Aftershocks

Chapter Two

The next few days passed slowly for Ellie. At ends now that she’d finished her job at Outpour, she created things to do that would keep her out of her apartment until late at night when she’d stumble into bed. She’d spent Sunday hiking up in Snoqualmie, Monday hanging around her mother and visiting with friends, catching up on what she’d missed the past six months at the university. Yesterday, she’d walked until her legs felt like they’d fall off, window-shopping downtown and through Pike’s Place market. She’d visited her mother again, seen a movie, bought and read a book…

Staying busy was hell. She wanted to relax, to use this downtime to recuperate from her nightmarish stint as a bartender. The money had been great, but the hours had started to suck her back into a place she didn’t want to go—Dark.

Due to her heritage as a Djinn, Ellie thrived at night. She could tolerate the sun well enough, but her body and soul flourished during the dark hours. Yet another black mark against Cadmus. Taking the job at Outpour had thrown her entire chemistry out of whack. She’d spent the last three nights staring at the ceiling, still not used to sleeping in the early a.m.

Those damn Storm Lords. They should have stayed in Tanselm, in a parallel world humans had no idea existed. Were it not for their unwelcome presence in this place, in her world, Ellie would even now be sleeping peacefully, resting up for her job teaching English 101 at the university. A job currently taken by Jane Rascoll, that miserable suck-up.

As if losing the teaching position to Jane weren’t bad enough, Ellie’s nights had been restless with erotic thoughts, memories and fantasies of the Earth Lord who’d broken her heart. She couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep—all because of him. Sighing at the expectation of another long, uneventful day, she stared at the ancient ceiling light, aware that one bulb needed replacing. Right on that thought trailed the question of what she’d do today to avoid Cadmus.

Her door crashed open, interrupting her troubled mind.

“That’s it.” Cadmus, wearing a pair of low-slung denims and nothing else, stalked into her room and stopped at the foot of her bed. His eyes were a dark brown, mirroring his irritation. On Cadmus, annoyance looked too damn tempting. He breathed in deeply and drew her gaze to his sculpted chest. She swallowed audibly, blinking up at him. Had any man ever looked so fine? He could have posed for any fitness magazine, or better yet, for designer underwear, showcasing those tight, smooth abs and rock-hard thighs.

A sucker for a muscular body, she was having a hard time hanging onto her mad as she stared at him.

“It’s been three days. I’m going out of my mind with boredom.” He held up a hand to stop her reply. “Not your problem, I know. But until I’m back at home, I’m making it your problem.” Breathing hard, Cadmus let his gaze trail down her face to linger on the hollow of her throat, where her pulse wouldn’t stop racing. “I’m open to suggestions,” he murmured, drawing nearer. “Maybe we could work off some of my energy together.”

She scrambled to a sitting position, not wanting to be prone with Cadmus anywhere near. “Hold it! I agreed to let you stay here, but that’s all I’m agreeing to. What the hell did you do that they kicked you out of Foreia, anyway?”

He flushed, and she waited, more than curious.

“I got a little rough with Jonas’ brothers.”

She frowned. “Jonas doesn’t have any brothers.”

“Well, that’s what he called those giants he pals around with in Foreia.”

“Oh, the other warriors.” Jonas had no siblings, but he did have several cousins. She was his favourite, and the feeling was mutual. But from what he’d told her about his fellow Djinn warriors, the bond between them was unbreakable. The rebel Djinn acted like family, and she could only imagine what Cadmus had done to interrupt that.

“Was it a woman?” she asked wryly, having no problem believing that.

He scowled. “No. I’m not into Dark—ah,” he stumbled, picking up right where they’d left off.

“Go on,” she said coolly. “You’re not into Dark, evil Djinn. Women like me, hmm?”

He ran a hand through his hair, the action showcasing the corded muscle of his biceps. “That’s not what I was going to say. The few women I met in Foreia were Djinn warriors. The only thing those women were selling was anger, and all directed my way.”

“Poor Cadmus.” Ellie chuckled, pleased when his eyes narrowed. “So much Earth Lord and no one to share him with. You should have just stayed in Seattle where you could have screwed as many human women as possible. I think Beth’s still pining for you at the club. Maybe you should look her up.”

He said nothing, staring at her with a quiet intensity she found more than unnerving.

“What?” she snapped, crossing her arms over her breasts, thinly clad in her nightshirt.

