Chapter 20

Thenextday,I set to work figuring out what I would need for the spells to free a literal boogeyman from the bestiary. You know, creature of darkness and fear with hundreds of names in hundreds of cultures around the world? Fun times. But all the while I was also worried about Elijah and just how the hell I was going to manage to destroy the bestiary at the end of all this without destroying my ghost angel.

Yes, I just thought "my ghost," but we weren"t going to focus on that.

So, I wasn"t exactly in the greatest of moods when Aahil came wandering into my workspace just dripping danger and lust. Shit. Something had clearly set him off, if the slow, predatory way he was moving was any indication. But quite frankly, I just wasn"t in the damned mood to put up with his drama.

"What the fuck do you want?" I demanded, not looking at him as I pushed buttons on my insulin pump to give myself an extra dose of insulin to cover my current blood sugar spike.

When he didn"t answer, I tucked my pump away on my waistband and startled to find him right up in my space, his gold eyes molten and full of some powerful emotion I didn"t understand. He reached out and flicked the warm ruby of my collar with one black claw. "When are you going to get on with freeing the boogeyman?"

I rolled my eyes at him, too wrapped up in my own worry to deal with his shit at the moment. Waving an arm at my workbench, which was scattered with books and random ingredients, I scoffed at him. "A lot faster if you weren"t in here asking dumbshit questions."

His eyes flashed, one corner of his lips lifting in a cruel smirk. "Testy today, are we, pet?"

I batted his hand away and turned to start closing spell books and putting them away. Squatting down to reach a lower bookshelf, I bit out, "I"ll work at whatever damned pace I need to work at. You prodding me and bossing me around constantly won"t change that."

I know, I know, antagonizing the unstable jinn wasn"t exactly the smartest move. But he was right. I was in a terrible mood. I couldn"t think of any way to help Elijah, I had all these powerful, lost beings to take care of since they"d all been displaced by my stupid family. The Supernatural Alliance had been curiously silent, but I knew they were just waiting for me to give them an excuse to fuck with me. All I wanted was a damned day to myself to just…not have to do or be anything for anyone. And…I guess some part of me was just spoiling for a fight. I hadn"t interacted with Aahil much since our last run-in. I had no idea what to even call whatever the fuck was crackling in the air between us. Anger? Frustration? Attraction? The plague?

"Watch how you talk to your betters, witch," the jinn said, his voice low and husky as ever, beautiful and deadly, like a sharp dagger hidden under a swath of decadent silk. "You forget your place, Lovell."

The boiling pot of frustration and anger inside me spilled over and I lifted a hand, flipping him off over my shoulder without looking back, the need to lash out—to wound—growing by the second. "I"m not the one wearing harem pants and slave bracelets, dipshit. Go back to your bottle or something, genie."

I could say I was surprised when the jinn suddenly appeared behind me, sinking his clawed fingers into my hair and yanking my head back so far I nearly fell on my ass. But we all know that would be a lie.

I glared up into those churning gold eyes, watching the flames there dance and grow. "You"re begging me to put you in your place," he accused. "Do you think goading a being who is so much stronger than you is really wise, witch? Or…do you really have a death wish? What, have you finally decided to end your cursed family line?"

I swallowed hard, ignoring the sudden rush of arousal that shot through me the moment he yanked on my hair. "Fuck. You."

He smiled, slow, and hot, and promising pain. "Ah. I see." He cranked my head back further, making my neck ache, and my hand shot out to grip his thigh behind me to keep from falling over.

"Don"t touch me, Lovell," he purred. I removed my hand as it suddenly began to sting, burned by a flash of heat from the jinn"s body. "I say when you are allowed to move, what pleasures you"re allowed to experience. And touching me at will is never going to be one of those pleasures. Understand?"

He yanked my hair again and I whimpered when the pain immediately transformed into another shot of lust. I wasn"t sure if that was the jinn"s seductive magic and mind manipulation at play, or if I was really just that horny and desperate. At that moment, I didn"t much care. I just wanted the distraction. The total reprieve from all my worries. I knew, instinctively, that Aahil could blot out everything else, if I played along.

