“He’s gone. I’m OK.” She held up her hands palm out, placating him. He looked as though he were about to jump out of his skin and rip it to shreds just to have something to violently attack. “How did you know? I didn’t telepath.”
Jai’s eyes narrowed as he looked her over as if searching for injury. “Just as I felt a warning in the trace, Ms. Maggie talked to me telepathically. She told me The White King had you in the bathroom.”
Ms. Maggie spoke to him? Ari opened her mouth to ask about that when Jai grabbed her upper arms and tugged her roughly into a fierce hug, stilling all thought. She was crushed against him, his arms wrapped tight around her, and Ari felt his heart pounding in his chest, his muscles trembling beneath her. Warmth rushed through her as she realized how concerned he’d been. “I’m OK,” she promised him softly, whispering the words against his throat. “He just wanted to mess with my head. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t command him. It was hard, but I didn’t, I promise…”
“Shh,” he hushed her, brushing his mouth against her ear. “I know. I’m proud of you.”
Nuclear need shot through the core of her and Ari pulled back, her breathing ragged. She felt too much in his arms. She stared up at him and her eyes widened at his expression. His green eyes were liquid fire and as her mouth trembled at the blatant lust in them, those green molten pools dropped to watch her lips. The moment hung suspended between them, like a thin rope bridge that would snap if one of them took that irreversible step forward. Trying to find some equilibrium Ari took a step back instead and Jai’s hands tightened around her upper arms. “Jai-”
Her words were cut off as he crashed her against him, his mouth crushing hers in the deepest, hardest kiss Ari had ever received. She felt her legs tremble beneath her and grabbed onto him for support, gasping as he pulled her closer, the sound swallowed by his hot mouth. Urgency took over, sanity fled, and all that existed was Jai’s mouth and body holding everything that she was together. The cool counter bumped against her thighs as Jai lifted her easily onto it, never breaking his desperate kiss. He shoved between her legs so she could wrap them around him, his hands gripping her h*ps and pulling her closer. His groan reverberated through her entire body with pleasure.
Ari thought she’d never feel this kind of heat again what with her Jinn temperateness. But her skin was on fire as Jai’s kiss softened, his tongue teasing hers to deepen an already abyss-like kiss. She trailed her hands over his hard chest, contemplating ripping the buttons off as he left her lips to trail devastating kisses down her neck. His large hands squeezed her h*ps hard and then brushed softly against her back before sliding chills up her spine. It was like he wanted to touch her everywhere all at once and Ari was only too happy to let him. Ari whimpered into his ear as he bit gently at her bare shoulder and Jai growled at the sound, his hand tangling through her hair as he grasped her head, cupping it back like she was an offering. There was no thought in his expression, only need. His lips crushed hers again and Ari held tight, her fingers biting into his shoulders, her legs climbing his hips. She wanted, she needed, she wanted, she couldn’t think, she-
-CRASH!
They jumped apart at the sound of the bathroom door slamming open, their breathing hard, their chests rising and falling in tandem. Their wide-eyed stares were met by nobody, but Ari sensed the hum of Ms. Maggie’s presence.
“It’s Ms. Maggie,” Ari whispered hoarsely.
Jai looked back at her, his eyes wide with disbelief. He shuddered and Ari watched with a heavy heart as regret crept into his beautiful green gaze. Jai groaned, rubbing a hand over his short hair. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
Feeling vulnerable, Ari pulled at the hem of her dress where it had ridden up slightly. “Jai…?”
“No,” he growled at her, his eyes flashing angrily now. “It never happened. I was worried about you and I just… shit!” He hit a palm off the tiled walls.
Unsure of how she should react, Ari slid off the counter with as much grace as she could manage. She felt stupid. And frustrated. And angry.
Hurt.
Alone.
Jai shot a look at her and winced at her expression. “Ari, I’m so sorry,” he apologized hoarsely. “The last thing you need is an older guy treating you like crap. You deserve more. And I can’t give you more.”
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Ari stiffened her spine. She smoothed her hair and pasted on a blank expression. “We better get back to work.”
After a phone call to Luca that Jai and Ari were not privy to, Chris and Jenn were huddled out of the club by her security team leaving Ari and Jai feeling sheepish. The couple had assumed they’d both left their posts to make out in the bathroom and while it might have looked like that, there really was no way of explaining the truth. In the end, Ari followed a stone-faced Jai outside and into the car, her legs blasted by the arctic cold breeze blowing off of her guardian. Her insides were a mess but on the outside she was strong and determined. She was done.
The forty minute drive in the car with Jai heading out had been fine. Heading back. Not so good. Ari shifted uncomfortably a million times which only seemed to irritate Jai. She just wanted to get back to the mansion so she could hide.
Driving along the PCH Ari’s mind was turning over and over as she stared out at the ocean. Her thoughts were abruptly pulled back inwards when Jai made a noise like a growl from the back of his throat. The car sputtered and Ari’s eyes widened as her head snapped around to look at her guardian. With a choke and cough and spluttering of bile, the Mercedes rolled to a stop on the strangely silent highway. “What’s going on?” she whispered, dread filling her. This was all too familiar.
