“Do whatever you want,” Kai warned. “But do it within two weeks. Aim for less. Soloman is on the move, and he keeps pressuring the tribunal about the sirens. The vampire’s are still a mess, so only our faction outwardly opposes the new laws he’s trying to pass.”
Meaning he and Eryn were the only ones standing between the bastard head of the djinn and him taking it further than the decree that all sirens be branded with a tracking sigil.
Gods damn him. Soloman was an even bigger douche than his son; a fucking family trait it seemed. Someone needed to take that fucker out once and for all. Hearing how involved he was in this new siren agenda made me think it was about more than a bid for power. It had the eerie ring of revenge, and I knew exactly who was meant to bear that burden.
I clutched the black tourmaline in my pocket. Already imbued with a need for protection, the crystal would heat in warning if there were any ill intentions nearby. I glanced at the office door again and made another pass down the hall.
“What’s the plan?” I asked my cousin. “There has to be one, right? We can’t keep living in defense, waiting for the djinn to strike. Tell me you have something in the works.”
“Nothing I can admit to over the phone,” he replied, and my shoulders relaxed.
If I knew Kai, his refusal to speak on it meant what he planned was probably treason. Or close to it. Fine by me, if it kept Rani safe. Speaking of, I hung up on my cousin when the door to the office opened and the object of my desires, and obsession, walked out. She wasn’t frowning, so I guessed the meeting went well. Hopefully, we got our shit figured out before next semester and Rani could return with Eryn to pick up where they’d left off.
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, I steered her toward the exit. There would be no lingering. She got what we came for, and now it was time to get the fuck out of here. The crystal was cool against my skin as we hurried across campus. It wasn’t a far walk, thank the gods, but the visitor parking lot was a whole courtyard away from the admin building, and we were sitting ducks as we sped over the well-tended brick path.
My head was on a swivel, scanning every shadow and every window as we hightailed it to my truck. When the dark asphalt of the lot came into view, I allowed myself to breathe a small sigh of relief.
It wasn’t the wards of the beach house, but a fast moving vehicle was better than walking exposed. We made it out of the lot and off campus in record time. Rani fiddled with the radio, and I rolled the windows down to catch the afternoon breeze. After another minute or two of easy silence, I decided that this was actually kind of nice.
I turned onto the dirt road and up the steep cliff toward the private street of beach houses. Both hands on the wheel, I stole glances of Rani’s wild hair as it danced around her shoulders.Her head rested against the seat while she stared out the window and sang along to some horrid pop song. I caught myself smiling. This was how it should be; days and days like this.
Peaceful.
Nothing but the ocean on one side of us and the placid forest on the other. No arguments, no worries…just me, my girl, and—
“Watch out!”
A streak of brown darted across the road, and I swerved to avoid the clueless coyote. The ancient trees were safer to aim for than the cliff on my left, but hitting them at this speed meant death just as sure as if we’d fallen into the ocean.
I stomped down, brake pedal met floorboard with a shriek of torn rubber, and the truck lifted on two wheels. The oily taste of horror stained my mouth when Rani’s control slipped and the mental wall between us crumbled to dust.
Her emotions battered my side of the bond as the truck teetered and thankfully fell back on all fours. The radio blared as I stared wide-eyed at the stupid-ass canine who nearly cost us our lives. Its tail flicked in irritation, like this wasmyfault, before it pranced away back into the woods.
I turned the radio off, and the new silence exposed Rani’s heavy breathing. Hand on her chest, her gaze hadn’t yet left the street. Locked in. That’s what she looked like. All the fear and confusion and raging adrenaline I felt stemming from her was locked behind a wall of shock.
My gentle pluck on our bond didn’t snap her out of it. Worried, I rested shaking fingers on her chin and slowly turned her head. Her eyes followed in a delay, like they got caught on everything outside before her mind told her that the only thing worth looking at was right here. I left a lingering kiss on her lips, using a bit of pressure and a slow glide of my tongue against her bottom lip to reach her.
The second she returned that pressure, I pulled back. Those eyes were once again clear and bright.
“Are you okay? Does anything hurt?”
No pain stemmed from her side of the bond, no sharp slice of an injury, but if she hit her head, she might be too dazed to notice. My fingers felt along her cheeks and the side of her skull, then methodically worked their way around to the back where I found no bumps either. The lack of blood was also a good sign.
“I’m fine, Ez,” she said, swatting my hands away. “Just a little shocked. I expected a battle with the djinn today, not a coyote.”
“You and me both,” I snorted, putting the car back into gear. I eased onto the gas, just in case the stupid animal was still nearby and wanted to make a second attempt at crossing the road. “Let’s get back home before we test our luck further.”
The engine revved, and revved, and revved…
We went nowhere. Shoving my head out the window, I watched the rear wheel spin in mid-air. A small, but sizably deep ditch ran along this side of the road; probably the drainage route to help divert standing water. With the ass half of my truck hanging over it, there was no traction for my wheel. The fact that we weren’t rocking back and forth as I jerked at the steering told me the one on the other side was hanging too.
Fuck. We were sitting ducks. And not just for the djinn, but for any car that came speeding around that turn.
“Hold this,” I told Rani, tossing the black tourmaline onto her lap.
I needed both hands for this and didn’t want to risk dropping the little crystal; a well-charged one was a bitch to replace.
“Hurry,” she urged, glancing nervously out the windows. “I feel like we’re too exposed.”