"I understand," I managed to grind out.

He yanked at my hair again, this time shoving his knee into the middle of my back to keep me from falling over backward. The move arched my upper back, making my tits jut out like a display. His golden eyes flicked dispassionately toward my boobs, then back to my face. "You understand what, pet?"

I knew what he wanted. And I was dumb enough to give it to him, if he"d just make the thinking stop. "I understand you"re in control here…master."

His beautiful lips curled up in a grin that was pure, decadent sin. But the way his eyes darkened and narrowed sent a bolt of fear skittering down my spine, the animal part of recognizing an unhinged predator looming over me, no matter how small and pretty he looked. "Get up," he snapped, releasing me so suddenly I fell backward onto my ass.

He jerked his head toward the workbench. "Take off your clothes and spread yourself out up there, toy."

I knew better than to push him by disagreeing…especially when I really liked this idea. But I glanced at the door and arched a brow. He rolled his eyes and flicked a hand toward the door, and the lock clicked. "Now, witch," he said in a flat voice. "Before I lose interest in this game."

I turned and went to the workbench, stripping out of my clothes with shaking fingers. My whole body was flashing hot and cold as arousal and fear warred within me. What the hell was I doing? Was I completely insane?

Turns out that yes, yes I was.

I shoved the rest of my spell books and notebooks out of the way, feeling the jinn"s burning gaze travel over my plump lines as I awkwardly clambered up onto the bench. I didn"t want to face him, uncharacteristically embarrassed by my less than graceful body next to all that slinky, demonic sexiness. But I couldn"t help looking up, my gaze drawn right to his like a magnet.

The jinn"s smirk slowly turned even more wicked as he padded over to me, his bare feet silent on the expensive rug. Planting a hand in the center of my chest, right above my breasts, he shoved. I fell back under his supernatural strength, my back slamming hard against the solid wood surface of the workbench. "Stay there," he commanded, his silky voice so quiet, but so full of danger. "Don"t move. If you do, I will make you beg for your life."

I sucked in a sharp breath. I was so in over my head. Don"t get me wrong, it was sexy and all…except for the part where I wasn"t entirely sure he was joking about the whole torture thing….

I stared up at the gaudy mural on the ceiling, re-examining my life choices, but I didn"t get too far. A pair of scorching hot hands, the skin smooth as velvet, touched my knees, gliding up my thighs in a caress that was at once sensual and possessive. Aahil reached the crease of my groin, then stroked back downward, drawing his claws down the soft skin of my inner thighs with just enough pressure to make me hiss. He could hurt me so easily.

I might even like it.

But some part of me, somewhere under all the lust and stupidity he inspired, knew that what Aahil needed more than anything in the world was my trust. So I forced myself to relax, not to tense up at the reminder of how deadly the little terror could be. I pulled my magic to me, wrapping myself in a soothing, empowering blanket of power that tasted of mother earth, of green things and life, even as the fire of Aahil"s aura burned against my own with the wild abandon and utter destructive chaos of a wildfire.

He shoved my thighs apart and I made myself keep my hands at my sides, pressed firmly against the smooth wood of the workbench. A stinging bite to my inner thigh had me tensing in a combination of pain, surprise, and lust. "Careful," he warned, and I lifted my head just enough to meet his glowing, molten eyes. "I wasn"t joking before. I will hurt you, my soft, pathetic Lovell. Just give me a reason."

I dropped my head back against the wood with a thump. The words were right there on the tip of my tongue. I wanted to snark at him. To tell him to just get on with it already. That I wasn"t afraid of him.

But I was fucking terrified.

Not that he would actually lose it and kill me—though that was a distinct possibility here. No, I was afraid of the dark part inside me that craved this.

The first swipe of Aahil"s hot, wet tongue over my folds sent my back arching up off the table on a gasp, my hand instinctively reaching for the jinn"s silky black hair.

