Austin trailed his lips along my jaw. “It was your fight, but it happened in my territory, so…bygones? They were calling us filthy names.”

I closed my eyes, soaking in the feel of his lips against my skin. “That’s what I figured. I didn’t try very hard to save the surly ones.”

“You saved a good few mercenaries.”

“Yeah, well, they were just doing a job. Niamh said that if I saved their lives, they wouldn’t ever take a job against me again.”

“They won’t, especially since a good few of them want to join our territory.”

“Our territory?”

He touched my chin and gently applied pressure until my lips were close to his. “Yes. Some called it yours. Some called it mine. Some called it ours. I think ‘ours’ makes the most sense. Your interactions with the magical world will always spill out of this property. You need to have a say in how things are handled.” He kissed me softly.

“Is that allowed, though? Won’t your people be confused?”

“Nothing about our setup is normal. They won’t be any more confused than they are now.” He kissed me again as Sebastian approached the door. Then Austin rose, lifting me with him, and deposited me onto the couch. “I know you want to ask him about joining the council, so I’ll let you talk to him alone. When you’re done, I’ll meet you in your bedroom?”

A rush of heat stole through me and I nodded. Sebastian, just about to enter, hunched down and backed up, letting Austin pass.

“Hey,” Sebastian said, straightening up as he came in. He stalled by the door. “Open or closed?”

“Closed, please.”

He shut the door, and I closed my eyes and leaned back.

“Tired?” he asked. “I mean, I know you’re tired, but…”

“I am, yes. I’ve never done so much healing. Fighting with magic didn’t actually tire me out like it has in the past. Like…” I frowned. “Kind of at all. It felt…so much easier.”

“They were all so far below you. If we were to battle, it would be a different story. Or another mage of my caliber.”

“You’d kill me pretty easily.”

“In a one-on-one fight away from Ivy House, yes, I probably would. But only because I have more experience. Add in your alpha and his shifters, and I wouldn’t give myself great odds, even with a team. I might run, like Kinsella did.”

I frowned as my eyes met his pale gray gaze. “What do I do about that? Do I hunt him down, or assume he’s learned his lesson?”

“In the magical world, normally I’d say you’d have to hunt him down, but you’d need to take him out in a cunning way, in cold blood, and I don’t know that you are capable of that. Plus, your territory is not entirely established yet. Let him run in disgrace. If he resurfaces in any meaningful way, and he is a thorn in your side, then you take him out.”

I nodded, taking a deep breath. “Listen, I wondered… First, do you know how the setup works here? The link with the Ivy House crew?”

“Yes,” he said, and his eye color almost seemed to shift to the palest shade of blue, excitement sparking deep inside of them. In a moment, though, the effect was gone. My fatigue was getting to me. My desire to go upstairs and cuddle Austin was almost overwhelming.

“I wondered, would you like to join my crew? You’d get a room here and youthful vigor, though maybe you don’t need it, plus the other perks Ivy House has to offer.”

“I would, yes. But maybe…” He looked down at himself. “If I could shower…”

“Oh, totally.” I held up my hand. “Sorry, yes, we can do it some other time once we’ve all recovered.”

He nodded, and one of his weird, crooked smiles worked up his face. He looked out the window. “It feels good…to be asked.”

“You’re a valuable member of the team. It’s a no-brainer.”

His smile broadened. “Still feels good. That you think I’m good enough to join your team. That you don’t look down on me for my oddities or my flaws.”

I huffed out a laugh. “That would be something, wouldn’t it? If I looked down on someone else for being odd and having flaws?” I raised my hand. “Hello? Pot calling the kettle black. Besides, everyone in this house is unpardonably odd and has more flaws than normal qualities. You fit in just fine.”

Still smiling, still looking away from me, he nodded slowly. “I do fit in here. And maybe that’s why she believed in me.”

“Who?”

His eyebrows went up. “Oh. You. Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts. Well…if that’s all?” He partially stood. “I don’t want to keep you from your alpha. I might go home and shower now after all. I suddenly feel invigorated.”

I laughed and stood, wobbling a little. He stepped forward to steady me, backing off when I gave a thumbs-up. “Welcome, in advance. To the team.”

“Thank you.”

