Possessed by Desire (8 page)

“You son of a bitch.” Ashur lunged.

A scream ripped through the night air. A grunt echoed. Wood splintered. Glass shattered. Voices hollered.

Claire tore into the room, stumbling across the door track. Light from the large stone fireplace at the end of the great room rippled over Ashur and Tariq, entangled on the floor. A coffee table lay in pieces, broken wineglasses strewn about. Ashur lifted his fist and threw a punch that sent Tariq’s head jerking back. Mira, standing near the fireplace, screamed.

Then movement to the right grasped Claire’s attention. And she jerked that direction only to see another male—equally as large and dark as Tariq and Ashur—hurl himself toward Ashur’s back.

“Let go, Ashur,” the male hollered. “Dammit, let go.”

Ashur jerked out of his grip, landed another right hook against Tariq’s jaw. The male swore, got a better grip on Ashur, and hauled him off Tariq.

Tariq sat up slowly and shifted his jaw from side to side. “I see you’ve learned a few moves.”

“Fuck you,” Ashur growled.

Wide-eyed, Claire watched the scene, unsure if she should step in or get the hell away. Sure, Ashur had been pissed at her when he’d found out she was celestial, but that had been nothing like this.

At Ashur’s back, the male still holding him murmured, “Take a breath, brother. No one here’s going to hurt you.”

Ashur’s body stilled, and he twisted his head to look behind him, suspicion alive in his features as if he’d just realized there was another person in the room. “N—Nasir?”

The male smiled. And the spread of the lips, the twinkle in the eyes… Even from her viewpoint, Claire could tell he was Ashur’s other brother. “That’s what people call me.”

Ashur’s brow dropped low. “What…? I thought… They told me you died in the pits.”

“Not dead,” Nasir said softly, loosening his grip until he was no longer holding Ashur. “At least not yet. I was rescued.”

He glanced toward the archway that led to the kitchen. Ashur twisted to see what he was looking at. And that was when Claire realized there was another female in the room. A redhead with emerald-green eyes, wearing jeans and a fitted white T-shirt, looking almost as shell-shocked as Claire felt. Claire looked to Mira for clues to who the female was, but Mira was too busy checking Tariq for injuries and helping him up to pay any attention to her.

“
She
saved
you
?” Ashur asked, the snarl in his voice reverberating through the room. “She’s Ghul.”

Nasir’s jaw hardened. “She’s my mate. And she’ll be your queen soon, so watch your mouth.”

Ashur’s gaze snapped back to Tariq standing on the other side of the room. “What does he mean by ‘queen’?”

Tariq swiped at the blood on his lip. When Mira reached up to help him, he whispered, “I’m fine,
hayaati
.”

Mira muttered something Claire couldn’t hear, but in the glare she shot Ashur’s way, it was clear she was as ticked with Ashur as Ashur had been with Claire earlier.

Tariq looked back at his youngest brother. “I abdicated the throne to Nasir. I’ve chosen to stay here.”

Ashur’s irate gaze cut to Mira. “With her? A human? You betrayed me and Nasir and our entire kingdom for
her
?”

Fire flashed in Mira’s eyes. “Now just a minute—”

Tariq laid his hand over hers, cutting off her words, but his voice held no anger when he said, “Yes. With her. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

Ashur looked from brother to brother. And from the hatred brewing in his eyes, Claire had the sinking suspicion what had started to feel like a truce was about to escalate into World War III. “A Ghul and a human? No wonder no one came looking for me. You were both too busy getting fucked by our enemies.”

The female in the doorway to the kitchen drew in an audible gasp. Tariq’s jaw hardened.

“I don’t care what you’ve been through,” Nasir growled. “You will not talk about Kavin that way.”

Tension coated every inch of the room. In the silence that followed, Ashur’s inflamed gaze jumped from face to face, finally holding on Tariq’s bruises. And there was something in his eyes. A mixture of hurt and betrayal and hatred that Claire recognized. Recognized because she’d seen it in the mirror. Staring back at her those first few years after she’d been banished to the human world.

“You don’t command me,” Ashur said in a low tone. “None of you do. Not anymore.”

Black smoke swirled, and voices echoed. But before either brother could stop him, Ashur poofed right out of the room.

