The Azar Omnibus: The Complete Azar Trilogy (The Azar Trilogy Book 0)

by Grace McGinty

  “I think I’m more bruised after your piggyback ride than I was after my sword fight,” she grumbled half-heartedly. Oliver was staring up at the ceiling, a goofy grin on his face. “Don’t let me keep you from your adoring fans.”

  He gave her a quizzical look, as if he didn’t actually know that the female Weres were constantly throwing themselves at him.

  “You know, the posse of female Weres that follow you around? I’m pretty sure I can hear them loitering outside my door now, cursing me with every form of venereal disease known to man because you are in here with me, on my bed. Little do they know, right?” She wanted to test him, because she wasn’t sure he wasn’t out of his mind. What kind of man wanted to share a woman with three other dudes?

  Oliver just laughed. “Nah, Az. I don’t sleep with the Were girls. Now, a fiery Ifrit with a body made for sin, well, that’s a different story.”

  “Is that right, Cable? Met many sinful bodied Ifrit lately?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

  “What did I say would happen if you called me Cable?”

  Her eyes hooded. He’d promised to spank her if she called him Cable. She didn’t think that was much of a deterrent.

  “Why no Were girls? Not that I’m harping you on or anything, but some of those women are attractive, and it’s unlike you to turn down a beautiful woman.”

  If he was breathing, he was flirting. It was just in his nature. She knew deep down that it didn’t mean anything. He flirted with Dotty. Hell, sometimes he flirted with Donovan, and they were both straight. It was just his general demeanor. He was sensual and playful, and he loved to make people blush. She understood that.

  “Well, I can’t help it. My self-esteem has been crushed because you refuse to be mine.”

  This was it, the moment to tell him, but there was just one more thing she had to know. “Seriously, why no Were women?” This time, she wasn’t teasing either. It wasn’t a test, but it seemed important somehow.

  His face turned serious, more serious than Azar had ever seen it.

  “I feel like it would be disrespectful to my mate.”

  “Your what? Mate! What the hell?” Holy shit. She tried not to jump to conclusions, but growled out, “You better start talking, Casanova.”

  He screwed up his face. “I promise I’m not messing around on the little woman at home or anything like that. Do I have to?” Azar nodded and he sighed. “Fine, I’ll tell you, but you owe me two hundred strokes of my fur with that soft boar bristle brush you have.”

  “That brush cost me seventy bucks!”

  He shook his head resolutely, and she relented. “Fine. Two hundred strokes.”

  He still looked a little reluctant, staring at the ceiling. “It’s you, Az. You’re my mate. It’s always been you. My Jaguar knew it from the moment I stepped into your apartment and scented you. Then you punched Reilly in the face, and the human side of me wanted you bad too,” he smiled at the memory. “I thought it was just lust, because let’s face it, you are so fucking hot it hurts. The Jaguar knew it was more, I was slightly slower to catch up. When I couldn’t get ahold of you after the compound collapsed though, I realized what I felt for you was more than an epic case of blue balls.”

  She gaped, her body tensing where it rested against his. Oliver buried his face in her hair, and she could feel his heart pounding in his chest. “Don’t stress. I understand you’re with Bast, and I would never purposefully mess that up for you.”

  “I told Bast about your proposition.” Now it was his turn to tense.

  “And?” His voice gave nothing away, though he couldn’t mask his body’s reactions.

  As an answer, she leaned up and caught his lips with hers. He bundled her closer in his arms, and kissed her back. His heart thundered under her chest with hope. She let her fingers roam up into his hair, and her tongue teased his. He kissed like he lived; playfully and with so much passion it threatened to overwhelm her. His hands slid down her back to her ass, and he pulled her back on top of his chest, and she could feel the hard length of his cock against her thighs.

  “Az,” he whispered against her lips. “Damn, I didn’t want to hope. I know how much you love Bast, and how much he loves you, and I thought it would never, you would never…” He was tripping over his words as he peppered her face with kisses. His face was split in a huge grin that just made her heart happy. “Have you told Big D?”

