Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up 4)

As one, we both realized the piece we’d forgotten.

There was a new gargoyle on the scene, and his compliance wasn’t connected to the phoenix. I hoped he wouldn’t pose as many problems for Austin as the last alpha gargoyle.

Twenty-Four

The next day, midafternoon, Austin pulled out of his garage. He and Kingsley were heading to Ivy House for a strategy meeting. They had just under a month before the mage’s visit. The territory was still in chaos, but Jess had gained three important advantages the previous night.

“I don’t get you, Austin.” Kingsley clicked his seatbelt into place. He shook his head, looking out of the window, allowing himself freedom of expression, since Austin was family. “You left her alone overnight, sleeping and vulnerable, with three powerful strangers. You could’ve returned to Ivy House after you took care of the shifters who’d snuck into town.”

“You don’t understand. When she’s in that house, she’s safe.”

“But they were in there with her. A door is an easy thing to get through. You’ve been away from pack life for too long. You need to protect your own.”

Austin tightened his fingers on the steering wheel. “I can’t protect her like Ivy House can. It’s a magical Fort Knox, Kingsley. You have no idea.”

Kingsley pulled the seatbelt away, holding it out so it didn’t press into him. “Maybe so, but you’re holding back. I’m not trying to tell you your business, but…Jess is nothing like Destiny. Nothing like her. Destiny twisted your head all around. On purpose. She saw potential, young and dumb potential, and she manipulated you. But you’ve come a long way since then, even before you left the pack. Giving in and officially committing to Miss Ivy House isn’t going to turn you into the guy you once were. Nothing will, at this point.”

“Destiny did nothing more than highlight what I’m capable of. Who I am.”

“Your bullheadedness in the face of opposition, your ability to cut out everything but winning, your unbridled determination to claim dominance… Those are all highly prized qualities in a shifter. She just coaxed them out before you had the ability to control them.”

Austin shook his head. “I think time has glossed over what went down.”

“It wasn’t time that gave me a new perspective,” Kingsley said. “She moved on to another pack, picked out another young alpha, and finally got her way.”

That was news to Austin. Although he had heard she’d moved on, he’d never asked for details.

“The next guy was strong and fierce, but he couldn’t see his way through the rage she’d wound up in him,” Kingsley said. “Strong of body but not of mind. He killed the pack alpha and replaced her. Killed the beta, too, giving that role to Destiny. Then the kid killed his own father for trying to do right by the pack and take him down. Killed his nephew for getting in the way. He ran that pack into the ground. The alpha of one of the neighboring packs, who’d tried to help but wasn’t strong enough, contacted me five years or so ago, and I traveled there to take him down. I tried to help his people pick up the pieces, but they were in poverty by then. Those who could afford to get out had already left. I accepted any willing shifters into my pack and paid for the rest to be reunited with family or head out on their own. It was not a pretty sight. Destiny had long since left.”

Austin wound the Jeep through the hillside, dense trees shutting out his view of what lay beyond. “How can you be sure she’s the one who drove him to it? Maybe she just has a type. I would’ve run the pack into the ground, too.”

“The shifters in that pack said otherwise.” Kingsley paused for a moment. “And you’re wrong. You wouldn’t have driven the pack into the ground. You were ready to take over when you left. Half of the pack was calling for you to replace me.”

Austin pulled into an outlet and stopped. Here it came.

He looked straight ahead, waiting, bracing himself.

Kingsley watched him for a long time before speaking.

“You left my pack in pieces when you walked away,” he finally said.

Austin nodded. “Yes, I did. I apologize for that. I have apologized for that. But I told you that I would leave when the pack’s allegiance shifted, and I meant it. You’re the best alpha I’ve ever known, Kingsley.”

“I’ve thought about this for years. No other alpha of your stature would’ve left. It must have torn you apart to go, knowing what it would do to the pack.”

“I made a promise. It was my fault for staying too long.”

His brother gave him one of those long, assessing looks again. “If you’d stayed, I have no doubt it would’ve boosted the pack to the next level. You’ve always worried you’re like our father because you inherited his animal, his darkness, but you got our mother’s tenacity, too, and you tempered that darkness into unbreakable steel. The name this place gave you is incredibly fitting, and they gave it before you ever thought you’d be their alpha, right?”