Free Magic of the Wood House (The Elemental Phases Book 6) by Cassandra Gannon

them
remembering the kiss they’d shared, “I went back to the station to release
Alder from lock-up.  Everything after that is a blank.  I woke up the next
morning with frostbitten fingers and the gun in my waistband.”
    Her jaw
ticked.  “Frostbite?”
    “The fucking
Cold House!”  Djinn shouted triumphantly.  “ They did this!  They went
after our human because they hate us!  I knew it was them!”
    Sullivan
frowned.  “Wait, who hates you?  Well, obviously many people must, but…”
    Pele glanced
over at him.  “Cold Phases don’t like Fire Phases.”  She said like a
kindergarten teacher explaining to the class why they shouldn’t talk to
strangers at the mall.
    “They’re all after us.”  Djinn agreed with paranoid enthusiasm.  “They tried to steal
Teja, you know.”  He nodded.  “When her parents died, they tried to make her
leave us and go with them.  But, they don’t love her.  They just want her,
because she’s powerful.”  He arched a brow.  “Like
one-of-the-most-powerful-Phases-alive powerful.  She was nothing but a prize
for them.”
    Of everything
they’d told him so far, that was the least surprising revelation.  Sullivan was
already convinced that Teja was the most magical creature ever born.  The woman
just glowed .  He wasn’t sure what to do about the fact she fascinated
him… except try not to embarrass himself by staring.
    Teja clearly
wasn’t comfortable with Djinn disclosing that she had an extra dose of
superpowers.  “Sullivan doesn’t need to hear your Cold Kingdom conspiracy
theories, D.”  She began in irritation.  “Eian and Freya wouldn’t target an
innocent human…”
    “It’s not a
conspiracy if somebody’s legit plotting against you.”  Djinn argued.  “And
everyone’s always plotting against me.  It’s because I’m so damn
heroic.”
    “I swear to
Christ, if you bring up your bizarre vendetta against that cow…”
    “That cow is
goddamn evil, Tej!”
    “Frigging
cow.”  Alder shook his head in disgust.  “She’ll get hers.”  He set to work on
the Etch-A-Sketch “K,” concentrating on retracing the lines as closely as
possible so the word “fuck” was legible.  “Anyhow, Eian and his sister, Freya,
are Teja’s cousins on her dad’s side.”
    Teja rubbed
her forehead.  “Sullivan doesn’t want to hear about this, Alder.”  She
repeated, which meant she didn’t want to hear about it.  Which meant
Sullivan was suddenly interested in hearing about it.
    “Sure he
does!”  Alder insisted.
    “Sure I do.” 
Sullivan agreed.  “So Teja’s paternal relatives are even worse than you guys
are, huh?”  He was sorry to hear that, but it explained a lot.  “You poor
girl.  No wonder you’re so hostile all the time.”
    Teja flicked
him off.
    Sullivan
nearly chuckled.
    “I’ll break
this down for you in human-ese, human.  There’s the Fire Phases.”  Djinn gave a
thumbs up sign with one hand.  “We’re goooood .”  He drew out the word
like he was trying to communicate information to a basset hound with a low IQ. 
“And then there’s the Cold House.”  He gave a thumbs down with the other hand. 
“They’re baaaaad .”  He nodded with exaggerated slowness.  “And I’m
telling you, those douchebags are behind your whole mini-amnesia thing. 
Right, Pey?”
    “Yep.”
    “See?”  Djinn
waved a hand as if Pele’s vote settled the matter.  “The Cold Phases are always
looking for ways to target me.”  He slung one leg over the arm of his chair. 
“God, they are so petty.  They just won’t let it go”
    “Except, the
Cold Phases didn’t allegedly give you amnesia . ”  Sullivan pointed
out.  “They allegedly gave it to me .”  Dear God, he really just said
that gibberish like the words meant something.
    “Don’t make
this all about yourself, human.”  Djinn sighed like Tony Montana forever
pondering why he was so misunderstood.  “Let’s focus on how