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Jinn

M y hand shook as I signed the paperwork outside the courtroom. The clerk gave me a copy.

“It will be emailed to you, as well,” he said.

“Thank you.”

The paper in my hand felt flimsy, as if it had no power at all. But the words were law. The judge had ruled I fulfilled all requirements and proof needed to get this restraining order against Colt, the alpha who was stalking me.

Colt had been notified but had not bothered to show up for court. Once he was served, if he broke the restraining order he could be arrested. Colt would not be allowed to call, text, email, or approach within one hundred yards of me.

“I hope this works.”

“Good luck to you,” the clerk said.

When I got to my car, I sat in the driver’s seat staring at the paper. My phone chirped. I wasn’t even going to look. It was just more harassment from Colt. It wouldn’t stop until he got served. And even then—I couldn’t imagine a piece of paper stopping him. Colt did whatever Colt wanted.

What I needed to do was get a new phone and move somewhere far away. The problem was, I had no savings. My job paid my bills, but it was month to month. My family was no help, either. My dads had moved to a smaller place and worked seasonally. They never had extra money. Plus, neither of my dads knew about Colt. I didn’t want them to worry.

Even with this paper in hand, I’d never felt more alone.

I drove around for a while, then got myself Chinese takeout.

When I pulled into my apartment lot, I surveyed the area. It was an automatic thing I did now, looking for Colt’s car parked across the street. There was nothing.

I let out a huge breath and headed for my door.

Once I was inside my apartment with the door locked, I was afraid to turn on any lights. It was approaching twilight. What if he was out there and saw I was home?

When I’d left him the morning after a much-regretted one night stand I barely remembered, I thought that would be it. We would break all ties and go our separate ways. But that didn’t happen. Colt began showing up at my job with flowers and candy. When I sent him away, he began texting me about getting together. First it was stuff like: Jinn, Our night was magical. I can’t live without you . That evolved into: I bit you that night together. That gives me all rights to claim you as my own.

Then came the threats.

I will make you see you are mine.

You won’t like what you will force me to do.

I will claim you again and take you somewhere where no one can find you until I make you understand. You are mine.

That last text convinced the judge. Plus, I signed paperwork swearing I had never given consent for a bite or a claim and that we had never been in any relationship. Colt’s bite hadn’t been proper. It had broken the skin but had healed within a day leaving no scar. Not for one moment had I felt any psychic bond between us.

I muted my phone, turned on the TV and settled in for the night with my chicken lo mein and egg drop soup. Even with those great distractions, I still kept looking over my shoulder at my front door. I had it bolted but still kept expecting it to fly open and reveal Colt standing at the threshold, a cold gleam in his eyes.

I worried. Would the restraining order do me any good? What if it sent Colt over the edge? The way he’d begged me at first to let us try again had unnerved me. All the flowers at work, and me having to tell him to leave in front of my coworkers had mortified me. Then seeing his car everywhere I went, including being parked in front of my apartment complex at four o’clock in the morning nearly every day for two weeks. It was creepy.

Before bed, I checked my email. After erasing all of Colt’s unread messages, I found one from the court letting me know Colt had been served at seven p.m.

My stomach turned over, the muscles going cold.

This was it. He now knew he could be arrested if he came within one hundred yards of me, or if he ever emailed, texted or called me.

I checked my email trash and saw none of them had come after seven. Then I checked my phone. The texts had also stopped. Maybe this was going to work.

This had been the right thing to do. I needed to believe that.

The next day, I went to work, my breath held. No sign of Colt’s car anywhere. The relief spilled through my body like a wave of euphoria as I walked into the office building.

I’d turned my phone back on when I woke. It remained blissfully silent.

Could it be that easy?

My workday went smoothly. I sat at my computer editing emails and reports for my bosses, then sending them where they needed to go.

At lunch, I stayed in and went to the cafeteria with a couple of coworkers.

When I left that night at five, I checked the area carefully, even driving around the block. No Colt. I did the same when I got home. Again, nothing.

Was I finally free?

I checked out my window before I went to bed. No strange cars were parked at the curb. My phone was quiet. I had been about to get a new number. Now, maybe I wouldn’t have to.

Even though it had been a whole day and night since the restraining order had been delivered to Colt, I slept badly. I woke up groggy, wanting to turn over and go back to sleep. I could have taken a sick day, but I knew the work that awaited me. It would just pile up.

I forced myself to get up and shower.

It was a hot day as I drove to work. At the parking lot, I pulled into a space between a van and a truck. My car was little, so I fit just fine. As I opened my door, something pushed it back against me. I glanced up and saw Colt on the other side. I let out a sob and immediately grabbed the seat to pull myself back into my car.

