One Mark: Steamy Friends to Lovers Paranormal Romance (Blackwell Djinn)

by Nikki Kardnov

  Blood dripped down Thorin’s hand. Down his arm. It dripped to the floor.

  Adonis’s mouth dropped open. He staggered back and looked down at the runed shard protruding from his chest.

  “No!” Rose screamed.

  She appeared beside them in a plume of sweet magic. “Brother,” Rose said.

  Adonis coughed and blood spurted from his mouth.

  Thorin backpedaled.

  Rose took her brother’s hand and squeezed. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “Re—rev—” He choked on the words. “Re—revenge.”

  He burst into ash.

  The air was smoky and still.

  What have I done?

  Rose brought her hands up before her. Her fingers shook, now coated in the ash of her brother.

  Thorin felt the dregs of adrenaline burn out and he too began to shake.

  “Rose,” he started. “I didn’t mean…I hadn’t meant to—”

  Rose slowly turned to him. “What are you?” A single tear escaped her and ran down her flushed cheek. “Whatever you are. Whoever you are. You will pay for this,” she said right before the air swallowed her whole.

  Chapter 26

  THORIN

  The blade hadn’t worked on him.

  Why hadn’t it pierced his heart and killed him instead of Adonis?

  There had always been something wrong, something broken about him and now he had proof.

  But there was no time for Thorin to unpack what had just happened.

  No time for him to regret it.

  There would be consequences, and so many fucking questions, but right now, he needed to save Lola.

  If he did anything good in his life he wanted it to be this.

  He raced to her side and dropped to his knees. Her skin was paler than normal. Blood ran from the corner of her mouth. More had dried in a streak from the cut at her throat.

  Panic beat like bird wings in his chest. How badly was she injured? Could she survive this?

  He held his breath to better detect the sound of hers.

  And then he sighed with relief when he heard viable sounds of life. Her lungs were still filling with air and her heart was still beating.

  He was about to scoop her up into his arms when his brothers filed through the door.

  They took one look at the room and at Thorin and Lola and charged into action.

  “What happened?” Dae said.

  Mad dropped to the other side of Lola and brought his ear to her chest.

  “Rose. Adonis.” Thorin rocked back on his heels. His hands were still shaking. His gaze cut to the pile of ash across the room.

  Mad and Dae and Poe followed.

  “Bloody hell,” Dae said.

  “Tell me you didn’t,” Mad said.

  Thorin gritted his teeth. “He tried to kill me first. What would you have me do?”

  Poe bent down beside the ash pile. “One massive ogre reduced to dust. Can’t say I’ll mourn him.”

  “The Conclave will have our—” Mad started, but Thorin cut him off.

  “I know what the Conclave will do. Right now let’s focus on Lola. Is she all right?”

  Mad grumbled and turned to his new patient. “Broken or cracked bones I suspect. Her lungs sound all right.”

  “Déjà vu.” Dae came up behind Thorin and looked down. “Why do the women in our lives always end up suffering for our misdeeds?”

  “The bloody fucking Fates, that’s why,” Poe said. Willa had come to them not long ago in a similar state.

  “One of you want to try healing Lo?” Mad said to Dae and Poe.

  “That rarely works,” Dae pointed out.

  Djinn magic was manifestation magic, not healing magic. It was only guaranteed to work via a wish from a mark or through a caeli bond.

  Thorin stepped away from Lola. “At the very least, it’s worth trying.”

  “Yes, all right.” Dae dropped to Lola’s side. He put his hand on her chest. Though Thorin couldn’t see the magic at work, he could smell Dae’s magic on the air. The spicy scent of it.

  Come on Lo.

  Her eyes remained firmly closed.

  The cut on her throat didn’t heal.

  Dae looked up. “Sorry, baby boy.”

  “Poe?” Thorin said.

  “If it wouldn’t work for Dae, it surely won’t work for me.” He put a cigarette in his mouth and lit the end. The lighter clacked shut a second later.

  Mad said, “Her left arm is broken. Give her a splint?”

  Dae snapped his fingers and a splint appeared on Lola’s arm to stabilize the broken bones.

  “That should do for now.” Mad brushed the hair from Lola’s face and peeled back one of her eyelids. “Make a deal with her when she wakes. Heal her with magic.”

  There was nothing Thorin wanted more than to be temporarily bound to Lola.

  But did he really want to entangle her more into this life?

  Bring her deeper into the magic and chaos?

  He was averse to making a deal with her.

  But he was also too weak to outright refuse the idea.

  When she woke, if she wanted to be healed, he would strike a deal and grant her a wish and have her whole again. He would deny her nothing.

  His chest ached at the sight of her on the floor.

  His stomach swam at the realization that he’d nearly lost her.

  Behind Thorin, Poe’s boot kicked a piece of steel. “What the bloody hell happened to this blade?”

  “Weak steel, I suspect,” Thorin said too quickly. “Probably cobbled together by an amateur.”

  The weight of his brothers’ combined stares was almost too much to bear.

  “I’ll take her upstairs.” Thorin bent down to scoop Lola up. “Are the rest of the girls all right?”

