Shay clenched his jaw tight at her words.

Dammit.

Nicole’s eyes were wide with wonder. Wonder and delight, and not even a flicker of fear. That was a bad sign, because her lack of alarm meant that, while she might know what he was called, she had no idea what he was capable of.

“Jinni is the more accurate name,” he said.

Nicole bit into her lip, but her face didn’t show even a sliver of shame. If anything, she seemed more intrigued.

“Well, that would explain the seven words,” she said cryptically.

His brows pulled together in confusion.

“Seven words?” Fenrir asked.

Nicole nodded. “Before this morning I’d known Shay for six weeks, but he’d only ever said seven words to me. Three hellos and two good mornings. Now I know why.”

“And you kept count,” Fenrir mused.

A pleased smile lifted the wolf’s lips. An equally bemused expression pulled Emily’s down.

Shay pressed his lips together as Fenrir and Merlin shared a meaningful look. They didn’t need to say a word for him to know what they were all hoping for. That the obvious crush that Nicole Starling held for him would blossom into something more—the love they all needed to experience in order to break the curse that bound them to Earth.

And who knew? Maybe it could. After all, he felt the strength of her attraction toward him. He’d felt it the first day he’d laid eyes on her.

And what was worse, he’d reciprocated it.

Who wouldn’t?

Even if the creatures around her couldn’t feel the beautiful waves of energy that radiated out from her soul, they could still see her and the magnificent symmetry of her features—her lush lips, broad nose, and high cheeks. The gorgeous depths of her brown eyes. The tempting curves of her body.

Nicole Starling was stunning, inside and out. More than that, she was special, unlike anyone he had met on Earth.

She had a vitality that permeated up through the floors and walls. He could feel when she was in the building. He could feel her joy, hear her laughter, feel the spirit of life flowing through her. It was infectious and instantly enjoyable…and attractive.

So attractive.

He could hear it in her voice, see it in her eyes, feel it radiating off her skin. She loved life. She enjoyed and appreciated and contributed to the beauty around her. He could practically taste the beauty of her soul. The liveliness of it. Her spirit of joy.

A spirit he was born to consume.

No. Shay knew his duty. He knew what he had to do to get back home, and, the Heavens knew, he wanted to get there as badly as any of the exiles, but he’d never do it at the cost of falling in love with a woman like Nicole.

Because deep down he knew the cost she’d someday pay.

Nicole may have heard secondhand stories about his kind, but she had no way of knowing how truly dangerous he was. Falling in love with him would be a mistake. One he would never allow her to make.

“At least now I know your silence wasn’t anything personal.” She shot him a wide smile. Her voice was bright with laughter. “At least I’m assuming it wasn’t.”

Shay shook his head. It wasn’t. Not the way she meant.

“You couldn’t risk starting a conversation.”

He nodded again. Risk. Maybe she did understand. Maybe she understood the risks of being in his presence. Of talking with him. Of even looking at him the way she was. So why was she still doing it?

Emily cleared her throat. Loudly. It was obvious those risks were not lost on Emily.

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” Emily asked. Shay had a feeling she was deliberately steering the conversation as far away from him as possible.

“The same reason you didn’t want to tell me who you were working for,” Nicole said. “The only thing worse than someone not believing you, would be if someone did. No one in my family has ever talked about any of this. Ever. I was always told since I was a kid that the most important thing is protecting the magic.”

“But how did you keep it secret for so long?” Merlin asked. “That is the most powerful grimoire I’ve ever felt. That much magic is impossible to shield indefinitely.”

“Well, I guess Asphodel was a better magician than you, because that’s exactly what he did,” Nicole said. “My grandfather told me he used the last of his power shielding that safe under the counter.”

Merlin cast her a skeptical look. “That must have been to be a powerful spell.”

“If you say so.”

“Cast by a magician I’ve never heard of, to protect a book I’ve never seen and that only you have access to.” Merlin’s tone was thick with disbelief.

“Well, technically, me and my father.”

Merlin’s eyes narrowed like they always did when he was trying to spot any deceit. Apparently, Nicole found the look every bit as annoying as he did.

She threw her hands up in the air. “You don’t believe me? Fine.”

She stormed out from behind the counter, and straight to Shay’s side. She picked up his hand and placed it on the center of her chest.

“You can tell if I’m lying, right?” she asked. “Jinn can feel it in your aura or something.”

“In your soul,” he clarified. But he didn’t need to touch her to do it. He’d felt her sincerity from the very beginning.

Still, he found himself not wanting to pull his hand away. The intensity of her soul light surrounded him. Hell, it called to him. A hum and vibration that was uniquely hers seeped under his skin and caressed all of his senses.

