Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Jafar

We make it to Balthazar’s house in record time, and even then I know it’s not fast enough. Hours have passed since Ali took Jasmine, hours in which he could have done anything to her. He won’t have killed her, but that is the only thing I can guarantee. Next to me, Jeremiah keeps a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel as we take the winding curves leading to the house at reckless speed. I can’t relax, can’t affect an unconcerned tone. My ability to dissemble has disappeared alongside Jasmine. “We do nothing to jeopardize her safety.”

He clears his throat. “That puts us at a disadvantage if he starts shooting the second we pull up to the house.”

“Nothing, Jeremiah. That’s an order.”

It takes five minutes longer to reach the gate, and I spend the entirety of that time going over the different choices I could have made to prevent Jasmine from feeling like she had to run from me. Fuck, how many times did I offer to get her out? Rationally, I know that my giving her an out isn’t the same as her taking one for herself, but fear surpasses logic time and time again.

She’s in danger.

She’s suffering at Ali’s hands right now.

It’s my fault.

We stop in front of the gates, the trio of cars behind us falling in line. It’s closed, barring access to the property, but I expected no less. What I didn’t expect is Balthazar’s former head of security standing there with his arms crossed, his gun on full display. He didn’t make the jump with me, and last I heard, he wasn’t exactly pleased with Ali either.

Why the fuck is he here?

I ignore Jeremiah’s noise of warning and climb out of the car. I round the front, but stop several yards away. “I’m here for Jasmine.”

Jonah shakes his head slowly. “You made that play, and it was the wrong one.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Ali is making the same play.”

“Was.”

I narrow my eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what I said.” Jonah is as implacable as ever. “Get back in your car. If she wants to see you, you can go through—just you and whoever is in the first car. The others will wait.”

I try to pick his words apart. Ali was making the same play, past tense. If she wants to see me? What the hell is going on? I barely smother my need to pepper Jonah with more questions. He won’t answer me, and it might piss him off enough to refuse us access. We can fight our way through the gate if we have to, but if there’s a chance to get through on peaceful terms, I have to take it. “So be it.”

I walk back to the car and climb inside. “Tell the others to wait here.”

Jeremiah gives me a look like I’ve lost my damn mind. Maybe I have. He finally says, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“No. But it’s the only option we have.”

Several long minutes later, the gates open and Jonah motions us forward. I find myself holding my breath, but I can’t stop. I dread whatever we’ll find in the massive sprawling house. I should have protected Jasmine. My failure put her in this position, and there isn’t a damn thing I can do to earn her forgiveness. I have to make my peace with that, with the knowledge that I’ll mow down anyone who lays a hand on her. At least then I’ll know she’s safe.

Even if she’s no longer mine.

My chest feels too tight as we stop near the front door and head inside. With only Jeremiah as backup, I should be more concerned with my own skin. He’s good, but no one is that good. I’m not. My world has boiled itself down to the necessities. Two words.

Find. Jasmine.

It turns out I don’t have to look hard. She’s coming down the staircase, her hair pulled back into a braid, a bruise blossoming across the right side of her face. Her dress is the color of life’s blood, a red so dark it’s almost black, and it flares around her with every step. A glint of metal in her hand forms into the same blade she threatened me with the first night.

This is not a victim rushing to meet her savior.

This is a queen considering whether or not to treat with an enemy.

She stops halfway down the steps, and though I’m conscious of men filtering into the room around us, I can’t take my eyes off her. “Ba—Jasmine.”

“Jafar.” Even her voice sounds stronger, fiercer. As if she’s found her footing and she no longer needs my assistance to stand tall. She studies me for a long moment. “Ali tried to take something I wasn’t willing to give, and he’s dead because of it.”

Ali is dead.

I don’t have to read between the lines to know that my baby girl killed him, likely with that knife she’s clinging so tightly to. Fuck, but I would have saved her from that if I could. Even though I try to moderate my tone, my next words come out low and ragged. “I’m sorry.”

She lifts the knife to examine, the blade glinting in the light. “I’ve decided that I’m done being a pawn. My father may not have considered me his heir, but I am his heir in truth. His men—my men—have accepted that. The only question remains is whether you will bend the knee and come back into the fold, or if it’s exile.”

Exile.

