Her Warriors' Three Wishes (Dante's Circle) (16 page)

“Well, at least that works,” she said. “I can feel the power running in my veins. It’s sweet, like honey. When Lily changed, and we found out that the rest of us might follow down her path, I never thought it would actually happen. Oh, I’d hoped because that meant I’d be with you.” She ducked her head and blushed while Ambrose kissed her brow.

Balin didn’t take any offense that she didn’t mention him. After all, before today, she hadn’t known him.

Had it really only been a day? He had no idea how much time had passed in the human realm considering hell ran on its own timeline, but he’d felt like he’d always known her and Ambrose.

And always would.

No, that wasn’t right.

He was still dying.

It was as if someone had stabbed him in the heart with a cool blade, the ice settling over him as his fate called.

He’d lose them.

Without his strength, he couldn’t get them out of hell.

They’d lost.

“Balin?” Jamie asked, her voice laced with worry. “What’s wrong?”

Ambrose cursed and rubbed Balin’s back. The feel of the other’s man’s touch settled him.

“It didn’t work, did it?” he asked. Balin shook his head, not surprised that Ambrose would know what he was thinking about.

“What didn’t work?” She looked between them, her voice high. “I can feel you in my heart, so I know the bond is working. What’s wrong?”

Balin gave a self-deprecating smile. “I’d thought our bond would work like a cycle, giving me the energy I need. I would think I’d have to bond with Ambrose the same way, but I know other triads form their bond from sex like we had, not necessarily with the three of us in every which way.”

Her face fell as tears rose in her eyes. “No. No, it has to work.” She scrambled off Ambrose’s lap and fell onto his. “I can’t lose you. I just found you. There’s got to be something you can do.”

Balin crushed her to him, burying his face in her hair, inhaling that spicy floral scent that he didn’t want to lose.

Her body shook as she sobbed in his hold, and he let the few tears fall from him that he’d held in for almost three hundred years. 

“There might be a way,” Ambrose said as he stood to pace the small cell.

Jamie looked up and faced him while Balin grabbed onto that small lifeline that Ambrose had thrown out. He didn’t know what the other man would say, but it had to be better than the loss that cascaded deep within him.

“The djinns have the ability to bestow three wishes on those they love,” Ambrose began, and Balin’s heart beat in his ears.

He bit his tongue so he wouldn’t interrupt.

Jamie slid off his lap and put her hands on her hips. “Then tell me what do to. I’m not going to let him die.”

Ambrose gave a small smile, and Balin stood so he could wrap his arms around her.

“From what I know, which isn’t much, you will have to use that aura, the smoke you saw before surrounding you.” At her nod, Ambrose continued. “You’ll use that to surround the person you love and make your wish.”

Jamie nodded and pulled from his hold. “Okay then. Let’s get started.”

Ambrose shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”

“Of course it isn’t,” she complained and wrapped her arms around her middle.

“You only get three, Jamie. Just three. Then you can’t use your magic to make drastic changes. I know you don’t understand what it is you can do exactly, but we’ll find out. Djinn can use their powers to protect and harm, much like a witch’s power. You’ll be stronger, faster, and more in tune with the world around you. You’ll also be able to use your magic like a weapon once you’re trained. You’ll be able to use it for other things that don’t require your aura, but other than that, you’ll be powerless.”

“Fine, then we use this one. I’m not letting Balin die.”

Balin took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He knew Jamie would do anything for those she cared about. He’d already seen during their short time together. He couldn’t take her wish and leave her with only two for the future. 

He opened his eyes to find Jamie standing in front of him with her own narrowed. “Don’t you dare think you’re not important enough for my wish, Balin Drake.”

“How did you know what I was thinking?”

“Because I know you in my soul.” She pressed her palm between her breasts, over her heart. “You don’t get to sacrifice yourself for something that
could
happen later. I’m not losing you. I want to get out of hell so the three of us can figure out what we’re doing with our futures. Plus, I miss my friends, my job, my
life
. So, you don’t get to be selfish and decide whether or not I get to use
my
wish on you. Got it?”

