No, all is quiet. Listen, I think I have some caramels in my sock. Want me to dig around for them?”

This time a real smile peeked through. After a moment she said, “I did get my hopes up that there would be a big spread in the jet. I thought that was kind of a standard thing. You got, like, an air hostess and some…awesome little nibbles, or…I don’t know… Something. ”

He laughed as the limo got underway. “My brother always has those things when he flies in a private jet, yes, but he has an experienced staff to handle stocking it.”

“Hmm.”

The narrow two-lane road led away from the landing strip. It didn’t take long for them to start climbing into the mountain range, the limos slowing down to take turns that would have been better suited to different cars.

“We didn’t hire these limos,” she whispered, now chewing on her nail. “We’re already in his power.”

Austin stroked her thumb with his, holding her hand tightly. “We are never in someone else’s power. When you were in a cage hanging above spikes without access to your wings, you still weren’t in anyone else’s power. You were just…put out for a moment.”

“We could be ambushed.”

“What a horrible surprise for them, trying to ambush a basajaun.”

“We might get out of the limo and be killed immediately.”

“That’s why Cyra will be getting out first, because she comes back to life.”

“He might finally succeed in capturing me, his sole goal all this time.”

“That has hardly been his sole goal. I’m sure he has much more sinister plans, like trying to make you fall in love with him so he can steal your magic, like what happened with the past heirs. Good thing you don’t want to fall in love, huh? He’s got his work cut out for him.”

“That’s not true. I lo—” She gritted her teeth, her whole body tightening up.

She’d been just about to say that she loved him, Austin knew. He could see it in her body language. He could feel it in his gut.

He breathed out slowly, everything in him pounding, wanting to take her right then, right there, feeling how close they were to completing the mating bond. Something was stopping her, and he would bet anything it was her beast. The female gargoyle was not sated. It wanted something more.

Austin just wished he knew what it was. He wished Jess did.

After this was all over, he was going to cheat and ask Ulric to tell him what it would take to impress her beast. Whatever it was, he’d do it. He’d claim his mate.

He just had to wait until they had a week or so to explore their new bond. That wasn’t something he wanted to happen in enemy territory.

“It’s the unknown that is giving me hell,” she said after a while, the limo winding higher into the mountains. “I hate the unknown. Whenever I went on vacation in the past, I had the itinerary all laid out. I knew where we would be staying, how we’d get there, places in the area where we could eat, places to avoid…”

“I think we’re headed into a place to avoid.”

“Yes, we are. And it isn’t just a bad neighborhood—it’s a bunch of caves closed into a mountain and filled with cutthroat, homicidal magical people.” She met his gaze and then looked away. “This isn’t your average work trip. We might not survive, Austin. I could be responsible for all these people dying.”

He touched his palm to her jaw, guiding her face back to him. When she was looking at him, he kissed her lips gently, and said, “I know this is playing hell on your nerves, and nothing any of us say will ease this burden for you. It feels different when you’re walking into danger instead of defending your home against it. But Elliot Graves left you no choice. He’s caused a lot of problems and a lot of bloodshed, and someone needs to end it. You are the only one who can. The people who joined you today want to be here. They want to fight. Please remember that when the guilt pulls you down.”

She blinked her glassy eyes, looking up at him with a wide-open gaze. A tear slipped out and rolled down her cheek.

“What would I do without you?” she asked quietly.

“Probably go on more internet dates that would end badly.”

She huffed out a laugh and pulled him in for a kiss, lingering for a moment. When she pulled back, he wrapped her in his arms and held her close.

“We both know that as soon as you get there,” he said into her ear, “you’ll go into overdrive, and you’ll handle whatever comes at you. You will dazzle them with your weird team—”

“Eccentric.”

“—and you will show them that you are not someone to trifle with.”

“Or I will hear someone make a snide comment about you, go absolutely crazy, and start a war.”

“An enemy’s lair isn’t the most romantic place to spend the week with a new mate, but we can make it work if we must.”

“Especially if Mr. Tom is in charge of the snacks, am I right?” She released a breath. “I almost wish I’d taken some of that chocolate. That’s how unsettled I am. I’m so off-kilter that I would eat some old chocolate Mr. Tom randomly found in his toiletry bag.”