“Your guess is as good as mine,” Raif answered. “Why does Lyhtan venom affect us? Who knows these things?”
Who indeed. Fuck it all, I was exhausted. “Thank you, Anya,” I said while still looking at Raif. If I had to make eye contact with her while expressing my gratitude, I might’ve still taken the dagger to my wrist for a completely different reason. “You too, Dimitri. Thank you for going after him.”
Anya snorted in response, and Dimitri shrugged as if to say, Don’t worry about it. “Get out of here, Raif,” I said. “I’ve got it from here.”
Raif laid a hand to my shoulder. “I’ll set a guard outside the building, just in case.”
“No.” I didn’t want to be beholden to Xander for anything else.
“You forget an attempt was made on your life as well. You’re one of mine. And I take care of mine.”
Damn Raif for making me feel all mushy when I’d been going for tough bitch. “Fine,” I said against the thickness in my throat. “I still think it’s a waste of time, though.”
“Obviously,” Raif said as he headed for the door, “I don’t care what you think is a waste of time. Call me if you need anything.”
I nodded my head, swallowing the emotion that threatened to leak from my eyes. When I heard the elevator doors slide shut in the foyer, I managed to exhale the breath I’d been holding. I reexamined Tyler’s wounds. Already the bleeding had slowed, barely showing through the gauze. Tyler’s eyes fluttered, and I sat on the bed, tracing patterns on his fingers as I waited for him to come to.
“Thanks for staying,” Tyler said lazily. “I’m going to need help getting out of my clothes, and I sure as hell didn’t want Raif doing it.”
I bit back a laugh and squeezed his fingers. “I can help you with that,” I said. “Gladly.”
Chapter 9
I’d shucked my boots and pants and lain on the bed, stripped of its bloody linens, with my arm draped carefully across Tyler’s muscled abs. He twirled the silver ring on my thumb as he spoke, as if it bore the memories of a thousand years.
“I’m not used to being the one who needs to be rescued,” he whispered against my hair. “I can’t say I like it very much.”
“Well, you owe me only once.” I caressed his silky hair, the strands slipping through my fingers. “You’ll have to settle up with Raif for this one.”
Tyler laughed, and then his body jerked in pain. The wound on his chest had yet to heal completely. I’d changed the dressings twice, and finally the bleeding had slowed. His wrists were much better, the injuries appearing to be weeks old rather than merely hours. I had no idea he could heal so fast.
“Raif is a good man,” he said, surprising me. The previous night he’d been ready to throw down with the guy for spending too much time with me. Now, he was extolling his virtues?
“He is,” I agreed. “Like family. I’d do anything for him.”
“I think he’d do the same for you,” Tyler said, his tone growing dark. “But I’m glad for that. It’s nice to know someone else has your back.”
“Do you have family, Ty?” I’d always wondered but never asked. Perhaps the conversation would take his mind off the pain.
“Not really.” Tyler slid my ring up and down my thumb between my knuckles. “I didn’t grow from infancy. Nor do I remember a childhood. Jinn are born from magic. No mother, no father. Just a moment of self-realization and conscious thought”—he shrugged his shoulders—“and I existed.”
Shit. That beat my story a millionfold. Granted, I too was a creature created from sheer will. But I’d been a human first—a real person, born and raised. I’d had a mother, a father, a pretty normal existence. It was years later that Fate, or whatever you want to call it, had done a number on me, and I’d been transformed into something more than human. I’d evolved into what I was—not just a force of magic brought to life. “How did you know what you were? How to live?”
“We are never alone.” Tyler kissed my temple, and I sensed he’d become lost in his memories. His voice grew thick, and his words were weighed carefully, accented with the remnants of a language no longer spoken. Near-death experiences have a way of rocketing you into the past, to the beginnings of your life as you’ve come to know it. Ty wasn’t here with me anymore; he was back there—in that place. “I was found by another like me as she traveled through the desert one day. Adira. She took me in, taught me what I needed to know…. It’s been this way since the beginning of time. We can sense the magic in our kind, and we’re naturally drawn to it.
