Page 93 of Magical Midlife Conclave

Aurora had a cockeyed smile on her face. “That’s funny. That might be better than riding on Aljoe’s back.”

“Gargoyles have style.” Ulric held up his can to toast. “Jessie, can I have dinner with you guys tonight? The shifters won’t mind, will they? I don’t have anything going on, and I’m too tired to mess with all the aggression that’ll be in the bars.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I’m sure they’ll be okay with it.”

“Can I come?”

Everyone turned to look at the man who’d stepped back for Ulric.

“Who the hell are ye?” Niamh asked him.

“I’m Rhett, the guy who’s been eavesdropping this whole time.”

Three other shifters lifted their hands without looking over. Apparently they had been, too. At least they hadn’t taken offense and caused a scene.

“Well…it’s kind of for Calvin and his people to grieve and have a safe space,” I said apologetically.

“Aw, that’s nice of you. I didn’t hear you were doing that,” Rhett said. “What about this guy, though?” He pointed at Ulric. “How come he gets to go?”

“He lives there?”

“Oh.” He didn’t show much, but I could tell he was disappointed.

“But I mean…” I shrugged, hating to turn people away. “If you’re calm and can get along with others, I can do a BBQ in the back? Maybe we can say a few words for the deceased. I didn’t know him, but it might be nice for the shifters who did.”

“Can I come?” One of the other eavesdroppers turned toward us.

“Sure, yeah, invite yer mum while ye’re at it.” Niamh watched the challengers on the field limping away.

“I mean…sure?” I said hesitantly. This was probably incredibly random, but…they were shifters and they’d asked. It couldn’t be against the rules. I’d allow the grieving pack to use the interior of Ivy House, and all the lonely hearts could head outside. “But this is a very calm, everyone-gets-along, zero-problems situation.”

Rhett put up his hands in surrender. “I am not about to mess around. It’d just be nice to relax a little. Everyone is so amped.”

“Jessie.” Sue jerked his head toward the field. “Sebastian is up.”

I pulled my hand away from Aljoe. “Hang out here, Aljoe. Take a break.”

“There she is.” Nessa was at Sebastian’s side, her arm looped through his. He hunched, dragging his feet.

“Hey.” I gave him an encouraging upper-arm squeeze. “You’re good. I’ll be right here, okay? No sweat.”

“He’s going to try to kill me,” Sebastian grumbled.

“Yes, he is,” Nessa chirped with a smile, “but that’s fine, because he won’t be able to. Remember? You’ve endured Austin. You’ve helped with Cyra. You’ve routinely battled Jessie. This is not a stretch for you.”

He gave me a wary glance. A sheepish smile peeked out. “Remember when I couldn’t feel anything at all, and I was suddenly in this territory with a bunch of terrifying shifters?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t enjoy feeling anymore.”

I laughed and hugged him. “I think you’re just tired and overworked.”

“Yeah,” he said glumly. “The garhettes haven’t even used the spells I made. They keep resorting to violence or cake. I think the randomness of their decisions confuses everyone, and then people stop acting up.”

“It’s only day two, Sebastian. We’ll get to those spells.”

I shouldn’t have said that. It didn’t cheer him up.