Silence descended. And when the smoke cleared, Tariq looked her way, followed by Nasir, whose surprised expression told her he’d just realized she was there.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, not sure what else to say. “I didn’t know he was the djinni she’d send. I…” Her lungs cinched down tight and tears she’d never felt before burned her eyes. Tears over what she’d seen and done and was still planning to do.

Tariq let go of Mira’s hand and stepped forward. “Claire?”

Outside, a loud noise reverberated, followed by a string of curse words, some of which Claire guessed had to be Marid.

“Sounds like he ran into the trashcans,” Tariq muttered.

Claire’s pulse picked up speed, and she looked toward the door behind her. “Why is he out there? Why didn’t he just leave?”

“He’s bound to the opal you wear,” Nasir said. When she looked his way, he was staring at the jewel around her neck.

“He can’t get more than a hundred yards away from you.” Tariq added. “At least until his job is done.”

Claire’s gaze jumped to Mira’s husband, and unease rolled through her belly.

“How did you find the firebrand opal?” Mira asked, her brows dipping low. “I mean, I thought we agreed if one of us found the bottle, we’d alert the others. How did it get around your neck?”

Mira’s voice jolted Claire back to the conversation at hand. “It’s…a long story.”

Nasir sighed and slipped an arm around Kavin’s shoulder when she moved next to him. “Until our little brother calms down, time is all we have.”

Another string of curses echoed from the dark forest surrounding the house. Claire looked toward the open door again, and her pulse picked up speed.

“I should go talk to him,” Tariq muttered.

From the way Ashur had reacted to Tariq’s presence the first time, Claire didn’t think that was a good idea. Plus, she knew the last person he’d want to talk to would be the brother he believed had betrayed him.

Her stomach grew light. An odd sort of kinship toward Ashur built inside her, one that had nothing to do with the sexual cravings he’d ignited, one that made it hard to draw air. He was djinn; she was celestial. They came from two different worlds and were not supposed to interact. Yet for the first time since she’d been banished—for the first time ever, really—she was drawn to another being. Not because she was commanded, but because she understood exactly what he was going through.

Tariq moved forward, but she held out a hand, stopping him. “No. Don’t. I’ll go.”

“But he—”

She looked back at her friends. “I started this. It’s my fault. And now it’s time for me to make at least part of it right.”

* * *

Ashur kicked a can out of his path from the trash bin he’d a knocked over. He’d walked a complete circle around the house but couldn’t get more than a hundred yards away. That damn opal was keeping him locked in place. And until Claire came out—because he sure as hell wasn’t going back in to that house—he was stuck.

Footsteps crunched on the forest floor, and relief seeped in. He didn’t need to turn to see it was Claire. He could sense her. Or, at least, he could sense the opal. Which, at the moment, was all he cared about.

“Let’s go,” he said.

“We’re not leaving.”

He swiveled to face her. Moonlight shimmered over her, highlighting her hair and skin, making her look—for the first time—like the celestial being she was. “Yes, we are. You don’t command me either. Remember that,
noor
.”

He brushed past her and headed down the hillside toward the water’s edge. With her outside, he could go a little farther without hitting that invisible barrier, and he needed to get as far from this house as possible.

At his back, she drew in a breath, let it out. A chill from the damp forest slid down his spine, but he ignored it. His head was too full of realities he was having a hard time believing.

Nasir was alive. He’d taken a Ghul as his mate. And he was now going to be king of Gannah? Zoraida’s henchmen had told Ashur Nasir was dead. Did they not know Nasir was alive? And did he still wear the opal? The same one Ashur wore but which couldn’t be seen in this realm?

He stopped at the edge of the water, rested his hands on his hips, and looked out over the shimmering surface. All of it, every piece of it, was Tariq’s fault. If he’d done what their father had commanded years ago and taken over rule of their land, he never would have been in that village when Zoraida’s army attacked. He wouldn’t have been taken prisoner. Nasir and Ashur wouldn’t have spent years of their lives searching for him, wouldn’t have been captured by Zoraida’s goons themselves. Life in Gannah would be as it was supposed to be. Safe. Predictable.
Empty
.

