Bound (Secrets of the Djinn) (3 page)

“Sorry, Roman, Zane and I were just leaving.  The room is all yours,” I say, trying to sound cheerful but instead my voice sounds higher than usual and nervous. 

“Don’t leave on my account,” Roman drawls, leaning against the door jamb with his arms crossed over his chest. 

How Zane manages to
appear laid back and cocky when I can feel the tension roiling through him, I’ll never know.  “Somehow, I doubt you’d enjoy the show.”

Anger flashes across Roman’s face but it’s gone in a second.  A smile touches his lips that could be described as
menacing.  “Skye will get her memory back soon.”

It seems like an innocuous statement.  I will
, hopefully, get my memory back soon.  The spell used to erase my memory is slowly crumbling
.  W
hat makes his words anything but innocent is the inference that when I do remember everything, I’ll want him instead of Zane. 

Zane’s eyes narrow to slits and he takes a step forward before I grab his arm and stop him from doing something stupid.  “The sooner she remembers what you did to her the bet
ter.  It’ll make it easier for her to kill you and remove the mark.”  Cocky once more, he says, “Though, I will admit I like what happens when
I
touch it.” 

That was a direct hit.  Roman’s arms drop to his sides and his hands
roll into fists.  Because of his betrayal, when he touches the mark he gave me, I am wracked with pain to the point of passing out.  The direct opposite of what I feel when Zane puts his lips to it.

I shake my head.  I am tired of being treated like a chew toy two dogs are fighting over.  Not to mention, if I stay in this testosterone filled environment any longer, I’ll start growing hair on my chest.  Dropping my hand from Zane’s arm, I say, “Why don’t you both
stay and finish your workouts.  I’ll leave.”

Zane reaches out to grasp my arm but I shake his hand off.  “I’m going to get cleaned up.”  My tone is clear that I plan to do so alone. 
My exit isn’t the most graceful due to the crutches, but I’m too annoyed to care.  When I get to the door, I wait for Roman to move out of my way.  After a second’s hesitation, he moves aside.  “Skye…” he starts, but I keep going without a word.  Neither man follows me. 

I run into Brielle
near the elevator.  She has a sandwich in one hand and a water bottle in the other.  Her jaw is still red where I hit her.  “You look happy,” she says.

“Ecstatic,” I reply.  That one word carries enough sarcasm to fuel an entire class of teenagers for a year.

“Those boys giving you trouble?”

Startled,
I put my hand over my heart to make sure it’s still in my chest.  I turn to find Hank coming out of the library.  I’ve grown to like Hank over the last month, but he’s still one of the most intimidating people I have ever met.  Except for his wife.  “Not any more than usual.”

Brielle winks at him.  “I think we need his and her
s hours in the training room.”  Sometimes, she is too damn smart.

“Nah,” Mrs. Gregori says, her motorized wheelchair bringing her close enough to participate in the conversation.  “Hank, go knock some sense into those knuckleheads before they manage to kill each other.” 

I shake my head.  “No, just let them be.  They didn’t ask for any of this.”

Brielle snorts.  “I don’t remember volunteering, either.”

“Brielle, go on outta here with your food.  You’ll get crumbs all over the floor.  You,” she says to me, “this way.”  She turns her chair around, no doubt whether I will follow her.

I feel like a kid being sent to the principal’s office as I trail behind her and her chair.  She leads me to the library and I close the door behind us.  I doubt this will be a conversation for everyone to hear.

Mrs. Gregori stops in the middle of the room and motions for me to sit in one of the leather chairs.  When I’m seated, she says, “You’ve been training hard.  I’m proud of you.”  She doesn’t give compliments lightly, so I smile.  I’m not stupid, though.  There was a ‘but’ in her praise.  “Now it’s time to get your head out of your ass.  Do you really think pitting those boys against each other is going to be good for anyone?”

My mouth drops open.  “Pitting them against each other?  I’m not.  I’m with Zane and Roman
understands that.”

