Make Me Burn: Fireborne, Book 2 (33 page)

“Yes!” She set down her glass and reached for a third, whacking his hand when he started to reach for one. “Get your own tray.”

“There are nearly ten on here, Aziza Jane.”

She sighed. “Maybe that will be enough.”

“Enough for what? Alcohol poisoning? Did you notice how much you drink around werewolves? Not that you were a teetotaler before.”

She sipped the fourth glass more sedately. “I’ve noticed. I also noticed that he made sure Brandon’s friend from Jordan didn’t come, and within five minutes of my arrival made me personally responsible for everything ever done by or to his species and turned them into an army.” She paused. “I want to set him on fire.”

Greg leaned against the door. “That would be rude, babe. He hasn’t tried to hurt anyone, plus we’ve only just arrived and he’s already made you Alpha over all you survey.”

“Sneaky.”

“I agree.” He shook his head. “I know you’re not allowed to pick sides or anything, but I already hate him more than I ever hated Ram…and that ass actually took over my body for a minute.”

“Shev called him a prick.”

“Ram?”

“The Alpha.”

He smiled. “I miss Shev. Chiye does this thing that reminds me—”

“Five.” Aziza chuckled.

Greg frowned. “Five what?”

She took a drink. “Five minutes before you dropped Chiye’s name into the conversation.”

“Says the woman who only knows how to say two words,
Ram
and
Brandon
.” He reached for a glass of champagne, daring her to bat his hand away. “I can’t help it, Aziza Jane. She’s…well, she’s fucking adorable, isn’t she?”

“And she’s not a dominatrix, so that’s a plus.”

His hazel eyes darkened. “No, she’s not. Not at all.”

She nodded regally. “Then you have permission from the Alpha of the Universe to make beautiful acrobatic babies.”

Greg laughed. “As my Alpha commands.”

Aziza saw a telltale shimmer and tensed. Instead of feeling nauseated or seeing the dark-eyed Niyr bending over her, she found herself looking into a luxurious den with large pillows strewn across the floor and four—no,
five
people huddled close together. A sixth joined them as she watched, this one as beautiful as she was familiar. She moved toward the opening and came through.

“Shev.”

“Did someone mention my name?” Shev studied Greg with hungry eyes, her hand tracing the low neckline of her dress as she moved closer. “Did you say you liked me? Well, I like you too.”

She seemed like she was back to her old self, Aziza mused fuzzily.

Then Shev stiffened. “I’m an idiot. Aziza, touch us both and call Mayet’s Witness. Now, before I’m eaten by wolves.”

Aziza dropped her glass and reached for them both.
Stop.
Her palm and forehead burned and she wove a little on her feet as she reached up to trace the mark out of habit.

Shev started to pace the bathroom. “I don’t know what I was thinking, I wasn’t paying close enough attention, I suppose. When I heard my name I just thought, why not? I know better than this. Or I used to.”

“Are you off probation now? Are you back to Qarin instead of interim observer?” Feeling affectionate, Aziza wrapped her arms around Shev’s waist from behind. The champagne was definitely kicking in. “It doesn’t matter. I’m just happy you’re safe. We were worried.”

Greg lowered his sandy brows in confusion. “We were? I wasn’t worried. I didn’t know there was anything to be worried about.”

“Gee, thanks.” Shev glared.

“I mean, why would I worry? You’re Shev. You’re kickass.”

Aziza shook her head. “Keep digging that hole, Greg.”

“Who was worried, Aziza?” Shev stepped out of her embrace and turned to grip her shoulders. “Is there something I need to know?”

Aziza held out her hand and Greg automatically placed a full glass in it. She loved Greg. “I’m worried, Shev. I’m Alpha of fucking everybody and I’m worried.”

Shev frowned. “William Nash declared you the Alpha? Sounds like a trap to me. I really hate werewolves, no offense to you or your aunt for your taste in bed partners, but they are either big, dumb and mean, or manipulative, sly and mean. They can throw as many parties as they like, own all the land in sight, but nothing will truly make them civilized.”

