Page 138 of Land of Monsters

“I think that belongs to me,” a man declared, twisting our attention to the ordinary figure standing in the entry to the courtyard.

Dzsinn nodded at my necklace and took a step forward. “It is not meant to be held by those outside the jinn line,” he stated, sticking out his hand.

I understood why. The lure of such power at your fingertips. To know you could escape death, challenge fate, and be granted life and wishes beyond your dreams. It was corrupting and heady, tempting you to lose yourself in it.

Ash reached around my neck, unclasping the chain. The stone fell into his palm.

He stood, turning to Dzsinn.

“We are even. I owe you nothing.”

Dzsinn dipped his head.

“You have my word. The favors you owed have been met.”

“And Scorpion’s too.”

Dzsinn’s mouth curled, his head shaking.

“That is not how it works. Scorpion understands what he got himself into.”

Ash’s nose flared, but knew he couldn’t change it. He dropped the chain into the genie’s hand. The instant the stone touched his skin, blue light blazed behind the genie’s eyes, a color so beautiful I heard myself gasp before his irises went back to a muddy brown.

He let his lids close, his shoulders easing as if finally he was whole. Dzsinn pocketed the stone and turned to leave.

“What about Kalaraja?” Ash asked.

“What about him?” Dzsinn stopped at the entry again. “He fulfilled his favor to me. Whatever you have between you is yourproblem now. Though he is not a dumb man. I would think he’d be long gone from here.”For now,echoed in my ears. But Kalaraja was a problem for another day.

Dzsinn’s form slipped into the shadows and vanished, leaving us to the quiet death after a battle, where blood and bodies soaked the earth, and the legends of a story held nothing to the reality of it.

Chapter 27

Ash

?

In the shadowy air Dzsinn had just faded away into, my name came hurling through the dark mist.

“Ash!” Warwick’s voice kneaded into my bones, a tone I knew better than I knew myself. After centuries of knowing each other, being at his side in every type of fight, I understood the smallest pitch difference.

Blood rushed up to my ears, my chest squeezing with fear as Warwick stomped in, a limp body in his arms.

“Wesley!” I strangled out, my gaze running over the two puncture marks carving through his gut and chest—holes the size of boar tusks or rhino horns.

Wesley gasped for air, sounding like a lung had been punctured, his eyes wide with terror, understanding what was happening. Each breath might be his last.

“Can you help him?” Warwick kneeled down, placing Wesley on the ground, Scorpion and Brexley right at his side as more yells came from behind them.

“We need a healer!” Eli and Cooper hollered. Their alpha, Cole, was draped in their grasp, holes gouged into his side.

“Fuck!” Lorcan dashed over, helping his brother as more injured came limping in. Birdie, Dom, Ryker, Croygen, Cooper, Gabby and some others were cut up and moving slowly.

“He’s bleeding out!” Brexley tried to cover Wesley’s wound. Her magic hummed around her, though it wasn’t as powerful as when she had the nectar. She could no longer yank lives out of death’s hands.

Nor could I.

“I can’t stop it.” I ripped at my shirt, using it to plug one of his wounds. “I don’t have any of my herbs.”

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