Darkness, Kindled (Fire Spirits 4)

“What the—?”

Ari had already blown the black dust in his face before he could finish the sentence. She watched with satisfaction as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He collapsed with a dull thud against the concrete.

She glanced around hurriedly to check for witnesses and then telepathed Jai.

Five minutes later, a black Mustang pulled into the mall lot and got as close to Ari as possible. Jai and Gerard got out, hurrying toward her.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Ari said as a welcome.

“What happened?” Jai asked, all concern as he and Gerard lifted Beau’s body and used cloaking magic to hide him from human sight. They carried him to the back of the Mustang and threw him inside rather carelessly. Ari explained what had happened and by the time she was finished, the reddening anger on Jai’s face made her nervous.

“We’ll get him back to Michael’s,”

Gerard assured Ari. “We’ll need to get the Aissawa Brotherhood here to do an exorcism, and then we figure out how to trap him in a Secretum before he can get away.”

Ari nodded in agreement. “I’ll meet you guys back at Michael’s.”

***

Jai was not happy. Ari knew this because the entire time they were at Michael’s discussing a plan of action for Beau/Nick/Stalker, Jai grunted answers at her and generally looked like any minute, he’d blow.

Thankfully, Trey was not home because as soon as Ari crossed the threshold, Jai let his annoyance be known.

“I can’t believe you did that,” he growled as he passed her to storm into the kitchen.

A little confused and more than irritated by his attitude, Ari followed, watching him as he pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge and took a long gulp. “What the hell is your problem?

Your attitude at Michael’s … what was that? Were you trying to embarrass me?”

Jai narrowed his eyes and put the bottle aside. “Embarrass you?”

“Snapping at me like I’m a five-year-old.”

“How about snapping at you for the tricks you pulled to take Beau down.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Flirting with him. Kissing him. You don’t do that, Ari,” he hissed, making her cheeks burn with anger. “You are not some skeezy succubus Jinn. You’re a warrior.”

“Hey, my mother was a succubus,” she snapped.

“Exactly. And you’re not your mother. Or at least I didn’t think so.”

Sensing where this was coming from, Ari crossed her arms. “I’m not your mother, either, FYI.”

“Don’t abbreviate shit,” he muttered, taking another swig of water.

“Don’t tell me not to abbreviate shit. Don’t tell me what to do at all. I kissed a Jinn and used the distraction to bring him down. So what?” She sighed heavily. “You kiss women to put the trace on them. You kissed Fallon while I was standing in the next room.”

“It’s not the same thing.”

“It is the same thing!”

“Well, I don’t like it!”

This surprisingly irrational response from Jai made Ari freeze. She contemplated him a moment as he stewed in his own frustrations. “Why are you really mad?” she asked softly.

Jai shook his head, running a hand over his short hair. “Because it’s been a month. Only a month. Is there ever going to be a time when my girlfriend doesn’t attract some lowlife Jinn?”

This was one of the things Ari worried would put a strain on their relationship from the very beginning. His words, though quietly said with no vitriol, raised her hackles. “If it’s such a problem for you, get a new girlfriend.”

“Ari, that’s not what I meant.”

“No, what you meant is that you’re sick and tired of me being a bad-boy Jinn magnet. Fine.” She threw him a dirty look as she turned to leave the kitchen. “Next time, though, just say it rather than treating me like crap and pretending to be pissed off about something else. That’s such a girl thing to do.”

Ari had only moved three steps into the hall before she felt the wind whip her hair around her shoulders. Jai pressed against the wall, his body trapping hers. He was breathing heavily, obviously still annoyed, his lips hovering over hers.

“You and I keep butting heads like this, we’re going to have to invest in some helmets,” he murmured against her mouth, causing a delicious tingle in all Ari’s girly places.

“Or you could just stop being an obnoxious jerk.”

“You could stop being so defensive.” He pinned her hands to the wall as he ran his nose along her jawline. “I’m not going anywhere. Ever. So when I get annoyed about you being a Jinn magnet, it doesn’t mean I’m giving up.” He pulled back to stare down into her face with his beautiful, soulful eyes. “I get to be frustrated, Ari. So do you. I also get to be pissed that my girlfriend kissed another guy, but since you had a point earlier about the trace, I’ve decided I’m not doing that anymore.”

“You’re

not?” she whispered, her eyes dropping to his beautiful mouth. “Those lips are going to be for me and me alone?”

“Yeah,” he promised just before he kissed her hard and deep. When he came up for air, he shot her a wicked smile.

“I have to admit—I like the making-up part of our little arguments.”

Ari nodded and leaned in for more.

“Me too.”

***

He moved above her in shadow and heat.

He was everything.

She sighed into the night, arching against him. Jai. Jai …

His hot lips brushed hers, his callused hands smoothing over her skin, searching, touching, everywhere.

She wrapped her arms tighter around him, drawing him closer, needing to see his face, but it was cast in darkness.

Silken hair slid against her cheek and it took a moment before she realized it wasn’t hers.

She froze.

He felt it.

Grim laughter vibrated through him and he pulled back, light moving across his face.

“This isn’t over, Ari,”

Asmodeus warned, pressing his body deeper against hers.

Ari bolted out of the dream, her scream caught in her throat. Trembling, she tried to blink the sensual nightmare out of existence, her eyes falling on Jai who slept soundly beside her. Guilt clawed at her chest as her heart tried to slow, as her body attempted to come down from the dream in which she’d been making love to Asmodeus. All throughout it, her subconscious had believed she was with Jai and then …

Why? She ran a shaky hand through her matted hair. She didn’t have those kinds of feelings for Asmodeus. Maybe once, when they’d first met, she’d felt some bizarre attraction to him, but his tendency toward sociopathic had definitely hammered those feelings out of her.

Her eyes trailed along Jai’s strong back, up his shoulders, to his face. His lips were parted slightly and Ari could still feel them on hers, still taste him against her tongue.

Jai was the only man she wanted.

Consciously or subconsciously.

Which meant Asmodeus was messing with her. Her eyes narrowed in the dark as she drew her knees to her chest. He was sending her a message.