  “They’re in the panic room,” Dae said. “I’ll fetch them.”

  “Tell Ashley that as soon as Lola wakes, I’ll let her know.”

  Dae nodded.

  Thorin started for the stairs.

  “Get some rest if you can,” Mad called after him. “This has only just begun.”

  Thorin said nothing as he ascended the stairs.

  Mad had no idea how right he was.

  Chapter 27

  LOLA

  Lola could barely move she was so damn sore.

  And—OW.

  Her back felt like it was peppered with bruises. Like maybe she’d fallen down a mountainside.

  “Arrgghhhh,” she muttered and peeled her eyes open.

  Thorin stood over her.

  Lola shrieked and then immediately regretted it.

  Her throat was raw and somehow sore on the outside and inside. She lifted her hands to inspect and then realized her left arm was in a splint.

  “What happened?” she croaked.

  “Rose,” Thorin said quietly.

  With an expelled breath, the memories slowly came back to her. Rose and her brothers had stormed the castle and that big scary djinn with the scary face had been about to attack Thorin when Rose stepped in.

  Maybe the female djinn wasn’t so bad after all.

  And then Lola remembered why Rose had stepped in.

  Because her brother had had a knife and he was aiming it right at Thorin.

  Lola shot upright and dissolved into a stream of curse words.

  “Your vocabulary would rival many of the sailors I knew in the 19th century.”

  Lola laughed. Another mistake.

  “Stop,” she croaked. “Can’t. Laugh. No. Laughing.”

  “Got it.”

  “Are you okay?” she asked once her aching bones had settled again.

  “I’m fine.”

  “But Adonis—the knife—”

  “He missed.”

  Lola raked her (also sore) eyes over Thorin’s body. Blond stubble covered his face. His hair was unknotted and hung around his face in unkempt waves. If they were in any other world, she would think he was a surfer who’d slipped from the
ocean and let his salty hair air-dry.

  If she had her camera, she’d have made him pose for her.

  God, he was…well, godly.

  If she created art with him as the subject, prints would fly off the shelves.

  He wore a clean white t-shirt and jeans now. There was no blood on his clothing. No cuts or bruises. And certainly no stab wounds.

  “He missed?” she echoed. “How is that possible?”

  Thorin offered her a smile that seemed more like a mask than anything. “I’m quite fast.”

  “Uh huh. And Adonis?”

  The humor quickly dissipated. “Dead.”

  A breath stuttered down Lola’s throat. Now she was an accessory to murder? Could she go to prison for killing a djinn? Of course, djinn burst into ash when they died, so without a body...

  This was going from bad to worse. The worst of the worst!

  If the Northman djinn were pissed before, they’d be outright ready for war now.

  But judging by their loss, they’d be stupid to make another blatant offensive move.

  Gingerly, she sat up in bed. The windows were open and the cooler night air swept in, ruffling the curtains.

  “How long was I out?”

  “A few hours.”

  So much for that family dinner. And Ashley had been so excited for it.

  “What about Rose?” Lola asked.

  “She’s alive. Gone now.”

  “She’ll probably be back.”

  “Probably.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  For the briefest of seconds, he let his guard down and Lola could see the worry flashing in his eyes. But then he reached out and took her hand. His was so warm, so solid.

  He’d saved her.

  When things went south, he’d stayed by her side and nearly died for it.

  Her throat swelled around a lump of emotion.

  “We’ll be all right,” he said. “I promise you. I won’t let anything else happen to you.”

  “But what about you? The laws or whatever. And Adonis. Adonis tried to kill you and—”

  “But he didn’t.”

  “But he could have.”

  “But he didn’t.”

  Lola sighed and laid her head against the pillow.

  “How about we talk about you,” Thorin said. “How do you feel?”

  “Like crap.”

  “Dae tried to heal you to no avail.”

  “Do I need to go to the hospital?”

  “If you’d like. I can take you. But…” He trailed off and rubbed his hands together. “I could…we could…”

  “Make a deal?” she said. She knew enough about djinn magic to know that the surefire way to heal a mortal was through a wish.

  Thorin nodded.

  Lola thought for a minute. She’d trusted Rose and made a deal with her and look where that ended up. But Lola could see all the mistakes she’d made with Rose. She’d been drunk, for one. And hasty. And she’d been trying to get back at Thorin.

  Making a deal with Thorin would be different.

  But did she trust herself?

  What if she said the wrong words on accident and just made all her troubles worse?

  “I might take you up on that,” she said. “But not yet.”

  “Understood.” He scratched at the stubble on his face. “Is there anything else I can get you? Water? Medication for the pain? I’m sure Oddie has some over-the-counter med—”

  “You know what I want? A bath. Another long hot bath in that soaker tub with that oh-so-amazing imported bath milk.”

  Thorin chuckled. This time it was genuine. “You want to take a bath in milk?”

  “No. It’s…you know what. Never mind. Just trust me when I say it’ll help all this ache go away. Might throw in the bath salts too for good measure.”

  Slowly, she threw the blanket back and then realized she was without pants.

  “Ummmm…”

  “They were torn and bloody.” Thorin looked away. “I’m sorry. Let me get you something.” He stood up and looked around the room for her bag.