He smiled, the expression not reaching his eyes. “You seem awfully interested in my sex life for a woman who’s gone out of her way to avoid me. Could it be you’re afraid of what’s between us?”

Fury filled her, pushing aside her fear that he was right. Ellie pushed off the bed and clenched her hands into fists, barely refraining from socking him in the mouth. She didn’t stop moving until she stood within punching distance.

“Afraid? If anything, I’m afraid I’ll forget why I got involved in this in the first place and throw you out on your fat, conceited head. I’m avoiding you because I can’t stand being cooped up with a man who’s made no bones about his distaste for ‘my kind’. I still have trouble believing you may one day be king.” She poked him hard in the chest, glad for the anger that darkened his face. “After all the Djinn have done for you, if you do become overking, you’d better not forget them.” She forgot for the moment that she had no interest in Djinn affairs. “Jonas and my father put their lives on the line for you, as have the others. So try to have a bit of princely decorum when you get back. Recognise their efforts at least, even if they are just, and I quote, ‘unclean, Dark deviants’.”

He stared at her in silence, and she wondered if she’d gone too far. But when he replied, he spoke calmly, his voice husky with apology. “I said those things to you in anger, and for that I apologise. I certainly never meant that you were any of that. The Djinn I’ve met since being stuck with Jonas are different from what I’m used to. I can’t—I won’t—in good conscience ever call them evil or unclean.” He cleared his throat. “When you first confessed what you were—”

“Who I was helping,” she corrected.

“—okay, who you were helping, I felt betrayed. I trusted you, Ellie. I told you things I’d never told anyone else, only to find I’d given vital information on the Storm Lords to the enemy. To a woman I thought was the enemy,” he amended before she could protest her allegiance once more.

She squirmed under his regard, knowing he’d had every right to distrust her. She’d done a favour for her father and, in his defence, what would be best for Foreia and the Storm Lords in the long run. But Cadmus only knew he’d confided in Ellie Markham, a human woman who smiled and talked with him.

“It was a bit more than smiling and talking.” Cadmus reached up to caress her cheek, reading the stray thought. “I’m sure your father never asked you to go so far distracting me.”

She inhaled sharply when his finger grazed her lower lip. “Ethim il Ruethe would no more allow his daughter to touch a Light Bringer than make love to one. Cadmus, stop touching me.”

“No, Ellie. Don’t forget what we once shared. I don’t.”

Before she could protest again, he kissed her. Possession. Inhumanly hot, dark possession. She could barely think as he buried her in feeling. His hands clenched her shoulders, spearing through her thin nightshirt so she could feel his callused palms as if on her naked flesh. Her breasts pushed against him, her nipples prodding through cotton to feel the hard wall of muscle under sprigs of dark, silky chest hair.

“By the Light, Ellie,” Cadmus breathed as he pulled from her lips to stare down at her. “I can’t stop thinking about this. About you,” he admitted and kissed the curve of her cheek.

His hands slid down her shoulders, caressing and stroking before moving towards her breasts. Ellie wanted to stop him, but he found her nipples and toyed with them until she could barely think.

She could feel his erection straining at his jeans. With every squeeze, every touch of his lips and tongue, he thrust against her, his urgency increasing. She gripped his thick hair to hold him close. Slanting her mouth under his, she slowly took control of the kiss, causing him to groan her name.

“Ellie, baby, more,” he gasped when her mouth left his to trail down his throat.

Unfortunately, his words and the way he’d said them sparked a memory.

“More,” he’d said, before grabbing her and pulling her on top of him. She’d slowly eased down, encasing his hot cock inside her. Riding him as he’d teased her breasts, she’d stared into dark brown eyes filled with heat, with power, and with affection she returned far more than was good for her.

Another image. His eyes clouded, darkened with rage when he’d learned her father’s identity and Ellie’s real reason for being at Outpour. He’d refused to listen to her after that, refused to hear the painful truth she’d been a heartbeat from declaring. Instead he’d shouted, insulting and shocking her with words that turned her world upside-down.

“No,” she rasped and pushed away from him. What the hell did she think she was doing, letting Cadmus Storm back into her graces?

“Ellie,” he cajoled. “We’re just getting started.”

Oh no, not that slumberous look that made her melt into a puddle at his feet. She deliberately focused on the pulse beating at his neck.

“I’m not doing this again. Not with you.” I refuse to let you hurt me like you did before. She kept her thoughts to herself, deliberately shielding from him.

