A muscle pulsed in Jess’s jaw. “No. They all have the potion, clearly. It’s fine. We’ll handle it.”
Jess stopped in front of the gathered crew and Austin took his place slightly behind—this was her territory, her authority. Only when she gave him the floor would he step in.
“Hey, everyone, thanks for joining us.” Jess walked in front of the waiting line, and Niamh—still in human form—filed in at the edge of the gargoyles with Edgar. The basajaun filled in the gap between the shifters and gargoyle, making Logan, on the end, jump. He held his position, though. Good sign.
“There are too many for me,” the basajaun said. “Sixty or so. I came to ask for my orders.”
Jess blew out a breath. “Sixty.” She shook her head, about-facing and walking back down the line, thinking.
The shifters looked from her to Austin. They weren’t used to lag time. Most alphas would have started barking orders by now, whether they were ready or not, to avoid showing any uncertainty in front of their underlings.
The gargoyles stared straight ahead, wings fluttering and arms at their sides, waiting patiently. They were familiar with Jess. They knew that she liked to have all her ducks in a row before settling on a plan of action.
Austin let the moment ride—the seconds ticked by, turning into a minute, and the only thing that happened was that Jess paced back the other way, muttering to herself, and bent and looked at the ground. He wouldn’t step in yet. They could spare a little more time. He needed to see if she would rise to the occasion on her own.
Metal clattering on wood stole his focus for a moment, coming from the front of the house. A rhythmic beat. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
“Edgar, go see what that is,” Jess barked, not looking in that direction. Instead, she peered out into the wood. “Basajaun, what are the positions of the back army?” she asked.
“They are spreading out in a line. If I had not left my position, they would be herding me in toward the house. The image in my mind is like when someone goes lost in the wood and the townspeople go on the hunt. Sometimes they lock arms so that no area is missed. The enemy forces are not touching, but they’re within sight of one another.”
“They want to herd everyone to Ivy House.” Jess turned to look off in the direction of the front of the house, her eyes distant.
“It’s the enemy to the front,” Edgar said, loping back. “They are in a haphazard sort of mob, banging swords and weapons against their shields. They have a couple of magical creatures on chains, but nothing to worry about. I’ve had a lot of experience. There was a portion of time when my clan tried to kill me off by sending me after fearsome creatures. All you need to do is scale them from behind, dangle down in front, and rip out their throats. Nothing to it once you get the hang of it.”
Jess pointed at Edgar. “Obviously that is your job. Not because I want to kill you off, but because you can save the lives of others while doing something you excel at.”
“Yes, of course, I didn’t doubt that for a moment.” Edgar nodded.
“You probably should’ve,” Niamh murmured.
Jess pointed at her next. “Get into your horrible gremlin form. We have enough fliers. We need someone to skirt through the underbrush and start taking out the enemies in the back on the sly.”
Niamh sighed, clearly not loving that form—one of two a puca could change into—but nevertheless she stepped away, shed her clothes, and changed.
“Two different organizational setups can only confirm that these are two factions,” Austin said.
“Let’s hope that means only one group has the potion. Regardless, end game is the same—we need to fight for our freedom.” Jess pointed at the shifters. “Austin, I don’t know what they excel at. You’ll work with them, obviously.” She glanced back at him to make sure the command landed, like a natural, and he nodded once and stepped that way.
“Gargoyles,” she said. Their wings fluttered harder in anticipation, but otherwise they didn’t move. “I’ll give you cover until nightfall. If you feel an updraft that doesn’t make sense, that’s me. Stay in the air, because I’m probably doing something with Ivy House. Otherwise, use the darkness to swoop in and grab whoever you can. We are hugely outnumbered, so we’re looking for swift kills. If you hear random screaming, it’s probably from my efforts with the defenses of this property. Just…pretend it doesn’t send a shiver down your spine.”
“They’ll be good,” Austin said.
She huffed out a laugh. “So you say. Basajaun, I’m going to need the people in the front to actually cross the threshold onto this property. Is that in your wheelhouse?”