Magical Midlife Madness (Leveling Up #1)(56)

Silence met my question for a good few beats, and I wondered if he would answer this time. Finally, he straightened up and turned to me, his expression uncomfortable. His raw intensity beat a drum inside my chest.

“I don’t usually talk about this,” he said with resolution, “but given this is a unique situation, and if you invite people into this town I’ll have to combat…”

“I mean, it’s not like I’m going to send out save the dates or anything. None of this is my idea.”

He sighed and moved a little closer, lowering his voice to a deep hum. “I had a mate picked out. A long time ago. She wanted an alpha. She wanted power and strength—a man who threw his weight around and made everyone quail in his presence. She wanted the prestige of being with the man every woman wanted and every man—shifter male, I mean—wanted to be. I was young and stupid and she was older. Not much older, but enough to know my potential. Enough to…steer me in the direction she wanted.” He shook his head and took a big sip of his wine. “I was a fool. A dangerous fool. I put a man in the hospital for flirting with her—”

“For flirting with her?”

“She knew how to bring out the qualities of an alpha that are less than savory. When she worked her way through a party, touching men intimately, laughing suggestively…” He gritted his teeth and fire sparked in his eyes. Even after all this time, the memories clearly still got to him. “It set me on edge. My natural possessiveness turned to rage-filled jealousy. I tore men off of her and beat them senseless. I threw them across rooms. I upended tables. Destiny liked to see me fight over her. Defend her honor. And I did. Every time. And every time, I won. Even at twenty, I did not lose, just like my dead-beat father, who’d left us when I was young, may the devil keep his soul.”

He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck, struggling with his emotions.

“Just checking in, miss,” Mr. Tom said, popping his head through the door, his hat, trench coat, and glasses removed. His expression was wary. He must’ve seen the change in Austin. “Everything okay? Day going well, I trust? How’s the wine? Good enough to attract all these infernal tourists?”

“I’m good, Mr. Tom, thank you.”

“Call me Tom, please. I’ll be around, should you need me.”

“You can head home, Mr.—Tom. I’m fine.”

“Yes, miss. And oh, Niamh mentioned that she is anxious to have a drink with you later. She’ll be sitting on her usual bar stool like some derelict lush who has nothing left to live for.”

“Got it. Thanks.”

He nodded, closed the door, reapplied his coat and accessories in full sight of everyone, and resumed his post in the window.

“What would he even do if I did need help?” I asked as I ran my hand down my face. “Niamh at least throws rocks.”

“In his prime, he would’ve transformed into a winged, muscled, foul-mouthed powerhouse capable of mowing down any enemy that dared to threaten you. Age has not been kind to him. When you hang up your gloves to be a butler, or watch an old house, you’re in the twilight of your life.”

I turned slowly to stare at the old, withered man in the window, his face drawn and his back bowed with age. I could not imagine him doing any of those things. Then again, Donna—fun, lovely Donna—turned into a big rat. What did I know?

“So what happened?” I asked Austin. “Why did you leave your home town?”

“With Destiny on my arm, I became a nightmare. Guys like me—like I was—would normally be subdued by the alpha of the pack. The alpha would force the young shifter to see reason. Force him to submit. But my older brother, the alpha, had inherited my mom’s smaller, weaker animal form. He’d also inherited her soft way, her balanced nature. Those were the very things that made him an exceptional alpha. Someone who helped the pack thrive. It was his job to subdue me, and he tried. He did try.

“But at that point, I was ready to take the alpha role for myself. Rise and take what’s yours—that’s what Destiny always told me. She’d sex me up really good, or tease me, then whisper those words in my ear, over and over. Rise and take what’s yours, Austin. It’s your natural given right—take it.

“My brother—ten years older—had tried to get me to see reason many times, but he’d always done it as family. This time—the last time—he came at me as my alpha, which was his right…” Austin blew out a shaking breath. “I would’ve killed him. I nearly did kill him. I was”—he put his thumb and finger close together—“this close to ending his life. To creating a widow and taking a daddy away from two adorable children.”

“What pulled you back?”

“My niece. She wasn’t supposed to be in the room when my brother challenged me, but she burst in at the last minute. She was wondering why no one would help her daddy fight off her crazy uncle Auzzie. As I was coming down with the killing strike, she managed to evade all the adults and lay herself over her father, protecting him with her body.”

Tears clouded my vision and I held my breath.

“I will never forget, to this day, seeing her wheat-colored hair glistening with her father’s blood as she turned up her little cherub face to me in defiance. Her little expression was screwed up in anger and courage. That little girl defied my strength and power to stand up for what was right, something no other adult man or woman would dare to try.”