Blaze of Secrets (Asylums for Magical Threats) (24 page)

made Giovanni pay.

Jaxton needed to find a way to keep both women out of Giovanni’s hands—but to do that, he needed to

take a step back from the situation, push emotion aside, and try to figure out his options. He’d spent years sorting through intelligence, piecing together facts, and coming up with plans on how to use the

information. He could do it now too, but he needed all of the pertinent information first. “What were his instructions?” he asked.

Kiarra maintained eye contact, but raised her chin. “I’m not going to tell you just yet.”

He narrowed his eyes.
Bloody woman
. “Don’t toy with me on this, Kiarra. Millie’s my sister and I plan to get her back before”—
that bastard—
“your brother decides to kill her.”

“We have two days before the deadline, and I want a chance to think of a plan.”

He growled. “I would think it obvious, but I have more experience with this kind of thing. Not to

mention resources and favors I can call on.”

Kiarra shook her head. “Gio is my brother and I know him better than you. I might be able to use that

against him.”

Jaxton threw his hand out and gestured. “He’s spent the last fourteen years living with your uncle. An

uncle, I might add, who murdered your parents. I highly doubt your brother is going to come crawling for your love and forgiveness after a two-minute phone call.”

Kiarra’s eyes widened. “How do you know about Sinclair murdering my parents?”

He might’ve fucked up, but at this point, Jaxton didn’t care. “I make it my business to know what’s

going on in my house, especially when it’s full of prisoners who might try to kill me.”

“You spied on me.”

He shrugged. “Anyone with experience would’ve done the same thing.”

Kiarra made a sound of frustration. “If you’re so experienced then why did you leave your sister alone

last night?”

“If I didn’t have to babysit you, then I could’ve helped her.”

“So it’s my fault?”

“Yes.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Is that supposed to be a problem?”

Kiarra growled and walked to the door. Jaxton should’ve tried to stop her, but he was angry. After

everything he’d done for Kiarra, she still didn’t trust him enough to ask for help.

She grabbed the door handle and looked over her shoulder. “Do I need to ask my babysitter permission

to leave the room?”

If she was going to be a smart-ass, then he would too. “Just don’t leave the flat. I don’t have time to go chasing after you.”

She walked out and slammed the door behind her. He closed his eyes and took two deep breaths. The

things that woman did to him.

He would let them both cool down before he tried talking with her again. She always seemed to bring

out his temper, but without her presence, it was easy to see that blaming Kiarra for Millie’s capture was like blaming a bartender for the next morning’s hangover; in other words, she had nothing to do with it. Both Millie and Jaxton knew the risks of working with DEFEND, and sometimes those risks included capture, or

worse.

While his temper cooled, he needed to act. He reached for his mobile phone, tossed it on the ground,

and stomped on it a few times. Now no one could track it or triangulate future signals.

Next he needed to call in some favors and leave messages for his team members. He only hoped they

were in a state to retrieve them.

He walked over to the secured landline phone on the nightstand, sat down on the bed, and picked up

the receiver. As he dialed, Jaxton looked at the pillow next to him and an image of Kiarra from last night, curled up on her side fast asleep, flashed inside his mind.

If not for AMT interference, Jaxton would probably be lying naked with Kiarra right now in post-coital

bliss, helping to erase the fears of her past, while at the same time strengthening her trust in him. Instead, he would have to focus on merely keeping everyone alive, and after everything she’d already gone through

inside the AMT, Kiarra deserved better.

And one day, he would be the one to give it to her. Provided he could find a way to keep his bloody

temper under control around her.

He smoothed the cold pillow before grabbing it and tossing it across the room. The AMT kept fucking

with everything that was good in Jaxton’s life, and he was tired of it. After rescuing Millie, he’d find Neena, tie her up if need be, and find out her plans in detail so that he could start protecting those he cared for.

Fuck finding the Four Talents. With the exception of Kiarra, they could become someone else’s

problem. It was time for the AMT to stop ruining people’s lives.

