Page 76 of Magical Midlife Conclave

“And if I don’t step up my game, they’ll do it again.” Austin searched his phone for the number. “We need answers, and we need to figure out a way to protect the shifters from each other.”

Jessie

I woke up slowly, which didn’t seem right. Usually various presences jarred me awake, or Mr. Tom’s rattling around, or Austin’s gently shaking me. But none of those things were in the room with me.

Light streamed through the window. The clock read ten o’clock.

“Crap!” I bolted upright. Where the hell was Tristan? Surely I was late for something. I never got to sleep in anymore, especially now that there were all these packs and cairns stuffed in the territory. Was I supposed to set an alarm, and no one told me?

My phone didn’t have any missed calls or texts. Mr. Tom was just now starting up the stairs, clearly having felt me wake up.

I threw the covers wide and got out of bed. Only the two helping garhettes were in the house, probably trying to sneak around Mr. Tom so as to do their job without being groused at. Even Mimi was gone.

I didn’t wait for coffee. I hurried into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

“Where is everyone?” I asked Mr. Tom when he met me there. “Why didn’t someone wake me up?”

“You are scheduled to demonstrate the battle strategies in an hour. Tristan will be back to pick you up. Then there is an afternoon of watching shifters fight for the right to call themselves more powerful than someone who looked at them funny.”

I shook my head, slipping out of my robe and nightie and getting into the shower. “What about meetings or discussing the convocation?”

“I was told Austin Steele was handling the shifters this morning. Something happened early and he is trying to manage all the big personalities.”

He’d gotten a call around dawn and left to check it out. He told me he’d let me know if he needed me. Since it was a shifter situation, he probably didn’t. Except…wariness and aggression leaked through the bonds. Something seemed to be the matter.

Then again, he’d had that last night, too, a response to all the aggression and power surging around him.

Unsettled, off-kilter at being allowed to sleep in, I checked on the connections. They all lit up, a large portion of them centered around downtown. Emotion punched me—more wariness, unease, anger, rising aggression to mirror Austin’s.

Something was happening…without me.

Dread lodged in my gut. Why the hell didn’t anyone call? I was a co-leader. I should be present regardless of the magical creature. Did they not trust me to help handle it?

I dripped all over the floor as I sought out my phone. My first inclination was to call Austin, but I could feel his determination coming through the bonds. He’d be in the middle of dealing with whatever was happening. Tristan was the next best option.

I tapped his name.

It rang four times before he answered.

“Hey, Jessie, what’s up?” I could hear the forced calm in his voice.

“What’s going on?”

He paused for a long moment. “Shifter matter. We’re handling things.”

Anger pooled in my gut. “What kind of shifter matter, and why are you handling things when I am a co-leader?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Are you trying to be obtuse on purpose?”

His voice muffled a bit. “They don’t want you involved right now, Jessie. They don’t want me involved, either. I’m handling the gargoyles while the shifters put out fires. The basajaunak are being kept at a distance. This place is a tinderbox ready to explode. They’re worried we’ll bring the matches.”

“What happened, Tristan?”

He sighed and was silent.

“What happened?” I repeated in a calm voice.