Stone Chameleon (Ironhill Jinn #1) Read Online Free

the van around the reporters still flashing cameras at me through the windshield while clenching my teeth. It was either that or argue with my best friend some more, but I’d have more luck talking a tree out of growing leaves.
    Contemplating how to approach Isaac about his latest loss, I pulled out of the alley onto Center Avenue. The main thoroughfare would lead me into the city core if I continued over the bridge. Instead, I turned left before crossing the Kimble River and headed out of town to IPC headquarters.
    Ironhill stood on the ground that had once been Philadelphia before a preternatural war destroyed it thirty-four years before. The only building that survived the razing was City Hall, with its white churchlike steeple rising above everything else. It stood in the geographical center of Philadelphia, and did so in Ironhill, too, the new city having been carefully planned around it.
    The landscape had been so completely demolished around the structure it stood atop a hill, hence the new name, I supposed. Most of downtown had been built low to the ground to allow the structure to be the focal point of the skyline, a monument to the death of a city. Most of the taller buildings were pushed to the outskirts. Ironhill was a green city, inhabited by enough trees and natural beauty it appeared the concrete and nature had compromised, both taking their half and nothing more.
    A buzzing against my hip sent a jolt through me. I fished my phone out my pants pocket and glanced at the screen: City Hall. Think of the devil, and he’ll ring in your pocket. Good lord, what now? Mayor Tate must have seen me on one of the live news casts, or Dom’s call had made it through City Hall’s chain of peons all the way to the big man’s office. Splendid.
    I cleared my throat and pressed my thumb against the answer button. “Lou Hudson.”
    “Miss Hudson,” a melodious voice said. “You are a hard woman to get in touch with.”
    If only he could see my sneer through the phone, I’d have been much happier. “What do you want, Mr. Bassili? How did you get my cell number, and why are you in the mayor’s office?”
    He’d been trying to date me for years, taking to outright stalking when I refused to see him. It wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d broken in to City Hall to use their phone just so I’d answer.
    “Call me Amun, please.” His seductive tone, tinged with a hint of his Persian roots, tightened my belly as it always did. “Have dinner with me.”
    My disgruntled sigh blew across the phone. “Amun,” I cursed his name at him, “as I’ve told you several times, I’d rather have dinner with a gargantuan troll slug, and I’m rather busy at the moment. Don’t you have another gala to host or a harlot to spend your millions on?”
    His laughter filled my chest with unwanted tingling. “Why do you resist me so hard? I just want to talk to you in person. I’m not planning to ravage you upon sight.”
    Hearing him say “ravage” sent a warm shiver through my abdomen, inducing images I wanted to gouge out of my head. I’d seen him in the flesh once at a police benefit—though he appeared on TV daily when I watched—and I wanted to keep it that way.
    No man had ever scared me down to the bone the way he did, other than Lord Isaac, perhaps. Not that Amun had done anything in particular to frighten me, other than smile and cause warm sensations I didn’t want to feel for the self-absorbed media darling, usually in parts of my body he wasn’t welcome to touch.
    Low-rise buildings and pavement gave way to wheat fields and forest as I put my foot down on the accelerator, easing back when Harper groaned. “Tell me why you’re so adamant we meet? If it’s business, make an appointment at my office with Gloria.” I chided myself in silence for the breathy whisper my voice had become.
    “I think you know very well it’s not business. Is it so terrible that I want to know you? And for the record, I talked to your