Frozen Desires (Asylums for Magical Threats) (18 page)

your friends will live. Otherwise, you know I can make their pain last for days before I kill them.”

“I’m not going to do anything until I hear from Zalika or Jacek. Actually, I’m a little insulted you think I would just march to your orders without proof of life.”

Richard snorted through the line. “I’d heard you’d gone soft and complacent. Good to know the rumor

isn’t true.”

Soft indeed. “Cut the bullshit back and forth. Either prove you have my friends, or fuck off.”

Marco patted her hip to cheer her on, and she gave a ‘cut it out’ motion with her hand.

There was some noise on the other end of the phone line before she heard Richard’s voice again. This

time it was as if he was holding the phone away from his head. “If I press much deeper, he’ll start to bleed out. Let Cam know you’re here.”

Silence. She knew her friends were loyal, but even when someone held a knife to Jacek, the pair kept

silent.

Cam needed to help them.

She said, “Put me on speaker phone, Richard.”

“Okay, you’re on speaker phone. Now tell them to be good little soldiers and do as I say.”

What had happened to him?
While there was no love lost between them, the man on the other line

barely resembled the Richard she’d dated years ago. “Just tell me you’re there so I don’t have to waste any more time talking to my asshole ex-boyfriend.”

A few beats of silence and then Zalika said, “Sorry, Cam. He sent a team to bring us to this boat, and

with my injured ankle—”

Zalika was cut off with some scuffling and the sound of a slap. Jacek yelled in the background before

Richard came back on the line. “I’ve given you something, and now I want something in return.”

Since reacting to her friend’s pain would be counterproductive, she focused on Zalika’s clue of a boat.

That limited their range, unless Richard had already taken them out to sea. She’d investigate that later.

“What do you want, Richard?”

“Meet me tomorrow at 10 a.m., just inside the entrance to the Lucas de Galvez Market, at the intersection

of Calle 56 and Calle 67. Wait for me next to the first general wares vendor you find inside. And come

alone. You don’t want to know what I have in store for you if you disobey me. All that matters is my end

goal, and I’ll do whatever it takes to reach it.”

Richard sounded like some poorly written villain, and Cam wondered what had triggered the change

from the sharp, cunning man she’d once known. He’d been skilled when they’d been together, but never

cruel—at least until she’d tried to flee. “I’m guessing this grand scheme requires my help. I want you to

promise to come alone as well, because even if you kill my friends, you’ll still be without my skills if I don’t show.”

“Bargaining with your friends’ lives, are you, Camilla? You never would’ve done so in the past.”

“Yeah, well, we’ve both changed.”

“More than you know. See you tomorrow at 10 a.m.”

The line went dead and Cam powered off her phone.

Goddamn Richard Ekstrom. He’d promised nothing but then again, neither had she. Her best bet was to see if she could convince him to open up to her and find out what had snapped him. While she didn’t look

forward to it, she might have to play on his memories of them together to get what she wanted.

At least Zalika had given her something to work with.

She looked at Marco. He squeezed her hip and said, “What do you need me to do?”

Cam blinked. Not only had he offered to help, no questions asked, but he hadn’t tried to take charge—

at least not yet. “Well, Zalika mentioned something about a boat. Can you tap your web of contacts and find out if anyone’s seen a tall blond foreigner with accented Spanish boarding a boat in the last ten hours? The boat will probably be as nondescript as possible, ruling out any fancy yachts or expensive sailboats.”

“Of course, but what are you planning to do? Are you going to meet with Ekstrom or not?”

She wanted to tell him her plan, but she couldn’t risk him getting involved. Cam needed to keep a clear

head when she faced Richard, and she wasn’t sure she could do that if she had to worry about whether

Richard would use Marco against her or not.

Over the last week, Marco had shifted from a playboy nuisance to an intriguing Elemental Water Master.

She wasn’t quite sure what her feelings were yet, but Marco was at least a friend, and she wouldn’t put

anyone else in danger because of the follies of her youth.

