Stone Chameleon (Ironhill Jinn #1) (23 page)

Amun launched his fist into the wooden post and roared with the bellow of some inhuman beast.

“Have you any idea how close you came to exposing your power to him?” Walking on wobbling legs, I came to the bottom of the stairs. “I’m astounded you’d be so careless. Honestly, I don’t know how he didn’t notice.”

Troubled even more by Amun’s silence, I mounted the first step, glaring at him. “And when I try to help you smother the imminent explosion, you shove me aside like a misbehaving dog?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Forgive me. I was so angry. Please tell me I haven’t hurt you.”

“I’ll live, he’s gone, and we have work to do. Can you please get Harper so we can go?” No matter how much Isaac had ticked me off, dug his claws farther into my soul, and destroyed the first tender moment I’d shared with a man in years, he’d still given me the one clue I’d overlooked in my tired state.

If the woman from the pet shop turned up nothing, the aquarium would be our next stop. I was certain I’d just fallen further into the vampire’s pocket, and he’d never allow me to forget that I owed him.

A
mun parked behind a black van on the street near Pete’s Pet Shack. His sigh told of another imminent argument. “I still say on that point, Isaac was right. You should have stayed behind. I have a bad feeling about this.”

“We’ve been through this,” I said. “I need to be certain we’re tracking the right woman before we make plans to take her down.”

“What?” Amun spun to face me, his lids fallen to a harsh slant. “What do you mean, take her down?”

“Kill her arse,” Harper said from the back seat, “whatcha think she means? Jeez.”

He stared forward as though contemplating how easily he could smash a fist through the windshield. Unbelievable. After everything she’d done to the vampires, to Dominic, and to me, why was he defending her? Because she might be jinn, she’d get a pass?

“Can I speak to you outside, Amun?” I climbed out without awaiting a response and stood beside the van where I imagined Connor Lewiston waited within.

“I can’t believe you’d suggest murder.” Amun’s footsteps tapped against the sidewalk at my rear. “If she is…then she’s our people. We don’t destroy our own—it’s part of the code we’ve always lived by. It’s our law.”

I spun on my heel, hands on my hips, but kept my voice low. “So, it’s perfectly acceptable for her to arrange for Isaac to kill me, is that what I’m hearing?”

“No, it’s not acceptable,” he said, rubbing a palm over his freshly shaven jaw. “I’m not saying she doesn’t have to be stopped. The future diversity of our bloodline hinges on the few females we have left. I know your mother was human, but it’s rare for a child of a mixed couple to inherit the jinn spirit from its father. To destroy her is unthinkable.”

“Then what are you suggesting? That we capture and contain her in a facility somewhere? That you breed her however you please to make sure there are future children?” Bile rose in my throat. “Are you under some delusion she’ll behave herself just because you say so, spread her legs and accept you into her body just to further the race? Because that’s inhumane and disturbing on a primal level.”

Images of Amun with her curdled my blood and made my teeth click together. I wondered if he thought I’d be the bearer of future jinn children, but didn’t have the time to let him know what I thought of that notion. “How can you even think about bringing a child into the world as it is, when we can barely keep ourselves alive?”

A flash of disbelief passed over his stare. “Our race depends on us, Baylou, and our instincts will not step aside and let us go quietly into the night. I don’t know what to do. This is an impossible situation.” He sneered at his shiny black loafers. “I just know we can’t kill her. There has to be a way to make her see reason for the good of us all. If she is one of us.”

I was about to ask him what he meant about our instincts when the side door of the van slid back and Connor hopped out beside me. “Miss Hudson. Nice to see you again.” At my glower, he chuckled. “Aw, come on, now. No hard feelings about the other night?”

I’d give him a hard feeling square in his nose. My focus returned to Amun. “Answer one question for me. Why go to so much trouble to wipe me out if my being female is so precious a commodity? Or is that a cultural drive shared only by the males?”

Connor and Amun exchanged a glance, and even though it was subtle, I caught Amun’s head shake.