He just needed to find a way to shut them down for good.

Chapter Twenty-Five

In order to try and forget Jaxton’s words, Kiarra found an empty room, slammed the door shut behind

her, and made a beeline for the closest window. Getting a look at anything outside of the AMT usually

improved her mood.

After scoping out the nearby buildings and shops, she focused on the human traffic below and

wondered what it would be like to have a normal life, free of persecution and full of family and friends.

Humans had no idea how lucky they were. The majority were oblivious to the politics of elemental

magic in the
Feiru
world and had no idea that the Asylums for Magical Threats existed.

If she’d been human, she never would’ve been separated from her family. Her parents might even still

be alive.

But Kiarra wasn’t human and she needed to accept that.

As a child, her mother had always told her stories about how first-borns had once been revered, their

abilities seen not only as a gift, but vital to everyday human and
Feiru
life. Telling those stories had been tantamount to treason, but Renee Melini hadn’t cared, wanting to comfort her first-born daughter and let her know she was special.

Her mother had done that kind of thing throughout her childhood, and Kiarra had never understood

how the kind, comforting version of Renee Melini could’ve turned over her daughter to the AMT system

without a fight. But now that she knew her parents had fought for her, Kiarra had a feeling it had all been part of a bigger plan. Uncle Alex could probably tell her more about her parents, provided Kiarra could

save Millie and stay out of the AMT’s hands.

If her mother had risked charges of treason to help her daughter, then Kiarra could certainly do just as much to save those who were starting to matter. Millie, Jaxton, Neena, and even Marco, Taka, and Darius

had all helped her at some point, and she wanted to repay them. That feeling of debt was what kept her

from telling Jaxton about Gio’s demands. Well, that and the fact she wouldn’t give up so easily on her

brother.

Gio had heard their mother’s stories right alongside her and Cam, laughing and tensing at all the same

moments. She still remembered the boy with the innate trait of caring for the weak and couldn’t believe that aspect of Gio’s personality would completely disappear, no matter what Sinclair had done. The little brother of her memories had to be somewhere inside of Giovanni Melini—she just needed to figure out how to

reach him and draw him back out.

She also needed more information on Sinclair. It would be quicker and more reliable to ask Jaxton for

the information, but after the way he’d just acted, Kiarra might try contacting Neena and hope for the best.

In retrospect, she could see why he’d spied on her and Cam—Jaxton had been protecting his territory

and his team. But to say it was her fault that Millie was captured, well, that wasn’t something she could forgive so easily.

It wasn’t as if Kiarra wanted to be helpless, weak, or a liability. She was getting stronger, putting on weight, and even had a gun. Given enough time, she could honestly see herself becoming more of an asset

to DEFEND than a liability.

Yet she still had the need to prove herself to Jaxton, to show him that she didn’t need a babysitter. While his protection was welcome most of the time, she didn’t want him constantly shadowing her every move.

She wanted some modicum of freedom. But unless her ability to gather elemental fire returned, she had a

feeling someone would always be watching her.

The tingling she’d felt when Jaxton had kissed her was the closest thing she’d felt to using her elemental

abilities in years. The warmth had pulsed around her fingertips and heated her skin, as if a flame had wanted to ignite. If only she could make that happen.

Just remembering Jaxton’s touch and kisses from earlier made Kiarra’s skin flush and her heart rate

speed up. Even angry, she couldn’t deny the attraction between them. The blasted man was always in her

thoughts.

The tingling sensation returned to her fingers. Kiarra closed her eyes and focused on drawing heat

toward her fingers. The sensation dulled, so Kiarra mentally pictured Jaxton caressing the skin at her waist, then moving up to cup her breasts with his hands, and the heat built up again. Instead of drawing energy toward her fingers, Kiarra focused on spreading the tingling sensation outward and felt a spike in pressure.

Kiarra opened her eyes and stopped breathing. There was a small flame dancing across her fingers.

