"I'd like you to come if you can."

Farren shrugged. "I don't know yet. I-I'll call you."

His heart ached and he knew the truth would end the one good relationship he'd ever had.

"Hey, I'm sorry. That didn't come out how I meant it." Dan rubbed Farren's back.

Farren stood, forcing himself to move away from Dan's touch. Farren grabbed his backpack by the door. "I think it came out just how you thought it. I'm going to go and check if there's anything left of my room. I'll see you around."

He was proud he'd been able to get those words out with his heart breaking.

69.

Chapter Seven.

Dan threw his shoe against the door. "Damn it!" He'd just fucked up his relationship.

What kind of stupid question was that? You don't just come out and ask your boyfriend what he is.

Dan grabbed his hair and yanked, relishing the pain. "I need to fix this."

He'd go talk to Jay and Kevin. Both of them were in relationships and had good heads on their shoulders. Of course it was probably easier with wolves. A werekin decided you were their mate and that was pretty much it.

Determined to fix his relationship issues, Dan went to take a shower. Maybe the hot water would wash away the fact he was an absolute idiot.

The pack house was buzzing with people running around when Dan arrived. The werekin were going all out for this party. They were celebrating the alpha's one year anniversary of mating, along with his brother's since they'd both found their mates around the same time. Apparently werekin took their anniversaries seriously. Dan hoped he wouldn't mark this as the first date of when he'd broken up with the greatest guy he'd ever met.

He hurried up the steps, grateful when the first person he spotted was Jaynell.

"Jay!"

"Hey, Dan!"

Jay's eyes glowed with his suppressed power, but Dan was long used to his friend's crackling energy.

Dan quickly hugged the powerful wizard. He must've clung tighter than he'd planned because after a moment Jay held him apart. "What's wrong?"

Something dripped down his cheeks. When had he started crying? "I'm s-sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your day."

Here he came to a party and he was dripping all over one of the guests of honour.

70.

Jay squeezed Dan's shoulders. "What's up?"

"I don't know?" Dan recounted the entire situation with Farren in a torrent of words and tears.

"So your fire mage was near both of the fires when they started?"

Dan bit his lip. "I don't think that matters. He didn't set them." Farren had seemed just as confused as the rest of them over how the fires had started.

"I think it matters a lot. Do you have a picture of him?"

"Yeah." Dan pulled out his phone.

Jay leaned over his shoulder while Dan thumbed through his photos.

"Wait, go back!"

"What?" Dan returned to the picture of Farren's back. "That's just his new tattoo. He wanted to see how it looked."

"I just bet he did," Jay muttered. He snatched the phone from Farren. "This is the same one your brother sent me the other day. I was going to talk to him about it. Your sweet, innocent lover is a djinn. I'm betting he knows more about those fires than he's letting on.

And I heard a rumour he has a fire serpent?"

Dan pressed a hand to his stomach. His insides were swirling dizzyingly. "Yeah."

"Interesting. The fire god and the djinn are not allies. If Farren is as innocent as you think, he's in a lot of trouble."

Jay's concerned frown only ramped up Dan's worry. "Why do you say that?"

"Because that's a djinn mark, and serpents are signs of the favour of Xiuhcoatl. He must be really powerful to have garnered both of their attention."

Dan hadn't thought Farren that powerful, but maybe he had hid it along with everything else. If Dan were part of a persecuted race, he didn't know if he'd go around announcing it either. Maybe that's why Farren had taken his question so badly. Dan desperately wanted to give Farren the benefit of the doubt. "What am I going to do?"

"Is he coming to the party?" Jay tucked a piece of hair behind his ear, the movement easy and graceful.

"I don't know. I hurt his feelings earlier. He might try to avoid me. I don't think he's responsible. I really don't."

71.

Dan had to believe in Farren's innocence. If he didn't trust the man he loved then he had nothing. He'd be just as lost as Dean was since his girlfriend died.

"Get him over here and I'll check him. I'll be able to tell if he's under another's control.

If he's still independent, I'll do what I can to help."

Dan let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. Without Jay's help he knew he'd never get to the bottom of things.

