Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up 4)

The basajaun was hot on their tail, running toward the front lawn.

Ivy House was already on the bars for the wolves. Steel bars pushed up out of the grass on the other side of the lawn. The wolves ran into them, making bong sounds as their heads glanced off the unforgiving material. More bars sprang up on their right and then left, three sides of a cell I hadn’t realized were there. The last wolf wasn’t in, though, before the leaders realized what was happening.

I sent a shock wave of magic, forcing them forward. The final bars slid up, clipping the tail of one of the wolves and bumping him or her in.

Kingsley had his pants off, about to ignore me and change.

“No, damn it.” I ran in front of him, heading off the basajaun with my body.

“No, Jess!” Kingsley shouted, but I blocked him off with a spell.

“Wait, wait, wait.” I braced, my hands out, Kingsley still yelling for me to get out of the way. “Basajaun, wait, wait!”

The basajaun’s legs churned, his strides long, almost on me.

“Wait!” I shouted, amplifying my voice, sending a shock of manufactured fear through the property. Heavy sheets of fog drifted in, quickly cutting down visibility. Stars blinked out of sight.

The basajaun slowed, eyeing Ivy House’s fog warily. He probably remembered the last battle he’d taken part in here, when a poisoned fog had descended. This was just a trick of the air, though. It was my doing, not hers.

“It would be a grave insult to deny my right to punish trespassers,” the basajaun said, and his tone raised the small hairs all over my body.

Sebastian stepped in closer to me, and Kingsley thrashed against my magical hold, wanting to do the same. The fliers dipped down, ready to fight. Ivy House braced herself.

“I’m not going to deny you anything,” I said quickly, taking a step forward. Sebastian shadowed me. “I just need to talk to those wolves. They’re sneaking into Austin’s territory. He’ll want to know why.”

The basajaun’s bristled hair sent nervous tremors racing through my body. Austin was on the move, way late to the party.

“I just wanted to slow you down enough to ask if I might trade for a little time with them,” I said, remembering his preferred lingo. Everything was a trade with him. “They are on my territory, after all. I do have some say in their fate.”

After a tense beat, the hair on the basajaun’s body flattened. “Yes, of course. Where are my manners?” He smiled, his large teeth on display.

“Jess,” Kingsley growled.

“Oops.” The basajaun closed his mouth. “It is hard to know when to smile and when not. Shifters think it means I am about to attack. And you think it is pleasant.”

“I don’t know about pleasant…” I murmured.

“That is the tiger, is that correct? I remember his scent,” the basajaun said. “Austin’s brother.”

“Oh.” I tore down the magic keeping him put. “Yes. He was worried about my safety. I’m sure you understand.”

“Yes, of course. My family is the same way. There’s no one you can trust with your mate more than your sibling.”

“No, it’s not that, it’s just that I was drunk—”

“He has done no wrong here. Unless he charges now, and then I will have to tear off his limbs. That would hardly be my fault—”

“No!” I put out my hands. “All is well. Let’s not use language that might…cause issues.”

The wolves circled in the cage, not much room in there to move around, their hackles raised and teeth bared. I cocked my head, aware again of the feeling of approaching danger, but it wasn’t from them. It never had been. Something else lurked in the dark.

The woods were clear, though. Not even animals lurked in it tonight. The wolves and the basajaun must’ve scared everything off.

“Okay, let’s see… How will we divide them up?” the basajaun said as the fliers started to land.

I held up a hand, feeling that strange, pulsing sense of danger. It was getting closer.

“Get back in the air,” I whispered. “Push out into the woods. Stay out of sight.”

I pointed at Kingsley, his stare now on the basajaun, who’d surpassed me as the most dangerous thing around. My gesture grabbed his attention. “Now you can change.” His glance back at the basajaun had me shaking my head. “Not because of him—”

Thunder rolled across the darkened sky. I released the fog, letting the stars twinkle down at us, not one cloud hindering their glow.

A flash of heat and light assailed me, Kingsley now a huge tiger, larger than his natural counterpart, his shoulder up to nearly my neck.

“Gracious,” Sebastian said softly.

Spiderwebs of lightning crackled through the air as another peal of thunder rolled, this one coming from the west. Beside it glowed a ball of fire; jets of flame dripped down from the sky.