Cendric shrugged. “I broke the curse-marks on your sister and gave her some of my magic to keep her alive. The curse-mark blocking her magic was trying to kill her.”
Gideon let out a stream of Russian curses that would make our mother turn in her grave.
“Yeah, I hear ya, bro.” I sighed. “Somehow, some bonds got made. I think it’s my fault, but I don’t know how.”
“Interesting.” Gideon looked hard at Cendric. I sensed my brother’s rare protective mode and rushed to fill the space with information.
“We met at Rivermont. He’s the one that was supposed to help me anyway but didn’t remember. And then we were ambushed by evil vampires—”
Gideon narrowed his eyes. “You said you’re a vampire, Cendric? I know about Antalek and Associates. The firm is filled with vampires.”
A laugh burst from me. “That’s right, I remember! You run a vampire law firm.”
“Yes,” Cendric said. “It’s a way to give them something beneficial to do with their lives.”
My mind spun. The jokes were endless. “So, how many vampire lawyers does it take to—”
“Change a light bulb? Twelve. One to change it, and eleven to complain that some idiot bought the daytime wattage, and it’s giving them a sunburn.”
I stared at him in shock and appreciation. “Scooping someone else’s joke?”
He smirked. “That incident actually happened, but with far fewer people. Someone magically spiked the lightbulbs.”
Heat filled me. Suddenly, I really needed to kiss him.
Gideon raised his hand to get attention. “Okay, if you two are done flirting—not sure how cool I am about that, by the way—what happened to Allis’s curse-marks?”
“Cid broke them after we found the real culprit of the bear shifter fiasco. The new tattoos are the...aftermath, I suppose? Like I said before, Gideon, since you and I already have a family connection, that one came out that way.” I turned to Cendric. “That about right?”
Cendric nodded. “A fair estimation, although this is all speculation without further research into Jinn magic.”
Gideon touched the blood, flames, and roses on my left arm. “This one doesn’t smell like an aftermath. It smells like a blood bond—like … territorial.” He frowned at me. “Mate-related?”
“How would I know?” I glanced at Cendric. His expression turned guarded again. Careful. In a way that made my heart sink. Never mind the flirtation. Words were good, but his body language spoke volumes. And he’d only said I was under his protection to the shifters. But then he’d kissed me earlier.
Maybe it was all just happening too fast. But he seemed to have no problem with throwing words out there when he meant them.
“All remains to be seen,” was all he said.
“Shifters can have a lot of reasons for claiming someone. Any maybe other Fae and Unspoken can as well.” Gideon shot me a curious look.
Cendric cleared his throat. “That matter is still under investigation.”
“How very lawyer of you.” Gideon’s voice squeaked a bit. His otter part coming through. Not a great sign.
I sighed. “Look, I need a shower, so I’m going to get one. Cid, feel free to get whatever you want out of the fridge, the cupboards, etc. Grab a nap on the couch. After that, we’ll have to figure out where to go next.”
“Agreed.”
Gideon looked between Cendric and me. “We’re going somewhere?”
“Maybe.”
Would we? It had been just Gideon and I for our entire lives. Our grayling connection was still there. I wasn’t dumping my brother just because Cendric showed up.
But there was the issue with Jack and Matthias too. Did I want to be in the same building as someone who had kept so much from me?
Why had she even done it? Because it wasn’t the right time?
Bullshit.
As I turned to leave, a cool hand grabbed mine and pulled me close. Cendric. The motion felt natural, as if he were in some way a magnetic center for me. A core, an anchor. He stared at me intently, memorizing all of me.
“All those times we parted,” he muttered, tracing his finger over the tattoo on my left arm. “How could I have forgotten you?”
I raised my hand slowly, tracing a fingertip over the piercings in each of his eyebrows. Then breathed out slowly. Whatever else he was, Cendric was fine. “Blame the Fae. But it’s not going to happen anymore.” I tweaked his ear, which had an industrial piercing in the cartilage. Then I backed away, throwing him a miffed look. “You proved that when you dumped me in a pile of cushions while you showered at that stupid lep’s place.”
