Chapter 1

Ran could not believe he was going to get caught in a sandstorm. In all his years in the dessert, he always knew how to navigate through it to avoid this kind of situations, and for some reason, it felt like if he was walking in circles, which made no sense.

The storm was getting closer by the minute, adrenaline pumping into his veins, desperation for finding refugee growing stronger. He wasn't carrying much with himself since he fled from Ziya after the Shah's murder. He knew he was being search, and the lighter he travelled, the better.

Or that's what he thought, when he was sure he would never be about to get killed by a sandstorm. Right now, all he wanted was a thick mantel that would give him enough protection to survive until all this stupid disaster passed. But oh, didn't the world hate him with all its passion.

Still, he would not give up, he kept walking, hoping to find a way out. Breathing was proving more difficult, as the sand started to get into his lungs. At this moment he knew his only chance was to get to the ground, cover his head with the little clothing he was wearing and hope for the best.

-Asir! Where are you, boy?

Zaira was coming back from the city where she used to trade, almost home, when her dog decided to jump from the cart, ears pointing east.

He was a curious dog, and he liked exploring the dessert, trying to give hunt (and failing) to the little creatures going around, but he would never, ever, go away from her sight. And for more than she didn't want to admit how worried she was getting about her missing dog, Zaira jumped from the cart, and started to walk in the same direction, while calling his name. She walked for a couple of minutes, when she heard his bark.

Of course, the bark was away from the route, and of course, it was on the other side of dune. She started to go up the cursed dune, with all the effort that came with it. With red cheeks and ragged breath, after three attempts at climbing the dune, she finally succeeded.

-I swear to god, Asir – she said while finally going to the other side, barely able to breath -, if you don't have a good reason for this, I'm going to tie you to the -.

Zaira didn't finish her sentence, as what she saw let her speechless. More than half way into the sand, and albino djinn laid unconscious. Asir gave a proud bark, followed by a tail wagging so fast, that it became a blur. Shocked, she kept looking at the djinn, not getting closer than strictly necessary.

A djinn. Not only that, but an albino. Apart from the obvious colour of his hair and skin, his broken horn was distinctive. Zaira, who was still on her knees, moved a bit closer. His skin was burnt, with blisters starting to appear in his forehead, nose and cheeks. His lips, completely chapped. Holding her breath, her hand moved until almost touching this highly dehydrated djinn's face, stopping merely inches away. Taking her hand and closing it into a fist, Zaira stood and looked at her dog with her eyes hard and resolute.

-Asir, this is not our problem. We are leaving.

As soon as she turned around, the whine from her canine companion made her close her eyes, breath, turn around, and open her eyes to find his dog lying next to the djinn's face, ears down, using the biggest puppy eyes this world has ever seen.

-Asir, no.

Another whine was his answer.

-I said no – she said, crossing her arms-.

This time, her dog didn't only whine, he also started to drag in her direction. Feeling her defences crumble before this master of manipulation, she closed her eyes again, decided to not give in. A gentle touch on her leg made her open her eyes, just to look at her companion there.

-Goddammit! Fine! If he kills us when he wakes up, is on you, you damn dog.

Taking a small shovel from her hip, she started to dig enough for her to tie him under his arms and around his chest. Taking the ends of the rope, she tied one end to herself, and the other to Asir.

-Ok boy, we pull when I say so, alright?

Barking happily, the canine looked at her waiting for her command.

Taking a deep breath, she said.

-Pull!

It was hard to pull a body that was buried so deep in the sand, especially when you don't have solid ground to hold yourself to. But they moved a few inches.

-Good boy Asir! Again, pull!

The resistance started to become less and less, sweat going down her forehead and getting into her eyes. They kept pulling for some more seconds, and finally the djinn was out. Resting on her hands on her knees, she cached her breath before turning around. And obviously, he was pretty much naked. Eyes wide open, she covered her face, probably not as quick as she should of. Actually, if she was being honest, her eyes might have lingered a tiny bit on places they shouldn't. Putting herself together, she has a look at his ragged clothes. They were covering the most important parts, but barely. Taking the cloth protecting her head from the sun, she used it to cover his intimate parts. Not that he cared, being unconscious. But still, she had some minor decency.

After securing the cloth, she took her abaya and used it to cover his whole body. The quickest way to her cart was sliding down the dune, and his skin was bad enough to just let the burning sand do more damage. Sitting on the edge she held him from his armpits to pull him between her legs. He was hot at the touch. She knew djinns were hotter than humans, but the skin of this one, probably because of the sun, was almost burning to the touch, even though the clothes. When he was finally secured, she kept her eyes looked in the bottom of the dune.

-Alright Asir, here we go.

And with that, she pushed herself down the dune. Everything was going smoothly, if you ignore the fact her whole back was getting burned with the sand, of course. Finally, they reached the bottom, and whistling, she waited patiently for her camel to appear.