He nodded, proud, scared, and a little turned on at her tone. He looked up at Ambrose, who stood there smiling.

“Since she explained to you what we’re doing, we can begin,” Ambrose said, and Balin wanted to flip him off, but it didn’t seem like the right time.

“What do I need to do?” she asked.

“You’ll need to change back and try to extend your aura to him.”

Jamie closed her eyes and Balin watched as she focused, her body changing into her djinn form, her aura brightening.

“Should she be holding me or something?” Balin asked. “To make it easier?”

Ambrose tilted his head in thought then nodded. “I think the others can do it from afar as long as the person they want to bestow their wish on is in their sight, but since you’ve only been a djinn for about five minutes, I don’t think it could hurt.”

Jamie nodded then wrapped her arms around Balin’s middle. Balin kissed the top of her head and hugged her close.

“Now think about your djinn state, Jamie,” Ambrose whispered. “You can do this.”

The hair on the back of Balin’s neck tickled, and power washed over him like a warm blanket as Jamie changed to her djinn state.

“Now imagine that aura surrounding you and think about it wrapping around Balin.”

“Are you making this up as you go along?” Jamie asked as her face scrunched. Her aura flickered but didn’t move toward Balin.

Ambrose let out a sigh. “I’m a five-thousand-year-old angel. I think I can wing this.”

Jamie and Balin laughed.

“Wing it?” Jamie said. “Get it?”

Ambrose cracked a smile then nodded as Balin felt Jamie’s aura slowly creep over him like a warm blanket.

Jamie’s eyes widened. “You did that on purpose.”

“You’re relaxing,” Ambrose explained. “Now, when it’s completely over him, make your wish.”

“Will it hurt?” Balin asked. “No, not me. I don’t care if it hurts me. Will it hurt Jamie?”

“I don’t care if it hurts me either,” Jamie said.

“I’m not sure on either account, but Jamie, you’re there. You’re aura is where it needs to be. Now make that wish.”

Jamie looked into Balin’s eyes, and he warmed. Her aura was hot, spicy, caring, and...
her
. She was pure, peaceful, and everything he’d dreamed he could find in a mate.

And, she was his.

No, he looked at Ambrose quickly.
Theirs
.

He looked back at Jamie after Ambrose’s slight nod and met her gaze. 

“I wish for Balin to fully be healed,” she stated. “Healed in all ways, spiritually and physically. I wish him to be whole.”

His body buckled, not in pain, but from the amount of energy that coursed through him like a heated furnace. The bonds between the three of them pulsed, the cycle he’d been begging for rushing like a river after a harsh winter snow’s melting.

He was whole.

Jamie’s aura pulled back as she exhaled, and he kissed her hard.

“It worked,” he whispered as he pulled back and Ambrose snuck in to kiss them both.

Tears made stains down Jamie’s cheeks as her body faded to its human form.

“We’re okay. You’re okay,” she said over and over again.

“Are either of you weak? How is your energy?” Ambrose asked the both of them.

“I’m fine. No, better than fine,” Balin answered. “I haven’t felt this good since before I was twenty and I wasn’t yet in maturity. No, that’s not even right. I feel better than that.”

Ambrose cupped his cheek. “Good. You have a future ahead of you, and with that, we all do.”

Balin nodded, emotion clogging his throat.

“Jamie, what about you? Did it hurt? Tell me.” Ambrose took her in his arms, and Balin didn’t protest. They’d all need to learn to share, but at the moment all he could think about was Ambrose’s words.

They did have a future.

For all his hopes and dreams, he’d never thought it’d be possible.

They were his everything, and he owed them even more.

Thankfully, he had an eternity to make that happen.

“I’m fine,” Jamie said. “I promise. It didn’t hurt at all, and it didn’t even drain me. It was invigorating.”

“Thank God,” Ambrose said as he kissed her temple. “Don’t show off your new powers, Jamie. We can’t get out of the cell using Balin’s replenished power because of the coliseum’s wards, but we
will
get out of here. I’d rather them be surprised by your new strength.”

“Won’t they be able to tell right away?”

