Every single head, save for the one shoved in the mud, turned to look at the interruption. Expressions went slack. Eyes glazed. The big asshole with the knife dropped his weapon and stared at me like I was a goddess reborn. The djinn stood before me, puppets ready for slaughter, and I couldn’t wait to cut their strings.
Ezra sprang to his feet the moment their holds slackened enough for him to break free. Relief surged down the bond, matched by the way his shoulders dropped and his lips parted. But then all that relief was sucked away. My bond glared at me. His eyes narrowed at where the ocean concealed my lowerhalf, and then squinted even further at the very obvious glow radiating from my skin.
Oh, he was pissed.
Which, honestly, confused the hell out of me because he should be giving me a big ass thank you. I just saved his life. But nope. Glare central over here. He really wasn’t going to like what I did next.
Unlike everything that led up to this point, my actions this time werecompletelyintentional. I called forth little bands of water, gathering them behind me like legs on a spider. Similar to how Ezra had me tow his truck from the ditch, these little ropes had a singular goal. Instead of yanking on the front grill of a suped-up truck, I used the same amount of force to yank on the necks of eight djinn.
Eight very dead, very falling off the cliff, into the ocean, never to be seen again, djinn. I didn’t feel an ounce of guilt. Who knew I had it in me? Ezra probably; he wasn’t surprised by anything I did. Maybe now he could thank me for—nope. Still glaring.
He stepped forward, leaving only about a foot or so between him and the cliff's edge. His fists were clenched by his side and coated in ice. The glare he leveled at me was even colder.
“Get your ass down here. Now.”
He didnotjust command me to—oh, arms crossed; someone meant business. Too bad I wasn’t a customer. I crossed my own in response. I’d cock a hip if I didn’t think it would pop my waterspout and send my ass tumbling back into the ocean. I settled for a mild stare with a raised brow. He had to know I didn’t answer to a tone like that. He shook his head and took a step back, never once taking his eyes off me. The tendon in his jaw jumped as he pointed to the muddy space open in front of him.
“Put your soon-to-beveryred ass right here, or I swear to all the gods I know that I will tackle you and take us both down.”
Fuck, he was serious. A small part of me was hurt by his attitude. Wasn’t he proud? I fucking jumped into the ocean,voluntarily, and then used my magick to save his life. Was that not worthy of a measly “good job”? With a sigh, I visualized the water bending just enough to put me level with the ground.
Once close enough, I jumped… and fell right into two shaking arms that squeezed me tight enough to stall my breath. Ezra tucked his face into the curve of my neck and inhaled. His grip on me loosened after a couple rounds, but he didn’t let go, not even when the rain slowed to barely a shower and the wind raised goosebumps along my exposed skin.
Despite being pissed at his attitude and less than enthusiastic response to my badassery, I allowed myself to melt into him. This night could have gone totally different, and we almost lost one another. You didn’t see me being all pissed and uncool about it, but I wasn’t a man with moody tantrums, so…
“I thought you were mad at me,” I whispered, then pushed my hips forward against a very obvious, hard bulge.
“I am.He’snot,” Ezra sighed. He pulled back and looked down at the accused party. “The traitor.” All too soon, that glare was directed back at me. “You were supposed to run away, Rani, not glitter and sparkle and cast a lure to call the fucking djinn with your sexy ass glow.”
I smirked. I knew it affected him.
“You disobeyed me. Again.”
Now,Iwas glaring. “I don’t remember where I signed off on you being the boss of me.”
He pressed his lips together, like he had to hold back the first thing that wanted to jump out of his mouth. When he finally did speak, that annoyingly smug smirk was back.
“Our pinky promise from before still stands.”
“Oh, for crying out loud—”
“You’re absolutely terrible at pinky promises, I know, but don’t worry. I’ll teach you in time. Even if I have to spank your ass over and over and over until you get it.”
I took a step back, eyeing his frost-covered hands warily. He wasn’t about to… We still had a long drive ahead of… Fucking hell.
“Stop looking at me like that; I’m not going to do it now.” Stepping back, he gestured toward the house. “Go rinse off and get changed before more djinn arrive and are drawn right to you like poisonous moths to a flame.”
I took one step, then another. “So, just to be clear, you’renotgoing to punish me, then? Because that would be wrong.” Another step. “And not wanted.”
His laugh escaped from the very depths of him, like it was fighting to get out and he was too tired to stop it.
“I’m going to punish you, babe, you can count on it. And it's going to beespeciallycreative. Maybe then it will stick.” He side-eyed me as I scooched past. “Well, probably not, but it will be fun to try.”
Ezra
The sky remained dark but free of clouds and raindrops the further up the coast we drove. We weren’t going too far, just a few hours, closer to four. The current location of the tribunal was hidden within a marshy chunk of land, far from any modern-day civilization. It was technically a nature preserve, as far ashumans were concerned, and it had plenty of inlets and escape routes should the truth of it ever be exposed.
“I just don’t get how humans don’tknow, though. I mean, what about drones?”
