18.

said, Farren didn't trust the creature. Even a short time free could give the djinn the opportunity to cause a great deal of chaos.

"Thank you." Farren bowed but didn't reach for the lamp. He might be young, but he wasn't stupid.

"Smart boy," the djinn approved. He waved his hand and the lamp shrank until a tiny three-dimensional lamp dangled from a key ring. "To make it easier to carry around."

"Thank you." Farren didn't know what the djinn was up to, but he couldn't deny the lamp would be handy.

"You are most welcome. Now, to be a proper djinn you will need the mark."

Farren knew the djinn used their marks to transform into a new being. Full-blooded djinn could become any animal they wished. He had thought the djinn wouldn't be able to cross the line. He should've known better. The djinn threw a fireball at him. Farren couldn't escape. He screamed as flames burned across his body, searing into his skin.

The world spun, whipping between heat and pain. Farren's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell to the floor. Unable to bear the agony, Farren let the darkness take him away.

19.

Chapter Two.

This is a mistake!

Dan Stewartson approached Farren's dorm room with sluggish, dragging steps, each foot placement becoming slower than the last. A shove from behind had him spinning around to face his brothers. "Stop it!"

"Well, if I'd known you were going to be such a pussy about it, I wouldn't have suggested we go visit him," Dean taunted. "Maybe Farren's not answering his phone because he doesn't want to see you anymore."

Dan smacked his brother in the back of the head. "Don't even suggest that. I'm worried about him. I don't want him to think that I'm a stalker, but he's been acting very stressed lately. I was hoping he could take a break and come have pizza with me or something. You two didn't have to come along."

"We didn't want to miss you being shot down," Devin offered, standing safely out of Dan's reach on the other side of Dean. "I mean, it's not often you work this hard to get a date."

Dan shook his head at his brothers' teasing. They might give him a hard time, but he knew they had his back. He rubbed his sweaty hands on his pants. Farren had left a voicemail cancelling their date with an excuse of too much homework. Dan planned to find out what was going on. He knew his lover had a secretive nature, completely different from the more open personalities of Dan and his brothers, but he wouldn't let Farren burrow himself away in his homework.

Farren had never confused Dan with his brothers, not even in the beginning. When they talked, Dan always felt as if he'd been born a single instead of one of three. Farren didn't understand how precious that made him to Dan. Sometimes it was difficult being a triplet.

People saw three identical faces and thought they were the same inside, as if they were stamped out from identical moulds. Nothing could be further from the truth. They were very different people. Dan was the oldest and calmest, Devin was always ready for a party and Dean had always been the most serious even before his girlfriend Lisa had been killed.

20.

Dan knocked on the door then took a deep breath to calm the tiny dragons swooping around his stomach. It opened immediately but not by the person Dan had hoped to see.

"Hello, Maddox."

Even on a good day, Farren's roommate irritated him. Despite Maddox's attractive face and muscular body, he was a conniving asshole. Dan knew Maddox was trying to drive a wedge between him and Farren, but he wouldn't let the idiot's tactics work.

I won't give up Farren for anyone.

Maddox eyed Dan up and down as if he were a choice piece of meat before he transferred his gaze to Dan's brothers with the same prurient interest. "Are you here to see your boy? He's not in. I'm not sure where he is. He didn't tell me where he was going before he headed out. I guess he had a hot date."

Dan clenched his fists tight to his sides to hold back the urge to punch Maddox. No doubt Maddox would play the victim to the hilt and get Dan thrown out of school for assault, or at least prevented from entering Farren's dorm, just to make things difficult.

"Could you tell him I stopped by?" Dan hated to ask, but he wanted Farren to know he was still interested, despite Farren cancelling another date.

Farren wasn't answering his phone, which worried Dan a bit. He'd left several messages, but still nothing. The feeling of something being wrong kept Dan twitchy and uneasy. He wanted to find Farren-now!

"Sure, I'll be sure to tell him. Anything else you need?" Maddox's sultry tone indicated what he'd like Dan to ask for.

"No, thanks." Dan didn't trust Maddox, not since he'd made a move on Dan during a party-soon after Dan had shown interest in Farren. He hadn't told Farren about Maddox's attempted kiss because he didn't want to cause problems between the roommates. That didn't mean he'd forgiven him.

"If you're sure. You could always come in and wait." Lust gleamed in Maddox's eyes as he swept another creepy glance down Dan, no doubt imagining him naked.

"I appreciate the offer, but we have to get going. Bye." Dan turned around and headed back down the hallway. He didn't wait for Maddox to say anything else. He didn't want to talk to Farren's roommate unless he absolutely had to.

21.

He could hear his brothers following. The soft squeaking of their sneakers was a comforting counterpoint to the ache in Dan's chest. Where could Farren be?

"Didn't Farren say he was staying in tonight?" Devin asked.

Dan wished for a second he were a shifter like some of their wolf friends. He'd have loved to growl out his frustration, maybe have a good howl.

"Just because he isn't here doesn't mean he's not studying!" Dan snapped. He didn't care if his brother had a point or not-he refused to think the worst of Farren. Maybe that made him nave.

Devin nodded. "That's true, but, bro, it's the third date he's broken. And you've only gone out on two."

