24. Chapter 24

Iwoke slowly, hours later, surprised to find that both men were still in bed beside me.

"You didn"t leave," I mumbled against Aahil"s smooth, toasty chest. My cheek was glued to his skin with sweat from the heat he always exuded. At some point, I had apparently turned into a giant octopus and managed to wrap my arms and legs around him, desperate to keep him from escaping. The surprising thing was that he hadn"t vanished the moment I fell asleep. And he had apparently let me glom onto him like a clingy sea creature.

A warm hand stroked through my hair, pushing the green tangles away from my face. "No, I didn"t leave," Aahil said softly. "And I didn"t break you or scare you. Either of you."

Zhong huffed from somewhere on my other side. "Of course you didn"t. Neither one of us is that breakable, Aahil."

I rolled over and shoved myself up into a sitting position against the headboard so I could see both of them as I mulled over the entire encounter in my head. "Of course. That"s what it was," I muttered to myself.

"Oleander." Aahil"s sultry voice was full of wary warning. But I ignored it. I thought it might be important to get this all out in the open. Cathartic. Of all the people in this cursed mansion of madness, I would never have guessed that Aahil would be here now, offering me comfort, seeing what I needed and rushing in to provide it. His golden eyes narrowed above the planes of his high cheekbones, but this time it wasn"t anger that I saw in the fiery depths of his gaze. It was something more tender, a different kind of fear tugging at him—because he knew I was onto him.

"You wanted to help me," I breathed. "You wanted connection. And you trusted Zhong to be here and physically contain you. To intervene if things got out of hand. "You love me, Aahil. That"s not news to me. But… you really put yourself out there this time. You risked embarrassing yourself if you suddenly found out you couldn"t tolerate intimacy yet. You took part in a way you haven"t in a long time. And you let Zhong be here with us. You risked letting him see you in a vulnerable situation."

Aahil needed containment to feel safe. Usually he got that from Hasumi, since the water weaver"s magical abilities rivaled Aahil"s own power. But this time, he had turned to Zhong for that sense of safety. That was a huge step.

Aahil made a tsk sound and turned his head away, but I took his hand and threaded my fingers through his own. "Aahil. You"re so brave. So perfect. And of course you didn"t hurt either of us. Of course you didn"t. Not just because your power is suppressed, but because you"re healing! I bet you didn"t even want to hurt anyone, did you? Not even a little. Other than the sexy kind of pain."

He huffed. "I"m not brave because I managed to behave the way any fire jinn would. Sensuality is in my nature, witch. Are you stupid? Did you miss the spanking and the way I set him free to use you? The only reason I didn"t lose control and set you on fire is because I"m wearing the damned amulet."

I nudged his shoulder with mine. "Nope. Not listening to your nonsense right now, you little ray of sunshine. Answer me. Did you, even for a moment, want to hurt me when we were playing just now?"

He let out a put-upon sigh. "No." Finally, he stopped avoiding my gaze to glare at me instead. "That doesn"t make me some kind of mushy push-over like the rest of your slavish harem members."

I grinned at him. "Of course not. And I"d never want you to be anything but yourself. But I"m still proud of you."

He squeezed my fingers hard enough to make the bones grind together. "I"m not a child! Stop spouting nonsense like that. I don"t need you to be proud of me. Ridiculous. You"re cock-drunk, witch."

I laughed, feeling relieved for the first time in forever. "True," I managed between bouts of laughter. "Very true. But I"m still proud of you. You faced your fears. You showed both of us you have a heart and that you want to be comforting. What a big boy you are!"

He released my hand and turned to more fully face me. A searing glare landed on me, and his lips pulled back in a feral growl that revealed his sharp canines. "I will turn you to ash, stupid witch, and sell your remains to another witch to use in their spells."

Zhong interrupted my fun, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me away from Aahil. "Don"t taunt him, Andy," he said, his voice full of worry. "It"s not like you to be so unkind."

Aahil gave me a serious look as he sat back against the headboard and lifted his perfect nose in the air. "See, witch. Even your stone dog knows you"re an idiot."

I chuckled, patting Zhong"s muscular forearm where it rested around my torso. "We were just playing around, Zhong," I assured the protective softie. "Aahil knows that I meant what I said. But he also knows that I really am happy that he"s feeling more like himself. That he"s feeling more comfortable opening up around me… and you, too, now."

Aahil rubbed a hand over his face and let out a sigh, losing his haughty posture. "She"s right, boulder for brains. I feel very… loved… when the witch purposefully goads me. I might worry about her wellbeing if she did anything else." He plucked at the blanket that was pooled around his hips. "And I"m well aware that she does it so I don"t have to be serious. So I don"t have to talk about my true feelings or insecurities. She"s awful that way. It"s why I lo—tolerate her so well."