I froze, slamming my hand back down to the table. But it was too late. Aahil"s wicked mouth was gone from where I wanted it most. I gasped again, this time in pure shock as his fangs sank into my thigh, slicing through skin and drawing blood. He made even that feel like pleasure, somehow, the sharp sting making my core throb as he drew back to stare at me, his expression dark and hooded. "Move again, and I won"t let you come on my cock, witch. You"ll be too busy bleeding on the floor."

I swallowed reflexively. "Sorry…master," I managed in a choked whisper.

For the love of the goddess, he hadn"t even really done much of anything to me yet, good or bad, and I was a quivering mess.

His superheated hands glided up my thighs again, and I could feel him spreading the sticky blood from his bite wound across my skin. "You look so pretty in red, pet," he purred, every syllable laced with lust magic and darkness.

I shivered, praying that didn"t also count as moving. But he let it slide, bending his head to lap at my folds once more. His mouth was just as superheated as his hands—even more so. The hot strokes and flicks of his tongue against my clit were almost unbearable.

Aahil tortured me in the best way, licking, nibbling, and sucking, then drawing away, working me up, then backing off until I was panting with need, fighting my urge to speak, to beg, to order him to finish what he had started.

He drew back and a pathetic keening sound worked its way free of my throat and snuck past my lips. The jinn chuckled. "Good pet," he said, reaching up to fondle one of my breasts, then pulling back, drawing a claw over my sensitive, hardened nipple. "Come here and we"ll see how you hold up to fucking a fire elemental."

I sat up, feeling a bit lightheaded, and slipped off the workbench, making my way over to the indicated fainting couch in the corner. Aahil twirled his finger and raised one black brow at me. "Drape yourself over the back with that fat ass in the air, witch."

I ground my teeth together with the urge to tell him to suck my left tit. I wasn"t used to being bossed around like this and it didn"t come easy. But I could sense the flicker of darkness around the jinn"s flaming aura. He was holding back. Collaring his rage and pain, exorcising it in the only way he knew how.

I bent over the back of the antique fainting couch, dimly wondering if Great Granny Evil Pants had ever fucked anyone on the thing. Knowing my family, it had probably been involved in all kinds of sex magic rituals or something.

I didn"t feel anything sinister from the shiny brocade fabric beneath me. No, all the sinister was currently approaching me from behind, a looming presence too big to belong to one small, pretty man. A scorching caress slid across my ass, then withdrew. I jolted at the sudden slap that reverberated from my ass cheek through my entire lower body. Pleasure, followed by the sting. Like touching something hot immediately realizing you"d been burned.

Yeah…that summed up Aahil pretty good.

I clamped my mouth shut against the desire to beg for more. Another caress lulled me into a false sense of security and sensuality before another stinging slap. He paced the spanking so that I never knew what was coming next, and every nerve ending lit up with every touch, begging for more.

I gripped the back of the couch and turned my head to press my mouth to my arm, stifling the urge to spin around and make demands. To see the beautiful being behind me. To touch. To take. It was like I was holding back a floodgate.

Then he was there, barely giving me a moment to register the warm, blunt object probing at my dripping folds before he thrust, filling me, finally. His cock felt just as perfect and blazing hot as the rest of him. One thrust, two, and then I was clenching around him, unable to hold back any longer. I came fast and hard.

"Aahil!" I gasped, writhing, fighting to break his strong grip on my hips so I could turn and see him while he fucked me.

He slammed home hard, and stilled immediately, pinning my hips to the couch. One clawed hand came up and around to grip my throat and yank my upper body more upright, so my spine was arched and contorted in a way my big girl body wasn"t used to. My hands came up instinctively to grip his wrist. "I warned you not to move," he hissed, "not to touch me."

I could feel the tremor in him as he fought with himself. He was crumbling. I knew it. If only I could get him to let me turn around so I could look him in the eyes. So I could reach out and touch him, show him that a witch could be kind and giving. That we could both give up control and it would be okay. "Just let me see you, please."

