Stone Chameleon (Ironhill Jinn #1) (22 page)

After turning onto the highway toward his ranch, he gave me a reassuring glance. “We’re covered. Connor will be here in five. If Olivia leaves, he’ll follow her.”

Tightness went out of my shoulders, and I relaxed against the seat. “Thank you.” I bit my lip, knowing I shouldn’t ask. “What couldn’t you discuss with him?”

He tried to strangle the steering wheel, but didn’t answer. Since it wasn’t any of my business, I didn’t push. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to swing by and pick up Benny and my bags first.”

I
stared through the grey grid of Amun’s screen door at the orange rippled sky above the jagged row of conifers surrounding his property. Harper had long since crashed in one of his spare bedrooms. Although I’d tried to do the same, every time I closed my eyes, images of Dom’s face and echoes of Isaac’s threats jerked me up again.

The omelet Amun made for me earlier churned in my stomach. Harper had eaten two omelets, four pieces of toast, and downed two gigantic glasses of orange juice, complaining the whole time about Amun’s health-conscious food stocks.

His footsteps approached at my rear. “I thought you’d gone to sleep.” His gentle voice threatened to undo me.

I hugged myself, shivering despite the summer warmth filtering in from outside. “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep again until this is over.” My swallow didn’t loosen the tightness from my throat. “Just sitting here, waiting…I feel helpless, as if I can hear the clock ticking down the last moments of my life.”

“I’m here, and we’ll find out where the fish came from, which will lead us to the woman.” His warm hands rubbed up and down my arms.

Tears crested my lashes. A sense of suffocation sent me forward, and I threw the screen door open, seeking an escape. “You should leave this place, get away before it’s too late.”

Amun came out behind me. “I’m not going anywhere, and I won’t let you run away from me this time. Tears aren’t weakness.”

It had been so long since I’d had arms to comfort me. I glanced over my shoulder. “I’m afraid, Amun. What if this Olivia Denison leads us nowhere? What if we never discover where the angelfish came from? We only have two days left, and I’m so tired I’m not thinking clearly.”

He circled in front of me, then took my wrist, bringing us together. His other hand slid up the back of my neck and urged my head onto his shoulder. The tiny amount of grief I allowed to escape wet the soft gray T-shirt he’d put on. He said nothing, only held me while I came apart.

He stroked my back while I emptied the powder keg of emotions that had built up over the years. I’d always been afraid the earth would answer such a release, but something about Amun’s presence lent me control greater than my own. His breath against my hair. The solid muscle of his chest. His warmth that chased away the chill in me. His exotic scent. Energy poured through my skin from his, like salve for the soul.

My hands slid around his solid waist, up his back, to trace the corded muscle I found there. Inhaling his scent, a mixture of sandalwood and the freshness of a summer breeze, I pressed my face into his throat and tightened my hold on him.

His nearness calmed me, like a familiar hand promising to lead me out of the darkness. No wonder the jinn used to sleep in groups if this was a taste of what it was like to live in a pod. I imagined coming home every night to a compound full of jinn to share my trials and triumphs with. That was family. My heart ached for it.

His soft lips pressed against my cheek, kissing away a lingering tear there. They moved to my forehead, brushed along my temple to my ear. Tingles paraded in every direction from the points of impact. “If I have to kill Isaac to save us, I’ll do it,” he whispered.

Unable to process what he’d said, I basked in his warmth, which reduced me to a languid mass in his arms. If he hadn’t held me so close, I might have folded down to his veranda decking like a cooked noodle.

Sighing, he slipped a finger beneath my chin and brought my gaze in line with his. Determination stared back at me from his midnight eyes, the veil lifted to allow a glimpse of the sparkle in their depths. His sweet breath, carrying hints of mint from his toothpaste, washed across my lips as he drew closer. The back of my neck prickled, but it existed far beyond the world we’d slipped into.

