Ties That Bind

By Kellyann Zuzulo

Amani’s relationship with Jason is steadily improving, and things have never been hotter behind closed doors. Amani’s found friends. She’s feeling a little more at ease among humans. For that reason, she is reconsidering her backup plan that could destroy their world. But just as everything seems perfect, a hurtful secret is revealed and Jason is threatened. And then the real problem shows up.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Group
• Release date: Apr 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781938876677

Kellyann Zuzulo

A former journalist, Kellyann’s interest in Middle Eastern myth and legend stems from her stint as a Managing Editor of Publications for the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C. She is a published author of several genie romance novellas. One book, Angels & Genies, was included in a collection for which Charlaine Harris wrote the foreword. Kellyann lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, three children, and a jaunty terrier named Djin-Djin. Visit her website at www.kfzuzulo.com.

Book preview

One Hundred and One Nights

3: Ties That Bind

Kellyann Zuzulo

Copyright 2014 Kellyann Zuzulo

Smashwords Edition

When hot-tempered Amani Zarin makes a deal with her uncle to save her beloved homeland, she becomes America’s first desperate genie housewife. To rescue Jinnistan she must become an ambassador, navigate conniving board members, hostile ex-lovers and nosy suburban neighbors, and since their chemistry will literally save her world, she and her new husband must find a way to achieve wedded bliss, at least for…

101 NIGHTS

#3: TIES THAT BIND

Amani’s relationship with Jason is steadily improving, and things have never been hotter behind closed doors. Amani’s found friends. She’s feeling a little more at ease among humans. For that reason, she is reconsidering her backup plan that could destroy their world. But just as everything seems perfect, a hurtful secret is revealed and Jason is threatened. And then the real problem shows up.

One Hundred and One Nights

3: Ties That Bind

Kellyann Zuzulo

Other 101 Nights Romantisodes

#1 To Have and to Hold

#2 Reluctant Rapture

Other Books by Kellyann Zuzulo

The Genie Ignites

The Genie Smolders

www.BOROUGHSPUBLISHINGGROUP.com

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, business establishments or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Boroughs Publishing Group does not have any control over and does not assume responsibility for author or third-party websites, blogs or critiques or their content.

101 NIGHTS

3: TIES THAT BIND

Copyright © 2014 Kellyann Zuzulo

All rights reserved. Unless specifically noted, no part of this publication may be reproduced, scanned, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Boroughs Publishing Group. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or by any other means without the permission of Boroughs Publishing Group is illegal and punishable by law. Participation in the piracy of copyrighted materials violates the author’s rights.

Digital edition created by Maureen Cutajar

www.gopublished.com

ISBN 978-1-938876-67-7

CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Author Bio

Chapter One

Amani scooped out one more trowel of dirt. The hole was as deep as a head. The soil was cold, the air was damp, and she was determined to cut off all ties with her homeland. For now at least.

Her breath puffed out in the early morning air as she sat back on her haunches behind the juniper bush. She rubbed her hands on the thighs of her black yoga pants only to see that her fingers left sooty tracks. They instantly reminded her of the black lava trails along the Cobalt Mountains back in Jinnistan—except for the absence of heat. She shivered and zipped her jacket clear up to her chin, hoped she was doing the right thing.

Dirt and cold. Those were the only things she had ever expected to find here among the humans. Surprisingly, she had found something else. A husband. For as long as it lasted.

She tapped her lips absently, remembering Jason’s kiss before he left for work just minutes ago. Very carefully, she reached her fingers inside the soft collar of her microfiber jacket until she felt a chain. Tugging, she extracted the long gold length. With two hands, she lifted it over her head and shook back her hair from her face. The Heart of Bitu cabochon, dark and oblong, suddenly glinted green with a spark of sunlight through the trees. As though protesting.

Moving quickly now, she piled the necklace into the palm of her hand and dropped it in the hole. Without any further thought—she had done plenty of that already—she covered the gem with dirt and tamped down the soil. Then she clapped her hands together, grabbed the trowel and stood.

Her gaze lingered as though she interred a loved one. Without the Heart of Bitu against her skin she was truly isolated. She no longer had the option of opening a portal to her home world to admit Sumer and his army. She had only herself and her new husband to rely on.

So be it. It wasn’t that she trusted Jason Masters so much; it was that she trusted Sumer Rafsi less. And the Heart of Bitu was too sensitive. The gem channeled her feelings. She’d already spontaneously activated the portal when she was angry with Jason. The Heart of Bitu had heated against her chest, resulting in a half-dressed Sumer standing on the suburban deck of the house ready to assault the human world with his jinn hordes…. At the time she’d been so agitated she actually considered it. Now she was glad she had forestalled her former lover and sent him flickering back to Jinnistan. Thankfully, all it had taken was lifting the Heart of Bitu away from her skin.

Time. That’s what she needed. She’d made a promise to the Jinnistan Tribal Council and to her Uncle Azon to work with Dr. Jason Masters—to marry him, even—and that work had certainly become less onerous over the last month. In fact, she’d go so far as to say it was pleasurable. A little smile played on her mouth, and she twisted the bright diamond on her finger as though to assure herself of her new reality. Jason had given her the ring as a symbol of their marriage: a bittersweet gesture, as their time was limited. But the present helped mute the knowledge of what would eventually happen.

What did it say about her, that her warrior side was being pushed back by the ambassador? Maybe it was a good thing. Except…what if her warrior instincts were being superseded by those of a wife? That’d be something altogether different. Especially as she would eventually return home.

Amani shuddered and shook her head, breathed in the moist morning air. There was a taste of grass in the molecules, a taste she associated with this human world. It was best she kept the warrior/wife struggle to herself—which was why she was hiding the stone. Until she decided what was best for Jinnistan, she had to remove all danger of Sumer Rafsi’s war, especially by accident.

Last night had been another successful entry in the logbook, both for spectroscopic measurements and for Jason Masters. Her belly tingled with the memory. It seemed they were well matched, she and this human scientist. Whatever it was about their respective chemistries, together they generated an energy field that set the dosimeter whirring, the spectroscope clicking, and her pulse racing. Yes, this work had become less onerous every day.

Peering along the foundation of the house, she made a mental note of where she’d buried the Heart. Behind the juniper bush, one pace south of the chimney, below the brick trim. She said it again like a chant. But when another voice rose over hers, Amani jumped and whirled around.

Well, look at you. I guess this means you’ll be staying.

Amani blinked, startled by the human woman’s choice of words. There was no way her neighbor could know about her plans or who