Oh, Andy. When did you become such a damned starry-eyed dreamer?

Aahil"s grip on my throat tightened as he leaned in, plastering his chest to my back so he could lean up and whisper in my ear while black spots danced at the edges of my vision. "I warned you," he growled. "Remember that." His aura swelled, feeling even wilder and more out of control than ever.

And it was laced with darkness.

He leaned back far enough to draw his other hand down my back, raking his sharp claws across my skin, leaving behind searing tracks of pain. I hissed and bucked under him, hating how even when I was pissed off, my body couldn"t help but respond.

He ran his nose along my shoulder. "I can smell your lust," he purred, his voice gone oddly flat. "Should I show you, toy, what it"s like to drown in lust while your own blood pools around you?" He pulled back and thrust hard, and I sobbed as the flutter of another orgasm started, this time not driven as much by natural desire as his overpowering lust magic. I was drowning in his aura. I was lost.

And so was he.

Goddess, we"d both fucked up. Bad.

I pulled at my power, wrapping it around me and sending it out to zap him everywhere we were connected. But the jinn just laughed, dark and unhinged. He pulled out in one sharp, hard motion, then gripped my hair, dragging me off the couch and throwing me on the floor. I hit my hands and knees and tried to crawl away, drawing power to chant a ward. But the jinn was too fast. He materialized in front of me in a flash, lifting one graceful foot and using it to lift my chin, gracefully and effortlessly forcing me back into a kneeling position.

"I"m going to make you bleed and come until you pass out," he promised, his face still that strange blank mask. "Until you no longer know who you are. Until you can never feel lust again without seeing my face, witch."

Just like my ancestors had probably done to him. My soul wept.

I held up my hands in surrender. "Aahil—" I began.

But he shoved with his foot, and I fell backward. The jinn was there before I even finished landing, stepping between my legs. "Tell me to stop," he said with a sharp, feral smile. "Beg me. Offer me anything to keep your sanity. I want to be sure you know exactly how it felt."

That was the exact moment I realized Aahil wasn"t seeing me anymore. He was lost in his trauma. In his own torture and pain. "Aahil, it"s me. It"s Andy," I said, working hard to keep my voice even. "Cut it out, jackass. This isn"t fun anymore."

His fiery aura was now joined by actual fire that somehow only burned along his skin. The rug where he stood started smoking where his feet touched it. He was going to burn me alive if he touched me. But I couldn"t move. I was suffocated by his powerful, all-consuming aura.

For one brief, heart-stopping moment, he paused, his golden eyes focusing on me, filled with desperation. "Scream," he whispered.

I shook my head. No. No way. If I screamed, the others would all rush in here. And in the mood Aahil was in, and the obvious evidence of what we"d been doing, they wouldn"t rest until Aahil was dead. Which would probably result in them ending up dead, because the jinn was more powerful and deadly than my other lovers. And he was clearly not in the mood to fuck around.

"Call for help," he insisted, nudging my leg with his toe and leaving a searing burn behind. Then, that mask fell again. "Do you remember how long I called for help the first time, witch?"

I closed my eyes and channeled earth energy into my power centers and along my skin, hoping to at least make myself strong enough to survive him until he came back to himself. I was so fucked.

Aahil knelt between my legs, his skin burning where it brushed mine, and my eyes flew open. Reaching out a finger, he drew a burning line along my arm. I gritted my teeth at the sting, all his ownership marks flaring to life, my necklace heating up to sear me at his touch.

"Aahil, please," I tried one more time. "You"re better than this. You have to be."

But Aahil wasn"t home. The blank, haunted eyes of a demon stared out at me from the jinn"s body. He gripped my legs in both burning hands and yanked me toward him. Then he froze above me.

I blinked and he was staring down at me, his golden eyes once more aware, with a graceful, long-fingered golden hand wrapped around his throat. Turquoise eyes met mine over the jinn"s shoulder, and the water weaver tilted their head, as if in question.

