Magical Midlife Alliance (Leveling Up Book 7), page 1
MAGICAL MIDLIFE ALLIANCE
K.F. BREENE
Copyright © 2023 by K.F. Breene
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Epilogue
Also by K.F. Breene
About the Author
ONE
Jessie
“Rise and shine, miss.” Mr. Tom set my coffee on the nightstand. “It’s time to get schooled by a very pushy garhette.”
Garhette was the term they used for female gargoyles who didn’t shift. He could only mean Patty, Ulric’s mom. She’d promised to help me go through the connection requests that the gargoyle cairn leaders had sent. I was the new kid on the block and the only living female gargoyle that could shift and do magic. They were curious.
Hopefully that curiosity would turn into a desire to form an alliance. To help Kingsley, we needed numbers. The basajaunak had turned us down, and so now the gargoyles were our only hope.
Mr. Tom laid a white T-shirt across the bed over my midsection.
I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and checked the clock on the nightstand. Ten a.m. About normal for my wake-up time.
“Is she ready to get to the connection requests?” I asked, sitting up.
“Yes. She’s moved them all to the largest sitting room in the back of the house and organized them yet again. She has also tramped through the town and heard any and all gossip she possibly could. Very nosey, that woman. She’s in everyone’s business all the time.”
“That’s what makes her great at networking. It’s why she’s here.”
He sniffed, not able to argue with that.
Patty had been on a one-woman mission to learn every inch of the territory. In just a few days of being here she seemed to be intimate friends with a great many residents, both magical and not, and knew by name absolutely everyone who frequented Austin’s bar. Even crazier, I’d heard that she’d somehow organized a dinner at Broken Sue’s house that she would be hosting. The woman was a manipulative powerhouse, but you wouldn’t know it with all her pleasant smiles and seemingly innocuous chitchat.
“Here we go.” He patted the white T-shirt, which could only be Austin’s. “This one isn’t fresh, but it should still suffice. Austin Steele needs to come back and spend some time here so I can grab more of his discarded laundry.”
I should really tell Mr. Tom to stop stealing Austin’s clothes, but I loved being wrapped up in his smell. People said the yearning for each other usually waned after the first week of mating, but that hadn’t happened in our case. If anything, it kept getting stronger. Hence the stolen, dirty clothes of my mate that I wore in the mornings, especially after a night when he hadn’t made it over. Unfortunately, last night was one of them.
“He’s been busy,” I said as I reached for the shirt. “I wish there was something more I could do to help.”
“We can help right now, miss. Here we go.” Mr. Tom picked up my coffee mug and held it out to me. “Let’s get some coffee in us, and then we will be ready for the day.”
A knock sounded at the door as I checked in with Austin through our links. He seemed distracted, frustrated, annoyed, and determined. Also fatigued. Very fatigued.
I quickly got to work healing him as Mr. Tom crossed to the door. Before he got there, it swung open and Ulric poked his head in. His blue and pink hair caught the light, newly dyed and very bright.
“Oh good, you’re up.” He pushed the door open a little farther as Mr. Tom stopped in front of him, blocking his way.
“She is not up, as you can plainly see. She is awake,” Mr. Tom said in a snooty tone. “She understands that your mother is ready to get started, thank you very much. She will take her breakfast as usual and be down when she is able. The mistress of Ivy House is not to be rushed. It’s time you learned this.”
I frowned at Mr. Tom. He was literally just rushing me.
“It’s fine.” I slipped the shirt on before pushing the covers away and swinging my feet over the edge of the mattress. I held my hand out for the coffee mug Mr. Tom still held. “I’m good. I was just up late last night looking over the spell books Sebastian wants me to learn.”
“A good use of your time.” Mr. Tom turned with a stiff back and delivered my coffee. Instead of leaving to grab my breakfast, though, he stood off to the side and glared at Ulric.
Ulric barely suppressed a grin as he stepped a little farther into the room. The grin pulled into a smile as he gave me a sweeping bow. “Good morning, miss. I trust you slept well?”
“What do you need, Ulric?” I stood and took a sip of the coffee as I made my way across the room. I looked out the windows at the beautiful day. Green grass stretched across the backyard and a doll with a billy club trudged its length. “Why…”
Another doll, down the way, stomped through Edgar’s flowers with a machete. Yet another, deeper in the trees, held a large knife in one hand and tapped the end against its other hand.
“What’s going on with the dolls?” I asked, immediately feeling around for the others. For this reason, and this reason alone, I was grateful I could detect them through my connection to the house. Some were in their room, but most were wandering the grounds.