Shay hadn’t met anyone on Earth he could feel the way he felt Nicole. He could imagine how rich her soul would be, how bright, how the surge of her elemental energy would crackle under his skin.

But unlike Merlin, the power he craved was all too accessible. There was no unbreakable barrier keeping him from his treasure. There was only his resolve.

And that resolve was a hell of a lot easier to bolster when he couldn’t feel the warmth of her skin.

“She’s telling the truth.” Shay pulled his hand back. “That’s all she knows.”

Merlin gave a groan. “That doesn’t do us much good.”

“Doesn’t do you much good? What about me? I’m the one that just had to banish half a dozen fae from my store.”

“Fae soldiers that were sent to slaughter us,” Merlin shot back.

Nicole went quiet for a moment, and Shay felt her energy shift, becoming quizzical.

“That’s not exactly right.” She looked up into his eyes. “Marrow said you were the one he wanted to kill, Shay. Why?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Sure it does. I risked my life to save yours.”

Shay shook his head. “No, you didn’t. You risked your life to save that book.”

Nicole propped her hands on her hips and glared up at him. Both righteousness and determination poured out of her. “It wasn’t an either/or situation, jinni.”

This conversation had gone on long enough. It was time for it to end.

Shay pushed away from the wall, but before he could take a step, Nicole stretched out her arm and pressed her open palm against his chest.

He looked down at her hand. How long had it been since someone had dared to touch him this way? There was no way the woman could know the power she was toying with. Even in this mortal form, he was still stronger than she could imagine. He could shatter all the bones in her arm with swipe of his hand if he wanted to.

Instead he simply stepped to the side and away from her touch.

“Either way, what you did was a terrible mistake.” He tried walking away from her, but it didn’t make a difference. He felt her just as strongly from a few feet away.

“How so?” she asked.

Shay didn’t turn around to face her. Instead, he stared blankly at a row of books on the shelf in front of him.

“Because by using the grimoire to banish the fae, you’ve let Marrow know of its existence. And if I know that power-hungry bastard, right now he’s forgotten all about coming after me, and is focusing all of his energy on getting his hands on that book.”

Nicole muttered a curse behind him.

“But Nicole’s not at risk, right?” Emily asked. “You called what she did a banishing spell. That means Marrow and his men are banished and they can’t come back, right?”

“It means they can’t come back inside the store,” Shay said. “That’s it. And it doesn’t keep them from using more mundane means of attack. All they’d need is a can of gasoline and match, and—boom—the whole building would go up.”

“Then, Nicole, you have to leave,” Emily pleaded.

“And go where?” Nicole asked. “Is there honestly any place I could hide where the fae wouldn’t find me?”

“Merlin,” Emily said. “Can you use some of your newfound powers to hide her from the fae’s sight?”

“Of course.”

“And the grimoire?” Nicole asked. “Can you shield that too?”

A heavy silence descended.

“No,” Shay answered when it became obvious that Merlin was unwilling to admit his limitations. “That book is far too powerful for him to shield completely. Even back in the Realm, he wouldn’t be able to manage such a feat.”

“Well, then that answers that,” Nicole said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Emily said to her friend. “It’s just a book. And even if Marrow did get his hands on it he couldn’t use it unless he found you.”

“Or my father,” she reminded her. “Besides, there’s more here than just the book. There’s also the store itself. I can’t just walk away from it.”

Shay tensed. Why did this have to be so difficult? Why did Nicole have to pull out the damn grimoire in the first place? She should have listened to him and stayed down and quiet. If she would have done that the fae would have never seen her face, and he could walk away right now. He could be leaving her behind, safe and sound.

“This shop is not more important than your life,” Shay said.

“Easy for you to say,” she said. “Do you have any idea the significance of this store? Do you have any concept of what it stands for or the challenges my family has faced keeping it alive? This isn’t the first time people who thought they were better than us have tried to run us out of the city. This isn’t the first time our lives have been threatened. But each time, we stood our ground.”

Shay ground his teeth. It seemed there was an edge to that light of hers. Maybe under different circumstances he would have appreciated it more. But not right now.

“Then you’re a fool,” Shay said, starting for the front door. “And there’s nothing I can do for you.”

He prayed to the Heavens that his tough words would break through this ridiculous pride of hers. Maybe when she was standing alone in a dark and empty store all by herself, she would come to her senses and act reasonably.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Nicole said to his back.

The hell he wasn’t. He cranked the knob and threw the door open.

“Shay Madrid,” she called out. “I wish that you will stay by my side and defend this store.”