Page 77 of The Maestro's Mates
“Oh, I don’t think so.”
The woman’s voice was cold, filled with the simmering rage of a long-nursed grudge. With her words, everything came to a stop. Veronica stepped out onto the stage.
Pavel had never seen his new sister-in-law before, but there was no doubt it was Veronica. She fit the exact description, practically a female version of Sebastian with her long, dark hair and her pale skin. The gargoyle was so focused on her he almost didn’t notice the bigger issue.
No one was moving. No one was running for the exits or calling the police. Everything was silent. How was that possible?
Pavel turned to his mate next to him, who also stared at the frozen people around them. “What is this?” Justin asked.
Pavel shook his head. He didn’t know. But he wasn’t going to?—
“What did you do, Vee?” Sebastian stepped toward his sister but stopped to look back at his unmoving scene partner. “The amount of sacrifice it takes to influence a spirit of time is… It’s unthinkable. You aren’t capable of it. The only living time witch is?—”
“Your father.” The voice was a broken growl, a voice roughed up by years of smoking and drinking. A figure stepped from the wings and took his place off Veronica’s shoulder. He didn’tlooklike a revered and ancient witch. Helooked like an aging hippy, his long, scraggly white beard hanging over his open denim shirt.
“You aligned yourself withhim?!”Sebastian was shouting now, and Pavel couldn’t pause any longer. He didn’t know the details, but from Sebastian’s tone, the man was trouble.
“Stay here,” he growled at Justin, before shifting to his gargoyle form and launching himself from the box.
He should have known better. A few feet into the air, and an impact hit him hard, almost scuttling him completely. He flapped his wings desperately to balance himself as he fought to understand what had happened.
Justin had jumped from the balcony and wrapped his arms around Pavel’s waist. The vampire’s fangs were out, and his eyes flashed red.
“Not a chance,” Justin hissed. His grip was as strong as an anaconda’s. Pavel’s mate wasn’t going anywhere. It was awkward and ungainly, but the gargoyle glided down to the stage. Veronica’s eyes narrowed at the sight of them, and she turned to her father.
“How did they break into the frozen moment?”
The old man stared at them for a moment, his brows furrowed. Finally, he turned back to Sebastian.
“You didn’t tell your old dad you got mated? And to a vampireanda gargoyle?”
Pavel and Justin were by Sebastian in a second, flanking him. They belonged by his side. There was no way Pavel would let his mate stand alone.
“Forgive me for not reporting back to you, considering the last time I saw you was the day I broke my finger playing t-ball.”
The old witch shruggednonchalantly. “I was busy.”
“Someone want to explain this?” Veronica asked through clenched teeth.
“Sister dear,” Sebastian teased with fire in his eyes, “you can’t exclude my mates from a spell if I’m involved. The bond is too strong.”
“It’ll be sad to have to kill a gargoyle,” the old man said, not yet ditching the casual posturing. “There’s only a few of them left.”
“You won’t be killing anyone,” Pavel growled. His protective instincts were in high gear, and it took effort not to tear the old witch apart with his stone hands. A glance at Justin, his fangs and claws glinting under the stage lights, and Pavel knew his vampire felt the same.
“That is where you are wrong,” Veronica said. “I don’twantto kill my brother, but he’s sided with our mother too many times. We’ll take care of the three of you first, then drag Linda into this moment and take her out as well.”
As she said that, Veronica gestured to the blazer-bedecked Eldest, still as a statue in the front aisle. The look on the matriarch’s frozen face was one of unchecked rage.
“How can you side with her? After she treated us like her tools. Disposable.”
Sighing, Sebastian rested his hands on his hips. “She wasn’t any worse than any other overbearing New Jersey mom with high expectations. She’s also the Eldest of a Circle with a legacy to protect. At least she wasthere.”
Sebastian’s father stared down at his feet at his son’s words, but Sebastian didn’t acknowledge him in the slightest.
“I will never understand why you stick up for her. She’ll never allow you to have your own life.” Veronica’s hands fellto the sides of her long, billowy white duster. Pavel’s stomach clenched. Was she reaching for a weapon?
“My life is mine, sis. And I didn’t have to depose our mother to get it.” Sebastian crossed his arm and pursed his lips, like a dandy in his 17th-century clothing. “But where are the rest of your people, Vee? Did they abandon you after we killed off your most powerful witch?”