Ambrose shook his head. “With it so new on you, I think they would be able to tell only by getting very close. And, even if they did, you’re stronger now, Jamie.”

She closed her eyes, and Balin saw the relief spread over her face.

“Thank God.”

“Thank God for what?” a voice called out behind them.

They all turned. Balin pushed Jamie behind himself and Ambrose. A guard stood in the hall.

“I’ve been told to bring you to the games. The human gets to die tonight.”

It seemed their time alone was over, but they wouldn’t be going down without a fight.

No, they wouldn’t be going down at all.

****

Jamie wrung her hands together as she stood in the empty cell underneath the coliseum floor. They’d taken her from her men—her men, that was a nice thing to say—and thrown her in this cell. They’d also given her an outfit to fight in.

She rolled her eyes as she looked at what she wore. The leather corset forced her boobs almost to her chin, quite an alarming feat considering she didn’t have the biggest breasts in the world. The tight-fitting torture device stopped right at her belly button and the short leather skirt she wore showed about five inches of stomach and way too much leg. They’d also given her leather boots that laced up to her knees and thankfully didn’t have a heel so she could at least walk—or run, which was likely to be the case.

She looked like a whore.

Caring more about what she wore and how she would move in it made more sense than freaking out about the fact that she was about to die.

Or, at least, fight to live. She just had to figure out a way to get out of the games alive so Balin could take them home.

The thought of home with both Ambrose and Balin made her body stir in an altogether pleasant and heated way, but she pushed that back.

She’d deal later with the whole ideas of a triad and mating, living with two men—if that’s what they did—the reality of her life being nothing like it used to be, and the fact that she was pretty sure she was falling in love with both of them.

Jamie couldn’t deal with that right now. Now, she’d ignore it and bury the feelings until she was back in the human realm, alive and whole. Then everything could come crashing down on her because they hadn’t exactly discussed the future.

Yeah, they’d said some vague things about it, but nothing concrete. And she needed concrete.

Her greatest fear—beyond being eaten alive within the next hour—was that Balin would decide that he was done with them once they escaped hell and had just been using her. Then Ambrose would leave because he was still too in love with his late wife and didn’t want to deal with another loss, so he’d leave before she left him.

As if she’d ever do that.

She knew they’d said the words they needed to say to get her to change in a time of dire need, but that didn’t mean that when the chips fell where they may and life returned to peace that they would stay.

No, she wouldn’t think about those fears yet.

Or, she would at least pretend they weren’t in the back of her mind, festering and building on top of one another.

Jamie took a deep breath, the corset digging into her sides as she did so. A man had to have designed the damn thing because surely no woman would purposely stick herself into one of these.

She had no idea where Ambrose and Balin were, and her fear for them lodged in her throat. She told herself that Fury and Pyro didn’t want them dead right away. No, they’d rather have Jamie dead first.

After whoever was out there raped her.

Hence the whore outfit.

Well, screw that. She wasn’t going to just lie down and prepare to die. She’d fight. Though she had no idea how to use these new powers of her, she could still feel the strength running through her veins. She could at least fight back.

Jamie swallowed hard, closing her eyes.

She wouldn’t die weak.

That didn’t mean she wanted to die at all.

Suddenly, the ground beneath her feet trembled, and the roof opened up above her. She shielded her eyes from the red glare of the sky as the noise from the crowed nearly deafened her.

The floor below her rose, and she almost fell to her knees but caught herself. She would not look weak when they brought her in. With her hands fisted, ready to fight if she had to, she rose into the coliseum, dead center, surrounded by thousands of demons in the stands who screamed, roared, and called for her death.

Her heart beat loudly in her ears and her newfound powers threatened to push through, but she held them back. Ambrose had told her to remain human for as long as possible to shield herself and take the others by surprise.

It was her only plan.

“Quiet!” Fury yelled into the speakers, his voice rising over the roar of the crowd.

They hushed in an instant, the raw power of Fury’s voice sending shivers along her sides. 

“We all know why we’re here today. This human,” he spat the word like a curse, “is here to die painfully at the hands of our proudest warriors. Now, to make matters even better, we have the two men she cares about with us to watch!”