“I’m not going to say that my first days were easy ones. Confusion is a given when you seem to manifest out of nowhere. I could speak, but there was no one to talk to. I hungered, yet the desert held no food. I had a want of things I could not describe nor seek solace for, and I wandered the harsh, lifeless land for days before I was found. At the first sight of another soul, I cried out in relief. I understood her words, and she gave me water, which I drank until it made me sick. She took me to her home, a small village inhabited to my surprise by creatures that looked similar to me, but I sensed the mundane in them. Adira had bound herself to the chieftain’s wife, and she watched over their people. I lived with Adira for a century or more, learning the ways of the Jinn from her. One day, while walking the desert, just as I imagine Adira had, I came across a confused and wandering soul, and I gave him water and food. I delivered the Jinn to Adira, and she cared for him. I decided to leave not long after that. I’d learned everything I needed to know, and I was restless to see the world beyond. I have not seen that place since the day I left.”
I realized, as I listened to the soft cadence of Tyler’s voice, that I didn’t know anything about his life—his real life. I knew he was a good man, and loving, and overprotective in a way that made me want to kiss him and rip his arms out of their sockets at the same time. But I had no knowledge of his history, upbringing, or existence.
“Xander said your people come from Europe or the Middle East. Is that true?”
“Africa,” he said almost dreamily. “Egypt. Sudan. Desert regions.”
“You don’t look African,” I teased.
Tyler raised a curious brow. “I’m not,” he said. “I am Jinn.”
My voice turned serious, “How many others have you bound yourself to?”
Tyler shifted in bed to look down on me, one corner of his mouth curving into a crooked smile. “Jealous?” He smoothed the tangles of curls from my face. When I didn’t answer, he said, “I hope so. I’ve only bound myself to someone once before you. And I don’t plan to ever do it again.”
My stomach clenched, a warm wave of pleasure bursting outward through my limbs. It was like having someone tell you he didn’t plan on sleeping with anyone else ever again. That he’d found the one person he could never leave or get enough of. Was it safe for him to pledge his loyalty to me? One attempt had been made on my life so far, and now someone had nearly taken his. “Who attacked you?”
“I didn’t get a look at him,” Tyler said. “He knew me and how to stop me, though. Backed me against a wall before I could get at him and jammed those stakes into my wrists so I couldn’t fight back. Cowardly bastard. He went for my heart and would have killed me if I hadn’t managed to give him a good kick right as he drove the stake in. Fortunately for me, the bastard jumped me outside The Pit. Levi heard the commotion and came out to see what was going on. The guy’s face was covered, and he bolted before Levi could get his hands on him. I lucked out.”
Understatement of the century. “Did he say anything to you?” The loaded silence between us told me Tyler’s attacker had said something. Probably something he didn’t want me to know. “Tell me.”
Tyler sighed in resignation. He knew I’d have no qualms about beating it out of him if he didn’t supply the information willingly. “He said, ‘I can’t have you protecting her,’ and then he went for my heart.”
“This is because of me,” I said. “Again.”
“No,” Tyler
said, holding me tighter. “You are not allowed to take the blame for this. It comes with the job. It’s not as though I didn’t know something like this could happen. This is how a binding works. I am your protector. Period. And if that means—”
“How can you say that?” I said, sitting upright and putting some much-needed distance between us. “That it’s perfectly okay if you die protecting me because it’s your job? Your reasoning is seriously fucked up. Do you really think I could live with myself if you were killed?”
“I chose this, Darian.” Tyler struggled to lean up on his arm. “Me. No one twisted my arm to make me bind myself to you. I knew the risks then, just like I know them now.” His tone escalated with every word. “Don’t treat me like some kid who can’t take care of himself. I’ve walked this earth for thousands of years, and I am not a weak human for you to worry about!”
“I don’t think you’re weak,” I said.
Tyler gave me a withering look. “Sure as hell sounds like it. Besides, who said this is just about you? Get over yourself. I’ve got business that doesn’t concern you, and you’re not the only one who knows what I am.”
