Page 91 of Magical Midlife Conclave

Tristan put out his hand. “No thank you. Someone less gleeful in battle would be fine.”

Sue stepped in.

I put my hand back on Aljoe’s leg. “All gargoyles are gleeful in battle.”

“No,” Aurora said in a singsong voice, tilting her head. “I don’t think so. Not like you. As I said, Aljoe showed he was mighty—aggressive, primal, precise, and calculating. There were no extra movements. No fluff, we’ll say. He handled the job hard and fast. He took minimal damage even against so many attackers. And then here you were, dancing around in the middle of the whole thing, directing people like traffic, not at all concerned that you would get attacked.”

“I didn’t know he was going to attack me until right before he did.” I turned back to watch the burly wolf shifter face down Tristan, who’d shifted to his gargoyle form. This wouldn’t go well for that shifter. Had he not seen the gargoyle-monster in this form before?

“No, not Aljoe,” Aurora said, “the others.”

“The others weren’t going for me. They were just trying to figure their life out.”

“Yeah, see? You didn’t even notice because you didn’t count it as a threat.”

“Right…because it wasn’t.” I crinkled my nose. “That’s not gleeful. I was doing my job.”

Ulric squeezed through two people with a chair.

“Jessie, tell that one there to move.” Niamh pointed at the man standing beside Aurora’s chair.

I glanced up at him, but he was already pushing back to allow Ulric in.

“Sweet spot.” Ulric paused in confusion at my sitting on the ground. “What’s happening?”

“Sit down there, you.” Niamh held out a beer.

“Oh.” Ulric shrugged, unfolded the chair, and took a seat. He grabbed the beer from Niamh. “How’d I get so lucky?”

“Jessie is squatting in the dirt with My Little Pony,” Niamh answered, not having looked away from the fight. Tristan snapped out his wings, but he didn’t take to the air.

“Let’s not…” I showed her my teeth to shut her up.

Aurora held back chuckles. “Yeah, so after not at all caring that you’re in a dangerous situation with a mighty shifter⁠—”

“Oh! Are we talking about that challenge?” Ulric showed me a lopsided grin. “That was great, Jessie. All the gargoyles are so firmly in your camp, we’ll never have a problem from Gimerel again. Evan is tickled. He’s ready to return home and say I told you so to the people he fired. Patty has the footage up everywhere.”

The shifter attacked Tristan, lunging for him with snapping jaws. Tristan barely moved. He leaned forward and swatted the wolf away. The furry body slammed into the crowd on the other side of the cones.

“After you got everyone safely away,” Aurora went on, topping off her champagne, “you did not bat an eye that Aljoe had chosen a new target. It’s like you were the challenger all along, given how easily you rolled with it.”

“What was I supposed to do?” I asked.

“Right?” Ulric put out his free hand. “That’s what I said. He’s coming for you. What are you going to do, not engage?”

“She didn’t just engage, she taunted him,” Aurora replied. “She taunted Yazanth Golden Fang with a cage. Do you know how many people have taunted him and lived to tell the tale?”

“That wasn’t a taunt. I was being serious. The first thing I did when I met him was put a magical cage around him. I didn’t think he’d want people to see that.”

Aljoe huffed, and his paw flicked.

Aurora bent over, laughing.

“What?” Ulric asked, chuckling. “What’d he say?”

“My uncle isn’t around, right?” Aurora asked. “He’d be pissed if he saw me laughing about this.”

“Nah, he’s over there with the middling alphas,” Niamh replied, cracking another beer.