Marie Harte - Aftershocks

Cadmus’ upbeat mood should have soured. But damn him, he’d behaved wonderfully all day. He’d bought her sweets, the chocolate-covered cherries she loved so much at the market. He’d taken part in finding her clothes to try on, unerringly finding her the correct sizes. And he’d been pleasantly polite to the saleswomen throughout town.

Hell, if he said one more nice thing to her today, she just might lose it.

“Really, Ellie, your eyes were the first thing I noticed when I saw you enter Outpour for the first time.”

She groaned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just hunger pangs.”

“You should have said something.” He frowned and immediately guided her to the nearest restaurant.

And that was another thing. He kept taking care of her, as if she were the one hiding out from the bad guys and he her host.

They sat and ordered their meals in record time. The minute the waiter left, she leaned close and hissed at him over the floral centerpiece. “That’s it! Stop it. You’re driving me nuts.”

He blinked. “I’m sorry?”

“Don’t ‘sorry’ me. This whole nice attitude is definitely beneath you.” Even to her own ears, she sounded bitchy.

He looked confused. “You don’t want me to be nice to you?”

She kept her inner shields in place as she thought her answer. No, because you’re way too hard for a local girl to resist, Your Freakin’ Majesty. Thank God Jonas had taken the time to teach her to shield her thoughts long ago. Though most Djinn weren’t telepathic, other beings in the universe certainly were. Like the sexy Earth Lord staring at her in confusion.

“It’s not that I don’t want you to be nice to me,” she tried to explain. The waiter neared with a tray, and she prayed he had their lunch. He arrived at their table. “Thank God.”

“Ellie?”

“Our lunch,” she said quickly. “It’s here.”

She spent the next half hour engrossed in food and a pleasant, if slightly distant, Cadmus. When the bill came, he motioned for it, as if there were no question of his paying. Thinking of her two-hundred-dollar shoes, she reluctantly accepted his arrogance and waited for him to pay.

They left the restaurant and she saw him pocket his wallet. “I noticed you paying with a credit card. Is it real?”

His lips curled in amusement, and her whole body lit up at the sight. Ellie was a sucker for a man with a sense of humour. Put that together with a face to sigh over and a body to kill for and she had to remind herself not to drool.

“The credit card and the money are real, courtesy of some local gambling and a few spells, thanks to Uncle Arim.”

“I thought you didn’t like your uncle.”

“Of course I like him. He’s family.”

Now she was confused. “But before you said—”

“Look, he’s a pain in the ass, has a quirky sense of humour and always thinks he knows best. I admit, he’s more than a little annoying.”

“Really?” she asked dryly, amused that he was describing himself and unaware of it.

“And he always has the worst timing. When Marcus was courting Tessa, Arim showed up and frightened the poor woman into attacking him.”

She wondered what that had been like. The few times she’d heard Arim’s name mentioned, it was with awe and usually a warning to steer clear of the powerful Killer of Shadow. Of course, that had come from Jonas, and he had a tendency to over-dramatise most things.

“How did Tessa do?”

Cadmus smiled, his grin an obvious indicator he approved of his brother’s wife. “She caused him some damage before he fully phased—completely teleported back into the house,” he explained. “Then Marcus stepped in to protect her.”

“Typical. You Storm Lords are a pushy bunch. Always taking charge, protecting the little woman.”

“Little woman?” He laughed. “Tessa’s almost as tall as I am. Trust me, she kowtows to no one, especially not Marcus.”

The affection he held for his brother and Tessa started another fissure in the ice surrounding her heart. “You really love your brothers, don’t you?”

He nodded, his expression sobering as he stopped them both on the sidewalk. “I truly do. That’s why I was so angry when I learned you weren’t who I’d thought you were, Ellie. I could never imagine placing my family in danger. I’d give my life for any of them, including my new sisters. Family is everything to me.”

And the Djinn had killed his father.

“I understand.” She felt like crying, which made no sense. Grabbing him by the arm, she started them moving again. “Let’s see if we can’t forget the past for just a little while, okay, Cadmus?”

He nodded, his gaze searching as he met hers.

“Let’s use the rest of today as our own personal—”

“There you are.” A large man, taller even than Cadmus, with blue-black hair and brown eyes so dark they looked black loomed dangerously close. “When I’m through with you, the Netharat will look like a pleasant diversion.”

Ellie took a step back and unconsciously tapped her powers, lending Cadmus aid as she subtly drew off the large man’s negativity.

“Shit.” Cadmus placed himself between the man and Ellie. “I thought I’d lost you for at least another few months.”

The stranger smiled, a menacing grin that had her heart racing. His teeth were bright, and the whites of his eyes seemed to almost glow with rage. Her senses screamed Light Bringer , though she’d never before encountered one besides Darius and Cadmus.

“Ah, Cadmus—” She swallowed the rest of her sentence when the large man turned his gaze on her.

“Wonderful,” he growled. “Another Djinn.” His attitude grated.

Despite his obvious threat, she snapped at him. “Look, buddy, I don’t know who you are—”

“Ellie,” Cadmus warned.

“—and I don’t much care. We’re in a public forum here, so take your bad mood and your hokey magic and go away. I’m not a Djinn,” she snarled, including Cadmus in her aggravation. He at least had the sense to nod in agreement.

The stranger seemed to grow taller and stared incredulously from Cadmus to Ellie. “Now you’ve got them fighting your battles for you, too?”

“I said—” she paused and took a step closer to Mr. Attitude. Cadmus tried to hold her back instead of protecting her from the rude man. “—I’m not a Djinn, so stick that up your tight ass, you Light Bringing piece of—”

Cadmus interrupted in a loud voice. “Ellie, meet my uncle. Arim, my good friend and Jonas’ cousin, Ellie Markham.”

Ellie froze. She glanced back and forth between the men. Cadmus had many of Arim’s features, his strong nose and chin, the same almond-shaped eyes, the golden skin. Even the dark hair looked similar, styled the same way. But whereas Cadmus looked charming, rogue-like and clearly sensual, Arim possessed an air of cruel strength and rigidity that screamed ‘hands off’.

Arim, in turn, studied Ellie with an intensity that made her want to squirm. He said what sounded like a curse in a lyrical, foreign language. Then he bowed, shocking her speechless. “Forgive my rudeness, Ms. Markham. But I’ve had the Dark’s own luck in finding my nephew. Could I perchance ask you to find us a safe haven in which to speak?”

Cadmus snorted. “He wants to know where we can talk privately.”

“English is my first language, Cadmus.” She rolled her eyes at him and turned to his uncle. Uncle, my ass. He’s maybe a year or two older than Cadmus, until you look into those ancient eyes of his. Positively scary, in a sexy kind of way . “Sure, Arim. We can go to my place and talk.”

He smiled. The black eyes that had moments ago been flat and treacherous now looked deep and full of promise. His full lips quirked in a half-grin that made him look both cocky yet seductive. And his body fairly radiated sex. So like Cadmus .