Her eyes become slits.  “Does he now? 
You mean he doesn’t see those longing stares you send in his direction every once in a while, or the way you turn a blush when he reacts to seeing you with my dunderhead of a grandson?”

“I don’t…” I start, but she’s right.  I do. 
I just did in the training room.  I sigh and sit back in my chair.  “I don’t like hurting Roman, or Zane.”

“Those boys have you all tied up in knots.  You’d be better off kicking both of them to the curb until you get your head on straight.  There’s too much at stake for you
to wrap yourself up in sex and jealousy.”

I’ve never had a grandparent
, but over the last month I’ve had an inkling of what it would be like.  Mrs. Gregori is rough around the edges, but she has a good heart.  She has taken both Roman and me into her house regardless of the fact we’re wanted by the authorities as suspected serial killers and hunted by all of the djinn.  That still doesn’t mean I’m comfortable talking to her about my sex life.

“I care for Zane, deeply.  I want to be with him.”

“He ain’t going anywhere.  We’re all stuck in this house for the time being, which is my point.  Every time my grandson touches you, it’s another match against the kindling.  I like Roman, though god knows I shouldn’t.  I believe he never meant you any harm.”

“He has a wife…” I begin but Mrs. Gregori holds up a hand.

“I ain’t saying you should forget about that.  I’m saying things are hard enough around here for him, no sense in you rubbing salt in his wounds all the time.”

“So, your answer is dumping Zane?  Don’t you think that would cause more trouble?”  Zane would be pissed and hurt.  So would I.  I’ve come to care a great d
eal for him over the last month and I’m happy when I’m with him.  It’s the only time I’m happy.

“You don’t
need to dump the boy, just try on a little discretion and see how it fits.”

My cheeks are flaming again.  I feel like a randy teenager being balled out for making out in the hallway at school. 
Good thing she didn’t catch the show in the training room.  “Okay,” is all I can manage.  My face is too heavy with the blood of my blush for me to move my lips any more. 

Taking pity on me, Mrs. Gregori points her wheelchair towards the door.  “I better see what Hank’s up to.  You look like you could use a shower.”

Subtle.  I don’t get up when she leaves the room.  My mind and body are too exhausted to lift from the chair.  She’s right about everything.  I never should have started anything with Zane; deep down, I knew what would happen.  I lean forward until my elbows are on my knees and put my face in my hands.  My life is such a mess.  I’m supposed to be this great Protector according to the djinn, but I can barely protect myself.  Half the time, I think Brielle lets me win when we spar just to build my confidence.  I’d be no match for anyone else in the house.  Yet, I’m supposed to save an entire race of beings I can hardly even remember.

I ignore the knock on the door.  The tears streaking down my cheeks and between my fingers make me crave solitude at the moment.  Something an unlocked door isn’t going to grant me
, unfortunately.

“Hey,” Zane says, peeking around the d
oor.  When he sees me, he closes the door behind him and walks across the plush, rust colored carpet to kneel in front of me.  “Skye, what is it?”  He can sense my emotions, but not the cause of them.

I sit back with a sniffle and use the heels of my palm to wipe away
the tears I’m trying desperately to stop shedding.  “I’m just having a bad moment,” I say, wishing for a Kleenex.  “I’m okay.”

“Bullshit.”

Another rush of tears assaults me and Zane leans forward to pull me close, enveloping me with his arms.  He lets me cry without saying another word.  His poor t-shirt is ruined by the time I’m done.

When I finally stop crying, Zane asks, “What did my grandmother say to you?”  There’s an edge to his voice as if he already knows the answer.
 

I lean back from him and
swipe at my tears again.  “Nothing that isn’t true.”

“Such as?”

I straighten up in the chair and wipe my eyes for the last time.  “I need to focus more on my training.”

Zane’s brow crinkles into two vertical lines over his nose.  “Skye, you already train from the time you get up until the time you go to bed.  What more could you do?”