Aziza lifted her lips from her glass and nodded. “There was another trap, but you’re okay so they must not know Ram and I know.”

Greg took her drink away. “Aziza Jane, you drank too fast. You aren’t making any sense at all. Shit, Brandon is going to kill me.”

“What trap, Aziza?” Shev held up her hand to shut Greg up. “I’ve been thinking about Ram tonight. I know it’s crazy because our connection is broken, but it felt like something bad was happening to him. Did something happen to him, Aziza?”

Aziza sucked her lower lip between her teeth. “Someone slipped a book about blood rituals and soul casting into the knapsack you gave me. Ram said, ‘Shev wouldn’t do that, she’s perfect and this is from a vault’ or something like that.”

Shev slapped Aziza’s cheek. Hard. “Focus.”

“
Fuck.
Shev, fuck!” Aziza glared at her, tempted to return the favor with a flaming palm.

The Jinn shrugged. “If you pass out drunk, your power goes to sleep as well. And I can’t leave until I know what you’re talking about. It’s important, Aziza. I know it hasn’t felt like I care, but I’ve been with you as much as I could. Sober yourself up. You’re in a house full of werewolves who would kill Ram or me in a heartbeat and not care that the head of the Nash family bent his knee to you.”

She lifted her hand to her cheek. “Ouch. Fine. Book. Blood ritual. Soul casting. Locked away for a thousand years. Better?”

“No.” Shev was pale. “That’s impossible. The bag never left my sight. The only other person near it was Ram’s sis— I have to go.”

“What?” Greg gripped her arm as Aziza looked on in surprise. “I don’t know what the two of you are talking about because once again I’ve been left in the dark, but what are you about to do, Shev? I don’t like that look in your eye.”

Shev looked dangerous. “Someone in Qaf wanted that book smuggled out. Smuggled here. The knowledge is beyond forbidden, beyond dangerous. Which means at some point recently I was up close and personal with a Jiniyr spy. And I’m going to find out who it is.”

She disappeared before Aziza could stop her. “Shit.” Now there really was something to worry about.
“Shit.”

She focused on the fading hourglass and noticed how spinny the room had become. How sick she was feeling. “Greg? I think I had too much champagne.”

A knock sounded on the door and Greg spun around to unlock it, backing up just in time to avoid being hit when the door slammed against the wall.

Brandon.

“Aziza, why do I smell Jinn?”

She reached for a glass and lifted it with a hesitant smile. “Would you laugh if I told you that it’s not gin but champagne that you smell?”

Greg covered his mouth until he stopped smiling. “Brandon, it was her Qarin Shev. A Fireborne emergency. I promise it won’t happen again, but I don’t think you’ll want to introduce her to anyone important for the next few hours. She’s…well, you can see for yourself.”

“I can.” Brandon looked so grim. She hated that particular expression—it meant she’d done something wrong. “Greg, will you help Devil keep an eye on Penn? I have Aziza.”

When Greg left without another word, Brandon stared at her for long, silent moments until she broke.

“Don’t arrest Greg, okay? Just me. And I’m sorry. Really sorry, but nobody told me that was going to happen—the kneeling? Not a peep. How was I
supposed
to react to that?” She threw her arms open wide and shouted dramatically, “
Yes.
Yes, I am the Vessel. Fill me, Alphas!
Fill me.
”

“None of us was expecting what happened.” The gold in his eyes deepened. “I’ve been so focused on this—putting off the gathering he wanted. The presentation that he would find a way to use to his advantage. I knew it would come eventually, and I thought if I protected you and ensured he was in a good enough mood not to behave irrationally… But it happened anyway. Not the way I expected, that he would shout from the rooftops what others were whispering due to their unhappiness with his leadership. That you were the true Alpha. Not that he would demand our entire species resume their duties as Enforcers in a single night.”

“After our meeting, I wasn’t expecting it either.”