“Ellie, I hate to break it to you,” his soft voice lured her into looking back at him, “but you can no more deny this than I can.”

“You’re wrong.” She took a deep breath, aware the movement created a delicious friction against her taut nipples.

“Am I? You want me, Ellie.” He flashed a dimple that made him all the more enticing. Rubbing his chest with deliberate strokes, he seduced her with word and sight and sound. “I remember how much you like my touch.” He studied her body, fixating between her thighs. “You get so wet for me, so sweet. Remember how I teased your clit? How I licked you all over, then made my way back up your body to suck your nipples into hard little points? How I brought you to orgasm over and over again with just my mouth and hands?”

She wished she could forget. As it was, her breasts ached to feel him touch her once more.

His eyes wandered to her navel. “Still wearing it?”

He’d been fascinated by her belly ring and apparently still was. She had no intention of telling or showing him she never took it off.

“Look, Cadmus,” she said, trying to catch her breath. Her hands itched. She could still feel him beneath her palms. “It’s way too early for this.”

“I’m not moving until you’re under me, or we go out and do something.”

The way her body reacted, she knew she was too close to the first option. Ellie cleared her throat. “I’m letting you stay in my home. Hell, I’ll even spend some time with you to ease your princely boredom,” she conceded. Anything to get him out of here before I jump him and lose all self-respect. “But I won’t make lo— I won’t fuck you again.”

His good humour left him, and he stepped closer. “Oh honey, we’ll make love again.” Shocks of elemental power yanked her into his waiting arms. “Don’t worry, my little Djinn.” He infuriated her with his sheer strength, his presumption and how easily he made her want him. “I won’t force you. The next time we fuck…” he bit out, “…you’ll be begging me for it.” He kissed her hard, then let her go and turned on his heel, slamming the door shut behind him.

Ellie fingered her throbbing lips, staring at the closed door with alarm. She wanted him more now than she ever had, and she’d just agreed to spend time with him. Crap. Since she couldn’t stay away from him physically, she’d have to emotionally distance herself. If she could think with her head instead of her hormones.

Hell. Ellie groaned and slumped back onto her bed. She had no job, no means of avoiding Cadmus now, and no discipline when it came to her traitorous, unruly body.

The way things were shaping up, she’d be begging him to take her by the end of the day, and hating herself for it.

Cadmus stormed into the living room, seething with irritation and a foreign sense of hurt that made no sense. Way to go, jackass. Why not just wave a red flag and admit how much you want her? And while you’re at it, act so conceited that now she won’t touch you with a ten-foot pole out of sheer spite.

Groaning at what he’d done, he tumbled onto her short, uncomfortable couch and wondered how he’d gone from smooth-talker to lackwit in so little time. For some reason, Ellie affected him, badly. With other women, he could charm and flirt. Hell, he’d once done as much to Ellie, before he’d learned the truth. That he’d begun falling for a damn Djinn.

She’d been so damned sweet and so intoxicating he’d been helpless to resist her. He’d never before seen a woman with her beauty, one that radiated from deep within and was mirrored outwardly in a package irresistible to any man with a pulse. She’d made his nights at Outpour bearable, until he could think of little more than seeing her again. Touching her again. Tasting her again.

His cock throbbed at the memories, his frustration compounding as turbulent images pressed him. Their first kiss, the feel of her silken skin under his palms, skin that he’d so recently stroked…

He growled and stood, pacing the narrow confines of her eclectic apartment. He’d let the woman bewitch him until he didn’t know up from down. He frowned, not understanding why she acted like the aggrieved party when he’d been the one played for a fool. She’d tricked him into sharing vital knowledge about his family, possibly putting them in harm’s way. It was only sheer dumb luck she and her father were rebel Djinn, bent on helping the Storm Lords’ cause.

Throwing himself back onto the couch, he linked his hands behind his head and focused on cooling down his overheated body. Thoughts of Jonas and the mess Cadmus had left in Foreia put him in better spirits. He hadn’t exactly told Ellie the truth of why he’d left the Djinn homeworld. Yes, he’d riled Jonas’ friends, but he’d been attacking their Dark Mistress, Lexa Van Nostren, and all because of her hostile attitude towards Arim.

Hell, it wasn’t as if Cadmus had asked for Lexa’s help. Of course, the spells she’d taught him, as well as the knowledge she’d surprisingly imparted about her own kind, would more than aid him should he—when he—met ‘Sin Garu again. He shook his head, still puzzling over the Lexa’s convoluted relationship with her family.