"I know but that doesn't make him automatically guilty." Dan wouldn't convict Farren of lying before he talked to Farren again. "When I see him, I'll just mention that I came by and see what he says."

Dean frowned. "I just don't get what's so special about this guy? You never would've taken this behaviour from anyone else. Anyone else you would've kicked to the kerb."

His brother made a good point. Dan never would have accepted being brushed off by a guy before. He did have his pride, just not apparently where Farren was concerned.

"I think he's the one, Dean. I think he could be my mate." He sighed from the relief of finally saying what he had suspected. Withholding secrets from Dean and Devin had weighed heavily on him. After their parents' death in a car accident, they were all he had.

Dean raised an eyebrow at Dan's vehemence. "Are you sure? Maybe you just want it so bad you're willing to take anyone. We don't really mate like the werekin, you know."

Dan swallowed back the harsh retort hovering on his tongue. Maybe he had been hanging around the wolf shifters too much. For as long as he could remember, Dan had dreamed of finding someone who would love just him-a man who would think of Dan as a single instead of part of three. As much as he adored his brothers, he needed to be an individual as well as a triplet. After a moment of consideration, he shook his head. "No. He's the one."

Devin shook his head. "Don't rush into anything permanent, bro. You're still young.

Take him to bed a few more times and make sure he can keep you satisfied before you settle down."

22.

Dan laughed. Leave it to Devin to pick out sex as the determining factor of a relationship.

"You don't have to share the details," Dean rushed to say. His brother supported Dan and Devin's sexuality, but he didn't want to hear what they did in their sex life any more than they wanted to hear about Dean's time in bed with women. It was an unspoken rule, but it worked for them.

"Yes he does," Devin argued. "I want every little detail, and make sure to give all the specifics for how Farren looks naked."

Dan stopped in his tracks. He turned around to glare at his brother. "I'm not giving you the details of my sex life, especially involving Farren. Some things are private."

In the past he'd often swapped dating stories with Devin, but he didn't want to share anything about Farren, not even with his brothers. Farren was his and he wasn't sharing anything.

"We just think you should spend more time thinking it over before you start picking out china and cohabitating," Dean said. Dan could see the worry in his brother's eyes, but he refused to back down.

Dan ran his fingers through his hair. "I know you think I'm too young to settle down.

But when it's right, it's right."

How could he explain to his brothers how much Farren meant to him? After only a few dates he had no idea how Farren felt about him, but he knew the sweet fire mage held Dan's heart. He only hoped it wouldn't get stomped on.

"If this guy means so much to you, we'll be nice, but if we find out he's cheating, I'm going to beat the shit out of him." Dean had always been the protective one.

Dan patted his brother on the shoulder. "Fair enough."

He didn't want to be on the outs with his brothers, but even if Farren had another guy on the side, Dan knew he couldn't let his brothers touch Farren. The idea of the younger wizard being hurt turned Dan's stomach. At the same time, his brothers were his support system and if he alienated them, he'd never forgive himself. "I don't think he's cheating on me. He's a great guy. I think he just has a lot on his mind. He seemed pretty stressed about his classes."

Damn. I hope he's not cheating on me.

23.

Dan rolled the concept in his head, but his heart argued against it. His brothers thought he was an idiot for trusting Farren when the fire mage didn't seem to want to share his secrets, but the heart wanted what the heart wanted, and Dan's beating organ yearned for his handsome mage.

"Your great guy keeps cancelling on you," Devin reminded him.

"I know he backed out on our date. You don't have to keep reminding me. I'm going to talk to him about it." Hopefully he could coax Farren into telling him what was wrong. Dan could tell by Farren's avoidance of certain issues regarding his magic that Farren had some problems he wasn't ready to share. Although Dan respected Farren's privacy, he couldn't help but be hurt that Farren didn't trust him.

"And if he cancels again?" Dean asked.

Dan swallowed the lump in this throat. "Then I'll deal with it."

It took a lot of effort to even say the words much less imagine following through with them. Dan suspected that if it proved necessary, breaking up with Farren would be one of the most painful things he'd ever done.

Dean gave him a one-armed hug. "At least he's not dead. You still have hope."

Dan nodded. Lisa's death last year had scarred his brother. He hoped Dean would start dating again, but so far he hadn't shown interest in any of the women on campus. Devin and Dan had decided to give Dean more time before they started the hard sell to get him dating again. Lisa had been a great girl, but Dean hadn't been dating her long. Hopefully, he'd recover from her death before much more time passed.

A loud noise yanked the brothers from their conversation. Three fire trucks barrelled down the street in a row of screaming sirens and flashing red and white lights. The emergency vehicles screeched to a halt on the other side of the quad.

"Damn, which building is that?" Devin asked.

Dan turned to look where Devin had pointed. Smoke poured into the sky like a funnel cloud. The stench of smoke and ash saturated the air. Luckily it didn't appear to be near their dorm, so they wouldn't lose another room.

"I hope no one was injured." Dean bit his lip as he examined the area. "I think it's one of the old spell stadiums."

"I thought they weren't being used anymore." Dan watched the flames shoot higher.

24.

"Aren't they warded against accidents?" Devin asked.

Dan shrugged. "Maybe the protections got old. I don't know when they were built."