  She laughed. “If you call him Big D to his face, I’m not sure if he’d take it as a compliment or bite your head off. But no, I haven’t told him yet.”

  He rolled her over, lying on top of her and pressing her into the bed with his long, lean body. Heat pooled low in her belly. She touched all the skin she could lay her hands on and he groaned as she scratched her nails up his back.

  “God, that feels so good. But we need to stop.”

  She pulled back and stared at him incredulously. “Are you kidding?”

  He sighed and kissed her again, a long searing kiss that she felt right down to her core. “I wish. But you have a strategy meeting and we should tell Donovan. And Jack.”

  Azar’s fingers still on his back. “Who said anything about Jack?” She’d told Bast, and maybe even Jack in a very round-about way, but she hadn’t even mentioned her feelings to Oliver. It had always seemed like rubbing salt into his wounds. Until now. Until them being together was not only a possibility, but maybe even a reality.

  Oliver just gave her a knowing look and rolled off the bed. “Please. Every time you are near him you give him this big, adoring, puppy love look. If I wasn’t so secure, I would have been jealous. But he’s a good guy, and he gives you the same longing looks that I know so well, so I’m cool with him being part of our happy little family.”

  He stretched his back, and Azar’s mouth watered at the sight of his V and the impressively large bulge still straining against his zipper. “Aw, Az. You gotta stop looking at my dick like that, or all my good intentions are going to fly out the window.” She was tempted to insist he do exactly that, but then she remembered that she was a Councilor now. People depended on her. Lives depended on her.

  She sighed and rolled out of bed too. She walked over and wrapped her arms around his waist, tilting her mouth up for a kiss.

  “Don’t tell Donovan without me?”

  He shook his head, and kissed her like his life depended on it. “I’ll wait for you. Always.”

  Chapter 15

  Azar stared at topographical maps and pretended to know what the hell she was looking at. The large wooden table in the center of the meeting room held all sorts of these maps, as well as other detritus needed to help them win the war. Border and scout reports, weather reports, maps of every size and shape, not just of the above ground landscape, but of the tunnels themselves. Notes had been made about areas that could be fortified or booby-trapped. There were productivity reports from the iron-smelting plant in Jersey. There was a surveillance covertly hidden above the dens, and someone had hacked a satellite so they could get regular images of the surrounding terrain. Despite the home turf advantage, everyone was worried that the level of cover would hide a multitude of sins, or in this case, a Fae army. But Bast had scouting parties working around the clock, and so far, they had reported no movement.

  The lack of action by the enemy Fae was making Azar nervous. She felt like one of those cartoon characters that was left holding the stick of dynamite, and watching the little flame run down the fuse.

  But the longer the Fae waited, the better prepared the Allied army would be for any eventuality. Reports were coming in from all over the globe saying that the paranormal population had gone underground. They’d disappeared from the face of the planet, shut up shop and began to move as far away from Europe as possible. Since the American Djinn and Weres had joined forces, most of their international counterparts had followed suit. There were reports of century old feuds between the Weres and the Djinn in Yugoslavia having been called a truce so they could join forces agains
t their common enemy. The Fae had made an error in their high-handed tactics. They’d given the rest of the paranormal world something to rally against, to heal old divides and create a new world order. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

  There was always the chance that the Fae would ignore them here in North America in favor of conquering their neighbors first. Azar was guiltily hopeful that it might be the case. None of her loved ones were in Europe, although she did have quite a few members of her family in Mardin, Turkey, the traditional seat of the Ifrit. However, she’d only seen most of them from a distance, or said a polite hello. She was more invested in the hot dog vendor in Central Park, in her little family of misfits who were right here, right now.

