Chapter 24

Crashing waves. Rustling palms. The cry of a seagull. I opened my eyes. A cool breeze drifted across my skin, bleeding through the equally cool white sheet covering me. The memories of the previous night floated back, and I looked over to find myself alone.

I sat up. The sun had given a new life to the already spectacular view. White sand, crystal clear blue water, and enough trees on either side to make it feel like the world's most beautiful hiding place. But none of it compared to what I found in the distance.

Brady stood, waist deep in the water, every inch of naked back on display, and regardless of my refusal to give in to this so called destiny, I couldn't help but stare. The sun glittered off his richly tanned skin, painting it golden as beads of water clung to him like liquid diamonds. Clean lines moved along his muscles, tightening and stretching as his arms circled the air like a martial artist. It was unfair. Inhuman. Magic.

Something else moved in the water, pulling my attention.

A fin.

My traitorous heart raced forward, pulling within the confines of my chest as it tried to save the man that held it so enraptured. I scrambled to my knees. It sliced through the water's surface like a knife, heading directly towards him, and Brady seemed oblivious to the danger. "Brady!" I shouted, but my cry fell of deaf ears as the waves continued to crash in the space between us.

I jumped off the bed, clearing the steps with a force that sunk my feet deep into the sand. My arms pumped, legs wobbling as I desperately ran forward, kicking more sand up behind me, stumbling as it fought to hold me back.

Brady finally turned, and his eyebrows furrowed at my clambering and desperate approach. "Sweetheart?"

I pointed, gasping for breath. "Shark!"

Brady looked over at the cause of my racing heart and smirked. He smirked. He didn't back away or try to get rid of it. "Yeah. I know." He raised his arms, and more fins popped up, dozens of them, many much larger than the one in question. "Amazing, aren't they?"

I took a step back. "You're controlling them?"

His tone dried. "Did you really think a shark could outmatch me?" His wrist flicked, and a moment later a hammer head jumped from the water, it's massive body twisting before disappearing back into the blue with a splash that rained down onto Brady's head.

My mouth fell open. I'd never seen anything more exotic than a squirrel up close, and definitely not in the wild.

"Come in," Brady called.

I shook my head. "No. Nope. Uh-uh." I waved my arms in front of me. "I've seen way too many movies to go in that water."

"I could compel you." Those dark eyes glittered with humor.

My breath caught. "Don't! I swear Brady, if you make me go in that water, I will–"

Brady held his hands up. "Okay! Here. How about this?" His arms moved again, and one by one the fins dipped back beneath the surface. He held a finger up, smile wide and opened, eyes dancing, then a moment later, the fins resurfaced.

"Okay." I looked at him like he were stupid. "Good job, I guess."

He snorted, then his wrist flicked again, only this time, four heads popped up around him. The high pitched sound that filtered towards me gave way to the fact that they weren't sharks. "Dolphins?" I took a step forward, trying to get a better look.

"Come in!" he called again. "The sharks are gone. You're safe."

I chewed my lip. While I believed what he said about the sharks, it didn't remove the other predator. Him. Brady was a shark in his own right, amazing to look at but also very ready to eat me.

But... dolphins...

No way could I pass up the chance. I looked down at my jeans and T-shirt. The same thing I'd been wearing the day before. No sooner had the thought entered my mind, my clothes vanished, and I found myself in a two piece bikini.

A very small two piece bikini.

I covered myself as best I could with my hands and shot a glare in Brady's direction.

His smile didn't waver. "I've never enjoyed doing magic more than just then."

"Ha ha!" I called. "Not funny. Put my clothes back on."

He dipped down until I could only see him from the chin up. "Nope. I don't want to."

"Brady!"

"Nope!" His smile dulled to a grin as he fought to act serious. "You've got two options. You could come in and let the water cover all that delicious skin, or you can walk back to the hut." He dipped down further, almost to his nose, but his dancing eyes let me know he was enjoying himself.

I chanced a glance at my backside. The tiny piece of material that covered it wasn't enough to blow my nose. My skin heated, and I took the only option I had. No way was I going to give him the pleasure of staring at my butt as I escaped, and no way was I going to stand there and let him continue to ogle my front. "You'll regret this!" I called as I took the first step into the salty warm water.

"I doubt that, Sweetheart," I heard him say, but I didn't look up. I focused on my feet, too embarrassed to see what I'm sure was his victorious expression.

When the water reached my stomach, a dolphin swam up to me, and I forgot about everything. It seemed to smile as it moved along my legs, it's smooth slick body running across one then the other as it swam back and forth. I reached a hand down to glide against its back. It was amazing, and I became so engulfed in it all, that I didn't even notice Brady's approach until his hand ran along my arm.

"I'll never get over how beautiful you are when you look like that," he murmured.

I looked up at him, and his eyes were shimmering blue, not completely, just a shadow of what I knew lay beneath the surface. "This is amazing, Brady." Another dolphin swam up, and I reached down with my other hand to touch it.

"You haven't seen anything yet, Sweetheart." He grabbed my hand, and a flash of blue filled the air around us. The next moment, we were further out, so far the island was nothing more than a spec in the distance.