At the clearing of someone’s throat, Amun paused with his lips hovering above mine. His brows pinched together.

“I grant you time to save yourself, and this is how you spend it?” Isaac’s petulant tone came through the air like a blade.

Amun spun toward the vampire, shoving me behind him. “What are you doing here?” he growled. “It’s only been a day.”

Although my deep-rooted romantic preened at Amun’s protectiveness, the assertive woman I’d become bristled.

Isaac leaned against the door—our only path to a safe haven—appearing more ragged than I’d ever seen him. His kilt hung askew on his hips, as if he’d dressed in such a hurry he hadn’t done it up tightly enough. Eyes sunken, his piercing black stare cut into me across the distance. His pale complexion and the black veins crawling down his throat suggested he hadn’t fed in a while.

“I expected Miss Hudson to have at least come up with a name for me, but you doona even have that, do you?”

When I blinked, he’d moved away from the door, fists held tight at the ends of stiff arms. He hovered over Amun, the two of them locked in a glare.

“It isn’t for lack of trying,” I said, moving out of Amun’s shadow.

“Apparently you’re not trying hard enough. Do you need a reminder of what happens if you fail?”

Amun unclenched his teeth. “All we need from you, old man, is to leave us be so we can finish what we’ve started.”

“And how do you plan to do that? From what I’ve heard of your conversation, you’re looking for a fish I’m assuming you found traces of within the water the woman left behind?”

How did he know about that?

“Yes,” I said. “We’ve checked out every pet shop in the city, and it’s unlikely to be a home tank given the grouper feces also found in the sample. Most breeds of grouper are far too large to fit in a home-sized tank, according to Amun.”

Isaac scoffed, his glance finding me before returning to the other jinn. “And to think I considered you to be the brightest mind I’d encountered to date.”

My lips parted, aching to deliver a few choice words in his direction. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I wasn’t sure whether to be complimented or insulted.

“It means you’re looking for exotic and large fish, yet you neglect to investigate the largest collection of both in the entire region.”

It took a few seconds for my weary brain to connect the dots. “Oh, mercy. How could I have been so stupid?” Ironhill’s new aquarium. I’d never been there, but I often saw advertisements for it on TV. Being tired wasn’t conducive to effective sleuthing.

A tickle of power along my arm drew my gaze to Amun, as wired for battle as a lit fuse racing toward the TNT. A waver of distortion stood out from his spine. Jinn energy. Bloody hell. It licked along my skin, hungry for destruction, a barely contained tornado about to break free and consume all in its path.

If I felt the power, then it wouldn’t be long before Isaac stopped being angry long enough to notice. I’d accepted that I might die, but I wanted to go down fighting, not because of colliding male egos.

“This cock-wagging solves nothing.” When neither paid me any mind, I muscled my way between them, wiggling until my body separated the two very hard, tense bodies. Isaac’s power bit along my back, while Amun’s tickled my front, both men continuing to stare at each another over my head. Once I maneuvered my palms to rest against the jinn’s chest, I shoved for all I was worth, using Isaac’s solid form for leverage.

Grunting, Amun stumbled back a step and spared me a glance, and not a happy one. “This doesn’t concern you.” He grabbed my arm and pushed me toward the door. “Go back inside while I teach this dead man some manners.”

“Ouch,” I said, rubbing my bicep when he released me. The rest of my chastisement caught in my throat when Isaac’s power smothered me in a stinging blanket.

“Kneel,” he said to Amun in that voice that grabbed me by the soul and demanded I listen. “Doona move until I release you.” Although he hadn’t directed the command at me, I ended up on my hands and knees anyway, unable to raise my forehead from where it pressed against the wooden decking. I weighed a million pounds. Lead filled my limbs. My blood had become fire, heavy with lava, surging through my veins.

A roar from Amun rattled my bones. “You bastard! This is more than a blood trace. You’ve enslaved us!”

