by Nikki Hunter
She turned her large green eyes up at him in awe. A small smile began to play at her red lips. Feeling more secure that her bonded was going to make it through the night, her confidence began to return to her again.
The battlefield was not something she could understand, but this, this tension between the men. The overwhelming sexual feeling she got when she was around them. That she could handle.
Camila rose from her knees. Kade was the shortest of the four and he stood just an inch above her. Just a few inches separated them as she leaned forward, his eyes a dark grey flecked with bursts of baby blue, looked back at her with unease.
Apparently, he wasn’t very good at this up close and personal stuff, Camila mused.
“What are you?” she asked quietly, reaching out to touch his perfectly angled jaw line.
Before her fingers could reach his face, he grabbed them up in his hands. His words came out stiff, “Please, don’t touch me.”
With a roll of her eyes, she let out an exaggerated sigh, pulling her fingers from the heat of his grasp. Surely he felt what she did? The hot fire that blazed through her at every touch.
“So sorry,” she deadpanned. “But really, what are you guys? No creature I’ve ever come in contact with before, that’s for sure.”
Kade stood, staring at her. He weighed the danger and the emotion of the situation that had suddenly found them before speaking again.
“Trust me, we’ve never met or heard of a genie before now, either.” He turned away from her walking up towards the stairs that led to their bedrooms. Over his shoulder he tossed the words at her, “By the way, we’re the fae.”
Chapter Eight
The Fae
Fae. What were the fae? Nothing from this dimension, Camila was certain after their trip to the land with four suns.
Her usual confident steps faltered as she stumbled behind Kade. Weaving through the furniture, Camila stopped just before the stairs, casting one more longing glance at Lance.
“You all have magic, how? What kind of magic? Are you aligned with demons? Where did we go earlier today? The place I wasn’t supposed to come to.” The questions tumbled from her lips again and again.
Kade rubbed his hand over his face, giving his chin an extra skim where the five o’clock shadow appeared. He ignored her questions, walking past the four bedrooms to the last one at the end of the hall.
Each of their doors were closed, a heavy snore emitting from one. She almost assumed it was Yehven’s, since snore was perhaps the closest thing to a growl you could do while sleeping.
They reached the white door that he then opened, the hinges creaking. He flipped on a light gesturing for her to enter the room.
When she stepped in, she found it was nothing special. One dark mahogany dresser stood opposite a metal framed bed covered in an old quilt and one pillow.
“Well, I’ve been put up in better…” she said, plopping herself onto the old bed.
Kade stepped in the room, his arms folding back over his chest. A stance, Camila noted, he was in often.
“So…” she continued, “Care to answer my questions?”
“Only if you answer mine first,” he agreed.
“You can tell when I’m lying?”
He nodded in response. “Were you planning on lying to me now?”
She grinned but shook her head. “Nope.” She smacked her lips on the puh of the word.
“So you’re a genie?” he asked, “What powers do you have?”
Camila patted the bed next to her offering him a seat, he waved his hand at her and frowned. Content to stay put just inside the door.
She grimaced at his turn down but continued, “Yes, genie.” She pulled at her ponytail letting her straight red hair fall over her shoulders as she spoke. “Um, I can do really anything you need. Very rarely can I give you something you just want. I mean I can bend the rules to some extent but most things I can’t just fabricate from the universe, it all comes from somewhere, at least when we are talking about wants. It never seems to be a problem with the things people actually need.”
“You’re rambling,” Kade interrupted.
“Oh,” She laughed, the soft joyous noise sending a spark through Kade. Camila swore she saw his lips twitch into a smile before he schooled his features again.
“What powers do you all have?” she asked.
“Zayn has electric magic, he can shock the hell out of things and control lightning if he is caught in a good storm.
“Yes, the glowing balls,” Camila recalled from earlier in the day with a smirk.
Kade looked annoyed at her interjection but kept talking, “Lance, he has trickster magic. He can change form and create mirages. Yehven… uh, he is ridiculously strong. We are all much stronger than humans but he has us all beat.”
“Never challenge him to an arm wrestling challenge, got it.” She nodded, “What about you?”
“I’m an empath. I feel what you feel.” He swallowed, “I can control the emotions of a crowd, to an extent.”
Camila blushed. So he had to have felt the churning feelings of arousal that continuously tossed within her.
“Can you die?” His voice broke the momentary quiet.
She snorted at him, “I can die but I always regenerate. Ok, who were you hunting earlier?”
“A prisoner.”
“Why?” she pressed.
“Eh, it’s my turn to ask a question.” His eyebrows rose. “Where did you come from?”
“When this realm was… created... by the fates, they made three beings. Angels, humans, and the jin. The jin are expected to bow to the needs of the humans. Blah, blah, blah. I already gave you my story when I got here,” Camila pulled her legs up onto the bed, crossing them underneath her. “My turn, why?” she asked again.
Kade dropped his arms to his side, balancing his hands against his hips. Camila’s eyes caught along the belt of his black pants where blood was still splattered, but his shirt had ruffled up revealing a trail of hair that led even further down.
Kade coughed. Her eyes snapping up to his. She smiled knowing full and well that he definitely felt that.
