Chapter 6
Ezra
“Everything is fine. Great. Better than great.”
Everything was not fine or great. It sucked big hairy balls of suckage, and I was one hundred percent sure my cousin saw right through my lies. They were kind of obvious. Kai and Eryn left for the family seat only two days ago, and even they knew that wasn’t enough time for Rani to calm down.
I glanced over my shoulder, checking to make sure she hadn’t burned the house down while I was updated on all the supernatural drama, and then shuffled my way back up the drive.
“You know I can tell when you’re lying, right?” Kai snorted, his amusement more than apparent. Asshole.
“Let’s just pretend things are perfect and my bond doesn't hate me, okay?” I sighed, but it was lost in the wind.
With the house this high on the bluff, the gentle ocean breeze was more like a raging gust of inconvenience.
I cupped my hand over the speaker. “Tell me your mother hasn’t replaced me and that you and Eryn are safe. ”
“I’m still stuck with you, and I promise we’re safe enough,” he replied. “No one would dare attack us here. There are too many eyes.”
My shoulders dropped some of the tension they’d been holding, but not all of it.
The djinn wouldn’t attack them outright, not so close to the other tribunal members, but there were other ways to hurt someone.
Not being there was killing me, but being away from Rani would hurt just as much. It was a fucking cluster.
“There’s no way Kol’s father is stupid enough to buy the story we spun, even with the guard’s testimony and the video,” I argued. “He’s going to try something. I can feel it.”
Between Kol’s obvious mental state and our evidence, Kai was cleared of all charges related to killing the vampire heir.
It helped that Dalton’s family wasn’t putting up a fight and demanding retribution, something I’m sure we had his twin to thank.
Either way, Kai was good, but there was now obvious discontent in the tribunal, and I knew without a doubt that someone would seek their own version of justice or revenge when Kai wasn’t looking.
I tried to remain vigilant, even from all the way over here.
“Soloman is definitely suspicious,” Kai confirmed. “He knows we had something to do with why his son can only eat from a spoon, and I don’t like the way he’s been eyeing my bonded.”
“He can’t prove anything.”
“No,” he agreed. “But with a nightmare on our side, it’s pretty obvious to anyone what happened.”
Well, too fucking bad.
“You call me if anything changes,” I demanded and refused to hang up until he swore it.
Abandoning my cousin to that viper's den left me with a pit in my gut, but there was nothing I could do. He had to be there, and until Rani learned how to control herself, I would be here. Dammit. Why couldn’t the djinn just fuck off? I shoved my phone in my pocket and paused at the front door.
There was just as much rage in this house as I was sure was floating around the tribunal.
Only here, it was all directed at me. I was used to being the bad guy, and I’d gladly take on that role again for my bond if that’s what she needed.
But fuck, man, I’d be lying if I said that the thought of her hating me didn’t hurt.
Plastering on a fake smile, I strolled into the living room, like every part of my world wasn’t hanging on by a thread. Rani sat curled on the couch with a textbook, but she huffed and slammed it shut at my arrival. See, things were absolutely fantastic here.
“Hello, my delectable dewdrop, what’s on the schedule for today?”
If flames could have shot out of her eyes and melted off my face, I’d be one ugly motherfucker right now. Thankfully, sirens had zero relation to dragons, so I was safe. Possibly. The way she glared right now told me I might have a broken nose instead if she got close enough with that textbook.
Gods, she was beautiful. Her gray eyes glowed, lit with their own storm, and I wanted nothing more than to grab an umbrella and ride it out. Her nails made little indentions in her book, but still she said nothing. In fact, she got up and made to leave the room. Without me! Rude.
“You can’t ignore me forever,” I sing-songed and blocked her path to the foyer.
She side-stepped me and made for the dining room instead. “I can give it a fucking go.”
No, she could not. Swift as a chimney sweeper, I swooped down and yanked the textbook from her hands. Her shout of outrage made my balls tingle, and I turned away before she could claw my eyes out. This foreplay was going to be the death of me, but it was so worth it.
I glanced down at the title in my hands and grinned.