I screeched, gripping his shoulders, but Brady pulled me tight and held us both afloat. I let my wide terrified eyes linger over the never ending open water in the opposite direction. "I liked the dolphins better," I squeaked. "Can we go back?"

I tried to look at him but his face was hidden away from me, just over my shoulder. I took in his grip in my waist, his fingers against my back. "Brady?"

He heaved a breath then looked at me. The electric blue had spread, taking over his irises completely "Trust me." His voice was rougher than before.

His eyes flashed, and the water was pushed away from us. Like a bubble, a force field materialized, our body's left suspended, floating within.

My mouth hung open, and Brady smiled down at me. "Are you ready to see something truly amazing?"

Nervousness kept me mute. I chewed my lip and looked down into the depths.

"Sweetheart?" Brady lowered his face down to mine, prompting me to look at him. His eyes held an emotion that spoke to some hidden part of me. "Trust me." It was a request, a plea, spoken with so much need, I found my head nodding before my brain could process.

Brady held me tighter and released a breath. We slowly sank, the bubble following, and even once we'd submerged completely, the cool crisp oxygen surrounded us.

A mixture of fear and anticipation mingled under my skin. At first, all I could see was the sun shimmering through an empty murk. But the deeper we went, a new world began to take form. Schools of fish, brightly colored coral, everywhere I looked something new. Creatures I'd never even known existed stole my breath and made me stare in wonder.

Brady kept me held tightly against him as he guided us along the ocean floor. "Did you know," he started, flipping us so he was stretched out flat, holding me by my hips above him, our bodies perfectly parallel as we continued to glide. "Humpback whales sing in chorus to find their mates." Suddenly, I heard it, the unmistakable and eerily beautiful sound of whales singing. My head shot up, looking into the distance, and sucking in a breath at the sight of them. An entire pod swam with purpose, far beyond the reef yet so very close. Brady's hands twitched against me. "They all sing. Even the ones too young to mate. They join in to help make the song louder, so the ones who are searching can find their females more easily."

"It's beautiful," I said, still drinking in the awe of what I was witnessing.

Brady shifted us, and we switched course, heading closer to the colorful coral. "You see those?" he asked, turning us to our sides and motioning with one hand.

I looked over to the colorful fish. The same blue as Brady's eyes coated it's face, but the rest of it's body was black, speckled with yellow like someone had flicked it with paint.

"That's a French Angelfish," Brady murmured, voice deep and smooth and much closer than before. I felt his breath against the shell of my ear, the warmth of his skin so close to mine, begging to be touched. "When they find their mates, it's a life bond." His hand ran across my lower back, circling me. "They spend their lives together, and if any other angelfish should try to break them apart, they join together in defense against it."

I swallowed hard, meeting his electric neon blue eyes and losing a little more of myself within them. "How do you know all this?" I asked as I forced myself to pull away.

Brady's face softened. "Knowledge is easier with magic." He stopped at a flattened rock formation, seating us side by side as if it were a bench. It held the perfect view of everything, and I released a sigh as I tried to wrap my brain around how any of it was even possible.

I found it too difficult to bother thinking about the past, about truths or lies in a moment so miraculous. I fought to drink it all in, but there was so much to see. Each direction I cast my eyes, some new creature would pop out, swim around, or move and relinquish its camouflage.

"If a Jinn wishes to learn something," he continued, his voice quiet and smooth, blending in with the calm setting, "he can take a book and, with the right spell, the knowledge will become his. We don't simply read and memorize." He scratched the back of his neck, as if he were searching for a way to explain. "We absorb it. It's here." He tapped his temple. "I can access it whenever I feel the need."

I stared at him. "So you have a library inside your head." No fucking way. "That's cheating!"

Brady's chest rumbled. "How is it cheating?"

"There's no work involved." I crossed my arms over my chest. It was unfair. Too easy. The more I learned about Jinn, the more I realized what an advantage they'd been given.

"You're angry?" Brady smiled. "How can that make you angry?"

"Things are too easy for you." I looked away, out at the utopia we shouldn't even be able to witness, but could thanks to his performance enhancers.

Brady shrugged. "Not everything is so easy." He stretched his legs out, hands gripping the rock behind him as he stretched out lazily.

I fought to keep my eyes level with his.

"We may not have to study the way humans do for worldly knowledge, but our magic takes years of discipline and hard work to master. The more magic a person is born with, the harder the training." He looked so natural and relaxed as he spoke. We were at the bottom of the ocean, but Brady acted as if it were no big deal, just another afternoon at the park. "I spent my whole life, from the moment I was born, harnessing my power."

"But now you can do this," I motioned around us. "Your work is done, and you get to spend the rest of your life never having to lift a finger."

A cocky expression filled his face, and in a sarcastic move, he lifted one finger up between us. "But I do, don't I?" He leaned over and ran it down the side of my face as he met my gaze intently. "I feel like I've been working extra hard lately." He stopped just below my chin, lifting my mouth level with his.

I took in his words and what they meant. Me. This. All of it was for me. To try and win me over. To try and get me to... "I'm not sleeping with you," I stated bluntly, leaning back and breaking the contact.

Brady grimaced and leaned back to his original position. "See?" he grumbled. "Not everything is so easy."

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