“I need to focus my mind as well as my body.  The djinn are coming for me and god knows who else.  I can’t let distractions come between me and my destiny.”  Destiny.  If someone asked me a month ago about my destiny, I would’ve laughed at them.  I never believed in fate, or kismet or anything along those lines.  I intended to make my own destiny.  What a fool I was.

“Is that what I am, a distraction?”  His words are sharp and angry.

I steel myself for the lie I’m about to tell.  “Yes.”

“Is that all I am?”

Lie number two.  “Yes.” 

Pushing away from me, he stands and crosses his arms over his chest.  “Wow, my grandmother can really do a number on you.”  The words are not spoken in anger
like the previous ones.  They sound amused. 

“Zane, I…”

He shakes his head.  “I’m going to grab some lunch.  Why don’t you take a quick shower and I’ll fix you a sandwich.”

“After what I said
…” I begin but I’m once again cut off.

“Skye, you can’t lie to someone who knows
exactly
how you feel.”  He holds a hand out to me and pulls me from the chair.  He kisses me lightly on the cheek and then leaves the library, presumably to make us sandwiches.  I smile after him.  I just may be falling in love with that man.

Chapter 2

For the second time today, I shake off the pity party going on in my head.  Yes, Mrs. Gregori is right; my relationship with Zane is a complication.  He is a complication that gives me the drive to go on. He knows everything about me and he wants to be with me anyway. He is the one good thing in my heart right now and I’m going to keep him there for as long as he wants to stay. 

A new resolve formed in my chest, I’m ready for
a shower now.  I position my crutches and start forward.  On my second step, my right crutch gets caught on something and doesn’t move forward when my left one does.  My body twists around from the sudden imbalance with so much force it’s as if someone pushed me, and I’m falling to the ground.  My right crutch falls away from me.  I let go of my left crutch and instinctually put my hand out to soften the impact my body is about to experience.  Somehow, my wrist bends inward and I land on the top part of my hand instead of my palm.  When my full weight is put on it, I feel a sickening pop in my wrist.  My arm gives out and I land hard on my shoulder.  A wrenching pain makes me cry out as the joint dislocates.  My arm is stuck behind my body and I can’t move for fear I’ll make things worse.

It’s only a moment before Zane is by my side.  “Jesus, Skye, what happened?”  He attempts to roll me into a
different position so he can see me better, but my cry of pain makes him pull his hands back.  “Skye, what happened?  Where are you hurt?”

Before I can say anything, Brielle is next to her brother.  “What the fuck?  What is wrong with you today?”

Trying hard to keep from crying out again, I manage to say, “Your empathy is underwhelming.”  Moving my eyes so I can see Zane, I manage to say between teeth gritted in pain, “My crutch got stuck on something and I fell.”

“Stuck on something?”  He looks back toward the chair.  A scowl creases his brow.  “There’s a huge snag in the carpet.  I didn’t notice
it before.”

“You should probab
ly worry about the carpet later,” Brielle says, real concern in her voice now. “Your girlfriend is turning a shade of green that isn’t found in nature.”

Zane’s head whips back around.  “Oh god, Skye, I’m sorry.”  He looks up at Brielle.  “Go get Roman.”  Afraid to do anything else, Zane pushes my long hair back from
my face and runs his thumb softly along my cheek.  “You’re going to give me a heart attack today.”

I try to smile.  It doesn’t work.  “Sorry.”

“What happened?” Roman’s deep voice demands a moment later.

Reluctantly, Zane rises and moves out of Roman’s way.  “Her crutch got caught on a snag in the carpet and she fell.”

Angry, Roman says, “Why didn’t you catch her?”

Trying not to get into a fight with him, which I appreciate, Zane bites back his temper. 
“I wasn’t in the room.” 

To me, Roman asks, “Where are you hurt?”

Glad to finally have his attention, I manage to say between sharp stabs of pain, “I think my wrist is broken and my shoulder dislocated.”  I’m sure I did more damage to my ankle, as well.