“You know, don’t you? You bloody bastards know why she’s doing this, and you haven’t told me.” I folded my arms together and leaned against the van. “So it seems I can’t trust you any more than I can trust Isaac.”

Amun uttered a few curses into his hand. “I knew you wouldn’t understand, and I haven’t had a chance to explain everything to you yet.”

“Then explain it now.” I spat the words at him, done with niceties.

“Everything okay, chica?” Harper hung her head out the window of the car several yards away, her stare scrutinizing Amun, and then me.

“Fine, just give us another minute.” I held up my hand to her.

Another male voice, sweet and familiar, came from the driver’s seat of the van. Elias the flower delivery boy, I presumed. “You might want to get inside. The girl’s coming out.”

I waved madly at Harper to join us and climbed into the middle seat behind Elias.

“Nice to see you again.” The young jinn’s smiling hazel eyes found me in the rear-view mirror.

Unable to help myself, I leaned forward and squeezed his shoulder. “Hello again.” Why had Amun brought a child into my war? I’d be giving him a sharp piece of my mind later. “Do we know if she drives or walks?”

Elias shrugged, leaning around the seat to show me his profile and a pink cheek. “I guess we’ll find out in a second.”

Harper and Connor ended up in the back seat, and Amun plunked down beside me. “We’re not done talking about this,” I whispered to him. “The instant we find a moment, you will tell me everything, and I mean everything, including why you thought it appropriate to drag a boy into harm’s way.” After what happened to Dom, I couldn’t bear the thought of another innocent losing his life because of me.

Amun nodded and tried to take my hand, but I angled myself away and stared out the tinted window. The blonde hussy stood on the sidewalk in front of the store, looking up and down the street.

“Looks like she’s waiting for someone, and there’s no bus stop there.” Elias righted himself in the seat and started the van. “Guess we’ll be following a car.”

Only a few moments passed before a bright orange Mazda 3 came along and stopped in front of the girl. Amun punched the license plate into his phone for safe keeping, while I concentrated on the driver. “Male, young, with a shaved head and large silver rings in his ears if that’s what I’m seeing.”

“Sounds hot.” Harper snorted, her amusement fizzling out when I cast my stare on her. “Sorry.” She shrugged, withdrawing the giant green lollypop from her mouth. “It’s been, like, a week since I’ve gotten laid. A girl has needs, you know.”

Every male eye in the van turned on my friend, especially Connor’s, whose gaze held more heat than I was comfortable being in the same room with.

“Oh, please,” I muttered. “Can we focus, please?”

The car took off. Elias waited a few moments for stealth’s sake, then pulled a U-turn in the middle of the street. To have a better view, I crawled between the bucket seats and took the vacant passenger side one. The girl’s arms flailed about her head within the car, and the rapid movement of her lips suggested she wasn’t speaking kindly to the man.

Interesting. “I think they’re fighting about something.”

“Hey,” Harper shouted over the road noise, “do you suppose this is blonde bimbo’s man, or the water witch’s?”

I squinted harder. “Either way, we only need one of them to lead us to her. If this doesn’t bear fruit, we can have Gerry run the plate for us while we go to the aquarium.” It occurred to me I should have called him, but I didn’t want to risk bringing him into my mess if I didn’t need to.

“They’re not going to Olivia’s house,” Amun said, showing me the map on his phone. “She lives on Cranbrook Crescent, and we just went by the juncture that would take us there.”

I tapped my foot, willing her to lead us where we needed to go, wherever that may be. After three more turns, taking us to the east side of the city, I knew. I drew in a breath that had difficulty finding its way out again. “They’re going to the aquarium. Yes! They’re going to the bloody aquarium!” Elation ran a hot course through me. It took effort not to bounce up and down like a complete loon.

Not a word from the others interrupted the intense air that filled the vehicle as we all watched, riveted to the orange car speeding along in front of a Chevy truck ahead of us. As the turnoff for the marine park approached on the left, I strained against my seatbelt, chanting, “Come on, come on. Turn, damn you!”

A gasp burst out of Harper. “You swore!”

