Page 25 of Magical Midlife Conclave

He released his hold. She took a deep breath, steeled herself, and straightened, fighting to control her limbs and torso.

“What’s up?” she said. Gritting her teeth, she turned to face him, hiding as much of the pain and weariness as she could.

Concern shimmered in his dark eyes, echoed throughout his body.

“I’m fine,” she said, wishing he’d just tell her what he wanted so she could go in and crash onto the floor. “What’s up?”

His breath through his nostrils was a little too forced. The flaring within his arms a little too prominent. He was frustrated and pissed.

“You don’t have to play tough with me, Aurora.”

His movements, fast and strong, made her flinch. He flung her arms over his shoulders as he leaned in. His arms came around and he scooped her up, his hold loose and mostly professional, a beta carrying his subordinate. Or maybe a beta carrying his alpha’s niece.

“Honestly, Susan, I am⁠—”

His irritation increased.

She sighed.

If he insisted, she wouldn’t bother complaining. Instead, she focused on not dropping her head to his shoulder and passing out. He was a lot more comfortable and warmer than lying on the floor on her face. Though she’d still probably end up there anyway.

“Keys?”

“It’s a blood offering to the ward. Any part of me will do.”

He bent so as not to jostle her and reached for the handle from under her legs, continuing to support her weight. The door swung open and he carried her through before jerking to a stop on the threshold.

“Just on the tarp in the middle of the living room will be fine.” She snapped her eyes opened, not even realizing they’d drifted closed as he’d walked. Her vision swam.

He huffed in annoyance. His foot crinkled the material.

“Will you shift?” he asked.

“Yeah. A nap will help me heal. Actually, while you’re here, can you do me a favor and set an alarm? We have that dinner tonight with Aljoe’s sisters.”

“You’re not going to be fit for anything until tomorrow morning.”

“Usually in the middle of the night I’m pretty decent, actually. That’s when I shower and move to my bed. Jessie is scheduled to heal me in an hour or so, though. I’ll be fine in plenty of time to walk back for the dinner.”

“Jesus,” he said under his breath, walking toward the hall.

“Susan, you are messing with protocol.”

It was a joke he clearly didn’t find funny.

All the doors were open. He stepped into her room, surely knowing it by her smell. He hesitated. She nodded before she fell asleep.

He started forward again. Hopefully she’d made her bed and put away her underwear. She didn’t usually have people in here. If she met someone, she went to his house so she could leave when she was done. She’d never much liked sleeping in other people’s beds. She’d earned a reputation as a hit-it-and-quit-it girl, but…they kept coming back, so clearly that wasn’t a bad thing. Then again, gargoyles never cared about the details, and she was primarily interested in gargoyles right now.

He stepped through into the bathroom connecting her and Nessa’s rooms. A large tub sat below a window at the far wall, the jets broken but the basin deep. He knelt beside it and gently lowered her in.

“Susan, honestly, I don’t need the white-glove treatment. I’m not as bad as I seem.”

“You are worse than you seem. You’re just determined and resilient and too hardheaded to acknowledge it.” He ever so gently smoothed her hair back so that it was pooled on the tile at the back of the tub. “Is he pushing you this hard, or are you pushing yourself and he’s letting you?”

“In some things he pushes me hard, but it’s usually mental or endurance. Not pain. When I end up like this, it’s because I refuse to stay down. His beast usually has him by then, and it waits longer to call off the fight. We have three months until the conclave. I want to show strength.”

He grunted, acceding that she was at fault for her condition. Some would still argue that her trainer was her guardian, and he should protect her from herself, but when alphas were involved, with their power and their beasts, everything edged a little closer to danger. The red line became narrower. It was practice for reality. For the hard challenges that would eventually come. And in the convocation, with the battles on the horizon, it might be what helped her survive.