Bound (Secrets of the Djinn) (15 page)

I
t takes a few heartbeats for Malik to respond.  “I owe her much for the things she has done.”

My eyebrows rise.  “Please don’t tell me you’re going to seduce her because you feel you
owe
her.  She is already half in love with you.  It would kill her if you offer yourself to her as payment for a debt rather than real attraction and affection.”

Malik runs a hand through his gleaming blonde hair.  “Attraction is not the problem.”

I cock my head to the side.  “Then what is the problem?”

With a sardonic laugh, he says, “I am the problem.  I spent so many years hardening my heart, I don’t believe it is penetrable any longer.”

I step forward and give him another hug.  “I don’t believe that.  Give it a chance, but if you don’t feel anything, then back off, okay?  I don’t want her to get hurt.”

He nods.  “I give you my word.”

“How did our parents die?”

H
is body tenses and he moves back.  “That is a story for another day.”

I shak
e my head.  “No, no more secrets.  I want honest answers, Malik.  I need them so I can be whole again.  Most of my life has been wiped from my memory and I can’t continue on like this.  I need to know.  Every secret you keep from me is a tool someone else can use against me.”

After a long pause, he says,
“Our uncle is not the only family member I’ve killed.”

My body becomes rigid and my brain fights to shut down.  I don’t want to hear what he says next, but he says it anyway.  “I killed our father.”

My body is aching to flee, to be anywhere but here where my brother is admitting to patricide.  I am able to choke out a strangled, “Why?”

Malik closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.  Opening his eyes again, his expression has gone cold and hard.  “Be glad you have no memory of him, Skye.  He was an evil bastard and he made our lives hellish beyond words. 
He made our uncle seem like a saint.  I won’t go into details because I don’t want to force any of these memories to resurface in you.  Our mother suffered the worst.  She never loved him.  Their marriage was arranged when they were still babies and Mother was forced into consummating a match she did not want.”  I feel my skin blanche but I remain silent, wanting him to continue even though a little piece of me is dying inside as he speaks.  “She was a strong woman and she did her best to protect us, but she was not strong enough.  He killed her in an unfounded jealous rage.  That was the day my power manifested.”

“You killed him because he killed our mother,” I whisper more to myself than to Malik. 

“Yes.”

I stare at my brother for a long moment.  I stare at the shame on his face, the way he’s preparing for me to judge him, hate him, even.  “Malik, you saved us.”

Surprise registers in his eyes.  “No…” he begins but I cut him off.  “I don’t need to remember the details to know that if he was evil enough to kill our mother, he wouldn’t hesitate to harm us.  You saved us.”

I step closer to him, wrapping my arms around his waist
, the weight of his actions, or his love for me, bearing down on my heart.  After a moment, his arms circle around me and I say, “Everything you’ve done has been to protect me.  Always
. 
I repaid you with foolishness and rebellion.  I am so sorry.”

Malik pushes me back gently and searches my face.  “I tell you I killed our father and you apologize to me
for your behavior?”  He shakes his head.  “How in the hell did someone so good come from the loins of such a man?”

A
chill runs down my spine.  “Must you talk about his loins?”

Chuckling, Malik says, “I promise to never mention them again.”

I smile and place a hand on his cheek.  “Thank you.  For everything.”

Pressing his hand against mine, he says, “You must remember, I wasn’t being altruistic.  I was very much in favor
of saving myself, as well.”

I laugh.  “As you should have been.” 

Uncomfortable with the emotions he’s feeling, Malik says, “We should go back in.”  When I nod, he gestures toward the door, “After you.”

Waiting for us in the sitting room is Roman.  I tense when I see him, trying to keep in mind Malik promised not to kill him.  He didn’t say anything about hurting him.

Hatred has painted a cruel mask on Malik’s face now.  “You would be wise to keep yourself from my path,” he growls.