“Oh, shut it.”

The Mazda approached the entrance flanked by two stone dolphins perched atop granite columns. The car’s brake lights flashed, and then the left turn signal. “Yes! They’re going in. So what’s the plan?” I twisted toward the back.

Connor and Amun hid grins behind their hands, and Elias edged away.

“What?”

Amun cleared his throat. “We continue following at a distance to see if Olivia is actually here to find the one we seek.”

“Okay, but we can’t all of us go or we might as well walk in tooting horns and announcing our intent.”

“Agreed. You go ahead with Connor—I think it would be too obvious if she sees the two of us together, and I’d trust Connor with my life—and the rest of us will follow in ten.”

He spun to look at Harper. “You’ve got your phone, right?”

“Yup.” She held it up for him to see while twirling the sweet in her lips. “Never leave home without it.”

“Can you lend it to Lou until we’re through here?”

She sighed, gave it a longing glance, and then handed it to Amun. “If it rings, Lou, don’t answer it or you might hear something that’ll make you blush. And don’t look at the texts for the same reason.” Giggling, she patted her shirt, winking up at Connor, who grinned back at her. “Got enough heat hidden under here to take down fifteen giants, so we’re ready to roll.”

“Do not shoot anyone unless you’re in imminent danger.” I took the phone Amun passed to me.

“Yeah, yeah, heard it before.” She flicked gold-tipped fingernails at me. “Stop nagging me, Mom.”

Our young driver pulled up to the front entrance, and my stomach burned at the thought of taking him anywhere near that witch.

“Elias should stay with the van in case we need to leave in a hurry.” I ignored his hurt expression and glared at Amun, expecting a protest.

Amun’s fingers curled over the seat. “Elias is capable and would give his life for the protection of his people, as we all would. I won’t let anything happen to him.”

Elias’s proud smile made my heart clench. I suffered another motherly urge to hug him, unable to bear the thought of him near danger, knowing what the water witch was capable of. More protests gathered on my tongue, but the males in the vehicle all pointed resolute stares at me, and we didn’t have the time. “And you say I’m stubborn.”

The Mazda pulled into a parking spot. The man and woman got out, still arguing. I opened the door to extend my senses through the soil, but Elias touched my arm, drawing it back as if he’d grabbed something electric.

“If they see you,” he said, “they’ll be gone before we catch up with this lady you’re after.”

“Good point.” It wasn’t worth the risk. I waited until they climbed the long expanse of stone steps and disappeared through the entrance before getting out of the van. Connor followed, smoothing out his dark green T-shirt, then settled a ball cap over his copper-brown hair.

“Be careful.” A hint of fear weakened Amun’s normally strong voice. “We’ll be right behind you. Text nine-one-one if you need us sooner.”

I nodded, offered him a smile of truce, and headed up the steps. I’d have plenty of time to figure him and his reasoning out later. We would have a later, I vowed silently.

Connor offered his arm, his storm cloud eyes twinkling with humor.

I stared at him for a moment before slipping my hand over his elbow. “This is just for the sake of cover, I’ll have you know. After your little stunt the other night, I’d rather be smacking you silly than pretending I enjoy your company.”

Laughter burst free from his mouth, a bright, melodious sound that made me smile despite our situation. “Amun had it half-right,” Connor said, holding the door open for me. “You’re not only adorable when you’re jealous, but also when you’re angry.”

I snorted at that. “I think you’re both a few Twinkies short of a snack pack.” Wondering when they’d had that conversation, I released him and strode into the vast lobby of the aquarium, pulling my hat down farther on my head.

Overhead, a skeleton of a whale hung from the ceiling that had been painted to look like the ocean in rich blues and sea foam greens. A quick scan of the ticket counters didn’t turn up either the man or the woman.

“There.” Connor gave a nudge of his chin toward a circular walkway that twisted around a giant columnar tank in the center of the building. The blonde woman, her arms crossed over her breasts, pouted at the floor while the man gestured toward the tank, chewing words at her a mile a minute.