Page 12 of Jinn

“Those aren’t subtle signs.”

“I wrote it off as him collecting images of us together, but turns out it wasn’t like that. At first, I just thought he was getting off on the fame—that’s normal, you know?” Ajax shrugged. “I did the same thing when my band first took off. But that obsession with it never waned with Alan. He got worse, and I learned he was actually hiring photographers to follow us around. You probably saw the very private images that were all over the internet of us.”

“Yeah, they tend to come up pretty quickly when your name is put into a search engine.”

“He set that up.Actually set it up. Which is highly illegal, by the way. Probably should have pursued criminal charges, but I didn’t. I thought we were taking a private vacation, and the whole time, he was just using me to put more pictures of him out into the world. That was the last straw, so to speak.” He walked to the counter, reached for the coffee carafe, and poured himself a mug. “But I had already been planning to break things off. While the feelings were strong for a time, they had waned because he was honestly a selfish person. I deserve better.”

“You do.”

Their eyes met, something warm passing between them.

Ajax sipped from his mug, then set it down on the counter. “So you do have magic, right?”

Finn nodded. “I’m a preternatural. Did your werewolf friend tell you that’s what we call ourselves?”

“He did. He told me a lot about you all. About his pack. The others in the band think he just has a huge family.” Ajax chuckled. “So what are you?”

“A jinn.”

His eyebrows went up. “Like the genie?”

“Kind of. That’s lore. I don’t have a lamp and don’t grant wishes. And I don’t haunt people in their sleep like in other myths. But I can change into a form of vapor and shapeshift into other creatures. I can also set up a sort of mental forcefield and sense disturbances in it.”

“That’s how you knew about the teenagers climbing the fence?”

“Yes.”

“Fascinating. Does your employer know what you are?”

“Since the entire company is made up of preternaturals, yes, he’s well aware. He’s one himself. How long have you been able to see us?”

“My whole life. In fact, my best friend growing up was an elf. He’s the other person who knows about what I can see. We met because I walked right up to him and asked about his ears. He never told his parents I could see past the magic they used to blend. Said they didn’t trust humans. So I’ve been pretending not to see for as long as I can remember.”

“So you just sing about us.”

The corner of his mouth went up. “I do. But I don’t really think of you as monsters. That’s mostly metaphor. BTC songs are all about the darker emotions and feelings. Which is probably why I’m mostly writing lighter stuff right now. Well, other than a couple of songs anyway.” He walked closer again; the vanilla scent from his candles must have soaked into hisclothes. That smell suited him somehow, but it made Finn long to bury his face in the man’s neck to get at his real scent.

“Finn?”

He blinked because he’d gotten lost in the fantasy of tugging that lean body close. “Yeah?”

“I’m glad you know that I could tell you’re something more than human.”

“Not more than, just other than.”

Ajax touched his arm, sending a warm fizzle through Finn’s entire body.

“I’m glad you know because I’d like to get to know you better. We are going to be stuck in this house together for half a year, after all.”

It was more than that, and Finn could tell by the way Ajax was looking at him. There was a warmth in those green eyes. A welcome.

And damned if he could resist that.

Chapter Eight

Ajax

Ajax’s allure to Finn was only growing the more he was around him. Which was what he was used to when it came to his sexuality. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he thought of himself as demisexual. Feelings needed to be there for attraction to set in. Like Alan. They’d been friends first, and the attraction had grown naturally. He’d really believed he was in love with the man, but Alan had been showing only one side of his personality—for years. His true colors were later so blatantly revealed, Ajax had been blindsided by who the man really was. Still, it had broken his heart and left him wary.

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