Magical Midlife Meeting (Leveling Up #5)(59)

Austin changed into his animal; I could feel it through the link. Niamh shifted, and the gargoyles did the same. They couldn’t use their wings, but their flyer forms had tougher hides and sharper claws.

Edgar came toward me fastest of all, slipping by whatever opposition waited in the halls in his swarm-of-bugs form.

I felt bad for standing here without doing anything, letting myself stay tied up. But I’d feel worse if I didn’t let Broken Sue decide what he would do with the guy who had stolen his life. Besides, I knew Austin was coming for me. I knew he would deal with this situation. That he would also want to give Broken Sue a chance for revenge.

The ground rumbled. Little pebbles fell from the roof.

“Find out what is going on,” Chambers told one of the guys at his back.

Power radiated through the walls.

A knock came at the door.

The attendant ran forward to get it. He cracked it open and peered out. That small space was all Edgar needed to slip by, materializing next to me before the mages could react, his eyes taking me in.

“Oh, good, you’re not terribly hurt,” he said. “The alpha is coming. The rest of our crew is with him.”

Magic jetted through the air. Edgar puffed into his insects and beelined for Chambers.

“No,” I shouted, wishing I could throw out my hand. “He’s Brochan’s.”

Edgar materialized inches from the mage, who staggered back in fright, a stream of magic going wide and crashing into the kitchen at the back.

“He’s the one?” Edgar asked, stepping calmly to the side as another stream of harried magic zipped past. “Despicable. Yes, that’s fitting.”

Austin ran at me now, moving fast, full of consuming rage. Power pulsed in the air around me. It throbbed, wild and intense, and I couldn’t tell if it was his or mine.

A great shadow blackened the doorstep. I could feel it—Austin’s nearness pounding through me. The mages in the room must’ve been able to feel it too. All four of them snapped their heads toward the door, Edgar forgotten, the ground rumbling under their feet, power pulsing through the air.

The door exploded, ripping off its hinges and pulling completely free of the frame. Austin’s roar filled the confined space, full of blistering rage, and then he was inside, impossibly large.

A mage shook free of his stupor and shot forth a stream of magic. It slashed across Austin, opening a gash and spilling blood down his dewy white coat. He didn’t even flinch. He roared again as he rushed forward, grabbing the mage and chomping down on his head before ripping to the side.

Something inside of me roared in response. It scrabbled to get out. To feed on his power. To bask in his strength. To merge with him, giving him some of my own power and strength. He was showing me his beast, and mine was answering in kind. Magic shed from my body, colorful light drifting into the room.

Chambers put up his hands, but not to throw a spell. He was shielding his face from what Austin was doing to the other mage. Crimson splattered across his palms.

One of the mages in the back shook into action, hands shaking so badly that the spell he churned out withered and died on the vine. Austin wasted no time, shoving furniture out of the way, knocking over anything that hindered his movement. He grabbed up that mage and ended his efforts. The last ran out of the door. Austin turned toward him, but the basajaun’s roar said he’d get there first. The mountain shook under my feet again.

“Don’t bring the mountain down on us,” I hollered, a backseat driver if ever there was one.

Austin lowered down to all fours, his predator’s gaze on Chambers as he stalked around him in a circle, putting his body between me and danger.

“I c-can save you,” Chambers said, his palms still up, his hands shaking. “I can k-keep Momar away from your brother. From y-your people.”

“As if ,” Edgar said, unintentionally (I was pretty sure) sounding like a character out of a nineties movie.

Light and heat flashed in the room. Austin stood there in the flesh. “I would like to kill you for what you’ve done, but my mate is safe. I must defer to the one whose life you took.”

The huge silverback gorilla filled the doorway, his arms and legs thick with muscle, his chest robust.

“No,” the mage said, backing up, tripping over a chair and falling. “No! It wasn’t me. It was my people. I didn’t do anything!”

Austin turned, his eyes twin cobalt flames. He grabbed the rope attached to the bindings on my back. The other end was tied to a hook in the wall, and he ripped it out in one crisp gesture. “Send everyone back to the rooms,” he barked.

“Yes, sir, colonel…ah…alpha.” Edgar puffed into his insect form and zipped from the space.

“Edgar got in by knocking,” I said, heat pooling in my middle. Power still pounded in my chest, filled the air, sizzled through my blood and bones.

Mate.

I wanted to give him his due. I was ready to merge our beasts.

Mate.

I didn’t know what any of that meant, but the need was there, pulsing within me, insistent.

“I was giving orders,” Austin said, and I could barely focus on the words. “He ignored them. His first inclination was to get to your side. He’s nuts, but he’s got his heart in the right place. I won’t fault him for it.”

And then he unwrapped me, blood trickling down his cut chest, and all I could do was stand there, buzzing. Aching. Desperate for him. Wanting his arms around me, his body inside mine, his heart beating in my chest.