  But she was Councilor for the Unbound now, not just the ones out at Vincent and Mavis’ farm, or even just the ones spread across the US. She was the Councilor for all the Unbound spread across the world; the ones hiding in plain sight, and the ones who spent their lives looking over the shoulders, running from assassins and race purity fanatics. She needed to do her best for these people, her people, but first she had to keep them safe. She’d told Vincent to reach out to any contacts he might have in Europe, to tell the Unbound to lay low for now. She could protect them from the opportunistic Djinn here, under her ever-watchful gaze, but she couldn’t guarantee that the purists from the races wouldn’t take the opportunity of wartime lunacy to ‘tie-up’ some loose ends. So, unless the Unbound wanted to fight, she advised them to remain hidden. Once this thing with the Fae was all done and dusted, and the position of the Unbound was more concrete, then they could come out of the closet, so to speak.

  There was a brief whisper of wind across her neck, as gentle as a kiss, and she smiled.

  How do you always know when I need you?

  The air pressed close around her, and the scent of Bast filled her senses, calming her.

  Half of my heart is yours. Plus, you always chew your lip and you get these little accordion lines between your eyebrows when you are worrying.

  She rubbed the top of her nose, smoothing the lines. There was a certain comfort to talking to Bast in her mind. She could tell him her fears without saying them out loud. Words gained power when spoken aloud.

  There’s too much. The Fae, the Unbound. I’m drowning over here. I actually miss being a slave in the Adel, with nothing better to do all day than roll around on the ground with you and call it “training”.

  His chuckle was low and sultry. It was quite an enjoyable training technique. Though there is a lot of talk about your swordplay with Lorcan in the training ring, so I must not have done a bad job.

  Azar searched his tone for anything resembling jealousy, but there was nothing. Bast in his glorious human form was as confident as any golden eyed, golden haired, golden skinned Adonis could be. But he’d been losing his self-esteem a little more every day since he’d lost his human form.

  After her big reveal about Oliver, Donovan and Jack, she’d expected him to be a little possessive, but so far, he’d taken it in his stride. Apparently, Oliver had tracked him down and they’d had a talk, though neither of them would tell her what was said.

  You have nothing to worry about with the Black Prince, my love. He’s not my type. Though everyone else didn’t share her point of view. The Black Prince of the Fae had definitely made an impression on the female, and some of the male, population of the den. He even had his own fan club now.

  She remembered his story about Lorcan’s brother, Cian, who could make people love him. She wondered if Lorcan had a little of that ability himself.

  When she’d asked him if it was because Cian was very beautiful that people fell in love with him, Lorcan had shaken his head.

  “It is an illusion, akin to that of your Shaitan. Instead of causing pain and fear, he can make people love him just by spending time in his presence. The longer you spend with him, the greater your feelings for him grow, until you feel physical pain if he isn’t looking at you.”

  Cian’s powers seemed so like Freya’s that Azar couldn’t help drawing comparisons between the two. She’d never thought that channeling love, as Donovan had taught Freya to do instead of channeling the natural fear that permeated from the Shaitan, could actually be a bad thing. It had given her another thing to worry about.

  Now, Lorcan was standing next to Aaron, pouring over the indecipherable topographical maps. They seemed to be able to read them fine, and not for the first time, she wondered what the hell she was even doing here. She knew nothing about war, or strategy.

  Am I the army mascot? She asked Bast.

  No, Jaanaman, if we had a mascot, I think it would be a platypus.

  What? Azar thought back to all those hours watching National Geographic on cable, and tried to recall what the platypus looked like. Some freaky Australian animal that looked cute, but could kill you. Typical.

  Why a platypus?

  He chuckled in her mind. Because it’s a little bit of everything. A bill like a duck, a body like an otter, it lays eggs like a chicken but it's a mammal. It is such a bizarre creature, yet it works. A little like this army. You are here because you have a big heart, and when all we are thinking about is winning, you inevitably think of the human cost. Plus, you are far more strategic than you give yourself credit for. You think outside the box. You are far more than a pretty package, my love.

  She rolled her eyes at the comment and but still blushed. She wasn’t so delusional that she doubted the aesthetic pleasantness of her features, but compared to some of the beauties that were produced by the agelessness of near immortality, she was a plain Jane. Compared to people like Mira, and even Lila the Bitch, she was as attractive as a potato.

