Page 79 of Magical Midlife Conclave

A smile wrestled his lips. “No, thank you.”

I patted him and waited for him to step away. With a deep breath, I entered the bar.

It was too early for patrons, but Niamh sat in her usual seat anyway, fingers around a glass of cider. How she always managed to get a drink, I didn’t know. Nessa sat beside her with a blank face. I could read the worry in her posture. Sebastian sat beside Nessa, and his face relayed his downright fear.

I could feel why. This room held only a quarter of the usual crowd, but five times the power. It pumped from the collection of alphas divided into two sides, growling back and forth at each other. Aljoe and Sue stood to one side, looking at me with tight eyes. Austin stood just in front of Kingsley, with Aljoe’s sisters, some of Kingsley’s friends, and a couple other alphas.

Across from them was Armendale and a collection of alphas, their faces blank but their bearings hostile. Another few stood around, uncomfortable, wanting to weigh in, maybe wanting to fight, maybe ready to run. Judging by their body language, they weren’t sure themselves.

In the middle of the groups was a man on a barstool. Calvin, I thought his name was, the alpha who’d lost an enforcer, one who happened to be a brother-in-law. Or mate-in-law, whatever.

The voices reduced to a murmur as I walked forward, my gaze on Calvin.

“This is a shifter matter,” Armendale said, but I ignored him. Aggression surged from Austin, and he stiffened, barely stopping himself from reacting. I sent him calm, along with reassurance.

Calvin startled when he realized I was approaching him. His face and body lost any and all expressiveness quickly, but not before a little grief and confusion had seeped through. And wariness. He did not want to be in the middle of all this. I did not blame him.

“I just heard about what happened,” I said softly, stopping in front of him.

“Some co-leader to just hear⁠—”

I turned and stuck out a finger, cutting Armendale off. A little magic had probably escaped, which would explain his suddenly tense frame.

“I am not speaking to you. This is a convocation matter, and yes, I am a co-leader. Which is why you will stop talking until I am ready to address you.”

I didn’t beat my stare into him like a shifter probably would. He would follow my command or I’d make him. Simple as that.

Turning back to Calvin, I leaned in a little. I lowered my voice.

“I am so sorry for your loss. Please give my condolences to his family, to yours, and to your pack as a whole. If you’d like to come to Ivy House for dinner tonight and maybe tell stories and drink too much, we can make time. Regardless of how it happened, and we’ll be trying to figure that out, it shouldn’t have.” I put my hand to my heart. “That’s on us, and I apologize for having failed you and his family.”

He swallowed, his eyes growing a little bigger. They flicked Armendale’s way, and then Austin’s before he closed down again. He was caught in the middle. What a horrible place to be after you lost someone.

I put a hand on his forearm even though that was kinda taboo, especially with shifters. But I’d already messed up so much, what was one more touch? Armendale could add it to the collection of my faux pas.

Speaking of.

I turned to him. “And why are you here, trying to be the loudest person in the room?”

His eyes narrowed, just slightly. “Can I talk now?” he said sarcastically.

“Do you not know how questions work?” I replied.

“I have to be here. Someone has to stand witness.”

“Yes, about that. I find that very interesting. How did you happen upon an out-of-the-way street shortly after the body was found, all clean and fresh and with your friends and your guys?”

The friends in question stiffened. Way to give yourself away. That helped.

“We found Calvin’s man,” Armendale lied easily.

“His brother-in-law,” I said. “They were close. Have a little respect. And how did you know he was missing when no one else did? His roommates said he went out last night. Didn’t come home. They thought he’d found a lady. They weren’t worried, which means they didn’t know he was missing. He was dressed like he was sneaking around—also curious. You weren’t out last night. We have eyewitnesses that say you were tucked in your rooms. Not all your people, though, right? They were dressed like they were sneaking around, too. Weird. What were they all up to?”

Tristan relayed that Niamh had enlisted Patty to help do a little digging. If Patty hadn’t known the neighbors before, she knew them now, and everything about their lives to boot. I didn’t know which alpha was which in here, though.

I pointed at Armendale and he tensed. Worry and aggression colored the bonds from Austin, and power swirled through the room.

I laughed. “You don’t get it, Armendale. A mage doesn’t need a knife to kill, and I neither do I. I can easily kill you where you stand. You would explode before you took two steps. Or maybe your intestines would get ripped out. It’s hard to know what horrible spell I’ll reach for when surprised. Did you get that unused vial back, by the way? Without a cork, it’s no good to us.”