Of Wish and Fury (Seven Kings of Jinn)

He struggled with himself constantly, his emotions warring with the need to maintain his reputation within the jinn world, to make his father proud even if he couldn't admit it, and with wanting Ari in every way a man could want a woman. He thought he was doing the right thing, staying away from her, for surely she deserved someone who wanted her enough to give it all up for her. But her saving his life seemed to finally make sense of all his introspection over the last few weeks. Finally, Trey’s argument made sense. Was he really willing to lose her because of a father who had never cared? Ari had thrown herself into the line of actual fire to save him and her last words when she thought she was dying had been to protect him. How many people in the world were that brave, passionate, smart, and beautiful? How many people were that extraordinary?

And she wanted him.

Trey was right. He’d be a moron to walk away from her.

“This place sucks!” Fallon yelled over the music from the dark corner they stood in, drawing Jai’s thoughts back to the matter at hand.

Before he could talk to Ari about the two of them, he had to get rid of the son-of-a-bitch who was hunting her. Club A was a large nightclub in the Warehouse District. So far, Jai had seen nothing suspicious and didn’t feel jinn. Then again, Dalí may have been powerful enough to harness the cloak. Standing in the club's corner made them too conspicuous.

Jai nudged Fallon forward. “Well, try to like it. You and Charlie are going to dance your way across that floor. You’re looking for a male, mid-to-late twenties, wearing a talisman… most probably an emerald. Eyes open.”

Fallon held out a hand to Charlie and then quirked an eyebrow at him when he wouldn’t move. “I don’t have cooties.”

Charlie relaxed, grinning back at her. “I’m just not a very good dancer.”

“I don’t know.” Fallon bit her lip, pulling on Charlie’s T-shirt. “You look like you know what to do with your hips.”

With a raised eyebrow, Jai watched in bemusement as Charlie chuckled, replying as he followed her, “You have no idea.”

When did that happen? Jai wondered, watching the two of them dance intimately together, smiling down at each other before glancing casually around for their suspect. Not that Jai hadn’t noticed the chemistry between them, but he hadn’t thought Charlie would really take Fallon up on her obvious flirtations. What had changed his mind? Had Ari said something to him? Was it finally over between them? A little knot of worry twisted in Jai’s chest and he decided there and then that he had to discuss Ari’s feelings for Charlie once and for all before anything happened between them. The last thing he could handle right now was being burned by Ari.

At a tingle of power, Jai cursed himself, pushing through the crowds to follow the feeling. He was too distracted. He needed to focus. Following the trail of power, Jai stumbled to a stop and glowered at Fallon, who was rubbing one of her talismans. Noting Jai’s presence, she smiled sheepishly, realizing she’d misled him. “I just wanted to see better. It’s dark in here.”

Noting Charlie’s glazed eyes and how glued they were to Fallon’s talisman, Jai exhaled. He didn’t know whether to be happy they had lumbered him with the kid so he could watch over him or pissed that he couldn’t get rid of him.

“Is this your first hunt, Fallon?” Jai snapped, leaning closer and ignoring the way Charlie pushed Fallon back, as if to protect her from Jai.

She frowned and shrugged Charlie off, clearly needing no one to protect her. “No, gorgeous, this isn’t. What’s your point?”

“You shot up a flare using that talisman. That’s my point. Are you trying to give us away?”

Blanching, Fallon blinked and shook her head. “No, sorry.”

Rubbing a hand over his head in exasperation, Jai glanced around, about to tell her to be careful, when he saw movement in the back of the club. He sharpened his jinn vision and saw a door open, a girl’s face, a hand clamped over a mouth. The door slammed shut.

“This way,” he growled and took off through the crowds, his power kindling between his fingertips. Assured that Fallon and Charlie were at his back, Jai slammed through the outer door and into a back alley that led out onto the main street.

It was déjà vu. And Jai didn’t like that one bit.

Standing before them were three guys and a woman, and one man had his arms wrapped around a young girl, an innocent clubber. One hand was clamped across her mouth and another held a knife to her throat.

So Dalí was a coward, Jai mused. He kept sending humans to do his dirty work. Something niggled at him, though. The way the attackers were standing. Like they had been waiting for them. It all screamed ‘trap!’