But then…I wasn’t in the habit of letting people beat me up, either.

This might be bad.

Two

“She has a knife sticking out of her body and she worried you’d do further damage by carelessly yanking it out.” Austin’s eyes sparked with danger. “Every magical person in town is aware of her power situation. You should’ve known how your fumbling would be received. This matter is over.”

The commanding tone had Sasquatch stepping back, uncertainty and fear on his face. “Okay, but…”

Austin looked down on him, unblinking. His power throbbed once, twice, daring Sasquatch to push back. Darkness bubbled just under the surface of his eyes.

“It’s just…” Sasquatch pointed at the knife lamely, reminding me it was still there. Reminding me that a knife was lodged in my stomach and blood was seeping down my side. “I need my knife back.”

“Possession is nine-tenths of the law, and currently it’s in her possession,” Austin replied.

“Finders keepers,” I muttered miserably, looking at the hilt with my hands spread to the sides. My mind swam. I wasn’t sure if it was from blood loss or the prolonged dumping of adrenaline into my blood, or maybe my mind was convincing my body that it should be in shock.

“Go,” Austin growled, and Sasquatch took off running, grabbing the waist of his pants as he did so, apparently worried they’d slip down and show his cheeks.

“Except I still have a knife sticking out of me.” I swayed.

Austin quickly stepped closer, and his warm hand grasped my shoulder.

“It’s okay,” he crooned, his tone soft and comforting, a complete one-eighty from a moment ago. “I got it.”

I met his eyes, soaking in that beautiful cobalt blue.

“I didn’t mean to retaliate against him,” I said, holding his shoulders for stability. It was like gripping two large boulders. “I was trying to get him to step back.”

“You seem to forget that I’ve been on the other end of that sort of accident a few times.”

“It’s just…I know you’re under a lot of pressure to keep everyone from killing each other here. I didn’t mean to add to that.”

His gaze dipped to my tongue sliding across my lower lip. “Jess, you don’t have to apologize. I know exactly what happened. I watched the whole thing. I was at the other end of the street when he first caught sight of you. If I weren’t officially alpha now, I would’ve told him to get lost. Being the alpha, I had to at least appear to weigh both sides.”

“I thought you didn’t play favorites.”

“I don’t. But I also don’t listen to whiners who delight in stabbing beautiful women.”

I smiled at him, my heart warming.

“Does it hurt?” he asked softly, his hand near the knife, getting ready to pull it out.

I squeezed my eyes shut so I wouldn’t accidentally look down and see. Unlike with a splinter, you couldn’t just leave the knife in until it worked itself out.

“No. I think I’ve mastered my healing magic. It’s just…” I blew out a breath. “My brain is bleating in panic every time I think about it. I have a knife sticking in me, man! For forty years I’ve lived with the idea that being stabbed is a potentially life-threatening situation. It’s hard to ignore that just because I don’t feel the wound. It’s hard to get used to. People in shock don’t feel things either. Shock means something very bad has happened to you. I can’t—”

“I’ll handle it, okay?” His breath dusted my face, spearmint and something sweet.

“Did you eat cake? I could use a slice of cake. I haven’t had cake in…” I trailed away, wondering what the hell was taking him so long. Just yank it out, already!

I flinched at the thought.

“Listen,” he said, his voice still so soft, so comforting. “I wanted to talk to you about the winery.”

As in the winery he’d asked me to buy and run with him. The arrangements had already been made, but what if he’d changed his mind? Did he think it was a bad idea for us to work together?

A wave of worry washed through me, and I blinked my eyes open to see his expression.

His hand moved so fast that I didn’t register it. He grabbed the hilt and yanked.

I cried out, bending in anticipation of a pain I didn’t feel.

A gush of warmth soaked my shirt and then dribbled onto the lip of my jeans. Deep crimson coated the blade in Austin’s hand before he dropped it to the ground and pressed his palm against my wound, bracing his other hand against my back, using pressure to stanch the blood flow. Shifters healed fast, and I healed faster—when I was on my game—but for a handful of heartbeats, magical people bled like anyone else.

“Sorry, I just mentioned the winery for distraction purposes.” Austin grimaced at me, and his smell permeated my world, clean cotton and sweet spice.

“I’m good.” I touched the corded muscle of his bare forearm. “The worst is over.” I glanced down at the knife. “Do you really tell people about my magic?”