Beg pardon? His magic, the incantation. I’d always thought vampiric slavery came about after the taking of a mind and multiple feedings, but clearly I’d been wrong on that, too. “Explain this!”

“Come to me.” Isaac dreamy voice spilled over me, erotic and warm. My body obeyed him, overriding my attempts to clench my muscles. On my feet again, I walked down the steps toward the barn, where he waited. Nothing mattered but getting to him. The resonance of his voice sang through me, offered the promise of safety and comfort, of everything I’d ever wanted.

When I drew near, he offered his hand, and I took it with a frightening sort of desperation.

He turned my arm and inspected it. “How badly did he hurt you?”

From the deep place he’d shoved my consciousness, I crawled up and regained at least some of my faculties. “Funny thing for you to ask, considering you’re going to kill me in two days.” I tugged on my arm to claim it back, but his fingers slipped down to mine and held firm.

His head fell forward, his waves tumbling down to obscure his expression. “Why have you not slept?”

“Don’t insult my intelligence by pretending to be concerned about my wellbeing. Now, let go of me.”

The click of a gun being cocked came from my right. “You heard the lady, dirtbag, let her go,” Harper said. “These babies are filled with fae silver. It’ll make a nice splatter of your eye before it melts your bones. Fe-fi-fo-fum, chum.” She cocked her head gripped the handle with both hands. “Care to try me, you prick?”

“Doona test me, elf.” His eyes turned to shimmering red. My feet moved me into the line of fire, facing Harper and the barrel of her Sig. I strained to move, but my limbs continued to obey him. Mercy mother of hellfire.

“What are you doing, Lou?” Harper ran to her left, but I kept myself between her and Isaac against my will.

“It’s not me.” I sucked at the air, drowning in confusion.

Understanding bloomed in her eyes. “Freakin’ fuckballs.” She dropped the weapon to point at the ground, huffing like a dragon about to make mincemeat out of the vampire. “How did he get you?”

“Long story,” I said, fighting his hold on me, but without evoking my jinn power, I had no defense against the power he had over me. “Now, do what I say and go back inside.”

“I won’t le—”

“Now, Harper! If he wanted to kill me, I’d have been dead by now. Go.”

Shooting a pointed stare over her shoulder at him, she did as I asked, though her pace and posture reeked of defiance. She strode past Amun on the veranda and slammed the door behind her hard enough I expected it to snap at the hinges.

“If you’re done having your fun, Isaac, you need to leave.” Released from his hold, a heavy exhalation slowed my pulse as I turned to face him. “We’re about to follow a lead we picked up today.”

“You’ll stay here.” He gestured toward the jinn with his head. “Let him go, and that half-breed elf.”

I crossed my arms. “I’m the only one who’s seen her. This is my problem, not theirs.”

“Why must you always be so stubborn?” Shaking his head, he headed for the car, his kilt swaying around his knees with his strong gait. “If you won’t stay, then I’m going with you.”

I raised my hands and let them fall back to my sides. “You just used me as a human shield, so why the concern? And why not force me to stay if it’s so important to you?” I pointed at him, changing the subject when I realized what I’d said. “You’re a dirty liar. What did you do to us? It wasn’t any blood trace, was it?”

He halted, his gaze fixed on my face. “I own you now. Damaged, you’re not worth as much to me. And if you force me to compel you, I will.”

“Ah! You most certainly do not own me. Now, answer my question. What did you do to us?”

The wind of his movement preceded his appearance before me. “I doona answer to you.” His mouth opened to say more, but he cried out and grabbed the back of his neck.

“Isaac?” Eyes narrowed, I edged forward, searching his flexed body for signs of deception. “What’s happening?”

The air crackled as he flashed out and reappeared in front of Amun, snarled his fist into the jinn’s cotton shirt, and jerked him to his feet. “If any harm should come to her by any other than my hand, your eternity will know only suffering.” As quickly as he’d arrived, he disappeared.