That was when everything went black.

When I woke, I found myself in the passenger seat of a pickup. My head ached. Slowly, I turned and there sat Colt in the driver's seat. I looked out the window and all I saw were trees.

“So, the little omega who thought he could run away from a claim wakes.”

“What's happening?” My words came out slurred.

“You're coming with me. That's what's happening.”

Adrenaline shot through my body. Within seconds, I realized Colt had kidnapped me. My flight instinct rose up. I reached for the door handle.

Colt’s fist flew out, catching me on the side of my head. It knocked me against the window. My vision started to grow dark.

“Don't even try to open that door!” He yelled. “I'm going sixty. You wouldn't survive the jump.”

I pressed my eyelids tightly closed trying to regain my senses. I wasn't about to allow Colt to take me another mile. I grabbed the door handle, then pulled and pushed at the same time.

“Fuck!”

The rest of what Colt said was garbled as the hot wind hit my face. The truck swerved. Gravity seemed to turn upside down. I jammed my finger at my seat belt and by some miracle it came loose. I felt a hand enclose my wrist and heard the shriek of brakes.

Jinnan! Shift! Shift!

My dragon would never shift in an enclosed space or while I was moving. Nor while I was dressed. But this was an emergency. He had to obey.

For a moment, I felt myself falling. Then came the spin and a sound like water rushing over me. It was happening.

Jinnan had heard. This was a matter of life or death, no time to undress and save my clothes.

The shift happened in a tumble and the loud ripping of cloth. One wing scraped the ground hard. My four legs waved in the air. All I could see was a swirl of green and brown and blue. But Jinnan, though small, was strong.

Our feet found ground and pushed. We leaped up into the low branches of leafy summer trees. The branches scraped at our scales and broke off. My head was still spinning from whatever had knocked me out in the first place, along with the punch Colt had just given me.

When I got my bearings, we flew up toward the tops of the trees and, when we were in clear air, stretched our wings to their limit. We were sluggish, though, and every time we tried to gain height we sank.

Behind us, I heard the truck engine stop. A door slammed. Colt's voice roared through the jungle. “You can't out-fly me, little Jinn.” Laughter cackled through the air.

Come on. We've got to go faster.

The muscles of our wings tightened. We stretched our head out, snout down, and flew with all our might. But I'd been injured in my human form. And even uninjured, we had never been fast at flying.

The only recourse was to try to get as far away as we could in the next minute and then find a place to hide.

Stay as close to the trees as we can!

We flew low, our belly scraping the tops of the trees. Moments later, I heard Colt’s dragon roar. We turned to look over our shoulder. Even in dragon form, my neck and head ached. I didn't see Colt, but I saw the smoke from a fireball rise up just as we sideswiped a tree that sent us spinning.

Another roar.

Lower!

We glided underneath the treetops navigating as best we could through the thick foliage. But it was like going through a battering ram game at a carnival. We were hit from all sides.

Get me to the ground. If I shift back to human maybe I can find a place to hide.

Jinnan had been silent this whole time, focused on obeying my every command. I could sense he was as scared as I was. We fluttered to the ground none too gracefully, but at least we remained intact. For now.

The rush of another shift took all my senses away for a second, and then I was on my human feet beneath the tree cover in the middle of the woods, naked and alone.

Adrenaline swam through my body. All my senses were on high alert. I tilted my head, my hair tickling my shoulders, held my breath and listened.

The roar of Colt’s dragon echoed throughout the woodland. He and his dragon were mad. The sound went through me like pins and needles. At least it let me know he was still somewhat far away.

I looked around the little clearing where we'd landed. There were only trees as far as I could see. No rocks that might form little caves. No piles of fallen debris to crawl under.

Something liquid fell into my eye. I wiped it away and saw red on my hand. There was a bump on the back of my head as well. I reached up to feel around it. The pain made me hiss.

My only recourse for now was to run and stay under the thickest canopy. It was a given that Colt would find me, but I wasn't going to make it easy for him.

Every step I took jarred my head. But I continued to jog away from the roaring sounds and toward the darkest, deepest shades of the wood. I tried to monitor my breathing, but the pain in my head made it harder by the minute.

Naked, I had no protection from the elements. Branches scraped at my thighs. Sharp little rocks cut into the soles of my feet.

I ran deeper into the woods, into the spaces that were tight and more shadowed. But there was nowhere to go to completely hide myself away. My heart pounded. Sweat dripped from my forehead stinging my eyes.

Again, I glanced around at my surroundings, looking for better possibilities. I saw in the distance some low bushes that appeared promising. I ran toward them.

Just then, a shadow loomed overhead, darkening the woods around me.