FinsFantasy by Jocelyn Dex Page A

*
    “What the hell was that, Raimee?” Baden demanded.
    “Just doing what you asked. Auras always shine brighter and
truer when emotions are high. But what I did didn’t require me to read her
aura. When she thought I was hitting on Fin, she got jealous.”
    “Jealous?” Fin asked, dumbfounded.
    Baden scoffed, “Yeah, I think you shoulda read her aura
because you’re not very perceptive.”
    She huffed. “I did but I went with my female
intuition first. Trust me. She was jealous. Wanted to punch my face, pretty
much.”
    “So, you’re saying she likes me?” Fin asked, doubtful.
    “Oh, she wants you, enough that she didn’t want me to have
that pleasure but don’t let it go to your head because, at the same time, she
truly is disgusted by your presence. It’s causing her a lot of confusion.
Stressing her out.”
    “Well, if she wants him, then you can give her a little push
in the right direction, and that makes it not so bad, right?” Baden asked
hopefully.
    Fin pushed away from the table. “I need some air.”
    When they followed him outside, he rounded on Baden. He hadn’t
intended to but he felt inclined. “Did you talk to Valia or did you come up
with this on your own? That’s pretty fucked up.”
    “Hey, man. Your sister gave me the idea and hooked me up
with Raimee, but I think it’s a good idea.”
    “No,” Fin shouted. “You can’t take her free will away from
her. Not like that.”
    “If it saves her life—”
    “She’ll hate you, hate Raimee, hate me and she’ll feel
disgusted with herself. It’s like giving her a roofie. I won’t be a part of
that. She already thinks I’m a mutated, tainted monster. If I’m a party to
that, I’ll actually feel like one. Her free will is her own. Debol took that
away from her for six long months. I’ll do my best to tempt her, to be nice to
her, to seduce her, but it’s because I truly want her. I want to save her. I
care about her.”
    Raimee grinned and Fin would have tried to backtrack on that
last statement but Raimee would see right through it anyway. Baden blinked at
him a couple times, then slapped him on the shoulder.
    “Then be more tempting.” He turned to Raimee and nodded and
they both ported away.
    Fin shocked himself when he’d declared he cared about Navine.
Yeah, he was hot for her—like scorching, skin melting hot—and he cared whether
she lived or died in a general sense. But that wasn’t what he meant when he’d
said it and he knew it no matter how much he told himself it wasn’t true. He
just couldn’t figure out why.
    Maybe because she was strong, funny—in a bitchy way—ridiculously
adorable when she stomped her foot, passionate, determined… Okay, so there were
reasons but damn, why’d he get so attached to someone he repulsed? Thanks to
Raimee, he knew she wasn’t totally repulsed but still…
    He blew out a breath and went back inside instead of searching
for Navine. He figured she could use some space.
    * * * * *
    Navine eavesdropped. Yep, that’s right. She’d jogged back to
the cabin, intending to break her brother’s nose for even thinking about doing
that to her but when she was five feet from breaking into the clearing, she’d
heard raised voices. Curious, she ducked behind a tree as close as she dared to
get and listened.
    She wasn’t surprised to find she’d been right about her
brother’s intentions but fury about it almost made her leave her cover. Then
Caffin yelled at Bade, stuck up for her, defended her right to free will. She’d
been…touched, grateful, surprised. He seemed to understand what that Incubus
Debol had taken from her.
    Why did he have to be an abomination? That skank Raimee was
right, Fin was one fine specimen and he stood up for her. She’d been nothing
but shitty to him—well, besides the impromptu hand job—and he’d stood up for
her and refused to participate in any schemes that basically forced her
to do something.
    Really, she didn’t understand why he stuck