Jai looked ahead up the darkened road, his eyes narrowing and jaw clenching. “Get in the Cloak and get out of the car,” he ordered.
With fear immobilizing her it took Ari a moment to shake herself into concentration. What the hell was coming for her now? Was it The White King? Had he decided to attack again even though he’d said he wouldn’t?
“Ari,” Jai snapped.
“I’m doing it, I’m doing it,” she whispered and closed her eyes, imagining her whole body was light and transparent. The air around her crackled with her magic.
“Get out the car,” Jai said and Ari turned to see he was gone. Well, in the Cloak too. The driver door slammed and Ari scrambled out of the car, almost tripping as she tried to get used to not seeing her legs.
What now?
Look ahead of you.
Eyes widening, Ari watched as a group of humans strode out into the road. Like last time they were tall and rangy men, their eyes fierce with determination. This time they had weapons. Guns.
Bastards.
Ari shivered, feeling exposed even knowing they couldn’t see her. What do we do?
As much as I’d like to teach these a**holes a lesson, we’re going to walk past them as quietly as possible until we’re out of their sightline. Then we’ll head into the Peripatos.
Why can’t we just head into the Peripatos now?
Because our flames give us away and that’s just enough time for one of the cowards to put a bullet in us.
OK. Let’s go then.
“They’re gone!” The guy closest to the car called over his shoulder.
“They’re in the Cloak,” one yelled back and Ari’s heart sunk as her eyes adjusted enough to see what he was dragging. A girl.
Shit. Jai cursed, seeing her too.
The guy stopped in front of the car’s headlights, the girl pressed against his body, a knife digging into her neck. She only looked about fifteen or sixteen. Her cheeks were pale with terror, her eyes wide and red from crying. Ari noted a tear in her shirt and felt her blood boil with rage. The ugly knot in her chest started forming, pulling up away from her heart and morphing into that dark separateness that longed to do damage. “I think they’ll step right on out when they realize I plan to kill this girl if they don’t. A guardian like Jai Bitar won’t be able to walk away from an innocent in trouble. Right?” He grinned cockily, his eyes washing over the entire area with the thoroughness of a true predator. “All Master Dalí wants is the girl, Mr. Bitar. Hand her over and we let the little one go.”
Someone sounds like they’ve watched too many bad Hollywood action flicks, Ari laughed nervously, trying to cover up the fact that she was furious and scared to hear that Dalí knew exactly where she was.
Someone is a cocky bastard, Jai hissed back and Ari felt his anger pounding around her head.
A streak of fire blazed through the air towards the leader and his whole body stiffened, his eyes rolling back in his head as he collapsed to the ground with a sickening thud. The knife clattered to the ground and the girl yelped, tears streaming down her face as she shivered in her shorts and t-shirt, completely confused and terrified.
Ari wasn’t sure she understood what was happening as the fire moved with a speed the human eye couldn’t keep up with. In under thirty seconds every man was unconscious on the ground, their weapons, unfired, discarded next to their bodies.
Jai?
Don’t come out of the Cloak, he commanded harshly.
What the hell did you just do?
Krav Maga. A powerful blow to the back of the neck can render your opponent unconscious.
Ari gulped, not quite able to compute how powerful Jai was. She’d been all ready to fight and he’d come along and made these idiots look like… well… idiots. It suddenly occurred to Ari that if Jai hadn’t been incapacitated by the harmal that first time, he’d have taken out those men Charlie and her had labored greatly to defeat.
Show off.
The girl? Ari asked, worry eating away at her.
I’ve already called my father for help through the telepathy. He’s sending in a team to clean this up. You and I need to get out of here.
Shouldn’t we wait until someone has her?
The girl slumped, falling to her knees in utter fear and disorientation. The sound of a car heading towards them drew Ari’s head up in panic.
It’s Rik. Trey’s dad. He’ll take care of this. Let’s go. Walk towards me so you’re behind the girl. The last thing she needs is to see us head into the Peripatos.
Ari did as she was told focusing what little energy she had left to travel by fire to the mansion.
16 - A Message that No One Seems to Get
Dalí stewed over his own reticence. Perhaps he should have been in L.A. to oversee the attack. Would it have gone any better, or would he have been taken by the girl and her guardian? The chance that he didn’t get the harmal into her in time had stopped him from joining them. The thought of being commanded by the Seal and his will taken from him terrified him as much as the thought of wielding that power over others excited him. The concoction was finally strong enough.
“Master Dalí, the girls are beginning to come around from the effects of the harmal,” Dr. Cremer reported as Dalí stepped out of the elevator onto the lab floor. He eyed the girls strapped to leather chairs that could pass for dental chairs, his eyes scanning the leather belts now holding them in place. When he’d left last night to find Ari, those belts had not been necessary.