Moon Dust

i. The Villain

She looked so fragile and vulnerable, like a bird with broken wings.

What a thing to say while making yourself smaller and frowning, so weak and fragile despite that fiery mouth full of harsh words too heavy for your soft voice.

"A wedding ring isn't the only way to claim you, Sarai," there was a hint of coercion in his voice which hadn't been there before - tense and unpracticed like Jax never had to resort to such measures, making her flush, his gaze, steady yet slightly unhinged, soft yet aflame, feral and barely controlled as he takes her in, whatever he was closer to the surface than Sarai had ever seen. His words finally settle, wading through the lifting mist of desire, striking her

Claim me?!

Like a unwanted parka in the fucking lost and found!

She opens her mouth to protest but only a weak whimper escapes. A plea for more, Sarai realizes, her skin burning when his hand, the hand that had pushed her limp body into a man-eating tree minutes ago, gripped Sarai's neck, firm yet soft, almost tender.

He was going to kill her! 

Good! 

Only one of them could die, she thinks, shutting her eyes to welcome the sweet release of death. A soft scream escaped her lips when his grip on her neck shoved her against his lips. 

Her eyes opened wide in shock, an explosion of arousal rocking through her so strongly she almost went limp as he kissed her, passionately, wildly, as if he would eat her, with a venomous need that burned hotter as she moaned, lost for a moment to a desire and need so overpowering her mind is nearly devoured. This wasn't the gentlemanly kiss at their wedding, it was a declaration of dominance, his possession of her absolute as his lips slid over hers. She whimpered and slumped against him, quivering as he hummed a gruff sound against her lips and they opened, letting his tongue in as his free hand moved to her ass, the sweet thrumming hurt of arousal burning hot and desperately between her thighs. Her shaky hand, sweaty palms cupped his face desperately, scared he'd move away and end the kiss. His grip on her ass coaxed a moan from her throat, pressing his arousal harder against her. Her legs parted far as the tight skirt would let her, sex dripping and pulsing eagerly, desperate for relief.

His eyes opened, so close to hers she was nearly consumed by the magenta haze swirling,  flickering between soft -gentle to wild - feral, magenta to sakura to dark-honey just as violent as he was peeled away from her. 

"Well... whenever you're done shoving your forbidden love in my face." a gruff baritone sardonically washed over them, pulling Jax far enough for Sarai to realize they were in a dark alleyway

Jax snarled, low and angry and the blue light around him flared from indigo to cerulean, Sarai's gaze meeting the spark of amusement in a set of ocean-blue eyes. He was leaned against a dark car, finishing off a rib, unfazed by the tension in the air, as if nothing could shatter his calm exterior. He had shoulders so broad worlds could rest on them but all Sarai saw was the ghost of jewel-like spikes shimmering over them, the dark curls of his hair flopping gently under the weight of a thorned crown made of the same invisible sharp black jewels. 

"Help," she softly whimpered "This mad man attacked me." 

He could hold Jax back, couldn't he? Sarai wasn't sure what he was, but he was powerful, and he was the blue light imprisoning Jax, Sarai was sure of it. He could keep doing that long enough for her to run if he understood her situation, that Sarai had been tricked, that she was being poisoned, that her husband was making her sick... 

"He looks quite mad tonight, doesn't he? It's all very new to me." The stranger chuckled softly,  blue eyes shining mischievously, his tone friendly and casual as Jax let out another snarl and he sent a blue pulse this time steel blue over him until he was limp and floating off the ground.

 "But what will you give me, Sarai who sees the underworld, for my help?"

There was something soft yet powerful about his little question, dangerous even. Sarai wondered if she'd just shifted from bad to worse. She'd seen Jax strangle her and feed her to a man-eating cherry tree but she was also seeing a hot guy, with blackthorn armor ghosting over his skin, effortlessly restrain her husband... 

"You're hesitating," He pointed out, nonchalantly.

Sarai looked at him guiltily, chin tipped down as she dug the heel of her stiletto into the wet ground. If she couldn't even escape from Jax, what were her chances with whoever...whatever... this man was? In the last three months, she'd tried her best to study up, to find out what each creature could do, and from the tan of his skin and the curl of his hair, she tied him down as Middle Eastern, a region she knew little about.

"I can see your... mind control. Are you a djinn?"

Djinns could mind control right? And they were always tricking you into using up your three wishes for their freedom... Had she wished for Jax to be restrained? No, she'd asked for help just after he'd already captured Jax in the blue haze. 

His blue eyes glistened with something mysterious, his lips curving up so subtly she thought she might've imagined it as he beckoned her closer with a crook of his finger. 

"I won't hurt you, little moon," he cooed softly 

He speared his arms out, biceps bulging through the sinews. 

"Now come closer."