She hated when he did that. She could resist the urge to fall in line, but she had to be actively thinking about it. She almost never was.
“Explain what happened. Start from the beginning,” he said.
“I’m just…” Jessie eyed the camp chair by the fire pit, then the lake. “I’m just going to take that chair and go think for a while, if that’s okay?”
“Yes, of course.” Austin Steele’s hard demeanor melted in an instant. He left the others waiting as he grabbed the chair and carried it down toward the water to place it for her. Once she was settled, he massaged her shoulders for a moment, his voice reduced down to a soothing murmur.
“He was doing that all evening,” Earl said, and his meaning was as clear as his confusion.
Austin Steele was treating that Jane like an alpha would his mate: looking after her, trying to make things easier for her, protecting her. But there didn’t seem to be any romantic attachment with it. He wasn’t flirting or sexual, like he would be in a courtship. It…didn’t make any sense.
“Is he trying to sweet talk her into doing what he wants?” Edgar asked through a mouthful of fangs.
“Put your teeth back in your head, will ye?” Niamh said, rubbing her temples.
“He might be,” Earl said. “Though he did eventually say it was in her hands. That might be a tactic, though. He’s suave with the ladies when he wants to be.”
“Everyone is suave with the ladies compared to gargoyles,” Edgar said.
“You’re starting to sound like her.” Earl pointed at Niamh.
“Speaking some sense, yeah, I agree,” she said. “Edgar is right. Austin Steele doesn’t try to get the ladies. At least not from what I’ve seen. He treats them exactly like he treats everyone else—distantly. Almost like strangers. And still they follow him home like he’s the Pied Piper. He’s not suave about it.”
Austin Steele returned, his hard mask clicking into place and his raw power oozing out around them. This was the reason he’d been given his new last name, something a pack chooses for its alpha, once he’d officially been accepted into O’Briens. Austin Steele had tried to deny its legitimacy, but the magical folk had insisted, one and all. They might back down from actually calling him alpha, but they wouldn’t back down from that name. It fit, and it was a matter of respect. Even Austin Steele had had to relent.
“Explain,” Austin Steele said, not offering anyone else a chair. “Start from the beginning.”
Niamh listened quietly to Earl’s account of how he had muddled up the situation. A gargoyle, even an old one, should’ve been able to take that wraith. He should’ve been able to secure that house with the magic on his side. His fearful attempt to run didn’t make sense.
“Ivy House didn’t use any defensive measures to cast them out?” Edgar asked, his brow crumpled in confusion.
“No,” Earl replied. “Nothing I’m aware of. I couldn’t feel the wraith at all. Not in the normal sense. I only felt the magic when it came into the room. And it came fast. Faster than it should’ve been able to. It had some powerful magic behind it.”
“How’d it get into the house at all?” Niamh asked, scratching her head. “Ivy House should be protected against creatures like that. Naturally protected. Are we sure the magic is still in place?”
“It’s in place,” Austin Steele said. “A door slammed in my face. The magic is connected to Jess. She looked scared, and the door slammed. Later on, she wanted me to help her test the passageway viewing area. I felt no issue from the house at all. It let me into its walls without a problem.”
Earl nodded with a grim face at Niamh and Edgar’s shock. Those passageways were like the veins of the house. They ran all over, and only through them could one get to the heart. Only those accepted by the house were allowed into that area.
“Jessie accepts you, and the house is reacting, it must be,” Earl said.
Niamh held her tongue. They needed the help of Austin Steele. Too many intruders had poured out of the woods for Niamh to battle, even with Edgar’s help. Even with Earl’s. She hated to admit it, but she got winded too fast these days. She had lost her vicious edge. They needed the might that was Austin Steele.
The problem was, if he learned that protecting Jessie would tie him to the house, he might back off. It was likely the last thing he wanted. He’d made this magical town what it was, but his decision not to step up as official alpha gave him an out. It gave him a hall pass. Niamh didn’t think he’d like that status changed.
“So why didn’t the house react when those creatures got inside?” Niamh wondered, wishing she had her rocking chair. Old bones didn’t like standing around too long.