His jaw clenched. “I can imagine, and without knowing exactly what went on there, I apologize on behalf of the Nash family. But I am more concerned about his willingness to hand you any kind of leadership mantle before the others can meet you, get to know you. All they have now are old stories and your scent.”

The scent of all of them—Jinn and Niyr, as well as human. All of them…except werewolf.

“Devil is worried, and when Devil is worried, I’m worried. I’m also angry. William Nash made you a target in a room full of Alphas. I won’t forgive him for that.”

“Do you think it’s because of…?” She didn’t finish because she didn’t have to. Ram. Last night. Escaping with and hiding a suspected murderer, something she’d told him she would never do.

Brandon looked away from her. “It is always about Ram in one way or another, isn’t it? But this time I’m handling it so no one can question my diligence. And no one can punish you for showing favoritism.”

Her stomach twisted into a painful knot. “How are you handling it?”

“By doing my job, Aziza.” His words were close to a growl. “The tattoos you love? There is one for every criminal I have captured and sent across the border. One for each time I’ve been forced to kill. I was proud of them until I fell for you. Honored. I’ve done my duty for my people and humanity. I always try to do the right thing, now more than ever. Because of you. Can you trust my word, Aziza? Can you hear the
truth
?”

She knew he was trying to tell her something important, but her worry about Ram drowned out everything else. For the first time in their relationship she didn’t trust his word. He’d lied about the murders. He’d lied by omission when he’d taken her at Underbridge. Was he lying now? She concentrated on the whisper of wind blowing through reeds. On her mental Magic 8 Ball. How was Brandon “handling” it?

Ram is being interrogated above you, locked in a room of iron and gold.

Aziza shook her head, still dazed but sobering swiftly. Stumbling away from him, she opened the bathroom door. “You bastard,” she whispered. “You took him anyway. You let me think…”

Brandon didn’t reach for her, but when she took off down the hall without finishing, he followed her closely. She returned to the main entrance and sped up the stairs as quickly as her dress would allow.

“Don’t do this,” he pleaded. “I am handling it. This is the only way unless you want to start a war.”

This is not justice.

There was heat building inside her again, power rising, but now she welcomed it.
Wanted
it. They had taken Ram. Had lacked faith in her and ignored her advice out of ignorance and a hunger for violence.

At the top of the stairs she stopped. “Which room?” Her voice sounded strange, as if it didn’t belong to her.

“Aziza, if you’d listen—”

That one.

Aziza set her body ablaze with a thought, the sting of another betrayal feeding the flames. She touched the door, watching as the symbols twined around her arm. She could feel them on her face as well. Along the back of her neck. “Open it.”

Burn it down.

The door was blown off its hinges, her fire bursting forth with the force of focused explosives as Aziza looked out through the eyes of the Mayet’s Fireborne, taking in the scene in an instant.

Natalie stood off to the side in her elegant party dress, watching two well-muscled young men dole out punishment for questions Ram had no doubt refused to answer. He hung from iron handcuffs that dangled from the ceiling, his beautiful, fallen-angel face bloody and battered, his shirt clawed to shreds and dangling from his belt.

The fury inside her swelled.

“This is how
my
Enforcers mete out justice?” Her voice rang in the room, sounding like an echo. Hollow. So angry it was almost cold. “No more.”

Natalie backed up against the far wall, her flawless features frozen in apprehension. “I am obedient to the Alpha,” she whispered. “To the law.”

“This is not law. This is hate.” Aziza lifted her hand and a blast of heat knocked the men beside Ram to their knees as she moved closer to him.

“Aziza?” He mumbled through his swollen lips. “You don’t need to do this. Not for one exiled Qarin.”

He thinks they can protect you. He doesn’t know they have a traitor in their midst.
 

She reached up to touch the links of the chain, heating them until Ram’s weight did the rest and he slumped to his knees on the floor.

Then something happened. The presence inside her that always demanded more, always demanded justice, reached for Ram.

No, she thought in momentary panic.