Zhong reached around me to ruffle Aahil"s silky black hair. "You"re okay, for a fussy, over-dramatic demon," he said wisely. He withdrew his hand in time to avoid being bitten by Aahil"s sharp fangs, then grinned at the jinn. "Like that? Is that how I"m supposed to do it? I"m new to this whole say-the-opposite-of-what-you-mean thing."

Aahil rolled his eyes. "You"ll learn, I"m sure. If at the slowest pace possible." Then the jinn slid out of bed. I could tell that he was a bit more self-conscious again, now that he wasn"t giving orders in the heat of the moment and riding high on sex magic. But still, he had been very careful to stay covered up since returning from the O"Leary nightmare. The fact that he was attempting to act nonchalant now was an enormous improvement.

I ogled Aahil"s beautiful, lithe body for a second, but didn"t let my gaze linger. Zhong seemed to catch on to the issue, and my sweet gargoyle brushed a kiss against my temple and climbed out of bed as well, purposefully putting himself on display so Aahil wouldn"t feel singled out. The sweet guy.

I smirked. "Careful where you"re swinging that thing, gargoyle," I teased, putting up my hands as if to ward off a blow to the face.

Zhong shook his head at my antics, but a small smile played at the corner of his lips. "That"s not what you said a few hours ago."

Aahil slipped his pants on and padded back over to the bed to sit on the edge. Zhong yanked his own pants on and handed me my tank top and underwear, which I wiggled into gracelessly from the middle of the bed. When I was done with that battle, I reattached my insulin pump and I slid over to sit next to Aahil, concerned at his silence. And at the fact that he was still here, that he still hadn"t vanished—even if that fact also warmed my heart.

"What"s wrong?" I asked, risking life and limb to reach out and put an arm around Aahil"s waist as I leaned into him.

He made an odd noise somewhere between a snort and a groan. "Do I have to answer? Is this all you people do all day—just sit around talking about your feelings?"

I squeezed his slender waist, loving the feel of the smooth, hot skin and supple dancer"s muscles under my hands. "Mmm-hmm. All day, every day. Welcome to the Love Club."

He made a small gagging sound at my words. Then he took my free arm and rotated it. He ran his thumb over the mark he had put there. The small symbol was only a miniscule version of what we had before, a reminder of our previous master-slave connection. "I had a horrid, tempting thought," he admitted, his voice low and husky with emotion. "One that I"m sure you will abhor as much as I do."

My lips curled into an involuntary smile. He was so contrary, my fiery little jinn. "Oh? Well then, you"d better tell me what it was, so we can both be equally horrified."

He licked his lips and looked up at me from under his thick black lashes, his trauma and his newly regained confidence clearly warring with each other. "I just thought… I would like to strengthen this." His eyes flicked down again, to where he still stroked his thumb over my binding mark. "I had the disgusting desire to be more strongly connected to you. It"s sickening, really."

I grinned at him. "Oh, you"re right, that"s gross." I released my hold on his narrow waist to place my free hand over his, over the mark that currently made a small, warm connection between us. "But I"m a Lovell. I was born to do awful things. So I"d love it. That is, if you"re really sure?"

He finally met my eyes, and the eagerness in those gold depths belied his calm tone. "I suppose," he said with a shrug. "It would be a very wicked thing to do. And I am a mischievous jinn."

Zhong came around the end of the bed to stand before us. I looked up as he ran a hand through his gray spiral curls. Then he blushed, looking down at the floor. "And mine?" he asked hesitantly, bringing his hand down to touch the silvery outline of his master"s mark. "Would you…. I know you were only trying to honor my freedom, master. But I want to be connected to you, the way the jinn is."

I glanced between the two of them, suddenly feeling like I was about to cry. They wanted to tie themselves to me, to form a stronger bond. If I really was like the rest of my evil family, I"d jump at the opportunity. It would give me the ability to draw power from them. To manipulate them. To possibly use their magic in my spells or bind them in a book like the bestiary. So of course, I hesitated.

"I love you both," I said softly. "I do. And I… I want that too. I want to be bonded to you. I want that symbol of our connection. But it"s dangerous. I won"t let you give me power over you."

They both reacted to the perceived rejection in their own way. Aahil shut down and withdrew. Zhong bowed his head and looked embarrassed. I couldn"t stand it, so I opened my mouth and rushed to make it better. "I"ll only do it if the bond goes both ways," I told them firmly. "Not a one-way connection, you to me. But me to you as well. Like…" Like a lifebond, I had almost said. Like what I had with Dyre before he rejected me.

My heart ached.

Zhong"s big finger under my chin forced me to look up and meet his yellow eyes. He knew. Of course he knew what I had almost said. "I would be honored with such a bond," he said easily.

Aahil scoffed, ignoring all the undercurrents of emotion in typical Aahil fashion. "Must we talk endlessly, or can we get on with it?"

I shook my head at him, but held out my arm. "Go ahead," I told him softly. "I know you can do it without spell ingredients and all that other stuff." All the things I had needed to cast the spell to bind me to Dyre and Sunny. But I wasn"t thinking about that now. "Teach me," I pleaded.