Myth in Human Culture? My, my, so someone did want to learn.
Good girl. I knew there was curiosity burning in there somewhere.
Her choice of material was questionable, but I could work with that.
I held the textbook over my head and did nothing to hide my sly smile from the red-headed storm cloud jumping at my feet.
“Give it back, Ezra!” she growled, her tits bouncing with her next hop. Fucking gorgeous. “Give.” Hop. “Me.” Hop. “My.” Hop. “Book back!” Giant hop.
I groaned as that last one made her rub up against me.
She got her prize, but really, who was the winner here?
With both arms crossed and hugging the reclaimed textbook, Rani practically vibrated with fury.
It was her default setting lately, but I hoped to coax her out and get that carefree girl who I met last year back. She was in there somewhere.
“Interesting choice for a summer class,” I taunted, and she blushed.
“I found it ironic.” Her glare softened a little. It was more like a cute scowl now. “I thought it could help me understand some things.”
The pain in her voice sobered me right up.
I knew she was lost and furious at the world—at all of us, really—and looking for answers she might not even be ready to hear, but seeing this sliver of vulnerability was enough to rein in my teasing.
I’d see her laugh again, but maybe not for a little while.
“Pretty much everything in there is wrong,” I told her. “But I’ll teach you everything you need to know. I swear it. I won’t let you get lost, babe. No matter how much you push me away.”
Her eye roll was paired with an adorable growl, but there was no heat behind it. Some of that rage in her melted. She didn’t drop it completely, but it was a start. I winked and left her there with her thoughts. Not even three seconds later, her little feet were pounding on the hardwood behind me.
“Where are you going?” she asked, seeming just as surprised as I was that she followed me.
I kept my smile pleasant, not wanting to lure her into another argument, and she eyed me warily.
“I was going to let you study.” Her textbook was still clutched in her arms, and she looked down at it and then back at me with a confused pout.
“But you just told me it's worthless.”
“And you still signed up for the class and have to pass their lying little tests,” I countered.
“But I didn’t say it was completely worthless.
” She huffed again, more than a little annoyed, and I fought a smirk.
“I’ll tell you what; do the reading, finish your assignments, and each night we’ll discuss where the humans got it wrong, okay? Sound good?”
“Good isn’t the word I’d use,” she murmured. “Tolerable, maybe.”
“I’ll take whatever you can give me, babe.”
I left her standing in the foyer with a look of contemplation on her face.
I loved stoking her temper, setting her off, and basking in the consequences.
One day, I was sure it would be fun for her too, but right now, she needed someone to curb that attitude.
Someone who could redirect it until she was strong enough to control it again.
Good thing my specialty was ice. I couldn't wait to see the steam we created when we came together.
The moon shone high and fat over a calm ocean, its pale glow reaching out to cover the entire property.
My bare feet were caked with sand as I walked a calm circle around the house.
Over my shoulder, I carried a mesh bag, heavy with fully charged crystals I’d freshly dug up before the tide came in.
After absorbing the power of the saltwater in the nights leading to the full moon, they were as strong as I could make them and should easily last us the month.
Water dripped from my clothes and hair. The ground hummed under the soles of my feet with hunger, the last of the previous month’s protection grid fading with the slow rise and arc of the moon. By tomorrow, it would be gone completely, unless I finished before the sun touched the horizon.
I’d already set a large chunk of black tourmaline under the loose floorboard in the center of the house.
It was a strong anchor, the strongest I had, and combined with the others, I was confident Rani would be well protected within its borders.
In a mild trance, I walked east from the center of the house, pulling a line of energy from the tourmaline and holding it until I reached the furthest point of where I wanted to lay the barrier.
Grabbing an empty bag—identical to the first—from my pocket, I knelt on the grass near the tree's edge and dug up the near-empty crystal from last month. It would be cleansed and recharged in time for the next full moon.
I pulled out another piece of black tourmaline, roughly the size of my hand, from the ocean bag and held it in both palms. Closing my eyes, I maintained calm and clear intentions of protection before burying the crystal and sealing it within the earth.
The line of power continued as I walked clockwise to each point of the compass.