Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up 4)

“Like…?” I rolled my hand in the air, not sure why he was forcing me to drag information out of him today. Of course, it had been a month and a half since we’d had a normal conversation, minus the rest of my demented Ivy House crew. Clearly he’d forgotten how.

He shifted his weight again, antsy to go. “Like when he’s in private with those closest to him.”

“But not in public?”

He paused for a beat. “In public, people only give exception to an alpha when he’s with his mate or his offspring.”

“Well, at least that’s something. It would be hard to date if you couldn’t laugh at your date’s jokes.”

“No.” His tone was hard. “Not a date, a mate. It’s a magical bond that manifests physically, similar to the magical link we have from Ivy House but much deeper. More primal. It changes a man. It makes him less reasonable. Less logical.” The full weight of his focus came back to me, punching through my humor and lightness like a steel mace. “People forgive an alpha for smiling with his mate or offspring because they know if they do anything that might harm them, even indirectly, the alpha will lose his mind and end the threat with unspeakable force. He will protect his own with everything in him. The smallest slight can turn into a bloodbath. It is safest for all to give an alpha leeway when he is with his mate or children.”

I blinked, my eyes wide, his tone and bearing hostile and haunted.

“That woman from your past…she was your mate?”

“No. I thought she would be, at one time. The reason I acted out back then was because I was young and dumb and full of…” He stopped himself. “Even without that bond, though, I was a menace to society. Even without it, I put people in the hospital and nearly killed my brother. What do you think might’ve happened if she’d been my mate?”

I nodded slowly, watching him, aching for him. I could feel his pain through the magical link we shared. I tended to unblock it these days when talking to him, needing to feel his emotions to gauge what was behind that hard, expressionless mask.

“Gotcha,” I said softly. “I’ll be careful not to badger you into smiling in public. I assume it’s fine on Ivy House soil, since that’s not your territory?”

He watched me silently for a beat. His emotions flicked from one to the next so fast that they were just a jumble of uncomfortable. He finally nodded.

“Well, there you go, then. You just have to stay for a moment after training one of these days. I’ll get Mr. Tom to tell you some jokes. He’s got a few zingers. Of course, he doesn’t realize they are jokes. Since he’s the punch line and all.”

He swore under his breath and looked away. “It’s a lesson in self-restraint speaking with you. Anyway, listen, no biggie, but—” His muscles popped again and his jaw clenched.

I laughed and pointed at him accusingly. “Thumbs in belt loops!”

“Hands in pockets. I did actually want to talk to you about the winery. Mr. Tom sent through the check. He said you’d approved the expense. You still need to actually sign the paperwork. My lawyer is putting that together now. We’ll be partners, fifty-fifty. Is that still good?”

I swallowed. “Yeah, good. Sounds good. My son is coming for a couple days, but outside of that, I’m free…”

While I was glad he hadn’t decided to back out after all, and supremely excited about Jimmy’s visit, I felt weighed down by the memory of the house financial ledger splayed in front of me in the office. I’d never seen such large numbers in my life, and I was the one responsible for the estate. Which was fine—beyond fine—except the generous gift came with an unexpected commitment, something no one had thought to mention to me when they’d explained about the whole magic thing.

I’d finished mastering the first spell book Ivy House had provided for my training, and although we still had a ways to go in Book Two, it was time for me to claim the full gamut of my magic, apparently. But before that final burst of power was unleashed, I needed to give a blood oath—a blood oath!—to protect the house and the people in my circle. To officially become their protector and provider. To become a leader, like Austin was for his pack.

Once I made that oath, I’d be stuck in this position forever. Forever. There would be no divorce court to get me out of this one. No do-overs. I would literally be the heir of Ivy House until I died, and it would almost certainly be a bloody death.

Because one of the supposed upsides of the blood oath was that I (and my crew) would get to live forever. Given I was one of many heirs, it wasn’t a leap in logic to realize my predecessors had all been killed, and that the same bloody fate was in store for me one day.