She’s not bluffing. If I can’t accept her as queen, if I try to force her back into the box she’s lived in for her whole life, then she’ll drive me out. It might break her heart to do it, but she loves her freedom more than she cares about me.

I don’t fault her for it.

How can I?

No, pledging myself to another ruler was never part of my plan. If someone asked me yesterday if I’d consider it, I would have laughed them out of the room. But this isn’t just another ruler. This is Jasmine. If I cling to my pride, I will lose her, and my instincts say I won’t get another chance. This isn’t something I can override with lust and dominance to get her to bend to my will. She’s drawn a line in the sand and I can step to it or I can get the fuck out.

In the end, it’s no choice at all. Not when I can still taste the fear and desperation at the back of my throat. The certainty that I’d lost her forever. What is a kingdom without a queen? I always intended for her to be by my side. It may not have looked like this, but does it matter? I’ll have the territory, and I’ll have Jasmine, too.

Not as a submissive.

As a full partner.

Slowly, so slowly, I go to one knee at the bottom of the stairs. “My queen.” I can feel Jeremiah behind me following my motion, repeating my words.

Jasmine nods slowly. “Good.” She shifts her gaze to Jeremiah. “Inform the rest of his men. Jafar, with me.” She turns and starts back up the stairs.

I follow, matching her pace and maintaining the distance between us. Unexpected pride warms me, pulling at the edges of my lips. Damn, but she never ceases to surprise me. In all the scenarios I tortured myself with on the trip from the city to this place, I never once considered that she would turn the tables on Ali, that she would step into a leadership role and claim it as her rightful place as heir. More the fool I am. Ali underestimated her, but I have, too. Something I suspect I’ll be making up to her for a long time.

If she’ll allow it.

She leads the way to her room. I close the door softly behind us and wait. As much as I want to go to her, to run my hands over her body to ensure she’s not hiding more injuries, to demand answers I don’t have the right to.

Really, there’s only one thing to say. “I’m sorry.”

Jasmine sets her knife on the desk and turns to face me. “I killed Ali.”

“I’m sorry,” I say again. “You shouldn’t have had to do that.” I should have handled it before he ever got close enough to become a danger to her.

“He didn’t get a chance to hurt me.” She absently touches her face. “Except for this.”

I want to bring that fool back from the dead and kill him again for laying a hand on her. Saying so won’t do a damn thing but cloud the room with my anger. “You took your father’s place.”

“Yes. I did.”

I hate this. We’ve been many things with each other, but never stilted and unsure. I run my hands through my hair. “I’ll honor my pledge, Jasmine. You have no reason to trust that, but I will.”

“I know.” She fists the fabric of her dress and seems to force herself to relax. Finally, she lifts her chin and pins me with a fierce look. “I’ll be your equal, or I’ll be nothing. Do you understand me? Just because I love you doesn’t mean that I will sit at your feet ever again.” The slightest of hesitations. “At least not outside of the privacy of our bedroom.”

Something like hope flares in my chest, the sweep of it through my body leaving me dizzy. “You love me.”

“Of course I love you, you fool.” She takes a step and then another, moving slowly to place her hands on my chest. “I understand what you were trying to do with me, but I can’t live on someone else’s terms any longer. I have to fly or dash myself on the rocks below, but it has to be my choice. Can you live with that?”

I reach up and run my finger along her jaw, careful to avoid the bruise. “Out there, I’ll be your right hand.”

“Yes.” No hesitation. Just a calm agreement.

“In here?”

She smiles slowly. “In here, I’m your baby girl.” The smile fades. “Can you live with that?” she asks again.

“Marry me.”

Jasmine leans into my touch. “Ask me again in a year, when I’ve solidified my place at the head of this beast. Then we’ll see.” It’s not a yes, but I’m strangely okay with that. Even if she never wears my ring on her finger, she’s mine in every way that counts.

And I’m hers.

In the end, there’s only one answer. “Yes, I can live with that. As long as I have you, I can live with a whole hell of a lot.”

She exhales slowly, as if part of her doubted my answer. Jasmine takes a step back and then another. “Then we should celebrate.” She lifts an eyebrow, the mischief in her dark eyes a balm to my soul. This woman sees me in a way no one ever has before. She challenges me in a way no one has before. I lean forward as if I can catch the words as soon as they fall from her lips. Jasmine smiles. “You asked me how many times I fantasized about you over the years.”