“Oh, that.” Mr. Tom headed into my closet. “It seems the garhette only spooked the gnomes. She didn’t entirely chase them away. They are currently in the woods, hidden from detection by Ivy House, and an elaborately violent game of hide-and-seek is underway.”
I grimaced and backed away from the window. “Who is playing this game? Just the dolls and the gnomes?”
“It’s hard to say. So far it seems anyone who ventures too far into the woods is playing the game. That is, if Edgar’s shouts and screams are any indication. The dolls are on the case, but the gnomes are proving wily. There is a war brewing, I think.”
“Why is Ivy House hiding the location of the gnomes?” Ulric asked, edging closer to the window and looking out.
“It is anyone’s guess,” Mr. Tom said, bringing out a pair of jeans and a black, flowy blouse. “It’s best to just ride these things out. Ulric, make your point and leave the miss to wake up. She has to deal with your mother all day. She needs to prepare.”
“She’s not that bad,” Ulric muttered. “I just wanted to say, Jessie, that if my mom gets to be too much, or she is a little too pushy, or if she won’t listen to you, just let me know. I’ll try to run interference. She might not shift, but she has a lot of the more…robust gargoyle characteristics.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means she is incredibly stubborn and hard to manage,” Mr. Tom said. “She thinks she knows everything and attempts to assume control of that which is none of her business.”
It was like he’d forgotten that he, too, was a gargoyle and shared a lot of those traits…
“Got it,” I said, finishing my first cup of coffee. “I think I can handle it. Mr. Tom, can you grab me another cup of coffee? I’m going to jump in the shower.”
A half-hour later, I was dressed, fed, and ready to wade through the connection requests. Part of me was excited to see what the cairns had sent! Most had sent their invitations with gifts, and I’d been assured I could keep everything without guilt because this was how things were done in the gargoyle world.
The other part of me knew what was on the line. This wasn’t fun and games. I’d need to choose whom to invite wisely and be quick about it. Time was ticking.
“Here we are.” Mr. Tom led me to the door of the largest sitting room, opened it up, and stepped aside with a flourish. “Good luck, miss. We’re all counting on you.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, stepping through.
My eyes widened at the sight that awaited me in the room.
Boxes. Boxes everywhere! Some with bows, some wrapped, some just a plain color, like white or pink. A few baskets sat among the boxes, and a couple of trunks. It was like the most elaborate Christmas morning setup I’d ever seen.
A sound like heh escaped my lips as I took one more step forward, scanning the bounty. Patty had definitely organized everything. There seemed to be sections, all the packages grouped together in clusters around the room. Within the sections, each package was given its own space so that nothing was crowded.
No wonder she’d set this up in the big room.
Sebastian and Nessa sat on one of the couches, each
“What about the rest of our crew?” I asked, noticing the absence of Cyra, Hollace, and Edgar. Through the Ivy House link, I could feel them in the distance, what felt like a town away or more.
“They went on a seed-buying expedition with Edgar,” Mr. Tom said. “There is some sort of flower show on the horizon that he’s very excited for.”
It was then I felt the front door open and registered the footsteps that had entered Ivy House’s property.
Austin.
Butterflies fluttered through my belly, and I instantly stopped and turned toward the door.
He came through it a moment later, his steps hurried until he saw me. Then he slowed, his cobalt gaze lingering on mine before sweeping down my front. I’d changed into real clothes, thankfully, and wasn’t still wearing his old T-shirt. Not that he would have minded.
“Hey, baby,” he said, not glancing around or acknowledging anyone else in the room. This was his way of showing the world that I was the most important thing to him, and anyone else had better be prepared to wait until he was done greeting me.
The sentiment made me swoon every time.
“Hey,” I said with what I knew was a dopey grin. “We’re about to start going through the connection requests. Do you have time to hang out for a while?”
He ran his thumb along my bottom lip. “Always.”
Shivers coated my skin, and my eyes fluttered as he leaned down to kiss me, his lips grazing mine until they pressed more firmly. I opened my mouth to him, rewarded by his intoxicating taste and a thrill of electricity.
“I missed you,” he whispered when we came up for air. “I plan on staying tonight.”
“Will you be going home to freshen up a bit first?” Mr. Tom asked from beside the door. “Or maybe you’d like to shower quickly right now, put on some house sweats, and meet us back here. I doubt we’ll be very far along with the way Mrs. Sunauk chatters on.”
“Manners, Mr. Tom,” I chastised him, slipping my hand into Austin’s.
Austin’s brow furrowed as he attempted to process what Mr. Tom had said.
“Come on, the show is about to begin.” I tugged him along.