Patting the camel on the neck, she said sweet words to her while she greeted her with soft touches of her head.

-Yes, I'm happy to see you, Sira – with a short laugh, she patted her some more before starting to pull the djinn, who was way heavier than he looked, into her cart. Once he was safely in the cart, protected from the sun, she continued her way home.

The first thing he noticed, was that there was no sandstorm, the second, he was terrible thirsty, and the third, that when he tried to move, he couldn't. Eyes opening, he looked down, to find himself in a single bed, tied to it. He pulled his wrist, but he was much weaker than he thought.

-You are just going to harm yourself.

The voice, a woman's, was coming from behind. Pulling more fanatically and starting to growl, he tried to get loose. But it was pointless, he was just too weak.

-Yeah, I sedated you. So, you can save it.

Coming into view, a young woman, around her twenties, was looking at him. Her brown hair was tied in a braid, with some free curls on the sides of her forehead and around her face. Her tan skin created a big contrast with her green eyes, long black eyelashes around them. Her cheeks, covered in freckles. And her lips, full and dry from the sun. Next to her, a massive dog. His fur had a sandy color, with the ends of his ears black, as well with his paws and tail. His chest, white colored. His tongue was hanging from his mouth, and he had a curious expression on his face.

Looking at her in the eyes he just kept growling and trying to set himself free.

-Listen, I mean you no harm, if I did, I would have let you in the dessert.

Not listening to her, he carried on, feeling his wild blood running stronger in his veins.

-Why don't you calm down for a second so I can give you some water. You are highly dehydrated. I have treaedt the blisters in your skin, but you need to drink.

Stopping his thrashing, he seemed to calm down for a second, noticing for the first time the cool creamy paste in some areas of his body. Controlling himself, and after the first moment of shock before this situation, he decided that the wiser train of action was to play along. If he what she said was true, and it looked like it was, he was sedated, and therefore, not strong enough to scape or, for what is worth, fighting that dog if he needed to. He tried to speak, but with his dry throat, the only thing that came through was a scraping sound.

The woman took a chair and placed next to his bed. Moving slowly, she sat down, taking a clay jug from the bedside table, and a small cup. Pouring water into it, she moved closer to him.

-Just don't – she stopped to look for words -. Don't bite me, please.

She fixed her eyes on his, like trying to judge if it was safe to move that small distance. He could sense the faint sensation of fear, which, in his opinion, was a wise response. When she lain in closer, with clothes gently brushing her skin, the soft smell of desert rose reached his nose. It was a pleasant smell. One he liked more than he expected, so much more that, for a second, the only thing he wanted to do was to press his nose against her neck and breath in. Frowning, he pushed the thought away.

Her eyes moved from his eyes to his lips, terrible dry. Moving closer, she pressed the cup against his lips, lifting it slowly as to not make a mess with the water. The fresh water touching his lips felt like a blessing from the gods. His dry mouth was in ecstasies. But way too soon, he drank all of it.

-More – he managed to say-.

Filling the cup again, she repeated the process.

-I will give you more later, you have to drink little by little or it will make you sick.

They stood in silence for a minute, just looking at each other, measuring one another.

-My name is Zaira.

She waited for a few seconds, expecting a name in return, which didn't happen.

-Do you have a name I can call you with? - she asked rising one eyebrow-.

Another few seconds of silence went before the djinn answered.

-Ran.

Nodding, she relaxed a bit.

-I'm sorry for the tying and sedating thing.

It didn't look like the apologise worked in the slightest. More minutes of silence passed by, broken by him saying.

-Why.

Confusion crossed her face.

-Why what? Save you from the desert or tying you?

-Both.

-Well, about saving you, you should thank Asir – she said as she petted the massive dog's head -. I was coming back from the city when he smelled you. He run through the desert and I couldn't just leave him there. When I finally found him, you were half buried in sand. I guess you got caught in the sandstorm –biting her lip, she added -. To be honest with you, I was going to leave you there, but my dog convinced me otherwise -she stopped talking, obviously thinking about something else-. As for why I tied you and sedated you. I live alone, far away from civilization. As far as I knew, you could have been a wild djinn recently turned into a slave, judging your bracelets. I wasn't taking any risk with you waking up and killing me.

If Ran was younger, or more innocent, he would have been hurt over someone that thought him to be a mindless beast. But he wasn't young, or innocent, anymore. He was bitter with this world, especially bitter with humans, like her. The fact that she thought that he might kill her after she saved his life was something that didn't bother him anymore. He was used to human expecting the worst from him.

In the silence, he kept observing her, how she looked to the floor and bite her lip again. He had already noticed how she did that every time she wasn't sure about what to say. When she moved, he didn't expect to be released. Her slander hands worked fast on the knots that tied him to the bed going down to her ankles first. He stood immobile, not wanting to ruin his chance by scaring her. Her fingers untied the last knot, and then she moved to the wrists to help him make the rope loose.