“I did.”

“I’ve always wanted you to fuck me in this bed.” She takes another step back until she hits the mattress, her smile widening. “Fuck me, Daddy. Make it better than I could have imagined.”

I take a step toward her and she meets me halfway, crashing into me as if she needs the reaffirmation as much as I do. I rip her dress off her and curse when I find her naked beneath it. “Always asking for it.”

“I knew you’d come for me.” She kisses my neck, my jaw, my mouth. “I wanted to be ready for you when you walked through the door.”

As if she never doubted me, never doubted that I’d do whatever it took to stand at her side, to be with her. Her faith humbles me even as it drives my frenzy for her higher. I lift her and she instantly wraps her legs around my waist. The bed is too far away. I need to be inside her now, to cement this new future between us. To bolster it.

Jasmine must feel the same way. She reaches between us, trusting me to hold her up, and frees my cock. A breath later and she has me at her entrance. I thrust into her in a single smooth motion, the perfection of the moment nearly sending me to my knees. “I love you, baby girl.”

“I love you, too, Daddy.” She kisses me. Fuck, but I could lose myself in Jasmine’s taste, in the way she strokes her tongue against mine, claiming me even as I claim her.

Perfection.

I bear her down to the bed. “Better be quiet. You wouldn’t want your men to hear you coming around my cock.”

“That’s right. My men.” She digs her heels into the small of my back, driving me to fuck her harder. Her breasts bounce with each stroke, and her expression is so fucking fierce. “Cover my mouth. Make me come, Daddy.”

Pressure is already building in my spine, this mutual claiming too fucking sexy to hold out for much longer. “You’re the queen. Make yourself come.”

Her smile damn near blinds me. She hooks the back of my neck and drags my mouth down to hers even as she slides her hand between us to finger her clit. She’s as primed as I am, and three strokes later, I have to pull back and cover her mouth with my hand as she comes apart around my cock. It’s too good. More than that, I want to come deep inside her, to seal this new turn in our relationship with something so much stronger than words. I orgasm with a low curse and keep pumping into her, not wanting this to end.

When I finally drop the side of her and hitch her leg over my hip, she laughs. “Why do I have the feeling you’re not finished with me?”

“I’ll never be finished with you.” The truth, stark between us.

Happiness lights up her eyes. “Good.” She bites her bottom lip as I push two fingers into her. “I have to meet with my generals in an hour.”

“Then we have time for another couple orgasms before you do.” I watch her expression go hazy with pleasure, reveling in the fact that it’s me here, in her bed, at her side, causing it. “Now that you’re queen of your territory, what are you going to do next?”

“You’re asking me that now?” She laughs breathlessly. “I take it you have a suggestion.”

“I do.” I push a third finger into her. “Someone recently told me that there’s good money and power to be had by taking our operation digital.”

“Mmm.” She arches into my touch, trying to take me deeper. “This someone sounds rather brilliant.”

“She is. Beautiful and brilliant.” I dip down to speak directly into her ear. “And mine.”

Her hips move as she tries to fuck my fingers. “Say it again.”

“Mine.” I gather her close, keeping up the touch that will have her coming apart again. “My baby girl, my woman.” I nip her bottom lip, catching her cry with my mouth. Only when I’ve taken her down from the edge do I finish. “My queen.”

Thank you so much for reading Jafar and Jasmine’s story! This was a little darker and a little sexier than anything I’ve written to date, so I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! If you did, please consider leaving a review.

The Wicked Villains series continues in LEARN MY LESSON, which will feature Hades and Meg as they enact a revenge scheme against a rival’s son—Hercules. Except these two sexy powerhouses are not prepared to deal with everything Hercules brings to the table. How will they handle him? Join my newsletter to ensure you don’t miss the release day announcement!

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Looking for your next sexy read? You can pick up my MMF ménage THEIRS FOR THE NIGHT, my FREE novella that features an exiled prince, his bodyguard, and the bartender they can’t quite manage to leave alone.