“Is he saying I stink?” Austin asked as he allowed me to pull him to the couch. He bent his head, clearly trying to get a whiff of himself. “I haven’t done much fighting or sweating today. I should be good.”
I laughed as we sat down. “Never mind him. You smell good. Spicy and masculine.”
“No gorilla trailing along behind you, huh?” Nessa mock-pouted. “And here I wore my good ponytail holder.”
Sebastian spat out a laugh. “That’s as much as you try anymore, huh?”
“Like you can talk, rocking your sweatpants.”
“These are sports sweats. They count as pants.”
“I don’t think you’re going to thaw that gorilla,” Ulric said as he opened his laptop and sat down on the couch behind his mom. “He’s got a lot of baggage that he seems to want to hang on to.”
“He can hang on to his baggage,” Nessa responded, “just as long as he drops his pants.”
Ulric laughed delightedly. “A-men, sister. Happy hunting.”
“Mr. Steele.” Mr. Tom half bowed to Austin. “Might I offer you something to eat or drink? A sandwich, perhaps?”
“Yeah, that would be great,” Austin said, leaning back and getting comfortable.
“Can I have a sandwich, too?” Jasper called after him.
Ulric raised his hand. “I can always eat.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” Patty grumbled before clapping to get everyone’s attention. “Every gargoyle leader put his best foot forward and now awaits Jessie’s judgment on whether or not his cairn will get an audience. Shall we begin?”
“I’m about to pee myself, I’m so excited,” Nessa said, leaning forward on the couch.
Patty bustled to the far right corner. “Okay, now, Jessie. A few things—”
“Oh my God, she is great at dangling the bait.” Nessa puffed out a breath, still leaning forward in anticipation.
“Ulric has a spreadsheet open.” Patty gestured to where her son sat. “On that spreadsheet I have listed all the cairns, those who sent gifts and those who did not. I will stop myself here and mention that those who did not send anything, in this instance, likely didn’t think they had anything to offer. Almost anyone of relevance did send a gift. So we are in very good shape going into this. Let’s have a round of applause for a great start…”
Patty clapped animatedly. Nessa joined in, shoving Sebastian with her elbow to make him clap too. Jasper and Ulric looked around in confusion with their hands poised.
“I have the cairns and their statuses pre-entered.” Patty nodded at the laptop. “Ulric will enter what you’ve received today. A summary, Ulric. We just need to refresh our memories later on.”
“I’m very good at vague thank-you cards,” I said, feeling the anticipation burn through me.
“Oh my no, Jessie. No, no.” Patty shook her head, her blond curls dancing. “No, dear. There will be no thank-you cards. You will either send a delicate rejection letter—I can craft that, if you’d like—or an invitation to meet. If you decide to issue an invitation, you will provide three dates—only three, mind. They will need to make one of those dates work.”
“But what if I want to meet them and they don’t have the space on their schedule?”
Patty stared at me for a long beat. “Dear, you are the only living female gargoyle in existence. The only one who has existed for some time. The gargoyle world at large was starting to think shifting females were a myth, that they’d gone extinct and would never come back. All these gargoyles”—she gestured around the room at the packages—“are desperate to meet you. They might not want to be led by you just yet, since that’s another ball of wax, but if you turn out to be the genuine article within the community, their status will increase merely because you’ve given them an invitation. They will move heaven and earth to get here. Providing three dates is generous.”
“Elaborate on them not wanting to be led by her,” Austin said.
“Well, to put it simply, she’ll need to prove herself. They’ll want to know she can lead, and that she can protect both her people and theirs.”
“Even if she proves herself,” Nathanial said, “large cairn leaders are used to giving orders, not taking them. It will take a lot for that to change. I think for now we want to make a good impression, prove our territory is more than capable, and try to attract a host of guardians. That’ll help us with the battle in Kingsley’s territory, and we can work on our overall status in due time.”
“Yes, fantastic point, Nathanial.” Patty beamed. “But let’s keep our status in mind, yes? We want to show well so that our status rises in the gargoyle community. The large cairn leaders will help with that. A lot to think about. Baby steps. Step one…here, Jessie, open the first gift.”
TWO
Jessie
“Oh, wait.” Patty held up a hand, stopping Jasper from picking up the package she’d indicated. “Let me just quickly go over how everything is organized.”
“She did it again!” Nessa slapped her thighs, laughing. “Are we ever going to be able to open anything?”
Patty laughed also, clearly enjoying Nessa’s lightheartedness. “We can open while I explain,” she relented, motioning to Jasper and Nathanial. “Grab a few boxes from just over here, boys.”