“Absolutely. Everyone is warned. I make it very clear that I can’t control you any more than you can control yourself. People are instructed to leave you alone, and if they don’t, they must take what comes. They also know that your property is not part of my territory, and if they trespass, I cannot help them.”

I widened my eyes at him, back to gripping his flaring shoulders while he pressed against my wound. “But Sasquatch said…”

“Ryan just doesn’t seem to learn his lesson.”

I tapped his hands. “I’m good now. Thank you.”

He slowly pulled his hands away, not seeming to notice the flare of crimson staining his palm. “I don’t like this game, by the way,” he said, a growl working into his words. “I don’t like you placidly allowing people to hurt you. If they hit wrong, they could kill you before you could do damage control.”

“I have Jasper pick people because he’s a good judge of character. He usually picks more trustworthy people, though. He either didn’t know that Sasquatch and me—”

“He knew. He’s trying to push you, I think.”

“Ah.” I frowned down the street, noticing Jasper lounging against the wall, easily blending into the building behind him, utterly invisible to everyone except for me because I could see through a gargoyle’s glamor-like magic. Magic I could not figure out how to apply to myself.

“It’s not working.” Austin turned before gently placing his hand on the small of my back, guiding me down the street. He scooped up the knife as we went. “I know I said I’d defer to your judgment of what you can handle, but with all due respect, just because you can handle it, doesn’t mean you should.”

I sighed with frustration. “I keep hoping it’ll work.”

A man walked toward us with effortless grace and hard gray eyes. Shifter. “Alpha,” he said as he approached, stepping into the street and offering a slight bow. “Miss.”

“Damn that Mr. Tom,” I grumbled, Austin ignoring the man completely. It was apparently an alpha custom to ignore greetings from townspeople and pack members. “He keeps convincing people to call me miss instead of just letting them call me by my name.”

“He wants you to have some semblance of a title. It isn’t a terrible idea.”

“Don’t you start. Turning this town into a big shifter pack is your thing. You need the title; I don’t. I’m just a home owner.”

“The owner of the most powerful magical home in the world, with the ability to create your own army if you so choose.”

“Okay, okay, let’s settle down. No more reading up on the history of Ivy House and its heirs. This is modern times—if I created an army, I’d have the government swooping in, thinking I was a terrorist. Besides, I’m not trying to form some magical empire. I just want to defend my home.” I smoothed my hair back, lowering my brows at him. We slowed to a stop on the corner. “You know what I meant, though. No more asking Edgar about the history of the house. It’s giving you crazy ideas.”

He looked away. “I ask Edgar because I need to know the ins and outs of what I am guarding.”

“You don’t. I do.” I looked off toward the house crouching in its wood, not visible from the town’s hub. “There’s a list of vulnerabilities I don’t understand and don’t have the knowledge or magic to work out.”

“No sign of anyone to fill that summons?”

I’d sent out a magical summons, asking for a mage who could help me. Over a dozen had shown up, trickling in with their swagger and egos. One practice session, though, and each and every one of them had been fired or quit. None of them had been powerful enough to work with me.

Most of the mages had assumed (wrongly) that I would know some of the basics of spell casting, based on my age alone. I’d changed their perception quickly.

I’d nearly blown off a mansplainer’s head by accident. He’d stopped ’splaining real quick and got the hell out of there. I’d almost killed another, thankfully able to patch him up before all of his blood leaked out. He’d accused me of tricking him…while sobbing. A woman had admitted she wasn’t the right fit after losing half of her robe to a spell gone wrong.

My power blindsided them, one and all. My complete lack of knowledge widened their eyes. My haywire spells sent them running.

I’d had to devise a test to weed out the duds.

I’d rigged up a spell to send applicants to Agnes’s shop. Once there, she’d instruct them on how to create the spell capable of hiding them from Ivy House’s detection. The challenge was to ingest the spell, mosey onto my property, and knock on the door. Simple as that.

Many had tried. All had failed.

“Nope,” I said, dabbing at the garnet stain ruining my shirt. I probably should’ve worn black today. I’d really thought I’d get it this time, though. I’d hoped to show everyone my clean white shirt with a triumphant smile. “Five came last week. I doubt they’re even from the summons anymore. I think word has gotten out that there’s an open mage position and people are just showing up to apply. Three of them were able to make the potion, but not well enough to mask their heat signatures from Ivy House. She booted them off the property with the new trap Edgar installed.”