I sucked in a breath, fighting the sudden upwelling of emotions that the water elemental"s presence always caused. But I felt something else in there—emotions that weren"t mine.

Aahil"s eyes watched me intently as I sat up, his now normal-temperature touch falling away from my legs. Fear, regret, loss, confusion, adrift… the jinn was afraid he would never truly be in control of the monster my ancestors had created inside him.

"Help," I whispered in a fake yell, as if I was calling for aid the way he"d ordered me to.

He narrowed his eyes at me, no doubt realizing the same thing I had. His telling me to scream, to call for the others a moment ago. It wasn"t just the sadistic side of him reveling in my fear and pain. I think…it was the real Aahil crying out for help. He knew he was lost, and he had tried his best to get me to save myself.

I pushed myself up onto my knees and reached for the jinn.

"Don"t touch me," he snapped.

I grinned at him and wrapped my arms around him anyway, not quite touching him.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, his voice brittle and breathless. He sounded angry. But all I heard was fear.

"It"s called an air hug," I said smugly. "It"s like a hug-hug, but without touching. Cause dude, you need a hug so bad you don"t even know."

He hissed.

I sat back to see that the water weaver had released the jinn"s throat to kneel and wrap their long arms around his waist, hugging him from behind, their pointed chin resting on top of the jinn"s head.

I grinned. "See? Doesn"t that feel nice?"

Aahil exploded. Or at least…he tried to. It was amusing to watch the guy who had just lost it during a dominance game and almost murdered me now unable to free himself from the grip of one pretty, ethereal water being.

"Peace," the water weaver said in their soothing, magical voice.

Aahil growled but stopped struggling. "Let me go, damn it."

The weaver sighed but released the jinn. Aahil stood, magically re-clothed in his harem pants and glittering jewelry. He opened and closed his mouth, then lifted his chin, righting his haughty, arrogant persona again. "It took you long enough," he sniped at the weaver. "I thought you said you"d stop me from hurting your precious witch." He snorted. "I knew you were full of shit."

The jinn"s eyes flicked toward where I was still kneeling naked on the floor. His expression flickered through so many emotions, there and discarded in a flash. I almost felt sorry for him. In a different dimension somewhere, maybe that Aahil was even now apologizing to his witch and begging for mercy. But this Aahil? This one was determined to be an asshole until the bitter end.

"Next time, marshal the one brain cell you have to your name and don"t go looking for death," he snapped at me.

Then the jinn turned and stormed toward the door, which I noticed was still shut and locked. The weaver"s powers were amazing.

The beautiful being before me tilted their head, their voice even and free from any strong emotion. "I will always stop you, little flame."

Aahil snorted and flung the door open so hard it splintered as he stormed from the room. I wondered why he didn"t just dematerialize and pop off to his room to pout. But apparently, he had decided he"d used enough magic for the time being.

Either that or he thought the door thing was more dramatic.

I sighed and stood, realizing I was still buck-ass naked. The water weaver"s turquoise eyes traveled over my body as I grabbed my insulin pump and my discarded clothes and started pulling them on. Great. I"d barely even talked to the powerful being, and here we were, me with all my wobbly bits on display after he just saved me from a BDSM session gone horribly wrong.

"Thanks," I said, deciding to just embrace this new level of fucked-up in my life.

The weaver stood and came to lean against the workbench beside me as I finished pulling on my shirt. "You work hard to save us all," they said with a graceful wave of their hand. "I will do the same."

I took a deep breath and willed my unsettled emotions to chill. "What did he mean? When Aahil said you promised not to let him hurt me? Did you guys like…plan this or something?"

The water weaver"s ethereally handsome face was blank for a minute, all their attention caught by the hunk of carnelian on the other side of the room, which was currently soaking up the sunshine that spilled through the window. They seemed to do that often, their attention caught and held by things around them in a way that made me wonder what they saw.

