Djinn Boyfriend: Horirem #2 (special preview)

I hand him back the letter but he urges me to keep it. “I don’t want them to find it on me, just in case.” He squeezes his hand around mine. “Keep it. If anything should happen, it names the city where they took Bassam. If this is a trap, then you can go there and find Bassam, tell him what happened.” He then stands up, going to join the rest of the men in the hunting party.

Horirem sits beside me. “This must be what happened then,” he whispers. “He ran away to be with his lover, he escaped.”

“I feel so sorry for him,” I whisper. “He’s lost everyone in his life he really and truly loves. Even if he gets his way this time, he will still lose his sister.”

“If only my power would come back,” Horirem snarls. “I could make this all go away. I could help him!”

“This isn’t your fault,” I murmur. “And Nafi has turned out to be an amazing person. Hopefully, he will be reunited with Bassam and, by then, we can return home.”

“And what if it’s a trap like he said?” Horirem is shaking and his tail is fluffed up. “We could take Nafi back with us!”

“No,” I murmur. “Horirem, we couldn’t.” I speak calmly to him. “We could end up changing things that could ruin a lot of lives. We can’t interfere, no matter what, Nafi has to stay here.”

Horirem suddenly takes off, sprinting away from me and running beyond the tents. I don’t see him again until we pack up and continue on our journey. He reappears and I pick him up and put him in my seat with me. 

“Where’d you go?” I ask.

He grumbles something under his breath and curls up. “Just needed to be alone,” he stares out beyond the caravan.

“I got worried,” I fuss at him. “Don’t run away like that again.”

Horirem glares at me. “Worried? About what?”

“Lots of things!” I scoff. “You could have gotten stepped on, eaten, someone could have taken you! Then what?”

“You’d be trapped here forever,” he grumbles and his tail flicks.

“That would be the least of my worries!” I pinch his ear. “I would miss you! And like you not knowing what happened to Nafi, I would be so sad I’d get sick.”

Horirem frowns at me. “You would?”

I slouch back. “I care about you. In everything that has happened and all that we’re going through, I really do care about you.”

Horirem’s ears flick. “Like the kiss?”

My cheeks burn and I shrug. “It’s been on my mind,” I confess. “I won’t lie and say it hasn’t. It was a very good kiss.”

“I was thinking about it too,” Horirem huffs. “But now that I’m stuck like this, I can’t do anything about it.” His tail fluffs up. “All I can do right now is nothing, like any old stupid cat.”

I kiss the top of his head. “Once you’re back to your old self, I’ll reward you with another kiss then.”

“Don’t tease!” Horirem scoffs.