Balin growled by her side as Ambrose took out his sword.
“You cannot hurt my true half,” her angel said. “You have an accord with the angels. Do you really want to start a war over something you cannot win? Your people are dying, and my men can wipe you out with just their swift blades. Let us leave your realm and we won’t return. Be warned, once you step foot in the human realm with the intention to harm my true half, it will be war.”
Pride filled her at Ambrose’s words, and she prayed the djinn would listen. She looked around at the others in the room and couldn’t find a friendly face among them, but neither did she see the hatred that she saw on Kobal's.
“Let them go, Kobal,” a woman said from the crowd. “You know your views are as archaic as you are.”
“Temperance,” Kobal warned, “watch your tongue.”
“No, I will not. You are only on that throne because we allow you to be there. Let this girl go with her men and she won’t be a problem. We can deal with your attitude later, but we cannot let you start a war because of your prejudice.”
Kobal growled, and Jamie wanted to weep at the woman’s feet. At least not everyone wanted her dead. That seemed to be a step in the right direction.
Kobal sneered and threw up his hands. “I do not want war nor do I want this abomination in my sight.”
This man made no sense considering he’d been the one to summon her, but whatever. She just wanted to leave—now.
“We’ll leave,” Ambrose said as he walked backward to the doors, pulling Jamie with him. Balin turned to face the others, keeping her between her two men, protected.
“I will find a way,” Kobal threatened as they left the sterile building.
Balin practically carried her to the edge of the forest and through the portal, and Ambrose followed them, Kobal’s threat lingering in the air.
“I don’t trust that man,” Balin said as he slid her into the car, looking over his shoulder.
Ambrose cursed under his breath and got in as well, starting the car and kicking up gravel as he sped out of the spot. “I don’t either. We didn’t have a choice in making an appearance. At least we know their true colors.”
Jamie gulped, her anger rising. Screw tears. It looked as if she wouldn’t have that new family she wanted. No, they hated her. As she looked at her two men, she felt at least a little at ease.
There was no way to know what the djinn and Kobal or the demons and Pyro would do, but they’d make it.
They had to.
Chapter 16
“I need another drink,” Jamie said as she closed her eyes, letting the music in Dante’s Circle and the lull of her friends’ conversation wash over her. The weight on her shoulders lifted ever so slightly with each sip of her drink. It wasn’t the healthiest way to deal with her problems, but after the time she’d had recently, it didn’t seem like it would hurt.
It was better than hiding in a corner and weeping because that sounded like a grand idea to her. Everything was just too much. Had it really only been a little over a year since she and her friends had been struck by lightning and set on a new course, a new destiny?
Lily had already found her path in life and was relishing it. The others were all in various stages of shock and acceptance—or apathy. And, here Jamie was, with two men and a new life.
She’d already been to hell, run for her life in the demon games, and bonded to two men who cared for her more than she’d ever thought possible. Yes, Pyro and Fury most likely still wanted to kill her—okay, really wanted to kill her—but they’d had a plan to get through that. At least the makings of one. She would have been just fine eventually.
Then she’d met her people—or at least the people who could have been hers.
Jamie hadn’t had any grand ideas of open arms and a place in their society, not like what had happened with Lily, but she hadn’t dreamed of the open hostility and death threats. Why couldn’t there be a happy medium? Somewhere between roasting marshmallows on an open fire and roasting on a spit over said fire.
Jamie held back a snort and drained the last of her drink.
“I think you’ve had enough,” Faith said as she stared off into the distance. All her friends had been especially subdued after Jamie had told them about her story with the djinn. It also didn’t help that this was their first time meeting at the bar after Becca’s attack.
Jamie glanced at her redheaded friend and gave a small smile. Of all of them, Becca seemed the most together and acted as though she wasn’t worried about going outside alone again. It had to be a façade though considering Jamie knew her friend better than that.
By the way Hunter and Becca kept avoiding each other’s eyes, Jamie thought her friend had another secret to tell.
As in finding her true half…
That wasn’t Jamie’s business.
She’d already resigned herself to staying out of Nadie’s and Dante’s way and now she’d do the same with Becca and Hunter—if there was anything there.
Jamie looked between her two men seated on either side of her and let out a breath. Yes, she could wish the best for her friends, but for right now, she wanted to sink into her men’s embraces and never leave.
Call her selfish, but she’d had a bad week, month, and year. It was her turn to try and be happy.
“Wait, why can’t I have another drink?” she asked Faith as her friend’s words finally registered.
Faith shrugged as Amara, seated next to her, rolled her eyes.
“We’ve all decided to have just one drink so we don’t wallow in our sorrows and all the changes around here,” Amara explained as she played with her water.
Jamie let out a laugh. “Okay, if that’s what you think is best. It has been a shitty week.”
“Tell me about it,” Eliana said as she nibbled on a pretzel.
“Well, aren’t we just the happiest group of girls ever?” Lily said, her voice as dry as the pretzels on the table.
The hair on Jamie’s arms rose as her stomach clenched.
Something was wrong.
She looked around at her friends, but only Hunter, Lily, Shade, Ambrose, and Balin—the ones with magic—seemed to be aware something had changed.
