Page 53 of A Bloodline Redeemed

I glanced away from the circle of jinn flames that had just incinerated a group of cultists and met Ambrose’s eerie, but beautiful, red and black eyes.“But?”I definitely heard a “but” in there.

He chuckled and took my hand.“But I feel like you may be just abitout of sorts at the moment, love.Tell me you remember who is friend and who is foe, at least?”

I shook my head at him.“I’m pissed off, not stupid.”

He nodded, but there was a wry quirk to the corner of his lips.“Of course.”

I waved a hand at him dismissively.“Don’t you have better things to do than babysit?You should feed while you have the chance.Fill up the tank.”

“As you wish, my lady witch.”He gave me a wicked, shark-toothed grin and swept a graceful bow.Then he dissolved into smoky tendrils of shadow and raced away, off to soak in the terror around us.

“Niamh, Zhong,” I called, waiting until they had finished killing off a couple of SA-agents-turned-zombies and turned to me before I finished my request.“Please go find my sister’s body and bring it over so we can take it home with us when we leave.”

Zhong’s big hand was warm and heavy on my back, pressing me close to him, even as Niamh’s quick, hard kiss landed on my cheek.“As you wish, master,” the gargoyle rumbled out in a low voice like grinding stones.His wings snapped wide as he stepped away to allow Niamh closer.I could feel the fierce relief and violent love that flowed down the connection between me and each of them.Their joy that we were finally going to be rid of the cult and the threats of the outside world.Their joy that I was alive.

Niamh took my face in her strong, graceful hands and peered into my eyes, her own leaf-green gaze demanding.“You are changed,” she said firmly.“Who are you now, witch?”

I stared back at her, unflinching.“For now?Whoever I need to be.I’ll figure out the rest once all of our enemies are dead.”

She nodded once in understanding.The fierce, pragmatic fae hunter in her knew what I meant.Her lips met mine in a hard, claiming kiss.Then she dashed away, jogging along with a knife in each hand, while Zhong flew overhead, the two of them off to retrieve my sister’s corpse, as ordered.

And that was what it felt like—orders.I was no longer going along with whatever life threw my way.I was in charge of my fate.

I began walking again, but Aahil materialized in front of me in a burst of flames.His usually golden-brown eyes glowed with pure gold flame, and his body was wreathed in a delicate outline of rippling red, orange, and violet fire.He reached for me, and I gloried in the heat that radiated between us, his graceful hands gripping my upper arms and dragging me in for a kiss that nearly melted the skin off my bones.

“My witch,” he said as he pulled back to let me breathe, “I will burn all who wronged you.”

I arched a brow at his fierce, formal little speech.But I could feel what he wasn’t saying, through the new lifebond between us.There was a lingering desperation, because he thought he’d lost me.And an all-encompassingneedto have me by his side, alive and well.“I love you too,” I told him, bending to press a kiss to his forehead, a little drunk on the fire I could feel in my veins, the heat and sensuality of his jinn magic flooding the new lifebond between us.I could drown in it.Be consumed by it and watch the world burn without a care.

His perfect lips curled up in a devilish smile as he reached up to caress my cheek.“This is what you have been hiding and denying all this time, Lovell?This power and confidence?You areglorious.Finally, a match for a perfect, powerful,beautifulbeing like myself.”

I snorted at his assessment of the situation.Very Aahil.The humor helped me ground myself once more, when the magic inside me would have loved for us to join him in setting the world on fire.“Careful what you wish for, jinn,” I told him seriously.“You may have met your match.”

He just laughed and dematerialized in a shower of sparks.An eruption of flames on the other side of the block from where he had just stood told me he was off to continue his reign of terror.

I felt no need to stop him this time.These assholes were getting what they deserved.They had asked for it.And then some.

Chapter 31

Jacki

Somethingbigwashappening.

My natural witch abilities had been enhanced by years of mage training with the Supernatural Alliance.I was a weapon honed for exactly these sorts of situations—though until recently, I never believed I’d actuallyuseall that training.I was certainly using it now.I fought off zombies who wore the faces of my coworkers, doing my best to keep them from reaching the terrified children and lesser magic users who had been enslaved by the stupid fucking cult.But through the carnage, I sensed it.

The powerful, slightly eerie, but undoubtedly earth-based magic of the second Lovell sister.One moment it was there, a constant, low-level background hum that I had grown used to somehow.And the next moment, it was just… gone.

The fight was shifting around us.The SA zombies didn’t really care what was going on—they were more focused on trying to eat people.But the cultists paused in their attack.I saw several of them grin, and someone threw up a cheer.

The stupid bastards.

There was a rhythm to the fighting, a sort of flow to the chaos.It had been rushing toward an end, the cult and their zombie horrors falling to the odd, but effective, combination of my SA troop, the rebel forces, the rogue Lovell and her harem of monsters, and a handful of random angels who seemed to be fighting with our side for some reason.That last bit was likely due to Oleander Lovell, I thought distractedly.She was always full of surprises.

But now… suddenly it was like time froze.Another wave of cultists appeared, surrounding the square.And the sudden loss of Lovell magic on the field felt like a bullet that came out of the blue and struck something vital.

I beheaded a zombie with my sword, then set the corpse on fire with a spell, just to be sure it stayed down.Clark, from weapons inventory.He’d been an okay guy.A bit too talkative when you just wanted to grab a refill from the coffee machine and get back to your desk to fill out incident reports, but still… I shook off the sadness that wanted to push its way through my focus.Not now.I could think about all of this later.

If we lived.Which was less likely without the last Lovell.Her people were an army of their own.A strong force that could help turn the tide.But they were all turning away from the battle now, gathering around their fallen anchor.

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