“We guard the tear between your realm and ours. It just so happens that the tear is near one of our prisons so they like to use it as a chance to escape their punishment.”
“He didn’t look like a prisoner.” She mused aloud, “His face was so sad, so frightened. You had to have felt, that right?”
“Yes.” He looked down, “Most go through forms of those emotions when they know they can’t win. We’ve been a team for a long time, we never lose.”
“Oh.”
“You got two questions,” he stated.
“Well go on and hit me with two of yours.”
“What are demons? How can you follow us into Treteauh?”
“Treteauh? Is that the place with all the suns?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’ll start with the first question… When the jin were forced to bow down to the humans, there was a group that didn’t want to do so. You see, we have this…” She waved her hands around trying to grasp the words. “Programming in our souls to work for the humans but we still have free will. We can choose not to do so even though it goes against everything we might be feeling. The group that turned from what we were made to do, are what we call demons.”
Kade raised his eyebrows but didn’t interject anything so she continued, “As for Treteauh, I’m bonded with you. With all four of you. My magic allows me to go where you go with whatever permissions you have to be there.”
Camila yawned, “I’m out of questions for now.”
“Do you intend to do anything other than sleep tonight?” he asked. He was trying to see if she would lie or not, but she was honestly ready for bed.
Camila rolled her wrists, her black uniform and sword disappearing to be replaced with a a large purple T-shirt and a new pair of black lace panties.
“I intend on sleeping.”
He tu
rned away, pausing just before he left, “Do you require sleep?”
Camila pulled herself under the covers of the worn quilt. “Technically, no. I don’t require food, drink, or sleep. But I do enjoy them. Plus any use of my magic is really exhausting.”
“Hmm.” He pursed his lips, stepping into the hall.
“Kade?”
His head fell, but he stopped. “Yeah?”
“Could you get me an extra pillow?”
He turned back to look at her as she bite her lip in a pleading look. “Can’t you make one appear?”
“No... I can’t do anything for myself apart from change my clothes. There are rules. I’m meant to serve.” She jutted out her bottom lip. “Please.”
Kade’s boots stomped down the hall where he turned into one of the rooms, merging a minute later with a fluffy pillow. He tossed it in the room at Camila who caught it with a grin.
“Thank you. I must say this was an eventful first day with my bonded.”
Kade grunted, flipping of her light this time as he left. He pulled her door closed.
“Good night,” Camila cooed.
Though it was quiet and muffled through the door, Camila swore she could hear his whisper of “goodnight” in return. It was then that she let her heavy eyelids fall closed, snuggling into the old mattress with a happy sigh.
Chapter Nine
Home Sweet Home
“OH MY GOD.” The shout shook the entire house. All four of the men jumped quickly away from where they had slept for the night. Their footfalls thundered against the floor as they ran towards the shrieks that continued.
At the end of the hall, where Kade had left Camila for the night, the door flew open to reveal her standing in a lace lingerie piece with black stiletto heels, at the end of the bed. Her mouth was open and her hands up in the air. Her arms quickly fell back at her sides as she turned towards them.
The sun that had barely risen over the horizon sent an orange glow through the sheer white curtains. Apparently, her taste was as extravagant as her personality, Kade thought as he peered over Zayn and Lance’s shoulders at her outfit.
“Lance!” Camila shrieked as she saw him standing in her doorway with the others. At some point he must of awoken, showered, and changed. Now, Lance wore loose grey sweatpants that hung low off of his hips. The dark skin and muscles pointing in a satisfying vee. She flung herself against his chest, wrapping arms around his neck and burying her face against him. The overwhelming scent of fresh pine shocked her senses.
Lance groaned in pain against her, even though her touch lit every cell within his body up in flames. Small tingles scattered over his chest in pleasant, sensual waves away from her arms.
Lance’s chest rose and fell in large breaths, “What’s wrong?”
“How are you feeling?” She stepped away ignoring his question, running her hands over the now pink scar of the cut from the night before.
“Hurts. But I’ll survive.” He shyly grinned up from under his lashes, “I suppose that’s thanks to you.”
She bit at her lip, attempting to push down the urge to strip him the rest of the way down. “You can thank me… later.” She didn’t bother to tame her hands as they ran loosely over the groin of his pants.
Lance barked out a cough, shocked by her bold touch.
“Okay, that's enough.” Yehven snapped. “What’s with the fucking shrieking?”
Camila beamed, snapping to add a flowing sheer gown to her provocative outfit as she stepped back. The heels clicked as she rolled herself into Zayn’s chest.
“I thought this was all a dream. Or a hallucination derived from my insanity! All I’ve wanted for the last couple of years is to have a tomorrow that didn’t remind me of yesterday. And here it is! It’s real. I’m real. That bed is real. You’re real.” Her fingers racked through Zayn’s hair sending it up into disarray.
Zayn’s mouth twitched. He dropped his face to run his nose over the tendon in her neck.
Yehven grabbed Zayn's shoulder pulling him away from her touch. “You’re kidding, right? You woke us up for that?”
Camila pouted, sticking out her bottom lip as Zayn’s warmth was pulled away. Zayn groaned at Yehven.