“What is that?” Lily asked as she placed her palm over her gently rounded belly.
“I don’t know,” Jamie whispered as she slowly stood up, the men at the table doing the same.
“What’s going on?” Faith asked, tension in her tone. “What are you guys feeling that we can’t?”
“I don’t know,” Jamie repeated, her voice low. “Something’s just off.”
Lightning flashed outside the bar’s windows, and Jamie gasped while a few of her friends screamed.
“It’s just a storm,” Nadie whispered, her underlying terror not masked even in the slightest.
“That’s not a normal storm,” Dante whispered as he walked from the back, his fists clenched at his sides. He turned to the customers who weren’t part of their group and gestured. “It looks like it’s going to be a bad one soon. You guys better head home.”
People nodded, fear rising so thick in the air Jamie could practically taste it, and left Dante’s after throwing cash on the table. From the way the dragon looked, she was pretty sure he didn’t care about money at the moment.
“Shouldn’t we be going with them?” Faith asked as she put on her jacket, some of the others doing the same.
“No,” Ambrose said as he pulled out a sword from his cache.
“Really?” Eliana asked, her face pale. “A sword? What the hell is going on?”
Balin pulled Jamie to his side and kissed her temple. “I don’t know what the last storm was like, but this one doesn’t feel right. I don’t think it’s nature’s choice.”
Jamie wrapped her arms around Balin’s middle, breathing in his scent. “I didn’t have the same senses before, so I don’t know if it’s different from then, but it doesn’t feel right at all.”
Dante walked up to the
window, Nadie on his tail, and he reached out to keep her behind him. That casual and caring gesture broke Jamie’s heart, but she pushed it down. There were more important things to deal with at the moment.
“It’s different from the last time,” Dante said as he pulled Nadie closer.
She watched as Hunter sniffed the air and shuddered. “You said it was the gods or something along those lines that started the storm before?”
Becca walked up to him and shrugged. “Maybe. We’re not sure. We just know the lightning hit us, and now things are changing.”
“This isn’t the same,” Dante repeated. “If we’re correct, then the last storm was from the gods, bringing in a new light and direction for the paranormals. This isn’t god- or manmade. No, this is magical, of its own accord.”
He turned to Jamie, and fear clawed at her belly.
“Djinn,” she whispered.
“How do you know?” Amara asked as she gripped Eliana’s hand.
“I don’t know,” Jamie said. “It just feels like magic I should know…magic that’s part of something I am or could be. I can’t really explain it.”
“I think you explained it perfectly,” Ambrose said as he nodded toward Shade. “If it’s a djinn storm, then they’ve declared war. They can’t show their powers in the human realm in a fashion that can destroy all our secrets. It’s the first rule in any realm.”
Shade nodded and hugged Lily close. “We’ll stop them.”
“How?” Jamie asked. “What’s the point of starting a storm here? Is this Kobal?” She turned to Ambrose as Balin’s arm tightened around her.
The windows shook as the wind hit the bar hard. She heard the wind howl and the rain slapping against the window. Off in the distance a siren wailed, and Jamie shuddered.
This couldn’t be because of her.
It couldn’t.
As the magic within her swelled to the taste of the storm, she knew it was true.
Pyro wasn’t their only enemy. No, now Kobal wanted her dead, and it looked as if he was doing all in his power to make it happen. She hoped it was Kobal because, if it wasn’t, that meant they had yet another enemy.
“What are we going to do?” Jamie asked, ready to take a stand. She was tired of hiding and running.
Ambrose looked out at her group of friends, and she followed his gaze. All were pale, wide-eyed, but not backing down. This was her family—not a group of djinn who didn’t want her. Why had she felt as though she were nothing when the djinn rejected her? They didn’t matter. Her friends mattered.
Jamie would be damned if they were hurt or worse because of a pure-blood prejudice.
“We’re going to stop whoever is doing this,” Ambrose said simply.
Balin growled. “I don’t like that the storm tastes only of djinn. This would be a perfect time for Pyro to attack.”
The wind hit the door hard, emphasizing his words.
“Hell,” Hunter mumbled as he rubbed his chest. “I want to kill that fucking demon.”
“Stand in line,” Jamie said then flinched as the rain pattered against the window harder.
“Okay, I want those without powers to go to my room in the back and stay there,” Dante said over the howling wind, getting louder with each passing moment.
Dear Lord, it sounded like a freaking tornado out there.
Jamie thought about all the innocent people out there and shuddered. Damn Kobal. They couldn’t let this stand.
“You just want us to hide while you guys go out and fight?” Faith asked, her hands fisted on her hips.
“Yes, that’s exactly what we want you to do,” Balin spat, his body morphing into his demon form, his horns curling against his hair. “We need you to be safe while we take care of it. Yes, it sucks, but what can you do against magic? Until you find your true halves and change, you’re still human. Deal with it.”
Faith narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to say something that probably wouldn’t help matters, but Eliana help up her hand.
“Balin is right,” Eliana said.
“What? We’re just going to listen to the big bad men now that they’re here? What are we, little women who need help?” Faith glared, but Jamie saw the fear in her eyes.