The last lingered in his mind as an owl swooped low over the water. His life in Gannah as the youngest prince had been easy—too easy—even he knew that. He wasn’t the heir. He wasn’t the spare. He’d done anything he’d wanted, and no one had cared. He’d charmed the ladies, slept till noon, hadn’t once worried about responsibilities or expectations or what tomorrow would bring, like his brothers. The biggest complaint he’d had growing up was that his brothers looked at him as the baby and wouldn’t take him along on their adventures. He’d hated that. Hated being left out. But he’d never done anything to prove himself worthy of inclusion, now had he?

Not until he’d gone looking for them and had been taken prisoner himself. And look how that had turned out.

“Ashur, we need to talk.”

His jaw clenched. He especially hated that the angel was behind him right now, when he was dealing with all this shit and couldn’t get away from her. “No, we need to leave.”

“I understand you’re upset with Tariq, but things are not what they seem.”

He whirled on his heel, and all that anger he’d been saving for Tariq was unleashed on her. “How do you know him? Why did he call you? Start talking,
noor
, because I’m not feeling all nice and agreeable like I was before.”

Her blue eyes held his, luminescent eyes that seemed to sparkle under the moonlight, but he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Doubted he’d ever be able to. “Mira was bound to the firebrand opal. She came to me, months ago, because she wanted to know if there was a way to free Tariq.”

“Why you? Does she know what you are?”

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “No, none of them know, not even Tariq. I’m a history and folklore professor at a university in Florida. She found me through the Internet, knew I’d published research about djinn.”

His eyes narrowed. “Why? What is your fascination with my race aside from wanting to steal our powers?”

She breathed out a sigh and folded her arms over her breasts. “I don’t want to steal your powers, Ashur. I told you that. Not all celestial beings have ulterior motives.”

“And not all Ghuls are depraved.”

One corner of her mouth curled. “Nasir’s mate is Ghul, and she didn’t look overly depraved to me.”

She hadn’t looked depraved to Ashur either. She’d looked timid and nervous and as shell-shocked as he felt.

He shook off the thought. No matter how she’d
seemed
, she was still Ghul, and he’d spent enough time in Zoraida’s dungeons to know Ghuls scraped the bottom of the djinn gene pool. “So she found you. What does that have to do with my backstabbing brother?”

“Ashur.” She tipped her head, and pity crept into her eyes. “He didn’t forget about you. When Mira discovered a way to free Tariq from the opal, Zoraida showed up to claim Mira’s soul. There was a battle, but they won, and they trapped the firebrand opal—this opal” —she touched the gem at her neck— “along with the sorceress in a bottle. But it fell overboard and washed out to sea before they could stop it. Yes, Tariq chose to give up his throne and stay in the human realm so he could be with Mira, but he also stayed for you. Because he was desperate to find that bottle and figure out a way to free you. He couldn’t have done that from the djinn realm.”

Ashur had a hard time believing what he was hearing. But then he was still having trouble comprehending the fact Nasir was alive. He had so many questions about that—about how his brother had escaped from the Pits of Jahannam and why Zoraida hadn’t yet called him back.

Claire moved a half step forward. “Every moment Tariq stays in the human world, he loses his djinn powers and becomes more human. Soon he won’t be able to cross back to your realm at all. He’s been frantically searching for that bottle since it was lost.”

Ashur thought back to the surprise in Tariq’s eyes when he’d stepped in the room. Then to the fact his brother hadn’t once fought back when Ashur had attacked him. Doubt pushed against him from every side.

Then he remembered the guilt he’d seen on Claire’s face when Tariq’s voice had interrupted them back on that island. “Why were you the one to find it? And if you know of my brothers and the sorceress, why did you act like you didn’t know who I was?”

Unease rushed over her face, and she looked down at the pine needles beneath her sandals. “Because I honestly didn’t know who you were when you showed up on my beach. I assumed Zoraida had multiple pleasure slaves. I didn’t think she’d send you.”

Zoraida did have multiple pleasure slaves. And she probably wouldn’t have sent Ashur, but Nuha had advocated for him. The first time in his life he’d strived to succeed at something, and it had turned into this.

Was it a blessing or a curse?

Claire combed her fingers through her hair. “I…Tariq and Mira knew I was searching for the bottle too. But they thought it was because I was helping them. They didn’t know the real reason I needed to find it.”