There was nothing he could say to convince me the attempt on his life had nothing to do with me. There were too many coincidences. Besides, I doubted Ty had many women he was watching out for, and his attacker said, I can’t have you protecting her. My to-do list was growing by leaps and bounds: Sneak into the PNT building to rattle Delilah’s chain; find Raif’s daughter; flush out this Man from The Ring; and fend off attempts on not only my life but also Tyler’s. I truly had a knack for getting the shitty end of the stick.
While I contemplated the way my heretofore good fortune was slowly circling the drain, Tyler’s hand had begun to creep from my wrist, trailing up my arm and across my collarbone. Delicious chills chased the path of his fingers, slowly caressing up my neck, beneath my ear. The bed shifted as he sat up. His mouth hovered near my temple, and I shuddered. “I want you,” he whispered, causing a molten rush of excitement to ignite every nerve ending in my body. Talk about a one-eighty. Hadn’t we just been on the verge of an argument?
“You’re hurt,” I murmured.
Not that I didn’t want to forget about his injuries and lay him out on his back. Tyler ran the tip of his nose up and down my cheek into my hairline and inhaled deeply. “Mmm, you smell good. It’s making me crazy.”
That made two of us. A warm, heady odor like sweet vanilla and cinnamon wafted around us, Tyler’s arousal evident in the mixture of delicious scents. I took his wrist in my hands, unwinding the gauze to find the wound almost completely healed. Repeating the process on his other wrist, I discarded the bloodied gauze and gently kissed the skin that had been marred with a raw laceration just an hour earlier. “Just like magic,” I whispered against his skin.
With a fierceness that startled me, Tyler wrapped his arms around me and snatched me close until our lips were almost touching. His breath came heavy as his eyes delved into mine, and his jaw took a stubborn set. One hand slid up my back, and his fingers threaded through the locks of my hair. My eyes never left his, lost in their hazel depths as I reveled in the feeling of his cool breath fanning over my face.
“Don’t ever doubt me,” he said in a steel-hard tone that set me back a little. His emotions were teetering close to manic—or at the very least, bipolar. I tried to pull away, but he held me, refusing me even an inch of freedom. “I belong to you. Mind, heart, soul.” He paused. “And flesh. I’m strong enough.”
I know he thought he was. A powerful genie born from magic, he had a right to be even more arrogant than I was. But if I’d learned anything these past months, it was that nothing—not even Tyler—was immortal.
“Darian.” Our mouths met, just a glancing of lip to lip. “You belong to me too. You gave me your blood just as I gave you my bond. Don’t shut me out, ever.”
He was right. The Enphigmalé had given him a mortal wound, and I’d forced my blood down his throat to heal him because I loved him. The thought of him dying was simply too much. I knew I could never live without him. I didn’t want to shut him out, but maybe shut him up, to explain my concern had more to do with love than feeling he was an inadequate protector. I’d almost lost him once before. I didn’t think I could stand a repeat of that kind of torture.
Tyler didn’t give me the opportunity to say another word. His lips found mine with a hunger that set my skin on fire. I reeled at the intensity of Tyler’s kiss. This was no shy, lovesick entreating of lips. This was an I’m-a-man-goddamn-it-and-you’d-better-stand-up-and-take-notice kiss. And oh, did I notice! In one fluid motion, he swung me around and beneath him, his lips locked onto mine throughout the entire gravity-defying maneuver. I pressed my hand to the taught muscles of his stomach and managed to break free just long enough to draw a breath.
“Tyler,” I said against his mouth. “Your chest. It’s still not completely healed.”
He gave his opinion on that matter by sliding his hand slowly down my side. “Shhh.” His fingers wrapped around the slim strap of my underwear, and, with a quick jerk, he ripped the seams. With amazing dexterity, he pulled the now-ruined fabric out from underneath me without even chafing my skin.
