Charlie was happy. He was still dating the shy brunette and taking care of Mikey and his mom, who Ari also checked on. They were good too. Mrs. Creagh was dating Charlie’s boss, which clearly pissed off Charlie but Ari found it hilarious. She was just glad they were alive and healthy to have these disagreements and dramas.
As for Fallon, she’d spent the last year giving Eli McEttrick the runaround. She’d confessed to Ari that theirs was a friends-with-benefits relationship, but it had quickly deteriorated as it became clear Eli was interested in more. He pursued her with an impressive determination and persistence. She’d finally given in six months ago, and then he’d proposed, and it had taken him another three months to get her to say yes.
Michael was happy with his daughter’s choice of husband, and even happier that the engagement had started up talks of the possibility of the two Guilds joining together to make the largest Guild on the East Coast. Some were excited at the possibility, others not so much. Ari and Jai didn’t care what happened as long as they could stay with the family they’d built within the Roe Guild, and spend their days hunting and their nights cuddling.
Well, usually their nights.
“Do you think the Utukku is even going to show up?” Ari asked, almost whining. She was missing an episode of her favorite show for this crap.
“Not if you keep talking.”
“Someone is grumpy tonight.”
“I expected to be in bed with my girlfriend right about now, not hunting some creepy little schmuck in a cemetery in Maine.”
“Schmuck? Did you just use the word schmuck?”
Jai shook his head but his lips twitched, giving him away. “That’s all you got out of that sentence?”
“I’m not thinking about the rest of that sentence. It’ll just piss me off even more knowing what we could be doing instead of doing this.”
Jai stopped and reached out to her, his arm wrapping around her waist. He drew her close and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
Ari snuggled closer to him. “We’re not acting like responsible assassins right now.”
“I know.” He groaned and kissed her forehead before moving away from her. “When this is over, I’m going to make it up to you.”
A delicious shiver rippled over her at the thought. “Will you do that thing I like?”
“The thing-thing, or the thing?”
he asked, scanning the next aisle of headstones.
“The thing.”
“Baby, we get this guy and I’ll do the thing and the thing-thing.”
The Utukku picked that particular moment to appear at the end of the aisle, and with Jai’s sensual promise ringing in her ears, Ari unleashed a far more powerful curse than she needed to on the wicked Jinn.
It exploded.
Jai slowly turned to her, choking on laughter. “Was that necessary?”
Instead of answering, she grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pushed him back against the trunk of a tree. “You just promised to do both things. It was definitely necessary.”
He grinned and wrapped his arms around her, yanking her willingly against him. “So all I have to do is offer sexual favors and it completely wipes out any hesitation you have over taking a malevolent life?”
Ari leaned up to brush her mouth over his, loving the way his fingers dug into her hips with need. “You make that sound so much worse than it is.”
His kiss quickly turned hot and deep. Finally, Jai pulled back, their breathing heavy. “We should get back.”
“Or find the nearest hotel.”
“Or find the nearest hotel,” he agreed, his eyes heavily lidded with passion.
And then Jai’s cell beeped and he groaned, dropping his head against hers as he pulled the phone from his back pocket. He groaned again. “It’s Michael. He says once we’re done here, he needs us back at his place to discuss our next assignment.”
Ari frowned, took his cell, and began texting.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m telling him we’ll see him in the morning. It’s almost midnight, Jai. We need ‘us time’ and some rest.”
“I know.” He sighed but she could hear the teasing in his voice. “It’s not like we’re immortal or anything.”
She rolled her eyes and shoved his cell suggestively back in his pocket. “That’s the fifth time this month you’ve used that joke. You need to get new material.”
“You need to get your hand out of my pocket unless you want to do this in a cemetery.”
“Mmm, kinky,” Ari laughed.
Jai chuckled. “You’re a nut.”
“I’m your nut.”
“This is true.” His expression grew tender as he dipped his head to kiss her again.
“Ugh, gag me. Could you two be anymore sickening?”
The unfamiliar voice was a splash of ice water that drew them apart. Ari whirled around and her shoulders slumped in annoyance at the sight of the gnarled Jinn sitting atop a nearby headstone.
Another Utukku.
“Another one?” she huffed.
“You know they sometimes travel in pairs,” Jai reminded her.
She cracked her knuckles as she gazed up at her boyfriend. “Let’s make this quick. I do intend to get lucky at some point tonight.”
Lips curled at the corners, Jai nodded and then turned to the Utukku. He took a menacing step toward the Jinn.
“I’ll do the honors this time.”
“I’ve got your back, baby,” Ari answered, following him into the fight.
Always.
THE END