"What will you do if he is being influenced by a djinn?" His voice trembled at the end, but he got the words out. Every muscle in his body tightened as he waited for Jay's verdict.

Dan couldn't fight Jay and he wasn't foolish enough to think he could. That didn't mean he wouldn't do whatever he could to persuade his friend to not kill his lover.

Jay was quiet for a moment as if thinking over his answer carefully. "I'd have to hand Farren over to the council. They might be able to free him. I can't do it myself. I'm not strong enough to battle a djinn or a fire god alone."

Dan had thought Jay powerful enough to battle anything. It was sort of humbling to learn there were some things even Jay couldn't destroy.

Dan hugged Jay again. His friend's support meant more to him than he could say.

"Thanks, Jay." Even as he said the words, he hoped his friend wouldn't have to pull in the big guns. If Jay called the council they would come running. They still hoped to have Jay join them in a few years.

"Let's just hope he comes willingly. I really need to assess him," Jay mused.

"Yeah, let's hope."

Dan dialled Farren's phone.

He didn't answer.

Maybe he really had gone to class.

Farren glance at the readout on his phone. Damn, he really needed to call Dan back. His stomach did backflips as he wondered what to say. What if Dan was calling to apologise?

Farren sighed and shoved his phone back in his pocket. He'd call him later.

Right now he had a mark to decipher and some research to do. Was it possible to fight fire with fire? Or would Farren end up burning the school down?

72.

The book he'd checked out on djinn marks had only revealed what Farren had expected, a djinn lord had claimed him. If the djinn ever became free, he could take over Farren's body. No wonder the djinn had wanted Farren to take the lead. How much easier to stay in charge if you possessed a person already there in a place of power. Farren shuddered at the thought of his body not being his own.

Farren quickly dropped the book into the return slot. He'd had enough bad news.

Maybe he could read about his avatar and learn more. Anything to take his mind off the shambles of his love life would be great. Eventually he'd have to talk to Dan. Not now when the worry over the world was damn near crushing him, but soon.

A quick search on the library computer led him to the third floor to a section on fire gods. Following the cataloguing system, he turned the corner. A person rose from the desk where they were seated. Farren's heart stopped.

"Hello, cousin."

"Betina." Farren marvelled a bit at the evenness of his voice.

Memories of torture, both physical and psychological, from her pretty, painted fingers flashed through his head like cut scenes from a horror movie. The time she'd left him out in the snow, telling him a real fire mage could stay warm. Maybe they could, but he'd been three and hadn't come into his magic yet. The time she'd 'accidentally' sliced his wrist open playing with a knife. Ten stitches later, the family had cuddled Betina for her tears and ignored Farren's injury, telling him to man up. Incident after incident while growing up had taught Farren the truth. Beneath the wide blue eyes and perky blonde curls lived the soul of a sociopath.

Her familiar friendly grin almost sent him into posttraumatic shock. The tight squeeze of his avatar around his chest like a supportive hug snapped him out of his daze.

"What are you doing here?" There, he'd managed an entire sentence. Go him!

Betina sauntered closer until they were only one column of library books apart. "We have someone in common and he wants me to recruit you to our cause."

Her tone indicated she'd rather suck down sewage. Farren didn't have to strain his mind to realise who she was talking about.

73.

"The djinn sent you." Farren tightened his magical protective shields. He couldn't give her as much as a speck of an opening or she'd have him. Luckily Farren's magic had come in stronger than her own or he knew he'd still be at home bent to her will. Instead he'd escaped.

"Yes." She toyed with one curl in what she probably thought was a fetching manner.

It creeped Farren the hell out.

"Forget it." Farren's mouth went dry and a slight tremor rolled through his body, but he wouldn't back down.

A cruel smile twisted her mouth. "I think you forget what I can do to you."

Farren laughed. The sound lacked all amusement. "I'm not a scared little kid for you to torture anymore, Betina. If you try anything, I will retaliate."

Betina made an odd choking noise. It took him a moment to realise she was laughing.

"You? There's nothing you can do. You might have more magic but you're weak where it counts. You don't have the balls to stop me."