So, even though she’d longed for a man who wouldn’t balk at taking orders from her, she was going to

have to turn him down. It was the best chance she had at rescuing Zalika and Jacek.

While she knew in her head what needed to be done, she dreaded what she had to do next.

When Cam didn’t respond right away, Marco took one of her hands and squeezed. “Camilla? What’s

wrong?”

She pulled her hand away from his and cleared her throat. “I have a plan, but first I need to tell you

more about Richard.”

He tried to take Cam’s hand again, but instead, she slid off his lap and walked toward the fountain.

He knew Cam was upset, but he didn’t like her pulling away from him. He only hoped it was temporary,

while she focused on rescuing her friends, because if Cam thought he was going to give up after all the

progress they’d made, she had another thing coming. It was more than being able to tell her everything, or that he was attracted to her—Cam’s complexity both fascinated him and forced him to actually be himself.

When she stopped in front of the fountain, Marco stood up. “So tell me about the asshole ex-

boyfriend.”

She kept her back to him. “I told you how I used to cover the retreat of other teammates in the Fed

League, but what I didn’t tell you was that I was usually covering one of Richard’s operations.” She leaned over and skimmed her fingers across the top of the water. “He’s very good at getting into places he

shouldn’t, and then disappearing without a trace.”

So far, so good. Marco could handle that.

Cam straightened and looked over her shoulder. “He’s also very good at pinpointing weaknesses, and

exploiting them. When I decided that I didn’t want to be an assassin, I ran to Richard and asked for his help in leaving the Fed League for good. But instead of helping me, he tried to use Adella again, to try and

‘convince’ me to stay, saying he couldn’t lose me like he’d lost his sister to the AMT. Only because my

Uncle Alex had people watching my cousin—people I later learned were connected to DEFEND—did

Adella survive.”

Richard was a grade-A asshole.
No wonder Cam didn’t trust people. He was going to have to work hard to fix that.

Marco took a chance, went up behind Cam, and wrapped his arms around her. She tensed, but then

leaned back against him. He gave her a gentle squeeze before he said, “Then let’s work together to get the

bastard.” He created a stream of water around them and continued. “No matter how good he may think he is, I’m probably better.”

Cam merely leaned against him and watched the water encircling them for a few seconds before she

took a deep breath, straightened, and said, “Get rid of the water.” When he did, she pushed against his arms and Marco released her before she walked a few feet away and faced him. “Don’t underestimate what

Richard can do. Something happened to him two years ago that made him snap. My guess is he’s more

dangerous than before.”

“Get to the point, Camilla.”

There was a blue streak and then he felt Cam behind him, with her claws on his throat. She whispered,

“I’m truly sorry, Marco, but I can’t risk him using you as a weakness against me.” He felt her claws prick his skin. He was about to draw on his elemental magic to shift the situation to his favor, but then his vision blurred.

He barely managed to say, “What did you do?” before the world went black.

Chapter Twenty-One

Millie Ward waited for Larsen to leave again the next morning before she climbed out of the bathroom

window and inched her way up to the roof.

Petra asking for her help yesterday had been the last thing Millie had expected. While she and Petra had

occasionally been on neutral ground with respect to clients and targets, they’d certainly never trusted each other enough to work together.

Yet a part of Millie hoped Petra held up her end about the call to Jax, because Millie was curious about

this “friend” Petra would risk everything to rescue.

She reached the top of the roof and peeked over to see Petra standing on the far end, alone. Millie

checked to make sure her heavy can opener was accessible—even an unconventional weapon was still a

weapon—and pulled herself up to the roof. “Brandt.”

Petra half-turned toward her. “So, Ward, do you have an answer?”

Millie raised an eyebrow. “I won’t say anything until I’ve rung my brother.”

Petra took out a mobile phone and offered it. “Just be quick. They’re planning to move you tonight,

which means we have to leave here as soon as possible.”

Petra hadn’t slipped the information about moving her from this location on accident—it was a type of

down payment of trust.
Good to know.

