Page 33 of Jinn

He stopped walking where he’d been patrolling the acreage with Dax. So lost in his thoughts, he had forgotten the ogre was with him.

“Finn?” Dax spoke quietly. “You okay?”

He briefly closed his eyes, knowing why his friend was worried. Normally, he was all smiles, but everything about this situation had been so emotional, he wasn’t his usual self.

“Sorry, was in my head.” Finn was tall, but Dax still towered over him, so he looked up to find his friend watching him closely.

“Ajax is your soulmate, isn’t he?”

Finn nodded slowly, his chest still tight. “Yes, but there are…issues.” He didn’t go into them.

“You’re lucky. I’ve watched my parents and their bond my whole life. It’s a special gift, to have a soulmate.”

“Tell me, did you know humans could be them?”

Dax shook his head. “You’d think with all the studying, all my years on this earth, I would have come across that knowledge, but I did not. I thought only another ogre could be for me—like my parents.”

Finn had met them. They ran a shop for preternaturals that he often frequented. Friendly ogres, who were just as smart as Dax.

“When I found out Lonnie was Callan’s mate, I was shocked,” Dax continued. “I questioned Xavier, and he admitted that he’d known for a long time this could be so. It bothers me…that he didn’t tell us. Why keep that secret?”

“Why does Xavier do anything? You saw what he did to that wizard in Arizona, stripping him of his powers. Did you know he could do that?”

“I did not.”

“Honestly, that scared me. Made me determined to not ever get on his bad side. How old do you think he really is? To have his kind of power—it has to have grown over many years.”

“I know he’s the oldest of us all, and I suspect he’s been alive longer than we thought possible. I asked Bain because if anyone knew, it would be him as Xavier’s closest friend. He has no idea, either.” Dax leaned one shoulder against the trunk of a tall, thick tree and crossed his arms. “I suspect he’s a lot older than Alaric’s father, that maybe he’s been around for millennia. I also believe he can tap into the earth’s power and draw magic from it. I once knew a wizard who could draw from ley lines, a powerful being, but he didn’t have nearly the ability Xavier does.”

Finn squinted into the sunlight a moment before facing his friend again. “Tell me something, did he approach you about working for Protective Solutions?”

“Yes, you?”

“He did. It almost feels as if he’s gathered us all together for a purpose, though I can’t imagine what that would be. Where were you when he found you?”

“School.”

Finn cracked a grin. “I should have known that. Just how many degrees have you acquired in your over three hundred years? You’re twenty years older than me, right?”

“Yes, twenty. And I have several advanced degrees. In literature, quantum physics, and mathematics.” He smiled. “I’m quite different from a lot of my kind.”

That was the truth. Ogres had earned a reputation as lumbering giants with brute strength and little brains. When he’d met Dax, Finn had realized that like everyone else, ogres were just as different from one another. The habit of putting people and preternaturals into stereotypes was just wrong.“Did you originally do all that studying to prove everyone’s assumptions about ogres incorrect?”

Dax chuckled. “No. I care little what people think of me. I want to know everything, so I set about doing that.” Dax straightened up off the tree. “How did you realize that Ajax is your soulmate? Do jinns have a tell like Callan’s horns?”

“No, but I had a powerful reaction to him, and the more I was around him, the more I knew. It’s hard to explain, but I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. And there’s the fact he can see through glamours. You were told that these special humans have the ability to bond with us permanently?”

“Xavier explained it. I’m still reeling from that knowledge. With ogres, we don’t get tingling horns. My parents told me that their beginning was much like yours. An instinctive knowledge when they met. I’ve talked with Alaric’s parents, and it was much the same thing. But it makes me wonder if maybe I’ve already missed mine. That maybe I walked right past him and never realized. That worry has been messing with my sleep. That in all my years, it could have been someone, anyone. I’ve tried to think back to anyone who might have stared like they saw past the glamour, but that doesn’t really work with me because everyone stares.”

“Being seven foot three and as big as a house would cause that.”

“Yes. But it was my fate to be one of the larger preternaturals. You know…” He paused, his cheeks turning faintly pink. A bird sang from the tree above their heads as Dax seemed to be having trouble continuing what he was saying. When he spoke, his words started out hesitant. “I’ve never been with a human because of my size and strength. Was always afraid I’d…hurt them. I can only hope that if I’m blessed with a human mate, he will be big and strong.”

“And smart, or you’d get bored,” Finn teased.

“That would be nice. There was a human professor I was attracted to many years ago, but I never approached him out of worry over our size difference. But now, I can’t help but wonder if he’d been my mate.”

“You could seek him out and see.”

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