“We are never alone.” Tyler kissed my temple, and I sensed he’d become lost in his memories. His voice grew thick, and his words were weighed carefully, accented with the remnants of a language no longer spoken. Near-death experiences have a way of rocketing you into the past, to the beginnings of your life as you’ve come to know it. Ty wasn’t here with me anymore; he was back there-in that place. “I was found by another like me as she traveled through the desert one day. Adira. She took me in, taught me what I needed to know… It’s been this way since the beginning of time. We can sense the magic in our kind, and we’re naturally drawn to it.
“I’m not going to say that my first days were easy ones. Confusion is a given when you seem to manifest out of nowhere. I could speak, but there was no one to talk to. I hungered, yet the desert held no food. I had a want of things I could not describe nor seek solace for, and I wandered the harsh, lifeless land for days before I was found. At the first sight of another soul, I cried out in relief. I understood her words, and she gave me water, which I drank until it made me sick. She took me to her home, a small village inhabited to my surprise by creatures that looked similar to me, but I sensed the mundane in them. Adira had bound herself to the chieftain’s wife, and she watched over their people. I lived with Adira for a century or more, learning the ways of the Jinn from her. One day, while walking the desert, just as I imagine Adira had, I came across a confused and wandering soul, and I gave him water and food. I delivered the Jinn to Adira, and she cared for him. I decided to leave not long after that. I’d learned everything I needed to know, and I was restless to see the world beyond. I have not seen that place since the day I left.”
I realized, as I listened to the soft cadence of Tyler’s voice, that I didn’t know anything about his life-his real life. I knew he was a good man, and loving, and overprotective in a way that made me want to kiss him and rip his arms out of their sockets at the same time. But I had no knowledge of his history, upbringing, or existence.
“Xander said your people come from Europe or the Middle East. Is that true?”
“Africa,” he said almost dreamily. “Egypt. Sudan. Desert regions.”
“You don’t look African,” I teased.
Tyler raised a curious brow. “I’m not,” he said. “I am Jinn.”
My voice turned serious, “How many others have you bound yourself to?”
Tyler shifted in bed to look down on me, one corner of his mouth curving into a crooked smile. “Jealous?” He smoothed the tangles of curls from my face. When I didn’t answer, he said, “I hope so. I’ve only bound myself to someone once before you. And I don’t plan to ever do it again.”
My stomach clenched, a warm wave of pleasure bursting outward through my limbs. It was like having someone tell you he didn’t plan on sleeping with anyone else ever again. That he’d found the one person he could never leave or get enough of. Was it safe for him to pledge his loyalty to me? One attempt had been made on my life so far, and now someone had nearly taken his. “Who attacked you?”
“I didn’t get a look at him,” Tyler said. “He knew me and how to stop me, though. Backed me against a wall before I could get at him and jammed those stakes into my wrists so I couldn’t fight back. Cowardly bastard. He went for my heart and would have killed me if I hadn’t managed to give him a good kick right as he drove the stake in. Fortunately for me, the bastard jumped me outside The Pit. Levi heard the commotion and came out to see what was going on. The guy’s face was covered, and he bolted before Levi could get his hands on him. I lucked out.”
Understatement of the century. “Did he say anything to you?” The loaded silence between us told me Tyler’s attacker had said something. Probably something he didn’t want me to know. “Tell me.”
Tyler sighed in resignation. He knew I’d have no qualms about beating it out of him if he didn’t supply the information willingly. “He said, ‘I can’t have you protecting her,’ and then he went for my heart.”
“This is because of me,” I said. “Again.”
“No,” Tyler said, holding me tighter. “You are not allowed to take the blame for this. It comes with the job. It’s not as though I didn’t know something like this could happen. This is how a binding works. I am your protector. Period. And if that means-”
“How can you say that?” I said, sitting upright and putting some much-needed distance between us. “That it’s perfectly okay if you die protecting me because it’s your job? Your reasoning is seriously fucked up. Do you really think I could live with myself if you were killed?”
“I chose this, Darian.” Tyler struggled to lean up on his arm. “Me. No one twisted my arm to make me bind myself to you. I knew the risks then, just like I know them now.” His tone escalated with every word. “Don’t treat me like some kid who can’t take care of himself. I’ve walked this earth for thousands of years, and I am not a weak human for you to worry about!”
“I don’t think you’re weak,” I said.
Tyler gave me a withering look. “Sure as hell sounds like it. Besides, who said this is just about you? Get over yourself. I’ve got business that doesn’t concern you, and you’re not the only one who knows what I am.”
There was nothing he could say to convince me the attempt on his life had nothing to do with me. There were too many coincidences. Besides, I doubted Ty had many women he was watching out for, and his attacker said, I can’t have you protecting her. My to-do list was growing by leaps and bounds: Sneak into the PNT building to rattle Delilah’s chain; find Raif’s daughter; flush out this Man from The Ring; and fend off attempts on not only my life but also Tyler’s. I truly had a knack for getting the shitty end of the stick.
While I contemplated the way my heretofore good fortune was slowly circling the drain, Tyler’s hand had begun to creep from my wrist, trailing up my arm and across my collarbone. Delicious chills chased the path of his fingers, slowly caressing up my neck, beneath my ear. The bed shifted as he sat up. His mouth hovered near my temple, and I shuddered. “I want you,” he whispered, causing a molten rush of excitement to ignite every nerve ending in my body. Talk about a one-eighty. Hadn’t we just been on the verge of an argument?
“You’re hurt,” I murmured.
Not that I didn’t want to forget about his injuries and lay him out on his back. Tyler ran the tip of his nose up and down my cheek into my hairline and inhaled deeply. “Mmm, you smell good. It’s making me crazy.”
That made two of us. A warm, heady odor like sweet vanilla and cinnamon wafted around us, Tyler’s arousal evident in the mixture of delicious scents. I took his wrist in my hands, unwinding the gauze to find the wound almost completely healed. Repeating the process on his other wrist, I discarded the bloodied gauze and gently kissed the skin that had been marred with a raw laceration just an hour earlier. “Just like magic,” I whispered against his skin.
With a fierceness that startled me, Tyler wrapped his arms around me and snatched me close until our lips were almost touching. His breath came heavy as his eyes delved into mine, and his jaw took a stubborn set. One hand slid up my back, and his fingers threaded through the locks of my hair. My eyes never left his, lost in their hazel depths as I reveled in the feeling of his cool breath fanning over my face.
“Don’t ever doubt me,” he said in a steel-hard tone that set me back a little. His emotions were teetering close to manic-or at the very least, bipolar. I tried to pull away, but he held me, refusing me even an inch of freedom. “I belong to you. Mind, heart, soul.” He paused. “And flesh. I’m strong enough.”