Growing up with three irritating though loving brothers, as well as nurturing parents, had taught Cadmus to revere family. He couldn’t imagine being pleased with one of his brothers’ deaths, nor would he ever consciously betray them to an enemy, no matter what the cause.

Perhaps all the Dark Lords were evil, not merely Dark but full of death and corruption. From what he’d heard of B’alen, that description applied. And he’d seen enough of ‘Sin Garu to confirm that bastard’s perfidy. But Lexa didn’t seem anything like a Dark Lord, or Dark Mistress, as Jonas and his Djinn called her. In her presence, Cadmus had to remind himself not to like her.

Her dry sense of humour, breathtaking beauty and incredible knowledge of spells were enough to throw even an experienced Djinn like Jonas. Jonas actually bowed in her presence. Everything Cadmus had learned about the Djinn told him how little they thought of sovereignty. Yet Jonas spoke to her with reverence, nothing at all like the way he talked to Cadmus, a Storm Lord prince.

He shook his head. Lexa and Jonas deserved each other. Both had layers of Dark power surging through their blood—if Lexa even had any through all that ice—that made Cadmus uneasy. And trying to make sense of anything Jonas said half the time gave him a headache.

Admittedly, Jonas had a wicked sense of humour that more often than not made him want to laugh, despite his irritation at being denied his homeworld. In the weeks Cadmus had been forced to endure the Djinn’s company, he’d never seen the man so affected by anyone…with the exception of Lexa and Ellie, of course.

He scowled. Were Jonas and Ellie related? They called themselves cousins, but Jonas referred to his fellow warriors as brothers. So maybe cousin was a vague Djinn reference for friendship? Just the thought of Jonas and Ellie being intimate, of the dark Djinn touching her, kissing her, brought forth a strange anger that had Cadmus hungry for something beyond his comprehension.

“Cadmus?” Ellie asked tentatively from her doorway.

“Yes?” He kept his voice even, determined to keep his cool around her. He’d never get her to surrender if he taunted her at every turn.

She cautiously approached wearing jeans and a blouse. Casual, but on her they looked like designer wear. Her eyes widened. Reaching out a soft, long-fingered hand, she stroked his arm, making him groan at the tingly sensation. “You’re in truth, Cadmus. I’m not sure how or why, but you’re definitely not yourself.”

Cadmus glanced down at his arm and stared in shock. Where his arm should have been, a bright white band of energy glowed, surrounded by black flame.

“Relax and breathe deeply,” she ordered, calming him with her steady nerve. “I’ve seen my father control this. You just have to release whatever’s inside you holding onto that energy.”

“What energy? What the hell is this?”

“I’m not sure.” She turned his cheek to face her and looked deeply into his eyes. Her power was an almost tangible thing he could reach out and touch. “Trust me, Cadmus. Focus on the core inside you, that anger, rage, whatever passion that has fixed you in truth, and let it go. Deep, consistent breathing helps.”

“Sure.” Easier said than done. He evened out his breathing, trying to unglue his mind from the wall of panic threatening to overtake him. Since when did Storm Lords—Light Bringers—burn in truth?

Ellie’s touch grew soothing, and after several minutes passed, he gradually felt something inside of him ease. Blinking at Ellie, he felt his heart leap, and he struggled to grab hold of his senses. By the Light, her eyes were a startling, alluring shade of blue.

“Thanks,” he said gruffly. He rubbed his temples, a headache brewing. The last time he’d been thrust in truth, he’d afterward had head pain for hours.

“What were you thinking before you changed?”

“I don’t know. Let’s just forget this happened, okay? Now what’s on the agenda for today?” He didn’t want to talk about flashing like a Djinn until he had time to think about what it might mean. And he had no intention of revealing how much thoughts of Ellie with another man stung him. He glanced at her and saw her bite her lip as she looked at his chest and lower.

His cock hardened. More pain he didn’t need right now. But watching Ellie turn a pretty shade of pink and try to pretend she hadn’t been looking appeased his frustration. Somewhat.

Ellie coughed and looked anywhere but at Cadmus. “First, you’re going to get dressed.”

“I am dressed.”

“Put a shirt on. Then we’ll go down to the university, where I’ll register for the upcoming summer classes. With any luck, I’ll be able to finish at least four of my remaining six credits.”