Faster than she could have ever imagined, he pulled her under him and into the bed, pushing her hard with his own body and weight. Her body was the body of a woman that does a physical job, hard but still soft around the hips and legs, remaining in a feminine shape. Her heartbeat was strong against his own chest, her breathing accelerating. Ran growled more than spoke.

-Why shouldn't I kill you.

Shallowing before talking, she said in a low tone, slightly shaking.

-Because I am trusting you not to. Now that you are awake, you don't seem like a murderer to me.

He was trying to stay focus on the moment, but the sedative was working better than expected. He was still strong enough to subdue a female human, but not for long. Also, the lack of food and water wasn't helping at all. Still showing his teeth, he lain closer to her neck, brushing them against the softness of her skin. A shiver covered Zaira's skin, and the smell of desert rose was intense. It was intoxicating. He stood there for a few minutes, immobile, with her as still as possible. It was then that through the fog that invaded his brain, he noticed the huge dog next to him. He moved to the side, freeing the woman, and, even if he wouldn't admit it, feeling slightly disappointed when her scent went away. A scoff scaped his lips. Still with ragged voice, he said.

-Your dog was just waiting your command to jump on me, wasn't he?

With a slight smile she said.

-Maybe.

-Why didn't you?

-I didn't treat you fairly – she said with shame painting her face -. And for that I apologize. Besides –she added with a smile-. I was serious when I said you don't look like a murderer.

His lips were tightly closed, and she assumed the conversation was over for now. He looked trouble, looking at the celling, so Zaira thought better not to push it.

When she stood and walked to a stand on the other side of the room, Ran moved his eyes to keep watch on her. If he didn't have her body under his just a moment ago, he would not be able to tell the nice shape of it under her sky blue abaya that move loosely around her. Her braid was long, reaching her waist. He thought that loose, it would go down to her hips, probably brushing against the top of her –"wait"- he thought. He felt drawn to her, and for experience, he knew that was a dangerous feeling. Adverting his eyes from her, his eyes explored the room.

It was small, simply decorated, the bed he was laying on, with cotton sheets and a thick fur cover on his feet. Next to the bed, a small table with water, in the middle of the room a small table with two chairs. Next to it, a small fire place was burning. The floor was stone, same with the walls, except they were covered in clay that needed to be repair in some spots. The walls had as well a nice design going all the way around. A small window was in front of the bed. From his point of view, he could see the sun was coming out, with the sky still dark with traces of orange on it. He noticed that there was no door, instead, a wall with a hole shaped like a door dividing the room in two, and in the far corner, stairs going down.

Zaira had cut a piece of one of the plants in the stand and was back with it. Without exchanging any words, she put some of the white translucent substance the plant was suppurating on her finger and move close to his lips, but without touching, as if waiting for permission. When he looked at her and didn't move away, she gently spread the cool substance on his lips, which felt instantly better. It was sticky, and had an odd smell, but sit was fresh and protected his dry lips. She lingered on his mouth for longer than necessary, her finger moving along his bottom lip, non-of them moving from the contact. Why Ran didn't move, he could not understand. Maybe it was because he was starved from that kind of contact, maybe is because his brain was too slow to think with clarity. But the fact was, it felt good, and for that single moment he indulged in the sensation, just for a moment.

When Zaira noticed how long she had been putting aloe vera on his lips, she retracted her hand into a fist, mumble an apologise and walked away. She was half way downstairs, only her torso on his sight.

-Rest for now, I will prepare you something to eat and wake you in a couple of hours. If you need to use a bathroom, is just in the other room. I cleaned most of the dust yesterday, but I can prepare you a bath later, if you want to wash by yourself.

With that, she disappeared down stairs, the dog following her. Carefully turning around, he rested his head in the pillow, the smell of desert rose on it. He doubted for a moment, conflicted with himself. Reason told him to not let his guard down, to stay alert no matter what. Trusting other had just pull him into a miserable life, and he wasn't stupid to not learn from his mistakes. He was stuck here, for now, that didn't mean they had to be friends. But another part inside him, a part he thought was long dead, was flickering somewhere inside his troubled soul. And that part was the one that wanted to dug into the smell of that woman, to hold it close.

Giving in the temptation, he grabbed the pillow and press his face on it, breathing in deeply and letting the sweet smell surround him. For a second, he felt besotted. The next second, something inside him snapped. With a growl, he through the pillow away from him and turned around, using his arm as support for his head.

He wasn't a little boy in need of love anymore. He would stay for as little as necessary for him to recover, and then he would disappear in the middle of the night without warning. You can't trust humans, no matter how nice they look, as soon is between you and them, they will kick you to the wolves and run away without looking back.

Being alone was the only way to stay safe.