“That’s not true. I lo—” She gritted her teeth, her whole body tightening up.
She’d been just about to say that she loved him, Austin knew. He could see it in her body language. He could feel it in his gut.
He breathed out slowly, everything in him pounding, wanting to take her right then, right there, feeling how close they were to completing the mating bond. Something was stopping her, and he would bet anything it was her beast. The female gargoyle was not sated. It wanted something more.
Austin just wished he knew what it was. He wished Jess did.
After this was all over, he was going to cheat and ask Ulric to tell him what it would take to impress her beast. Whatever it was, he’d do it. He’d claim his mate.
He just had to wait until they had a week or so to explore their new bond. That wasn’t something he wanted to happen in enemy territory.
“It’s the unknown that is giving me hell,” she said after a while, the limo winding higher into the mountains. “I hate the unknown. Whenever I went on vacation in the past, I had the itinerary all laid out. I knew where we would be staying, how we’d get there, places in the area where we could eat, places to avoid…”
“I think we’re headed into a place to avoid.”
“Yes, we are. And it isn’t just a bad neighborhood—it’s a bunch of caves closed into a mountain and filled with cutthroat, homicidal magical people.” She met his gaze and then looked away. “This isn’t your average work trip. We might not survive, Austin. I could be responsible for all these people dying.”
He touched his palm to her jaw, guiding her face back to him. When she was looking at him, he kissed her lips gently, and said, “I know this is playing hell on your nerves, and nothing any of us say will ease this burden for you. It feels different when you’re walking into danger instead of defending your home against it. But Elliot Graves left you no choice. He’s caused a lot of problems and a lot of bloodshed, and someone needs to end it. You are the only one who can. The people who joined you today want to be here. They want to fight. Please remember that when the guilt pulls you down.”
She blinked her glassy eyes, looking up at him with a wide-open gaze. A tear slipped out and rolled down her cheek.
“What would I do without you?” she asked quietly.
“Probably go on more internet dates that would end badly.”
She huffed out a laugh and pulled him in for a kiss, lingering for a moment. When she pulled back, he wrapped her in his arms and held her close.
“We both know that as soon as you get there,” he said into her ear, “you’ll go into overdrive, and you’ll handle whatever comes at you. You will dazzle them with your weird team—”
“Eccentric.”
“—and you will show them that you are not someone to trifle with.”
“Or I will hear someone make a snide comment about you, go absolutely crazy, and start a war.”
“An enemy’s lair isn’t the most romantic place to spend the week with a new mate, but we can make it work if we must.”
“Especially if Mr. Tom is in charge of the snacks, am I right?” She released a breath. “I almost wish I’d taken some of that chocolate. That’s how unsettled I am. I’m so off-kilter that I would eat some old chocolate Mr. Tom randomly found in his toiletry bag.”
“As long as you don’t reach for the chocolate stool softener. What could he possibly have been thinking?”
She shook with laughter in his arms. “Yeah, well… Honestly, there are no words. There just aren’t.”
“Let’s hope this week doesn’t frazzle him more, if this is the way he reacts to nerves.”
She paused for a moment, serious again. “It won’t last a week. It will only last as long as it takes for me to get a clear shot off at Elliot Graves.”
Twelve
The limo rolled up to a large tunnel in the center of the mountain. A cement arch curved over the narrow, two-lane road. Past the entrance, there was only darkness.
“This is fine,” I said into the deathly quiet limo, my heart nearly choking me. “This is okay. Ivy House is shadowy too, and it’s lovely.”
But it wasn’t lovely, Ivy House. It was a nightmare for anyone who wasn’t welcome, which was nearly everyone.
“Does it have animated dolls? That’s the question,” I said.
Austin still held my hand. He gave it a squeeze but didn’t comment. He’d put his game face on. Normally that would make me less nervous, because he would surely have my back, but in this situation there was probably very little in the world that would have eased my anxiety.