  One of Lorcan’s Fae soldiers rushed into the room, and over to his Prince. Whispering in his ear so low that not even the super hearing in the room could pick up a single word, whatever he said to Lorcan made the Black Prince tense.

  Like the predators they were, every person in the room turned towards the pair of Fae.

  Lorcan dismissed the soldier with a glance. He didn’t flinch under the everyone’s collective gaze, instead he met the eyes of every person there; Killian and Aaron, the all-knowing gaze of Jack, even the somewhat less penetrating glare of Ethan, the Captain of the Unbound.

  “I have had news from my spies within the Courts. The Seelie Fae are amassing their army. My source believes they are preparing to attack each individual strong hold like the conquering armies of old. But they plan to start in North America first; they believe that a crushing defeat here will lead to other resistances surrendering.”

  Azar felt… relief. Knowing that they planned to attack was better than waiting with the guillotine ready to fall.

  Killian gave the Fae Prince a hard look. “That is not what has rattled you.”

  He nodded. “No, rather it was the information that came out of the Unseelie Court that has unsettled me. The Unseelie have coerced the Goblin King into contributing numbers to their forces. This adds an army of at least another thousand soldiers. We cannot match an army of that size.”

  Azar sat down on the floor and resisted the urge to cry. They were doomed.

  The silence around the room spoke volumes. What did they do now? Did they just give in, and pray that a life as a handmaiden or a slave to the Fae wouldn’t be as bad as it seems? Did they fight and die against a Fae/Goblin army? She didn’t have the answers.

  “What do we do?” It was Aaron who asked, but it was the million-dollar question.

  She looked at Jack, whose face was unreadable.

  “I will go and ask the Goddess.” With that, he left.

  “Does anyone have a plan that doesn’t revolve around a mythical deity?” Killian asked.

  If only Danu could fight. I’m pretty sure our Goddess would trump their goblin army, she thought.

  Mythical deities. The thought caught in her mind. Then it grew into something terrifying.

  “I have an idea!” She shot to her feet, and everyone tu
rned to stare. “We release the original Djinn. Do the pledges, and set them free. They have a Goblin army? Well, we’ll have actual forces of nature.”

  For a heartbeat, you could have heard an eyelash fall in that room.

  See, right out of the box, Bast chuckled. And you wonder why we keep you around.

  It was Aaron who spoke first. “Just to be clear, you want to release the Balraka? The same Balraka that you prevented from being released six months ago, and nearly died in the process? Am I getting this right?”

  When he put it like that, it seemed crazy. Ha, no matter how you put it, it sounded cray-cray, but it was so insane it just might work.

  “Yes. We release them all at the same time; Balraka, Oris, Thanamen, Lilith, Tel and Kuma. All of them. If we time it right, they will be released, and be attacked immediately. They will obliterate the army before anyone knows what the hell is going on.”

  “And when they are finished stomping the Fae/Goblin army, they’ll turn their wrath to us. There is a reason they were locked away in the underworld, Azar. They are unstable and very powerful. We could be swapping certain, painful death for a more certain, more painful death,” Cy argued.

  He had a point. “We only need to keep them focused and busy until the pledge wears off and they are pulled back to their cells.”

  “The idea is lunacy. To draw them all out at once, we’d need all the great weapons. We only have four of them,” Cy said, determined to play the devil’s advocate. “The Fae have the rest, god knows where.”

  “I know where,” Lorcan answered. “The Queen of the Unseelie has one, and Finlay has the other. My sources tell me that the great axe Zindagi hangs above her throne in the throne room. The Katar, Umedesta, hangs above Finlay’s bed, when it isn’t being studied by his sorcerers.”

  “So what’s the plan to get those? Are we going to go, knock on the door and ask for them back?”

  Azar gave Cy and Killian a huge smile. “No, we are going to steal them back. It’s lucky we know the best thief in the world, isn’t it?”