But he’d pulled a complete one-eighty one day, and now he had no doubt that forever was knocking on his door. There was no more resisting. No anxiety. He hadn’t had a single freak-out!
He probably figured I’d have enough of them for the both of us.
The shifters were convinced Austin and I were sliding into mating, a sort of permanent bond that magically connected two people, somewhat like the one I had with Ivy House but deeper. And they were probably onto something: with each passing day, my depth of feeling for him increased, my desire ballooned, and my happiness grew.
But I was newly divorced, dang it! New to magic, new to solo home ownership, and new to being the reluctant master of creepy dolls. I couldn’t just hop into another lifelong romantic commitment willy-nilly. I hadn’t even played the field! Austin was technically a rebound, for criminy’s sake. I had to approach all of this logically, which required at least a little freaking out. It required brakes, and if I had to bear down on them for a while, so be it. His infallible confidence could take it. He’d said as much a few times over.
Take as long as you need, Jess. I’ll wait. You will be mine.
I shivered and suddenly couldn’t stand the distance between us. I couldn’t stand to hear his voice but not feel his touch. He needed to be closer. We needed to be closer.
“Do you have a second to FaceTime?” I asked. If I couldn’t do it physically, I’d do it through the Ivy House bond. It would have to be enough.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll call you back.”
I hung up, bounced around in the bed organizing my pillows, and then lay down, splaying my hair out around my head. His heart throbbed in my chest, next to mine, something that had happened for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It should have felt strange, especially since I’d started life as a non-magical person, a Jane. But it didn’t. It was intimate and comforting.
The phone rang for FaceTime, and I answered, unable to help the excited smile. His handsome face filled the screen, his eyes hooded with fatigue and his hair standing every which way. His head rested against leather, and I imagined he was probably on his couch.
“Did you just get in?” I asked, feasting my eyes on him and enhancing Ivy House’s magical link between us, feeling the answer for myself. I immediately launched into healing his fatigue.
His little grin said that my magical touch was appreciated. “Long night. I had a few direct challenges, one from a very strong shifter, and then a raiding party came through.”
I furrowed my brow. “A raiding party? Like a bunch of Vikings?”
He sighed and scrubbed his fingers through his hair. I loved seeing him like this. At home and on his own (or with me), he was able to be so expressive, unlike when he was in public and donning his “alpha” mask of non-emotion.
“Basically, yeah,” he said. “They roll through and try to grab whatever they can. Or kill whoever they can. Or just create mayhem. It’s pretty standard for a newly established pack to suffer raiding parties. I’d thought I’d be immune, since my brother helped me set this place up and everyone knows I took down a phoenix, but no such luck.”
“Oh. You should’ve let me know—I could’ve helped.”
“Thanks, but it’s good. I used it as a training exercise. It cut into sleep time, though. I have a pretty packed day today. That’s the reason I called.” Frustration bled through the link. “Can you push off training for a few hours so I can stop by before I hit the bar?”
“Or maybe you should use those few hours to get some rest, and I’ll try to kill the phoenix on my own?”
He paused for a moment, and wariness trickled through our link. “Kill the phoenix? Did Cyra do something to piss you off?”
I told him what she’d suggested. “It won’t set us back too much. Apparently her magic is like the gargoyles’—it responds differently when she has an alpha who calls her, and through the link I’ve figured out how to call her. So there won’t be much of a delay training-wise if I’m able to kill her. She’ll regrow to her adult size pretty quick.”
“And if you aren’t?”
“It’ll hurt like the blazes, and I’ll need to drink a half-dozen protein shakes for all the energy I’ll need to heal myself…”
He issued a soft sigh. “If you think you’re up for it… I’d prefer to be there when you try, but…”
“When I succeed, you mean.”
His smile made my heart flutter. “Obviously. I’d prefer if you’d put it off until I can be there. I trust that she won’t go too far, but just in case.”