“No, you are people we care about who can’t fight against this. Not yet, anyway,” Jamie explained in the calmest voice possible.
Faith raised her chin, but Amara tugged on her hand. “No, don’t fight. We’ll let them deal with this because we have to.” She turned toward Balin and Ambrose. “But if Jamie or any of our friends get hurt, then we’ll have to have some words.”
“Deal,” Ambrose said.
“Lily’s going with you,” Shade ordered then kissed his mate hard. “I’m not letting you or our baby get hurt.”
“Okay, but only for our baby.”
“I’d force you back with the others, but since we’re pretty sure this is Djinn magic, we might need you,” Ambrose said as he traced Jamie’s jaw. “Stay with Balin and me.”
She nodded, the love for both her mates flaring.
They could do this.
They had to do it.
As Dante led the girls to the back room, a gust of wind hit the door, tearing it off its hinges and shattering the windows.
Jamie screamed as Balin threw his body over hers, her shoulder hitting the ground and sending pain down her side. She heard the other girls yell out, and one scream in a gut-wrenching sound of pain.
The wind wrapped around them, whipping in dangerous funnels, sending tables, chairs and everything else not nailed down flying around the room.
“We need to find cover,” Balin yelled over the raging storm.
“Where? We’re inside!” Jamie hollered back as the rain slapped at them—icy shards digging into her skin as her clothes clung to her body.
She could barely see though the sheets of rain and debris but could make out forms on the floor, moving as carefully as they could to somewhere safe.
There wasn’t anywhere safe.
They weren’t safe.
“There has to be something we can do,” she said as Balin tugged her beneath the bar, which offered a bit of shelter, at least for now.
“Where’s Ambrose?” she asked, her heart in her throat. She still felt their bond but couldn’t see him. He had to be okay.
“I don’t know, baby, but we’ll find him.”
She leaned into his heat, grateful that she at least had him, but it wasn’t enough. Her friends couldn’t get hurt or die because of someone who wanted her dead.
That wasn’t the way things worked.
She was a djinn—at least by blood, if not title. If it was a djinn fighting them, then she should be able to fight back.
There had to be a way.
She closed her eyes, letting her aura wash over her, her body strengthening in its djinn form.
She could taste the magic of the storm, the vile taint that should have been something as good and beautiful as normal djinn magic but had been transformed and mutated into something unwanted and dirty.
This was the fault of someone insane.
She closed her eyes tighter and concentrated on the magic she felt. It was almost as though strings or cords reached out to farther places in town and closer to the bar—as if it were propelled by magic. They were almost tactile as if she could reach out and touch them if she knew how.
Maybe she could counter it with her own magic, as she had when she’d wrapped her aura around Balin and given him his strength back with her first wish…
She could use a wish here and try to save her friends. Would it work?
Instead of wishing aloud and possibly wasting it, she let her own magic flow from her, cords of power flaring out from her center as they counteracted the evilness of the storm.
She let the cords of her own power reach out and grazed the cords of the other one. It was almost like a snake attacking another in the beauty of it. The other cord pulled back as if stung and retreated to a place she
couldn’t see. If they were right in thinking it was Kobal, that must be where he was hiding. Maybe if she followed that path she could find him…
“Stop, Jamie, you’re hurting yourself,” Balin called out, his voice faint, as if he were far away.
She did as he told her because she trusted him with every ounce of her being, and her eyes fluttered open.
“Did I help?” she asked, her voice almost a croak.
Balin’s throat worked hard as he swallowed and nodded. “You got the storm out of the building, but it’s still raging outside. Never fucking do that again. Do you hear me?”
She tried to lean on her elbows but almost fell back from her lack of energy. “I helped. Why are you yelling at me?”
“You almost died. You used too much fucking energy without training.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize.”
“Well, you do now. Don’t do it again.” Balin kissed her hard, and she tasted the desperation and relief on his lips.
“Where’s Ambrose?” she asked as she pulled back.
Balin’s eyes widened, and he stood quickly, pulling her with him so fast that she got a head rush.
“Ambrose!” Balin yelled as he ran to the other side of the room, dragging her behind him.
“I’m fine; it’s just a small cut,” Ambrose said as he tried to smile away his pain.
Fury raged through her as she went to his side. How dare someone hurt her mate? It wasn’t a small cut, not by far, but it wasn’t a mortal wound. Angels and the like couldn’t die by a small wound and could heal faster than others, but that fact didn’t stop the fear from crawling over her. It looked as if a piece of metal had slashed across his torso, but the bleeding looked like it would stop soon.
“Thank God,” she whispered and hugged him on his good side.
“I’m okay,” her angel whispered as Balin brought both of them into his arms.
“We’re okay,” her demon said.
A pained roar echoed in the room, pulling them out of their thoughts. It sounded as if a thousand deaths layered in anguish had ripped from Hunter’s throat.
She turned and froze, all the blood leaving her face. “Becca!”
Becca against the wall, her eyes wide as her breaths became shallow. No, Jamie was wrong. She wasn’t standing.
Her Warriors' Three Wishes (Dante's Circle) Page 20
