Amanda Bonilla: Blood Before Sunrise

“I think Delilah knows your daughter’s name.”

“Her name is no secret. That the Oracle knows it is indicative of nothing. I can tell where your thoughts are leading, Darian. Leave it be.”

No, he didn’t. He didn’t have a clue what I was thinking. And I knew Raif didn’t really want me to let it be. He just didn’t realize it yet.

“I mean it,” he said as if he could read my thoughts. “Do not pursue this.”

“But-”

“I said no.”

“Raif-”

“Leave these notions like a stone on the road. Do not think on them again.”

He seized the bokken from my hand and went to hang the training swords back on the wall.

“Brakae. Your daughter’s name is Brakae-am I right?”

Raif’s head hung between his shoulders. Delilah wasn’t bullshitting us. Not in the slightest. It didn’t matter if Raif’s daughter’s name was common knowledge. Delilah threw it out there to make a point. She needed a bargaining chip and this was it-Raif’s daughter’s life for hers. And he knew damned well I was right. Just as he’d assured me the night I’d killed Azriel, this was far from over. His daughter was alive; I knew it. And I was going to find her.

If I hadn’t run into Raif, I would’ve written the morning off as a total waste of my time. I had no interest whatsoever in playing Xander’s games. The workout had been a welcome distraction; I hadn’t stretched my muscles in a while. But Raif’s obviously haggard state had left me feeling less than satisfied.

It had been months since we’d-well, I’d -killed Azriel. And though Raif’s conscience felt the weight of his part in it, I wasn’t the least bit sorry. Azriel had deserved the punishment I’d been paid by his father to dole out. But his death had raised more questions than solutions. And that had me worried.

I’d been arrogant before. Thinking you sit at the top of the food chain has a tendency to do that. Finding Xander and opening up an entire world of supernatural creatures had brought me down a peg or two. Despite my recent changes, I remained a small fish in a very big pond, and if my dream had any truth to it at all, it confirmed both Azriel’s and Delilah’s words: Someone was hunting me.

I wondered, as I recalled the dream, if there was a nursery somewhere full of little Shaede babies. Probably. Just because I’d never seen one didn’t mean there weren’t any. Kind of like Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster. Could one of them dance right into someone’s dream, though? Anything was possible at this point. Not that it mattered-Azriel had warned me long before my dream. Delilah backed him up with her own assertions as well. The coincidence of it all was just too perfect. I needed to watch my back. Hadn’t the Shaede child tried to warn me too? “He’s coming for you,” she’d said.

I felt dizzy just thinking about the skipping girl. Shit.

Stepping from pure sunlight, I became my solid self just inside the entrance to my apartment. Tyler sat at my table, working on a mammoth sandwich. He had a tendency to eat when he was worried, and he was chewing as if the damned thing were stuffed with nails rather than ham. I moved soundlessly across the hardwood floor, and he didn’t even flinch.

“Where’ve you been?” The casual tone he’d been going for failed miserably. In fact, his voice sported something altogether darker. Worry, party of one. “You didn’t call-”

“Because there was no reason for me to call.” I walked around the table, my hand trailing across the sculpted muscles of Tyler’s shoulders. He raised his hand to mine, his fingers pausing on the silver ring I wore on my thumb. He’d given it to me when I first met him. It was engraved with a bear, the protector-and his symbol. “I went to Xander’s. Trained with Raif. Nothing unusual. Relax.”

My short answers didn’t do much to assuage his overprotective attitude. He’d been on me like white on rice for weeks. I could handle the protectiveness. In fact, it came standard issue with Tyler’s Jinn nature. But for the past couple of weeks, that nature had grown from sweet to downright severe.

“I don’t like the way you smell when you’ve been there,” he said, setting down the sandwich as if it had a cockroach on it. “You smell like him .”

“Him” being the High King.

“You know there’s nothing between Xander and me.” Tyler’s ego didn’t usually need this kind of stroking. What the hell was up with him lately?

“I’m not talking about Xander,” Tyler said.

Oookaaay. “Well, then, who the hell are you talking about?”

“Raif.”

My jaw dropped on rusty hinges, and it wasn’t closing anytime soon. Come again? Raif? I couldn’t even put my voice to the words of astonishment juggling around in my head. I mean-Raif? As in, like-a-brother-to-me Raif?

“You spend every day with him. Nights too.”

Come on, mouth-work, damn it. I cleared my throat only to get a brooding hazel-eyed stare in response. One more try gave my vocal cords the get-up-and-go they needed. “Ty, what the hell’s wrong with you? You know there’s nothing between Raif and me. We’re friends. I mean-I am allowed to have friends, right? Why the jealous-lover routine lately? And have you forgotten, I spend all of my nights with you too? During and after work hours.”

Tyler’s eyes lost a little of that hard edge, and he ran his fingers through his hair, making him look a good five years older. He sighed, flexing his arms as if his skin suddenly felt too tight. “I know,” he said, his gaze cast toward the floor. “Sometimes the bond can make me a little twitchy. Darian, this is new for me. Usually the bond doesn’t go hand in hand with romantic attachment. It’s stronger because I love you. I guess I’m more worked up than I should be. Maybe I need to get a better handle on my feelings.” He gave me a sheepish grin. “You gonna call me an ass now?”

Usually, Tyler was the most levelheaded person I knew. We’d been bound for years. In fact, Tyler had made the bond between us without my even knowing because he thought I’d shun his protection. Can you say overprotective? Aside from that, I didn’t know much about the effects of the bond. As my genie, Tyler had more or less made a commitment to grant my wishes (but only when it was something I truly needed) and protect me to the point that he’d sacrifice his own life to keep me safe. But beyond that, I hadn’t a clue how the bond affected him. He definitely wasn’t acting like himself. He’d been just as keyed up as I’d been lately. Maybe we both needed a few weeks of vacation.

“I don’t mind a little jealousy now and then,” I said, bringing his hand to my mouth so I could kiss each of his knuckles. “It’s a turn-on.” The spark returned to Tyler’s eyes, no longer flashing with anger but with passion. “But not when it comes to Raif.”

He brushed his thumb across my bottom lip, his eyes glued to my mouth. “Like I said, I’m a little twitchy. The bond just needs to settle a bit.”

We’d been bound for five years. Jesus, how long did it take to settle? I laid my cheek against his cool palm. “I like that you want me all to yourself.”

I left my chair and rounded the table to stand behind him, my hands kneading the tense muscles above his shoulder blades. “Ty, if I wanted to find someone, could I just wish for it?”

Tyler craned his neck around so he could look me in the eye, and he sat up a little straighter. “That depends on who you’re looking for and why.”

“Well,” I said, peering at him through lowered lashes, “let’s just say I want to find someone who isn’t human. Could you deliver her to me if I wished for it?”