Sparks of anger shoot from Roman’s eyes, but his voice is even when he speaks.  “You do not frighten me, Malik, nor will I try to ingratiate myself into your good graces.  You knew when I came to you behind the veil that my love for your sister was true.  If you
had let me take her away then, escape with her to this side of the veil, none of this would have happened.”

To my surprise, Malik is almost amused.  Almost.  “Yes, because you have done a bang up job of keeping her safe here.  Bravo,” he says sardonically. 

Roman’s cheeks color, whether from anger or embarrassment, I’m not certain.  “If our memories hadn’t been erased, I would have had the knowledge necessary to protect her.”

“Who are you in contact with behind the veil?” I ask, trying to change the subject but realizing too late I made a poor choice in the topic.

Roman’s face becomes a blank page.  “Why does it matter?”

I shake my head.  “I’m so tired of secrets.”

“I have no problem sharing the information with you.  I simply do not trust your brother’s motives.”

With a sigh, I say, “I’m going to find the only man in my life who doesn’t keep secrets from me.”  I walk past Roman and sidestep when he tries to grasp my arm.  With my injuries healed
, the stairs are no problem, a quicker escape than the elevator. 

Hoping to avoid Mrs. Gregori, I search for Zane in the workout room first.  I breathe a sigh of relief when I find him.  He’s on the treadmill and his body is glistening with sweat.  He’s not wearing a shirt so the hard muscles of his torso and back are
laid out before me.  My god he’s sexy.  I want to reach out and feel the muscles gliding under his skin.

Noticing me, Zane turns off the machine and winds down to a stop.  “Hey, everything okay?”

I nod.  “Okay as it’s going to get right now.  Can we talk?”

He shakes his head.  “Those are the three worst words in the world.  Nothing good ever comes from them.”

Stepping closer, I stand on my toes to kiss him softly.  “It’s not about you and me if that helps.”

Wrapping his arms around me, he pulls me to his sweat glistening body and I don’t mind one bit.  “Promise?” he asks.

I wind my arms around his neck.  “Promise.”

Leaning down, he kisses me.  It’s a slow, gentle kiss, the kiss of a lover secure in his place in
my heart.  Ending it, he says, “Then let’s go upstairs.  We can talk after I take a shower.”

“Okay.”  I want to offer to join him, but we need to talk first.

I follow him out of the workout room and up the stairs.  I’m happy to find both Malik and Roman are gone.  I don’t see any blood on the carpet of the sitting room so I’m assuming they’re both alive and well.

Once we’re in Zane’s bedroom, he gives me a quick kiss before grabbing a pair of jeans, boxers and a black t-shirt.  I
think about how sexy he’s going to look in them and I’m tempted again to offer to join him.  I don’t and he doesn’t ask me to, either.  Just a few days ago, it would have been a given.  Just how big is the rift standing between us despite making up earlier?

Five minutes later, Zane is showered and dressed.  Flopping down on the bed and sitting back against the pillows, he says, “Hit me with it.”

How sad is it he assumes it’ll be something big and bad?  Unfortunately, it is.  Sitting forward in my chair, I put my magazine down and say, “When Malik pulled me into the veil, he asked me why I left here.”

I get an eyebrow raise.  “You told him the truth, I expect.”

I nod.  “Yes, and he was pretty angry with your grandmother.”

Zane snorts.  “He can get in line.”

“Well, he sort of jumped to the head of the line.”

“Skye, stop beating around the bush and spit it out.”

Taking a deep breath first, I say, “As soon as I left the veil he came here and bound your grandmother to him.”

Zane stares at me blankly for several moments.  When I don’t say anything more, he says, “Am I supposed to be angry about this?”

I frown.  “Um, I thought it would bother you, yes.”