Finally, they shook their head, their fine white-blond hair rippling with the motion. "The flame is drowning," they said enigmatically. "But still he struggles to learn how to swim."

I arched my brows at him. "Aahil is a fucking mess. But…I think part of him wants to heal. He"s not as evil as everyone assumes."

The weaver nodded and reached over to pinch a strand of my green hair between their fingers. "As I said," they murmured, apparently distracted by my hair color.

I chuckled. "Was that what the metaphor was about?" When they released my hair and patted my head. I sighed. "You helped him get control of himself, didn"t you? Is that what you meant by stopping him?"

The weaver straightened and bowed their head to me slightly, an almost wistful smile lifting one corner of their lips. "In a way."

I huffed. "Are you always this obtuse, dude? Uh…wait, I keep meaning to ask, what are your pronouns?" I scrubbed a hand over my face, embarrassed by my own rudeness and obliviousness. "I never even asked your name."

"Hasumi," the weaver said, their voice as flowing and beautiful as ever, laced with the feeling of amusement. "And thank you for asking about pronouns. That is…a new concept to me. I think…neutral pronouns are appropriate."

I sighed and stuck out my hand. "Nice to meet you, Hasumi. Welcome to the crazy house. Thanks for saving me from death by flaming cock or whatever."

Hasumi slowly reached out and took my hand. "Thank you for your assistance as well," they said, as tranquil as ever. "Though being bound to a book seems far less harrowing than death by inflamed penis."

I snorted a laugh, then couldn"t stop, releasing the weaver"s hand to grip my stomach as I bent over double, wheezing with cathartic laughter. Goddess, I had almost died from being Lovell levels of horny—you know, like, only one a Lovell would think any of what had just happened was a good idea, and yet….

"I want to try again," I said when I was finally able to breathe again. I met the weaver"s calm turquoise eyes, expecting Hasumi to tell me that I was insane. "I want him to know he can touch someone without breaking or being broken."

Hasumi simply nodded again, their attention already wandering as they drifted around the workbench, touching all my stuff. "I will stop the flame from spreading out of control," they commented absently. "I will stay with you until you have finished your task?" They tapped a slender finger on the cover on the bestiary.

I sighed. "You don"t have to. But I would appreciate the help from someone who isn"t set on killing me, or calling me master, or binding themselves to me or something." How bad was it, when the distractible, flitting water weaver was the most reliable of the bunch?

"Boogeyman?" they said as they pinched a leaf of bergamot between their fingers and sniffed it.

I let out a tired sigh. "Yeah. I think I"ve got it all worked out. But I need some spell grade onyx and black tourmaline, I think."

Hasumi drifted over to stand in front of me again. "Yes. I will go? Wherever it is you go for such things?"

I blinked at them. "The market. I"m going to the market in Pentagram Square. It will be easier to find spell-grade crystals here in this realm."

They smiled a blinding little smile, then glided out of the room on light feet. As if nothing that had happened in the last few minutes was of any concern.

And…why did I get the weird feeling that Hasumi hadn"t spent much time around actual people? I should probably be concerned about that, if they were intending to go with me to the market. But honestly? I had so much shit on my list of stuff to worry about that this seemed pretty low priority.

I picked up the bestiary and my shopping list and stood there for a second, my eyes drifting over the room, my brain finally catching up with what had happened in here.

I could still feel the heat of Aahil"s mouth, of his touch on my skin…inside me. And I had a crystal-clear moment where I recalled the way he had looked at me, his eyes begging me to call for help. I touched my collar, feeling the soft pulse of Aahil"s warm magic within the ruby that hung at my throat. Damn it, I was going to help him get control of himself. I had to undo the damage my ancestors had done to the jinn.

And…okay, maybe I was a little bit invested for my own stupid Andy reasons.

Right. Save everyone from the bestiary. Save Elijah from being banished. Save Aahil from himself. No big deal. I was a fucking Lovell, after all. Impossible shit was right up my alley.