  “It’s all right. If I’m getting in the bath, I might as well save my clean clothes for afterward.” She stretched out her good arm. “Help me up?”

  He rushed back to her side and wound his left arm around her waist.

  His touch immediately made her feel better. She leaned into him as he hooked her good arm around his massive shoulders.

  She groaned once she was on her feet and Thorin went rigid beside her.

  “Should I stop?” he said.

  She clamped her teeth together as new pain bloomed in her skull and her vision swam.

  “Back to bed,” she said.

  He scooped her up gently and lay her down again. Lola expelled a breath of relief.

  “No bath,” he said.

  “Yes.” She widened her eyes at him. “Very much bath.”

  He growled in the back of his throat.

  Lola snickered. “Are we having another row?”

  “Row? Are we British?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “Far from it. I was born in Scotland.”

  “Really?” She hadn’t known this! She wanted to clutch at this personal detail from his past and hold it close.

  “Will you please draw me a bath? I’ll owe you. Name your price.”

  Thorin went to the end of the bed and leaned into the footboard. “Well, now my interest is piqued.”

  “Nothing dirty!”

  “Oh come on, you know me better, Lo.”

  Did she? She was beginning to realize there were so many layers to Thorin, she wasn’t sure she’d ever find his core. But she was definitely up for the challenge.

  He thought for a minute, then, “All right. I know what I want.”

  “Let’s hear it.”

  “I want a portrait of us together. And I want you to shoot it.”

  She burst out laughing. “What? Why?!”

  “Mementos are important to me. So I will always…” He let the sentence trail off as the line of his brow sunk into a frown.

  So he would remember her once she was dead.

  Because he was immortal and she wasn’t.

  How many loved ones had he lost in his lifetime? How many lovers?

  God she didn’t even want to think about it.

  She didn’t like picturing him with another woman. It made her insides crinkle.

  She didn’t want to picture him with someone he loved and cherished and took care of.

  Not that she needed that.

  No, Lola could take care of herself.

  Except for right now.

  And truth be told, she kinda liked him caring for her.

  It made her feel loved in a way she hadn’t been in a very long time.

  “All right,” she said. “You have a deal. When this is all over, we’ll do a sitting together.”

  They shook on it to make it official.

  “I’ll go draw you a bath,” he said. “Wait here.”

  “Trust me. I’m not moving anytime soon.”

  Chuckling, he disappeared into the bathroom. Lola admired his backside from afar. He had the broadest shoulders. The most delicious ass. Usually when she went down that path, she’d silently castigate herself. Thorin was a friend. Keep it clean!

  But hell, she’d just been flattened beneath a djinn. She deserved these dirty thoughts, dammit!

  A moment later, Lola heard the faucet churn to life and the bathtub fill up. When Thorin returned to her, they both looked at each other like now what?

  Feet on the carpet, Lola eased up. “Just…maybe…” She held her arm out. “If you help me…”

  Thorin shook his head with impatience. “Never mind this.” He ducked down, threaded an arm behind her knees and braced her back with his other, then lifted her effortlessly off the ground.

  Lola let out a startled yip and quickly wound her good arm around his neck.

  Now they were inches apart.
<
br />   Could he hear the surge of her heart rate? Because she damn well could. Her heart was turning her ribs into a trampoline.

  “Hi,” Lola said because awkward much?

  “Hi.” Thorin smirked. “I wasn’t going to watch you hobble to the bathroom when this way is much more effective.”

  His breath smelled like mint and coffee and he smelled like his magic. Musky and woodsy and…so fucking manly.

  Lola had always thought herself exclusively attracted to the artsy types. The hipsters. The guys who wore black framed glasses and scarves when it wasn’t even cold. The hipsters who cared about the environment because it was on trend.

  Thorin was none of those things.

  Thorin was brute strength. He cared little for trends and even less for fashion. He was big-hearted. He cared because he cared. Deeply.

  Before meeting him, she’d thought she cared about the world at large. The big picture. But now she knew she could stand to do more. Thorin gave up so much of himself for other things and other people.

  She wanted to be more like him.

  As he carried her across the room, his grip gentle but firm on her body, she couldn’t help but run her eyes over his face. If she couldn’t touch him with her hands in any sort of intimate way, at least she could touch him with her gaze. The lamplight silhouetted him in sharp gold highlighting the rugged cut of his jaw, the puffy rise of his wet lips, the flare of his nostrils.

  Years ago, when Lola started taking her photography seriously, she’d had her camera with her wherever she went. She started seeing the world through light because light was a photographer’s greatest ally.

  When she caught a scene at just the right moment, just the right flare of light, the right composition of subject and background and reflection and movement, her stomach would fill with butterflies and she’d think, “This is what love is supposed to feel like.”

  Back then she’d thought that was as close as she’d get to it. Her art made her feel alive.

  But right now…right now she had that feeling. The tingling in her belly, the heat in her chest, the shiver on her spine.

  In that moment, she didn’t want Thorin’s hands to pull away and leave her cold and unwound. She didn’t want to give him up in any way.

  In the bathroom, Thorin gently set her feet to the cool tile.