Grabbing a shirt from his duffel bag, he threw it on, pleased his body made her so uncomfortable. He joined her in the kitchen and settled on a stool overlooking the kitchen island. She grabbed a pan and a carton of eggs and started working. Satisfied she didn’t intend to bolt, at least not anytime soon, he gave in to his rampant curiosity and asked the questions he’d wanted to ask for weeks.

“So how is it you don’t see yourself as Djinn?”

When she’d first denied her ties to the Dark kin, he’d wanted nothing more than to prove her for the liar he knew her to be. To make her pay for causing him such hurt. But after those first few days of almost hating her, he considered all he knew about her. He asked Jonas a few questions and realised Ellie meant what she’d said. She didn’t consider herself Djinn.

Ellie Markham, Seattle native and graduate student, wanted no part of the Djinn or of Tanselm. As far as she was concerned, she was a xiantope, a being of no magic and proud of it. It made no sense then, and it still didn’t. He could feel the magic pulsing within her just by looking at her.

Her movements grew stiffer as she scrambled some eggs in a large skillet. “Why do you want to know?”

“Ellie, I already told you I’m sorry about what I said before. I don’t hate all Djinn. Just the ones who killed my father and want to destroy Tanselm.”

Her gaze flew to his. “What did you say?”

“I said I didn’t mean it.”

“No. The part about your father being dead.”

He frowned. “Over a year ago, my father was killed by Djinn poison. Apparently, we’ve had Djinn infiltrators, not your rebel friends, but real baddies who insist on killing as many Storm Lords as they possibly can before taking over Tanselm as the kingdom’s ‘rightful rulers’.”

“Oh, wow. I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, well.” He didn’t want to talk about it.

“So you aren’t just a prejudiced bastard who hates those different from his royal self.” She watched him carefully.

He rolled his eyes. “Would you get off the ‘royal’ bandwagon? I’m a prince, big deal. You’re the daughter of Ethim il Ruethe, clan leader to the Sarqua. That’s royalty in my book, princess.”

She glared at him and turned back to the sizzling eggs. “I thought you hated all Djinn because we’re—they’re—Dark.”

“I already said I don’t hate all Djinn. Jonas is a pain in the ass, and his brothers could use some lessons in manners. But most of the Djinn I’ve met in Foreia have been fair.” More than fair considering what he’d put them through.

She took the pan away from the heat and turned to him. “I really am sorry about your father.”

Uncomfortable with the topic, still not yet to terms with his grief, he shrugged. “He’s in the Next, waiting for my mother. I’m sure wherever he is, he’s getting into as much trouble as possible. He’s a wind master.”

“Like your brother Aerolus, right?”

“Right.” He swallowed the orange juice she placed in front of him in one gulp. The rage he’d once felt in having confided in her had faded, and he now felt pleased he could talk with someone outside of his family about his loved ones. A year in this plane had forged a closeness with his brothers he sorely missed. “You’d think Aerolus, a Wind Mage, would be as laid back. But no way. He’s one uptight sorcerer.”

She scooped a large portion of the eggs onto a plate and set it down before him, bringing a second, smaller plate for herself. Sitting across the counter from him, she began eating. “That’s not what I hear.”

“Oh?”

“Rumour has it Aerolus has been pleasantly low-key since marrying Alandra le Aelle.” Ellie suddenly smiled, a wicked grin that had his blood rising. “You know what they say about creatures of Shadow and Dark.”

He stared, transfixed by expression. “No, what?”

“That anything dark is dangerously good. Shadows are sexy and dark is sinfully seductive. It’s why they make the best lovers.” As soon as she said it, she froze, then she hurriedly stuffed the rest of her food in her mouth, choking on her eggs.

“From my experience, I’d say that’s true.” Her distress both amused and enflamed him. Why the hell had he dared her to come to him? “But then, I’m just a Light Bringer, so what would I know? Now my uncle—” He stopped, wishing he hadn’t brought up that unpleasant topic of conversation.

“Yes, your uncle?” she prodded, no doubt grateful to have the attention off her.

“Let’s not talk about him. He’s not real popular with anyone in Foreia.” Anyone meant Lexa, and he’d been forbidden to say her name outside the small circle of rebel Djinn. He silently agreed. The less said about Lexa, in his opinion, the better. “Besides, I’m on his shi—bad list.”

“Now, Cadmus,” she teased, the old Ellie making him long to pull her in his arms and forget the past hurt between them, “why would you be on anyone’s bad list? I simply can’t imagine.”