I knew that Aahil could show me how it worked, if he really wanted to. If he wasn"t hiding his big bad secrets so he could control his pet witch. But I was surprised at how easily he agreed. "Fine," he said curtly, his eyes fluttering closed. "Close your eyes and try to feel what I"m doing with my magic. You should be able to sense it through the minor bond we already have." He cracked one eye open to regard me with a warning glare. "And try not to mess it up, Lovell. I don"t want your excess magic well to blow me up."

I nodded, and he closed his eyes again. I did the same and tried my best to really listen, to tune in and feel what he was doing with his magic as he traced the symbol on my arm.

The flavor of Aahil"s magic was all heat and passion, and it would be so easy to get lost in it. But I was used to having an ancient wraith and a necromancer in my aura. Staying present through this was easy by comparison. When Aahil finished his spell, I copied what he had done, tracing the same design on his arm in a mirror of my own. I murmured the words he had used, the language foreign to me, but the intent what was important. And I felt the bond flare to life, a fiery flare of aliveness inside me that hadn"t been there before. It wasn"t the same spell Dyre had taught me to create our lifebond. But the results were the same. Aahil was part of me now. And I was part of him. My eyes flew open, and I met Aahil"s glowing gold gaze seconds before his lips crashed into mine.

Aahil kissed me with all the fury and passion of his fiery elemental nature. Then he pulled away, leaving me breathless and reeling. A sultry smile slid across his face, and his voice was smug as he spoke. "You"re mine now, witch," he breathed.

But I heard the relief that underscored his words. He was connected to me now in the same way I was connected to him. I was… an anchor, I thought. A tether, maybe, to keep him grounded when he was in danger of combusting.

I drew in a deep breath and turned to Zhong, who was watching us with rapt attention and no small amount of awe. "It worked," he said softly. "I can see it in your auras. You look like bonded mates."

I glanced at Aahil out of the corner of my eye to see how he reacted to the "m" word, but he ignored it, no expression on his face. "Well?" he said, waving me toward Zhong. "Collar your doggie now. The spell should work the same way on him. Just use his existing master"s mark as an anchor."

I did as I was told, standing and reaching up, tracing my fingers over the intricate wreath of markings that lay in the space between Zhong"s neck and shoulder. When it was Zhong"s turn to mark me, he hesitated, looking nervous. "I don"t have much skill with casting magic," he murmured. "Will it still work?"

Aahil rolled his eyes and stood, coming to clasp hands with the Gargoyle, his own graceful hand engulfed by Zhong"s thick fingers. "I"ll supervise, boulder. Just do what you can."

Zhong traced the marking on my shoulder with one big, blunt finger as he cast the same spell Aahil and I had just used. I sensed when he faltered, but a warm surge of jinn energy was there to bolster the casting and keep things moving the way they should. The connection snapped into place, and I sucked in a breath as Zhong"s unique flavor of solidness and loyalty flowed through me.

If I was an anchor to Aahil, then I was the opposite for Zhong. He anchored me as my wild witch magic danced around us both before settling down into my aura again.

Zhong bent to give me a sweet, thorough kiss, then pulled back, tracing his finger over the markings on my shoulder. "It"s beautiful. My name on your skin."

I hurried to the mirror to see for myself. He was right, the silvery markings looked like an intricate magical tattoo. And they sang with his essence. Just as the pretty swirls on my arm sang with Aahil"s. "They"re perfect," I said happily. "So pretty and so… perfect." My hand came to rest over my chest, where my heart swelled with emotion as I teared up.

Aahil jumped in to stop my emoting before it could really get ramped up. "Of course they are," he said with a wicked look and an arrogant lift of his chin. "Far superior to the bond of some sniveling redheaded coward."

I stared at him. Right. So, he was aware of how much Dyre"s rejection had hurt me, after all. And maybe he"d been jealous of our connection before?

"What?" Aahil snapped. "We were all thinking it."

Zhong rolled his eyes. "Maybe, but we didn"t need to say it out loud. Tact, jinn. It"s something you might want to work on."

Aahil snorted. "Sounds boring. Let"s go show the necromancer how badly he fucked up and how much Andy doesn"t miss his scrawny corpse in her bed."

I shook my head, not sure if I wanted to laugh or cry. I wasn"t sure I could survive this concerned, protective new Aahil who wanted to jump in and destroy anyone who hurt me. But he wasn"t exactly wrong. My feelings toward Dyre hadn"t really changed. Still… it felt nice to know that I was wanted, even if Dyre had chucked me aside.

"I am a little hungry," I said innocently. "Maybe we should go down and make some dinner." And I defiantly refused to put on a long-sleeved shirt, letting my tank top reveal my shiny new bonding marks.

Petty, yes. Uplifting and exactly what I needed right now? Absolutely.

I truly was a wicked Lovell.