I trudged up to my bedroom, not sure how much fun I’d be with Austin, since I could barely lug myself around. He’d have to do all the work, not that he’d mind.

Soft candlelight greeted me when I opened the door, flickering in the dimly lit room. Fresh roses in a vase sat on my little table by the window, which also held a bottle of wine and two glasses. Austin sat on the edge of my bed, bare-chested and godly, the top button on his jeans undone and his feet bare. His smile dwindled and his eyes took on a focused look to match the pulsing warmth radiating through the link.

Something about the way he was sitting there, dressed down and gorgeous, weakened my knees and made my heart swoon. This powerful, fearsome alpha had always let me see his softer side, the easygoing part of him with a little smile around his full lips. Both sides appealed to me—his power and strength, and his smiles and laughter. I’d been lucky to have him as a friend for all these months, and I was luckier still to have this new intimacy I couldn’t seem to get enough of. I hadn’t even totally given in to it yet, and it had still consumed part of my soul.

I’d need to figure all that out, eventually. Today, though, I just needed to chill. It had been a long day.

“Hey,” I said, closing the door after me.

“Hey.” He held out his arms, and I walked into them, dropping my hand to his shoulder, feeling the electricity zing between us.

He sat me down on his knee and ran his palm under my shirt and across my stomach.

“What do you think about a relaxing bath?” he asked. “You haven’t felt one of my massages.”

“Oh? Are they famous or something?”

“Probably not. I don’t give them often, but I’m pretty sure they help pass the time.”

I smiled and kissed his lips. “Sounds good.”

He waited for me to stand before joining me, grabbing the bottom of my shirt and readying to pull it off.

A foot I didn’t recognize stepped onto Ivy House soil. Austin paused. The intruder continued up the walk, the steps slow and clumsy, not in a straight line. A moment later, the person turned and ran off.

Mr. Tom approached the front door, and I waited to see what would happen, dread filtering through my middle. After every battle or magical hurdle, there was one person who’d always made his presence known. One person who’d always turned up.

The front door opened. Mr. Tom stepped out. Shock blasted through the link, and then sorrow, and then rage.

I was running before I’d made a conscious effort.

“Go get the miss,” Mr. Tom shouted, perhaps to Ivy House, because no one else was there.

“I’m here.” I took the stairs down two at a time, Austin right behind me. “I’m here. What is it?”

But he didn’t need to answer me. As soon as I reached the threshold, I saw.

Sebastian lay sprawled out on the grass, a knife in his heart pinning a note to his chest. His face was so bloody that it was almost hard to tell who he was, but those sightless gray eyes were looking up at the sky. I recognized the shape of his face, too, and the clothes he’d been wearing when he’d left. I hadn’t felt him on the grounds, so he must’ve been force-fed the potion to hide him from Ivy House. I’d put up a spell to unmask that potion, but it hadn’t bothered Sebastian, it seemed.

“Because he’s dead,” I breathed, anger and sadness welling up through me. “My spell to unmask people seeks out pent-up energy and danger. He no longer has either.”

The note read, This was my employee. Then he was your employee. Now he is no one’s employee. Want to come over for a drink next month? I’ll send a jet. Check yes or no.

Two square boxes were under that. He literally wanted me to check a box. He’d likely magically receive the answer. His name was at the bottom, no PS this time.

Tears clouded my vision. My hands balled at my sides. My gut twisted with guilt. I was the reason Sebastian was dead. He’d helped me, and I’d gotten him killed.

I couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t live with that nutcase dogging my every step, watching me from the shadows.

“Yes, I will meet him,” I said through clenched teeth. “I will meet him face to face, and I will kill him for everything he’s done to me. Someone get me a pen.”

“I have a confession,” Ivy House said.

I waited for more bad news, and for a pen, and for the sobs to come. There had been too much death today. Austin had lost a few of his people, we’d taken the lives of more people than I cared to admit, and now Sebastian was gone, the guy who was supposed to join my team. My house. My life.

“I deadened my magic with the phoenix so you’d fight,” she said. “You needed them on your side, and you also needed a little shove to give the blood oath. By putting you in a dangerous situation, I nudged you into it.”

I closed my eyes, breathing through my nose. “I don’t care about that. I would’ve done it eventually anyway.”