That meant Michael Roe, the leader of the Roe Guild of Hunters, had in his possession three full-blooded Jinn—Ari, Jai, and Jai’s best friend Trey. When Charlie went AWOL after killing Akasha (the Labartu who’d murdered his little brother), Ari decided joining the Guild with Jai and Trey was the best move forward. Michael decided he liked the idea of having Hunters in his Guild who could assassinate a bad guy for once. He’d also told them Charlie was a priority kill now that he was a wacko Sorcerer with a dangerous piece of Mount Qaf emerald powering his juice. To Ari’s everlasting relief, Charlie had gone underground these last two months and none of the Guilds could find him. She hoped he stayed there.
“You’re right.” Ari replied, her smile wan. “I did them a favor. Who gives a crap what they think?”
“Good.” Jai nodded, his expression hardening again. “Now let me clean up this guy, call the Guild to come take care of the human Sam Shepherd, and then we can get you home. How’s the rib?”
Ari looked down at the Qarin, her
stomach feeling a little steadier. “It’s healing. I’m … okay.”
To Ari’s relief, she and Jai were kept busy cleaning up the mess, handing human Sam Shepherd over to the rest of the Guild to brief him before sending him back into the human world. Then she and her boyfriend had to return to Michael’s to debrief him on the situation. Talking it out helped her deal with the immensity of what she’d done. Michael’s eyes grew fatherly and concerned when he learned Ari was the one who did the killing, and Ari wanted to ask what the hell he was playing at.
He wanted her to assassinate Jinn, and when she did, he went soft on her about it? It was nice that he was concerned … but also confusing.
Ari didn’t say anything, though.
After losing his daughter Fallon in Charlie’s war against the Labartu, Ari hadn’t the heart to call him out on his convoluted leadership skills with her.
Caroline fed them while they gave Michael the rundown. When it was over, they sent Ari and Jai on their way with another concerned look. The fact that Ari had chosen to shack up with Jai and Trey in the house they’d bought a couple of blocks away from Michael’s worried them. Yeah, Ari was eighteen and legally could make her own decisions, but they were worried what their other employees might think of a young girl living with two extremely hot, slightly older men.
They could think what they wanted.
Trey was one of her best friends now. And Jai, well … Jai was being weird.
Hence, the pissiness earlier.
Still shaken from the day’s ordeal, Ari was too exhausted to deal with her frustration regarding Jai. They entered the quiet four-bedroom house and immediately sensed Trey wasn’t home. Not surprising. With him serving as a combat instructor for the Guild—and because he was Trey and blessed with an abundance of charm—he’d made friends easily among the Hunters and was probably out at a bar with a few of the guys.
“You should eat,” Jai told her as she headed toward the wide staircase.
Dragging herself upstairs, she
shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”
“Ari …”
“I’ll eat in the morning.” She
turned around at her door. Her bedroom was down the hall from Trey’s and directly across the hall from Jai’s.
The root of her exasperation with him?
When they’d moved in two months ago, Ari had been touched by Jai’s thoughtfulness when he opened the door to the largest bedroom in the house and said it was all hers. By giving her her own bedroom, he was telling her he wasn’t pressuring her into having sex, or forcing their relationship to move too fast. It was thoughtful and considerate and so sweet.
But two months of barely there
kisses from him and no sneaking into her bedroom at night was driving her insane! Okay, so the kisses weren’t anything to scoff at, but anytime things got too heated, he’d back off and tell her to go to bed like she was a kid.
There had been none of the good stuff like what happened months ago on Mount Qaf after Charlie’s trial. He’d barely freaking touched her since, and she was beginning to feel like a not-so-hot leper.
The gentle touch of Jai’s knuckles stroking her jawline brought her out of her fog. She took hold of his hand, her eyes catching his. His were searching, worried about her. She felt a rush of love, lust, and confusion.
And she wasn’t in the mood to deal with it.
She’d killed an evil Jinn.
Boyfriend trouble would have to take a back burner for the night. “I’ll see you in the morning.” She pulled away from him, dropping his hand.
“Hey.” His fingers gripped her bicep a little tighter as he eased her back toward him. Jai frowned down at her. “You need me to stay with you tonight?”
Tonight of all nights, he asks? When I’m so exhausted I can barely stand?
Ari shook her head, biting back her frustration. “I just want to sleep. I’ll be fine.”
His strong fingers flexed around her arm and he stepped closer until his chest was brushing hers. He gave her a rueful, unsure smile that didn’t quite eliminate the vulnerable expression in his gorgeous eyes. “Can I get a kiss goodnight at least?”
An ache throbbed in her chest and Ari felt her lips curl softly at the corners. “For future reference, that’s a question you never have to ask me.”
Jai’s smile deepened, melting Ari’s insides. “Good to know,” he murmured against her mouth before softly pressing his to hers. She expected it to be sweet and short. Instead it was … emotional.
Jai held her to him, his hand wrapped around her nape. Ari let her lips fall open as Jai brushed his back and forth over hers, his tongue teasing her lips before licking inside—light, quick strokes against her tongue that made her breath catch and caused the weariness to flee. She arched her body into his and breathed him in, her heart accelerating at the hot taste of him.
But Jai refused to speed up the kiss. It was a seduction of deep strokes, teasing, nibbling, brushing … an imprint of him on her. A possessive kiss without the aggression. He was handling her gently but telling her she was his.
As he reluctantly pulled back,
Ari’s hands fluttered to his chest, her eyes closed, her lips tingling and swollen. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he told her hoarsely, clearly as affected by the kiss as she was.
Ari sucked in a breath at the heat in his expression. There it was. Every time they reached the point in fooling around when his eyes got that scorching, I-want-to-ravish-you-like-a-dude-in-a-romance-novel look in them, Jai backed off.