Keep reading for a look at THEIRS FOR THE NIGHT…

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Determined to put it out of her mind, Meg downed her drink and set it on a nearby table. “Let’s dance!” She waited for Cara to finish her drink and then towed her friend into the crowd. They carved out a neat little spot for themselves and started moving with the beat. Before long, a guy had grabbed Cara’s attention and she was happily grinding on him, stroking his biceps as she spoke in his ear. Meg’s laugh was eaten by the music. On her own again, she lifted her arms over her head, tilted her face back and let the strobing lights wash over her.

It was going great until a rough hand closed around her hip and jerked her back into a hard body.

She barely had a chance to register that someone had grabbed her when both hand and body were gone. The absence left her unbalanced and her ankle turned, sending her tipping to the side—right into a large male chest. The stranger caught her easily, his hands cupping her elbows as she found her balance again. Meg looked up…and kept looking up until a pair of devastating blue eyes stole her breath much the same way they had earlier.

The pretty guy from the VIP lounge.

She looked over her shoulder in time to see the other half of the pair dragging a drunk dude through the crowd and toward the exit. Oh. One hand released her elbow and gentle fingers clasped her chin, drawing her attention back to her apparent savior.

Not that I needed saving…

He gave a tight smile and mouthed. You okay?

How was that even a question? Women got grabbed in clubs all the time. It wasn’t okay, but it was hardly worth this level of reaction. Still, it was kind of nice and he was seriously attractive and she found herself nodding slowly.

The second guy returned a few moments later, and Blue Eyes grinned. The expression lit up his face, giving him a playful edge that had her rocking back in her high heels. He leaned down, giving her plenty of time to react, and spoke in her ear. “Dance with us?”

Wait a minute—us?

She angled back enough to look at both of them, at this smiling stranger and his much more serious partner. The vibes coming off the two were so damn strange, Meg didn’t know what to do with them, but she found herself nodding as if it was every day that two gorgeous dudes wanted to dance with her at the same time. As if they were a pair and she was…

She didn’t know what she was if they were a pair.

They’re probably gay, right? This doesn’t make sense otherwise.

Straight guys did not share a dance partner the way these two did. They moved seamlessly, transitioning her between them as if they done this a thousand times before. They always seemed to know where the other was, and both kept a careful distance between them and her, touching her only on her hips and nowhere else.

It was so freaking sexy, she could barely stand it.

By the second song, she already had good idea of their personalities. Blue Eyes seemed to be enjoying himself immensely, always ready with a grin that lit up his expression even as the heat in his gaze damn near melted her panties right off. This one was the kind of guy who threw himself full-tilt into life and to hell with the consequences. His sinful lips promised one hell of a good time and the way he stared at her mouth had her fighting not to lick her lips in response.

Dark and Broody was his perfect counterpart. He was bigger than Blue Eyes, his broad shoulders practically blocking out her view of the club. His short black hair was cut serviceably in a way that was just shy of military, and his short beard gave the impression of forgetfulness, rather than following any hipster trend. He wore a plain black T-shirt and jeans, and she would have thought he was just going through the motions except for the fact that he matched his hips to hers with an effortlessness that left her whole body tight. She had no business imaging how he’d use that particular skill in bed and yet…

And yet there was the way he watched her, as if he already knew what she’d taste like and savored the flavor on his tongue like his favorite kind of candy.

The song changed, shifting to one that was on every radio that month and the dance floor surged as people abandoned their drinks and crowded in. The space between Meg and her partners disappeared and she found herself sandwiched between the men. Dark and Broody had his hands on her hips, and she was braced on Blue Eyes’s chest. Dark and Broody acted as a wall at her back, keeping the worst of the crowd off them. Blue eyes lifted her hair away from her neck and his lips brushed her ear. “Have a drink with us.”

There it was again. That word, ripe with meaning. Us.

As if they were a unit and she could take them as one or reject them as one.

Getting ahead of yourself, aren’t you? He asked you to have a drink, not to…

The crowd surged again, pressing them ever more tightly together and she froze. There was no mistaking the fact that they wanted her—that they both wanted her. Her fingers flexed on Blue Eyes’s chest, kneading his pecs, and his hands dropped to her hips, just above where Dark and Broody held her lightly. His hands shifted the slightest bit, his pinkies drawing across the bare skin of her thigh just below the hem of her dress. Just that. Nothing more.

But she felt branded right down to her soul.

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