“Do you like my outfit?” She twirled before the men dropping the robe to the floor.
“Well, I like it,” Zayn said with a nod.
Kade ran his hand over his face, rolling his tired eyes and turned to walk away.
“Huh.” Lance shrugged. “Do all genies lack modesty?”
Zayn winked at Camila, “It’s too early. We will talk later. For now, we have to catch up on the sleep we missed out on last night.”
This is the best fucking day of my life. Camila thought to herself as she waved at the boys as they turned away from her. It was early in the morning. Too early for any of her new roommates to be willing to stay awake after the night they had. So, she tiptoed out of the spare room they had offered her, down the hall to where she assumed the bathroom would be.
Oh, a shower. That sounds fantastic.
The bathroom was small, plain, but pretty clean. She smiled to herself, thankful that the men who shared this space weren’t complete pigs. The rings holding up the shower curtain whispered as she pulled it back just enough to start the water. She let it heat until she was satisfied with the nice steam that began to fill the room, but not too much heat that it burned her skin. Slipping out of the lingerie, she let the pieces fall to the cold tile under her toes.
Her reflection above the sink caught her eyes. As she relaxed, she let herself reveal her true form, one hardly anyone got to see. A smile graced her full lips as she smiled at herself. Brown almond shaped eyes blinked, joy glowing within them as her hair finished its transition. The deep brown color falling in straight strands that covered the olive skin of her bare chest.
Camila brought her hands up gently running her fingers over her face, as if she were trying to pull back the pieces of who she was. She stood in front of the mirror only for moments before the fog covered the image. With a nod, she stepped into the shower.
This might be better than any orgasm I’ve ever had.
Warm water licked at her skin, taking two years of being hidden away down the drain. Taking away the memories of the blood shed from yesterday. She washed her hair with the only soap that sat along the edges, a sweet masculine smell that she breathed in deeply as she poured it over her.
After the rinse, she stepped out of the tub, hoping for one last glimpse of herself before she hid it all away again. Camila was never that lucky. With a flick of her wrist, she was dry and in the red headed form she had been in when she introduced herself to the men.
Seeing as she had no knowledge of what her plans would be for the day, she decided to go with a comfy pair of black skinny jeans ripped at the knees and a simple lavender cropped hoodie. The strands of her red hair piled on her head in a large bun.
With another encouraging nod to herself, she stepped out of the bathroom. Her feet gently padding against the floor as she found her way to the stairs. Muffled noises met her at the top, she stopped only long enough to confirm it was the TV.
At the bottom of the stairs, she gingerly leaned around the corner, peering towards the couch. Yehven sat, slumped in one of the plush couches, his arm slung up over the back as he stared intently at the morning news. He didn’t look up as Camila rounded the corner and sat down opposite him. She eyed him sitting there in a pair of black sweats and a white v-neck tee. His muscled chest peeking out the top, available for her viewing pleasure.
She noted the couch Lance had been laid on was no longer in the room. She pondered where they could have taken it.
“Can’t sleep?” she asked, a smile creeping up her face.
“I’m a morning person. But, thank you for waking us up this morning,” he grumbled. His blonde waves stood ruffled from his few hours of sleep. Camila’s fingers tingled with the temptation to reach up and touch them.
“Yeah, me, too. Sleeping
for two years really puts a damper on ever wanting to do it again.” She smiled but the humor didn’t seem to reach him. His amber eyes only looked worried. “You know, I can help you sleep if you want.”
“I don’t need your magic.” His voice was rough.
“Well okay then.” Camila folded her arms over her chest. However, she was never one to keep her mouth shut. “What’s your problem?”
Yehven looked shocked at her confrontation. “I don’t have a problem. I just don’t understand why you are here.”
Camila rolled her eyes. “You have a problem with genies?”
“What if I do?” He growled, turning from the TV to give her his full attention.
“Well fine then. If you want your own type, I’ll take on the fae form.”
She rolled her wrists, keeping the looks but adding the pointed ears of the fae, the glow they always seemed to carry and the scent of one.
Yevhen’s eyes went ablaze. His expression softened only slightly before he cleared the space between them, reaching up to grab Camila’s face. His kiss bit into her, melting her. Yevhen’s strong hands met her waist grabbing and pulling her to his lap.
What is he doing? Two seconds ago, he couldn’t stand me being in the room. Now he’s ready to swap spit?
With a harsh zap, Camila disappeared from his lap, sending herself into the open kitchen. She stood with her palms on the granite countertop looking into the living room where Yehven seemed startled. Hungrily, he stood.
“What is wrong with you?” she snapped.
“You don’t feel that?” he asked as he sauntered towards her.
“I felt you getting all touchy feely with me. Which is all fine and dandy if you weren’t being such a prick just before that.”
As he approached, panic licked through her body. Allowing herself to appear back on the couch she snapped out of the fae body and back into the human form. Yehven visually relaxed, slowly turning back to where he just came from.
The blonde of his eyebrows scrunched together. “Are you messing with me? Are you trying to play with my emotions, genie?” His voice was loud enough to stir the occupants above them.