I moaned, nice and loud. I hoped Tyler’s walls (and his floor, respectively) were well soundproofed, because at the rate he was going, I’d be screaming my pleasure in just a few moments. Before he could employ any more of his undressing skills, I pulled my shirt over my head in a single sweeping motion. Tyler’s gaze smoldered as he took in every inch of my exposed flesh. He wrapped his hands around my hips, and, in a motion too fast and too deft for someone stabbed a few hours ago, he flipped me over to my stomach. He unclasped my bra, laying his lips between my shoulder blades before sliding the straps down over my shoulders. I lifted my body just enough for him to ease his hands beneath me, and he swept the bra away, lingering as he teased my nipples to stiff peaks with his fingers. I was so past caring about injuries as his fingers pressed into my skin, sliding around to my shoulders and down my spine. He cupped my ass, kneading the flesh with strong hands before he ventured farther down and underneath, sliding his fingers inside me. Slick, warm, soft, he pulled away and moved a little farther up, finding my pleasure center, sighing next to my ear as he brought me close to orgasm with each teasing stroke.
While his fingers caressed the softest, most delicate part of me, his mouth went to work on my flesh, kissing, licking, tasting, as he worked from one shoulder, across my back to the other, and then downward. I trembled beneath him, my breath coming in short gasps as the sensation brought me to a level of pleasure so intense, I thought I’d see stars—or lose consciousness.
“Take me, Tyler,” I said. “Now.”
“Not quite yet,” he said hoarsely. “Let me taste you first.”
Again he grabbed me by the hips and turned me over. His chest rose and fell with his rapid breath as he shucked his loose-fitting pajama bottoms. I didn’t dare blink as I drank in every detail of his muscled body, my eyes trailing from his face, to his bandaged chest and over the ridges of his abs. My gaze wandered lower to the glorious hard length of him. He sucked in a hiss between clenched teeth. Tyler lowered himself to the bed, starting at my knee and working his way up my thigh with his mouth. I arched, writhing with pleasure and wanting him so badly, I thought I’d burst into flames. His mouth fastened over my core, and I cried out, my hips acting on their own, pressing toward the pulsing sensation drawn from Tyler’s gently stroking tongue.
I couldn’t hold back any longer. I twined my fingers through Tyler’s hair, the passion consuming me as the orgasm swept me away from reality. He held me firmly against him as I called his name. “Tyler, please. I need you inside me. Oh God, now!”
A sound passed between his parted lips, more animal than man as he rose above me, positioned himself, and thrust, at first slow and careful, and then with purpose. I gasped, consumed by the building heat of our passion as he showed me with every drive of his
hips that I was his and no amount of whining or insisting could convince him to hide in my shadow. “Oh…God!” I shouted, arching my back and pushing my hips to meet his. “More. Harder.” His mouth grazed the tender flesh of my neck, and he bit, just hard enough to send a zap of electric heat through my body. I dug my nails into his back, sinking my own teeth into his shoulder as his pace quickened. And just as I thought I couldn’t take one more moment of blinding pleasure, it exploded upon me again with an intensity that left me quivering in his arms. Tyler called out, uttering an ancient word that meant nothing to me, but I got the gist of it all the same; he collapsed on top of me, panting and placing lazy kisses along my collarbone and shoulder.
We lay immobile for a few moments, each of us coming down from the intense high. Something cool and wet against my skin shocked me back into reality, and I shoved at Tyler’s shoulders, lifting him far enough away from me that I could see the seeping bandage covering his chest. “You’re bleeding again,” I said as I tried to control the panic in my voice.
“It must have torn open a bit.” Tyler gave an uninterested shrug. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.” He rolled away to lie beside me, and I wanted to pull him back on top of me, to feel the comfort of his weight against me. “Besides,” he said, his voice becoming husky, “it was worth the damage.”
I tried to redress the now-shallow laceration, but Tyler brushed my concern away, saying that he’d heal before I had a chance to retrieve the roll of gauze. I didn’t argue. In fact, I could recall a time not long ago when he had insisted on dressing my own wounds, and I’d rolled my eyes at him, knowing I’d heal. I’d brushed his concern aside as well. That moment felt like a lifetime ago. I suppose it had been. I wasn’t the same woman I’d been six months ago. Tyler had changed me on the inside as much as I had changed on the outside. If we could just lie here together, safe and sated and needing nothing more than each other for sustenance, I could stay like this forever and never worry again about the troubles banging down my door. I drifted to sleep, wrapped in Tyler’s arms with his breath caressing my forehead.
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