He shook his head. “That incident was Linus being Linus. I should have seen it coming.”
“With friends like Fae, who needs enemies?”
We shared a quiet laugh, then I headed toward my room. “See you in a few.”
“Indeed. And I shall endeavor to understand your…unique artwork.” He raised his eyebrows at the wall covered with my business ideas.
I snorted. “Good luck with that.”
“I’ll need it. Why is there a giant slash of paint down the middle?”
“All part of the creative process.” I entered my room.
The small space was at once familiar and foreign. Starfields, weird photomanips, and illustrations of goofy cryptids filled the walls. My double bed took up much of the space beneath the window, with a tiny nightstand next to it overflowing with books and magazines that I planned to read sometime. Opposite the bed was a low dresser with just enough drawers to cram with clothing. Some hooks screwed into the walls gave me a place to hang anything that needed hanging. It wasn’t a bad room.
But now as I stared around, every color seemed different. Brighter and more fluid. I reached out to touch a picture of a narwhal mermaid. The tail was green. I wanted it blue. Each loud, clanging molecule.
Blue.
Just like that, the color switched. It was as easy as dissolving gold coins or creating a metal bunny from a doorknob. How easy would it be to change something bigger? I didn’t have time to consider things before they happened.
Fear filled me. What if I thought the wrong thing? What if it came out wrong? The catechisms from my childhood had mentioned taking every thought captive, but this was absurd.
“Allis, you need to be careful.”
Gideon. He’d followed me into my room and was sitting on my bed in otter form, which meant he was going to open up a Difficult Conversation and figured I couldn’t get too mad at an otter.
The most annoying part was that it worked. You trying getting super pissed off when a slinky-furry little face is staring up at you. It was impossible, even if they shot off a remark that hit your insecurities. It was how the little punk got away with some really obnoxious things when we were kids.
I gave him the best glare I could come up with, which failed miserably. “I’m trying to be careful. Honestly, I just went to the theme park to get fries.”
“And you come back nearly three days later mysteriously bonded with a vampire lawyer, your curse-marks broken, and Jack angry at you?”
“How did you know she’s mad at me?”
He wrinkled his face. “Please. I can smell it on you. She got angry enough to use her skoffin magic on you, and somehow, you’re still alive. Which is a miracle by itself, and probably has to do with that burning smell you have now.”
“What exactly is a skoffin? Jack wasn’t giving out details.”
“A very dangerous half-fox, half-cat monster from Iceland.”
“So Jack is half cat?”
“In Jack’s case, her mother was kitsune, and her father was a skoffin. So she’s technically a fourth cat, with the rest being kitsune and some Arctic fox. She couldn’t hide it from this nose.” He wrinkled his, looking even cuter. “It’s an open secret in the shifter community. It keeps everyone wary and respectful of her, but it also means she doesn’t have many friends. There are few who would want to risk it. If she were
a full skoffin, she wouldn’t even be allowed into the city limits.”
I turned away from Gideon, rifling through my drawers for another tank top and button-down. “Oh, poor Jack. Everyone treats her like a pariah, so she passes it on to me.”
“I don’t know why she didn’t tell you. Maybe she didn’t want you treating her differently.”
“I wouldn’t! I’m the last person to judge someone else.”
“Which is why you need to give her another chance.” I heard the pattering of otter feet, and a moment later, Gideon scampered up my dresser and stared at me with his liquid brown eyes.
Augh. Too cute.
I knelt to the bottom drawer. “Oh yeah? Maybe I’m done with chances.”
“Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?”
“It’s been a rough couple of days, okay?” I slammed the drawer shut. “A freaking vampire tried to kill me to use my Jinn magic for evil—”
“You’re Jinn? Like, not just a wish granter, but the big leagues?”
“Yeah. Turns out my dad wasn’t any ordinary wish granter. He was top rung.” I eyed Gideon suspiciously. “You okay with that?”