Patting the bed next to him, he says, “Come here.”  When I join him on the bed, he puts an arm around me and says,
“When I found out what happened I was ready to kill my grandmother.  She went way too far and she knew it.  She’s a hard woman but I’m glad Brielle found her, I am.  It’s nice to finally know our grandmother, but she doesn’t have the right to threaten anyone I love.  She held you at gun point, Skye.  While you were in my bed.  If Malik binding her to him will prevent her from doing anything like that again, then I’m all for it.”  Hesitating, he adds, “We may not want to share this with Brielle or Hank, though.”

That thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.  “Won’t they be mad if they find out on their own?”

Zane shrugs.  “Probably.”  Peering closer at me, he asks, “Why did you tell me?  I suspect Malik wasn’t planning to make it public knowledge.”

I place a hand on his cheek.  “Because I am committed to being one hundred percent honest with you.”

He raises a teasing brow.  “Are you now?”  Moving so he’s straddling my legs, he purrs, “Does that mean you’ll be honest with me about how this feels?”  His lips kiss a trail along my jaw and I gasp when he finds the sensitive part of my neck that isn’t covered in a mark. 

Breathy, I say, “I’m not sure, you’ll
need to keep doing it for me to be able to answer honestly.”

Zane chuckles.  “How about this?”

This time, he does touch my mark and pleasure shoots through my body.  Pleasure I’m more than willing to give into this time.  My hands reach for the bottom of his t-shirt and tug until it’s over his head and on the floor.  Zane continues to nuzzle my neck between long, sultry kisses.  My hands are on the button of his jeans and I tug the zipper down, not able to get him naked fast enough.

Zane clasps my hands.  “Not yet,” he says.  “I want to play first.”

My protest turns into a moan when his mouth finds my nipple through my shirt.  His tongue scrapes across it several times and I think I’m going to explode if he does it again.  “Zane, I need you.  Right now,” I rasp.

Grin on his face, he finally obliges.  He makes his jeans disappear and he makes short work of my clothing, only lingering long enough for his mouth to nuzzle against my panties, making my hips buck.  Moving the fabric aside, he delves into my depths with his tongue and
digging my fingers into his hair, I begin teetering over the precipice.  Sensing this, Zane stops his exploration.  “Not until I’m inside of you,” he says huskily.  He hooks his fingers around my panties and they join the rest of our clothes on the floor. 

Pulling me down on the bed so he can lie on top of me, I open myself to him.  I’m ready for him and I can’t help crying out with need and pleasure when he fills me.  I wrap my legs around him and press him deeper, my hips lifting to take all of him.  His rhythm is slow at first, regardless of the demands I make with my body.  His kisses are hard and full of sexy promise.  Eventually, his own needs increase the speed and depths of his thrusts and it isn’t long before I fall over that precious precipice.  My body milks his as he follows me with several last, hard thrusts.

Our breathing is heavy, our voices temporarily lost.  We hold each other close, neither of us ready to part.  I stroke his muscled back, wanting to be this happy, this sated forever.

“Zane?”
I finally say.

“Mmm?”

“Can I tell you I love you now?”

He doesn’t tense as I expect him to do.  Instead, he shifts slightly so his lips can find mine.  “Yes,” he murmurs against them.  I feel him growing hard inside of me again as
he kisses me.  Eager for more, I encourage him with my mouth and body until we are making love yet again. 

We are both disappointed when
someone knocks on the door.  “Um, guys, we have a problem,” Brielle says.

Chapter 18

“Go away,” Zane says, still kissing me.

“
There are about thirty djinn just outside the sine wave I’m sending out over our property.  We’re under siege.”

All the joy I felt a minute ago has all spilled out.  There’s nothing left inside
me except pain.  Roman and I should have stayed away. 

I start to move from Zane but he
holds me back.   “Skye, look at me.”  When I don’t comply, he puts a gentle finger under my chin and lifts my face so I’m forced to look at him.  “We were fighting the djinn long before you came into our lives.  You didn’t do this to us.  It was simply a matter of time before they tracked us down whether you were here or not.  You’ve seen the number of djinn Brielle alone has sent back behind the veil.  My count is even higher.”