Magical Midlife Invasion (Leveling Up 3)

“Austin? No. It’s right here, Mom, the one that says ‘warm’ on it.” I pushed the button for her.

“Oh yeah. Warm. That’s a good hint.” She pulled open the oven and extracted the plates covered in grease-coated napkins. Why she was looking for the button to warm when about to take out the food was beyond me. “I couldn’t find any paper plates. I’ll get some at the store today.”

“No, it’s fine. We have real plates. Mr. Tom prefers—”

“And paper towels. You could use more paper towels. You don’t care what kind I get, do you?”

“No, honestly, Mom, it’s fine. Mr. Tom—”

Ulric popped into the doorway with a smile.

“Honey, look out!” My mother shoved me, grabbed a potato off the counter, and chucked it, all in a fast collection of somewhat rickety movements. Despite the way it was launched, that sucker flew true, directly for Ulric’s head.

“Holy—” Ulric bent to the side, batting the flying spud away. “I’m friendly! I’m friendly!”

“Martha, what’s going on in there?” my dad hollered from the other room.

“Mom, oh my God, he lives here!” Half shocked and half trying not to laugh, I put up my hands and danced between them. “That’s Ulric. He’s staying here for the moment. At the moment.”

“What?” She incrementally lowered the second potato, having reloaded in a hurry.

“I live here, ma’am.” Ulric stayed put, not attempting to step any farther into the kitchen.

The laughter finally bubbled over. “Really, Mom? A potato? You wouldn’t pick up a knife or something heavy…”

“Good aim, though.” Ulric beamed. “Now we know where Jessie gets her fierce streak. You should take up rock slinging with Niamh.”

My glare shut him up.

“Who is he?” my mom asked, finally lowering her weapon.

Jasper stepped in beside Ulric, his expression one of deep interest. “I smell bacon.”

I widened my eyes. It clearly took bacon to get him to say full sentences.

“Mom, meet Ulric and Jasper. Cedric—a youngish guy named Cedric—is also living here. At the moment.”

“Oh.” My mom dropped the potato onto the counter. “Well, it is a big house. And you didn’t get that much in the divorce settlement, did you? I guess it makes sense to take on a few roommates. But Jessie, why not just buy a smaller house? I’m sure there must be something you can afford in this area—”

“Oh no, ma’am, you have it all wrong.” Ulric took a seat at the island. “You see, we’re doing a sort of work exchange program. Jessie here has a large property—with extensive woods—and we’re all in the same doctorate program studying the global effect woods have on our ecosystem. Well, Jessie was nice enough to put us up for a few months so we can study her trees for the experience portion of our program.” He spread his arms with a smile. “Just a bunch of tree-hugging fellas, that’s us.”

Wow. Ulric was really good at making up stories on the fly.

“Austin recommended them,” I said, going with it. It probably should’ve occurred to me before now to have something worked out. “He looked into their backgrounds and everything.”

“Oh, Austin did?” She pondered that for a moment. “He seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.” Her gaze snagged on Ulric’s hair. “Well, I have some breakfast ready if you want some.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Yes, please.” Jasper joined Ulric at the island.

“Speaking of…” I leveled a pointer finger at them. “Austin wanted to check out some things later today. Trees. The woods, I mean.” I wasn’t great at lying. “He asked if I’d help. You guys should probably join.”

“Yeah, sure.” Ulric tracked my mom’s movements. “After breakfast.”

I just hoped I didn’t blow anyone else up. How would I explain a charred gargoyle to my parents?FiveAustin stepped out of the Jeep, fatigue dragging at him. The bar was a lot busier now that he’d taken on the alpha role, people rolling in from all over, wanting to congregate in what they deemed the new magical epicenter of the area. Austin had had no idea the people around here were craving a larger magical presence. There wasn’t a strictly magical town for hundreds of miles, and no other alphas anywhere close. Or maybe they wanted a more organized magical presence. Whatever the reason, they’d been coming to the bar in droves, their presence signaling to Austin that he should extend his territory. So far, it was three towns, but given the growing patronage, soon it would probably be five.

He needed to establish a pack. Usually a territory didn’t grow this fast. People tended to balk from accepting a new authority figure. Of course, he wasn’t exactly new, and his situation was far from normal. He should’ve thought of that before making the switch.

“Can I be in your pack? I promise I won’t bring Mr. Tom.”

Goosebumps rolled across his skin, and he stopped just before stepping over Ivy House’s territory line.