He swatted my face with a paw. “Always. You stuck with me when I almost disowned you for my otter side. I’m not up and leaving now.”
I let out a breath that turned into another tirade. “Then a freaking body-hopping leprechaun betrayed me and Cendric, and when I teleport into Uncommon Grounds—”
A sudden thunk and a heavy weight settled on my shoulders. Stupid otter. “So you invaded Jack’s territorial space late at night, and you start asking questions and demanding answers. All while smelling foreign and Jinn.” He buried his nose in my hair. “Although the sweat is definitely familiar. Gross, Allis. You need a shower.”
“Getting there, if a certain annoying critter would just leave me alone.”
But despite my anger, his words hit home. Shifters had their own weird type of territoriality, a combination of their animal and human sides that made it more complicated than other natural behaviors. I had just gotten up in Jack’s business.
And I’d known what I was doing, but I hadn’t cared. After all, she’d been lying to me all this time. She deserved it. I pushed the whisper away. It wasn’t about deserving. My actions were stupid and hurtful.
I sighed. “You know what, bro? You’re really annoying when you’re making a point.”
“So are you, matchstick.”
“Excuse me?”
He made a chirruping sound from my shoulder. “The Jinn part. It smells like a burnt matchstick.”
“Oh, that’s great.”
“With a side of marshmallow.”
I opened the drawer again and grabbed a pair of pants. “Which makes it so much better.”
“Also, there’s a cut up here on your neck.” His tone turned darker. “It’s healing, but it’s there.”
“Neil’s work.” Gideon did not need to know I’d let Cid drink my blood to stop the bleeding and help him survive.
“Whoever that is, he needs to die.”
“I agree.”
I stood up, and Gideon hopped back over to my dresser. He splashed a paw in the puddle water feature next to my jewelry box. “So, you’ll talk to Jack?”
“Fine.”
“Good. Because this apartment is my territory, and I’m not keen on leaving right now, or having you leave. Even with that blood bond mark.”
“It’s not that great of an apartment.”
“Even so. You just met this guy.”
“That’s not entirely true.” The rest of the story of Cendric and I spilled out. All the meeting and forgetting.
Gideon made another chirruping sound. “So a lot of ‘just meetings.’ That sucks. Did I meet him at any time? He smells familiar.”
“Maybe. I haven’t had time to sort through the memories.” I sighed, rubbing the tattoos on my arms. “We’ve gotta talk through a lot of things. You know I’m not leaving you behind, no matter what happens with Cendric.”
We’d made a deal the night I found Gideon in my dorm room, having severed all ties with his dad’s otter family. He still went back and visited, but those magical ties had been severed permanently when we’d chosen destiny together. I wasn’t kicking Gideon out for anything. Otters were communal, and mate bonds or marriages or whatever just meant adding more people to the family.
If Cendric couldn’t deal, we’d just be friends. Who occasionally made out. And maybe more.
Something in me rebelled. No friends with benefits. It was one thing to kiss around a bit for a mission or early dates, but Kiran had been the last straw with flippant relationships. They screwed with the mind and emotions too much, and my mind was already getting messed with enough with my Jinn magic. Funny, for all the church lectures I’d sat through, what had really gotten through to me was the stupid drama of actually sleeping around. No more screwing unless I had a ring on it or something magically significant tying me together with the guy permanently. My sanity wasn’t worth anything less.
“Al, wait.” I glanced Gideon. The otter stood up on his hind legs, staring at the pants I held in my arms. “Are those mine?”
“They fit, okay? And cargoes for women have lame pockets.”
He hissed. “Did you cut off the bottoms?”
“They were too tall.”
“Barbaric woman.” He flicked his tail.
Otters were so cute when they got angry. I patted my brother on the head. “Thanks for the donation.”
“Hmph.” He followed me out of my room, shifting back to human. “See if I clean out the microwave for you.”
