“I’m not moving until you’re under me, or we go out and do something.”
I was way too close to saying yes to the first option. I cleared my throat. “Fine. I guess we can go out and ease your princely boredom.” Anything to get him out of here before I jump him and lose all self-respect. “But I won’t make lo— I won’t fuck you again.”
His good humor left him, and he stepped closer. “Oh honey, we’ll make love again.” Shocks of elemental power yanked me into his waiting arms. “Don’t worry, my little Djinn.” I hated his strength, his presumption that he could have me again. That he made me want him. “I won’t force you. The next time we fuck, you’ll be begging me for it.”
He kissed me hard then let me go and turned on his heel, slamming the door shut behind him.
I fingered my throbbing lips, staring at the closed door with alarm. I wanted him more now than I ever had, and I’d just agreed to spend time with him. Not good.
Since I couldn’t stay away from him physically, I’d have to emotionally distance myself. If I could think with my head instead of my hormones. I groaned and slumped back onto my bed.
I had no job, no means of avoiding Cadmus, and no discipline when it came to my traitorous, unruly body.
The way things were shaping up, I’d be begging him to take me by the end of the day.
And both loving and hating myself for it every minute.
Chapter 4
Cadmus
I stormed into the living room, seething with irritation and a foreign sense of hurt that made no sense. Way to go, jackass. Why not just wave a red flag and admit how much you want her? And while you’re at it, act so conceited that now she won’t touch you with a ten-foot pole.
Groaning at what I’d done, I tumbled onto her short, uncomfortable couch and wondered how I’d gone from smooth talker to lackwit in so little time. For some reason, Ellie affected me badly.
With other women, I could charm and flirt. Hell, I’d once done as much to Ellie before I’d learned the truth. That I’d begun falling for an enemy Djinn.
She’d been so sweet and so intoxicating that I’d been helpless to resist her. Enthralled by her beauty, one that radiated from deep within and was mirrored outwardly in an irresistible package, I had trouble focusing around her.
She’d made my nights at Outpour bearable until I could think of little more than seeing her again.
Touching her again.
Tasting her again.
My cock throbbed at the memories, my frustration compounding as turbulent images pressed me. Our first kiss, the feel of her silken skin under my palms, skin that I’d so recently stroked…
I growled and stood, pacing the narrow confines of her eclectic apartment. I’d let the woman bewitch me until I didn’t know up from down.
I frowned, not understanding why she acted like the aggrieved party when I’d been the one played for a fool. She’d tricked me into sharing vital knowledge about my family, possibly putting us in harm’s way. It was only sheer dumb luck she and her father were rebel Djinn, bent on helping our cause.
Throwing myself back onto the couch, I linked my hands behind my head and focused on cooling down my overheated body.
Thoughts of Jonas and the chaos I’d wrought in Foreia put me in better spirits. I hadn’t exactly told Ellie the truth of why I’d left the Djinn homeworld. Yes, I’d riled Jonas’ friends, but I’d also attacked Lexa, a Dark Lord.
Surprisingly, she hadn’t reciprocated. Instead, she’d helped me.
The spells she’d taught me, as well as the knowledge she’d shared about her own kind, would more than aid me should I—when I—met Sin Garu again. I still didn’t understand Lexa’s convoluted relationship with her family, a relationship so different from my own.
Growing up with three irritating though loving brothers, as well as nurturing parents, had taught me to revere family. I couldn’t imagine being pleased with one of my brothers’ deaths. I’d never consciously betray us to an enemy, no matter what the cause.
Perhaps all the Dark Lords were evil, not just Dark but full of death and corruption. From what I’d heard of Balen, that description applied. I’d seen enough of Sin Garu to confirm that bastard’s perfidy.
Oddly, Lexa didn’t seem anything like a Dark Lord. In her presence, I had to remind myself not to like her.
Her dry sense of humor, breathtaking beauty, and incredible knowledge were enough to disconcert even an experienced Djinn like Jonas, who had bowed in her presence. Everything I’d learned about the Djinn told me how little they thought of sovereignty. Yet Jonas spoke to her with reverence, nothing at all like the way he talked to me, an actual Storm Lord prince.
Jonas could be such a dick. He and Lexa deserved each other. Both had layers of Dark power surging through their blood — if Lexa even had any through all that ice.