She imagined the flame spreading higher and the small flame grew, now six or seven inches tall.

Her elemental fire had returned. Her abilities didn’t work the same as before Ty’s formula, but she

didn’t care. The flames dancing on her skin warmed her from head to toe, relaxing her in a way she hadn’t been able to achieve in years.

Kiarra smiled and concentrated on the flame, afraid it would go out. She was so focused on the task that she didn’t notice the position of her hands.

She wasn’t reaching to the south—the direction of elemental fire.

After leaving messages with his various contacts, Jaxton had thrown some water on his face, packed a

few things in a bag, and gone to find Kiarra. She might still be angry, but the flat was compromised and they needed to leave as soon as possible.

He walked by the study door, stopped, and turned around. It had been open earlier, but now it was

closed. Jaxton twisted the knob—grateful that Kiarra had forgotten to lock it this time—and eased the door open. His eyes swept the room until he spotted Kiarra standing near the window, a six-inch flame dancing across her hand.

She lied to me.

Jaxton tossed the door open and Kiarra jumped as it slammed against the wall. He took two steps before

she turned and a flame shot across the room. He ducked and then stalked across the room until he was only a few inches from Kiarra. “Were you ever going to fucking tell me about the return of your fire?”

Kiarra looked down at her hand and a brief flash of regret was quickly replaced with anger. She

clenched her fist and look back up at Jaxton.

She said nothing, and Jaxton took her chin in his hand. “When did your elemental magic return?”

Kiarra put her hands on his chest, and Jaxton tried to ignore the heat of her touch.

He took her hands in his and leaned close, but a corner of Kiarra’s mouth rose in a half-smile before she said, “Thanks for helping me focus.”

He blinked. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Kiarra stood on her tiptoes and he could feel the heat of her breath on his face. “This.”

Her hands became hot coals, and Jaxton released them. He glanced down at his hands and he saw

something strange—his hands were unharmed. No blisters, no burns. He looked up and glared. “Fuck,

Kiarra, why’d you do that?”

“That’s what you get when you let your temper take charge. You’re always calm and collected with

Marco and the others, but never with me. You need to work on that.”

“Says the woman who nearly singed my head with a ball of flame.”

She pointed a finger at him. “You deserved that, and more. If you’d taken two seconds to ask, I

could’ve told you that this is the first time I’ve used my elemental fire since I’ve met you.”

Jaxton was good at telling lies from truth, and his gut said that Kiarra was telling the truth.

His anger receded and reason began to return to his brain. He wasn’t used to asking for what he wanted, but if it was going to work with Kiarra, on any level, he needed to swallow his pride. The return of her abilities changed everything. “I can’t guarantee that I’ll never slip up, but I’ll try to ask first, act later. Now, will you tell me why you can gather fire all of a sudden?”

Kiarra crossed her arms over her chest, signaling this wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d hoped. “Not

until you admit it wasn’t my fault that Millie was captured.”

Millie. He could still hear her screams of pain.

His inability to protect Millie had infuriated Jaxton, and now that he was no longer seeing red, he

couldn’t remember exactly what he’d said to Kiarra. Judging by her reaction, it’d been hurtful.

But he didn’t have time to waste and find out what he’d said so that he could apologize—they needed to

leave soon or they’d be captured too. “Don’t worry about Millie. If she doesn’t escape on her own, we’ll find a way to get her out.”

Kiarra threw her arms out, palms up. “What if that doesn’t happen? Until they catch me, your family

and friends, everyone you hold dear, will be in danger.” Kiarra took a step closer and wagged a finger in the air. “If you truly want to protect them, you should walk away while you still can.”

He growled, strode forward, and grabbed her shoulders. “I’m not fucking leaving, so stop trying to shut

me out.”

She remained silent. Jaxton knew they needed to leave the flat, but if he didn’t crush her doubts now, he never would. “What else do I need to do? Swear on my brother’s life again to make you believe I won’t