“You’ll clean it out for you. I’m not the one with the super-nose.”
“Meh. Maybe I’ll get your new boyfriend to do it. Make him prove his worth.”
Cendric glanced over at us as we walked into the living room. “I already did.”
“You did what?”
I looked through the window between the living room and kitchen. The microwave area was spotless. Just like that, he’d gotten even hotter. As someone who had regularly cleaned houses, there was nothing more attractive than a guy who would do it for you.
“My nose didn’t enjoy the smell either. I would have asked if you minded, but in my experience, people rarely complain about others assisting them in cleaning.”
I nodded, giving him another once-over. “I think I can cope with that. Especially since otter-boy here only cleans when his friends are in town.”
“It’s a waste of energy. And I’m not getting paid for it.” Gideon flashed him a grin. “Cid, my friend, I might actually not hate you. Even with you being part raven.”
“I didn’t realize hatred was on the table.”
“It doesn’t have to be. I think a clean floor would make sure it never got within a mile of the table. Whoa, what did you do to the wall?”
I followed my brother’s gaze, and my jaw dropped. In the blank spaces of my mind map Cendric had filled in names and information. Resources for legal documentation. Ideas for how to get around corrupt officials, both Fae and human. Solutions for policies and difficult statements.
“Cid…what the…” I swallowed. “This is amazing.”
He smiled, though a bit of disbelief showed in his eyes. “To be perfectly honest, I’m not certain where the ideas came from. Most of it was already within my mind, as if we had discussed it previously.”
“Huh. Maybe we have.”
Gideon turned to Cendric. “So, about all these first dates and moments you’ve had with my sister without ever meeting me. I’m thinking, you at least need to mop the floor and vacuum the carpet. Maybe dust for cobwebs…"
I chuckled and headed into the bathroom. Cendric could handle his own negotiations. I had a hot date with a shower.
As if I wasn’t in enough hot water already. Vampires, leprechauns, and shifters, oh my. All in the name of a preemptive strike, lest Allis explode and doom the world. Rather cynical of them, really. Only
half of me wanted to doom the world. The other half was interested in saving it. And the third half was undecided.
Yeesh, the Jinn magic had not helped my math skills.
As I undressed and stepped into the spray, a yawn escaped me. Because in my righteous anger and departure, I hadn’t gotten the coffee. Sleeping wasn’t an option at this point. Not with everything that had happened. This mess needed fixed before the sun came up. Or at least, before I’d be able to rest easy.
Which meant that even if I wasn’t feeling ready to make up with Jack, my caffeine addiction might force the matter.
Life wasn’t fair.
Chapter 17
Full Jinn magic, and I still had to use the damn door. I sighed. It was out of respect for Jack. Knocking on the door gave her a sense of control. She had to permit me inside instead me of teleporting my wish-granting butt anywhere I felt like. I could understand how that would annoy people.
Still, having to wait for someone to invite me in set my teeth on edge. I knocked on the glass door and shoved my hands deeper into my all-weather jacket with the fuzzy insides. I didn’t look as cool as Cendric in his black duster or Gideon in his thrift store army jacket, but my jacket had a hood. And fuzzy insides.
Other people didn’t know how to prioritize.
I knocked again, harder.
Nothing.
The light was on inside, but not a soul or soulless person was coming to the door. I sighed again.
“Keep doing that, and you’ll sigh yourself to Antarctica,” Gideon said.
I shoved him. “And then I’d teleport myself back here.”
“If you could travel that far.”
“I’m certain she could,” Cendric noted.
“See, he believes in me!”
His gray eyes twinkled. “Whether she would make it back in one piece is another matter.”
I huffed, crossing my arms. “A half hour with my brother, and you’re already turning on me. That lowers you two points in attractiveness.”
“Only two?” His fingers traced a path up and down my spine that sent fire-hot sparks through me, never mind my jacket. He leaned over, close enough to whisper in my ear, “I think I can earn those back.”
If Wishes Were Curses Page 16