She carefully approached Petra and took the phone before dialing the secret number Jaxton had for

family emergencies. She heard the, “Your call is being forwarded,” before the phone started ringing. One

ring, then two.
I know it’s early, but pick up, Jax.
Finally, on the fourth ring, Jaxton picked up.

“Hello?”

“Jaxton, it’s Millie.”

“Millie, where are you? Are you okay?”

Millie heard a sleepy woman in the background. “Is that Kiarra?”

“Yes, she’s here, and I’ll tell you all about it later. But where are you?”

“Norway, but not for long.” Jaxton started to say something, but she cut him off. “I don’t have a lot of

time, Jax.” Petra held up two fingers.
Two minutes.
“I have a job I need to complete before I can go home, but I need you to watch out for a red-haired Norwegian asking about me. He might be sporting a beard, and

he carries a pair of Glocks.”

“Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not, but I’m kind of escaping him, and he’s bound to go looking for me.”

Jaxton sighed. “Of course he would. Do you know his name?”

“He goes by Larsen, but I reckon it’s not his real name.”

A beat of silence and then Jaxton said, “Are you okay, Millie? Did Giovanni hurt you?”

So that was the name of Kiarra’s brother. “Giovanni is my concern, Jax. Leave him to me.”

Jaxton growled. “What did he do?”

“Nothing.” Petra made a motion with her hands to wrap it up. “I need to go. I’ll ring you the next

chance I have, so make sure you have access to a phone that picks up this number.”

“Millie?”

“Yeah, Jax?”

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

Hearing emotion in Jaxton’s voice nearly caused her to choke up. “Thanks. Look after Kiarra. She and I

have a lot of conspiring to do against you.”

Millie clicked off the phone, removed the battery, and handed it back to Petra. “You’ve shown your

good faith with the phone call, but before I agree to help you, I want to know the name of your brother’s

new boss, the one whom you don’t want to find out about your plan. That way we each have a bit of leverage on the other, and are less likely to double-cross or betray.”

Petra raised her brows. “You’re a lot craftier than people give you credit for.”

She shrugged. “I think that works to my advantage. Now, who is your brother Dominik working for?”

Petra stared at her for a second before she said, “Sean Reilly.”

While she only knew about Reilly from word of mouth, the man had a reputation for doing dirty work

no one else would take. “Why would Dom want to work with Reilly? Your brother seems clever enough to

avoid that disaster waiting to happen.”

Petra’s face hardened. “That’s my affair.”

“Fair enough.” For now. Millie held out her hand. “I’ll help you.”

Petra shook and Millie said, “Right. Let’s get planning.”

Marco opened his eyes and promptly shut them again. Why the fuck was the light so extra bright this

morning?

As he tried to roll on his side, he started to remember what had happened—Cam’s murmured apology,

the prick of her claws, and the world going black.

Judging from the pounding in his head and his sluggish body, he was pretty sure Cam had poisoned

him.

He cracked his eyes open again and managed to keep them open this time. The room was a small, bare

bedroom with only a large fan and a plain wooden chair opposite the bed. As he slowly sat up, he noticed a note next to his pillow. Marco blinked a few more times until he could focus, and then he read it:

Again, I’m sorry, but R’s actions are my fault, and I’ll take care of him. I left a message for DEFEND

about looking for Z and J, but I need you to tap your web of contacts to try to find out where he’s stashed
them. I know it’s a lot to ask for, after what I just did, but if not for me, then help them because they’re
your colleagues.

I’ll try to contact you as soon as I can.

~C

He fisted the paper.
Shit.
She was going to self-sacrifice herself to protect her friends. If Ekstrom really was as unstable as he’d sounded, then even badass Cam would need some extra help.

He glanced at his watch and saw he still had an hour to reach the marketplace.

She might have a few tricks up her sleeves, but so did he. Marco had conditioned his body to various

poisons during his Elemental Master training. Most people would be out cold for another few hours, but

thanks to his slight immunity, he could now go and watch Cam’s back. He refused to let that stubborn