Shadow of Temptation (Asylums for Magical Threats #2.5) (6 page)

“So now you have other people working with you?” He leaned down until his face was only a few inches from hers. “You’re still keeping something from me. Save us both some time and start talking.”

She growled. Screw liking this version of Jorge. “No. I’m not going to risk my friend’s life by wasting my time arguing with you. Let me go.”

Jorge leaned back and stood up. “No. I think you need some time to cool off and reconsider telling me what you know.”

He walked to the door and Sabrina started to feel a sense of panic. “Jorge Salazar, let me go! Whatever may have happened to you, I never would’ve guessed that you’d let someone die just to further your own goals.”

He stopped when he reached the doorway and looked over his shoulder. “I’ll look into your friend’s disappearance. I still have contacts in the area who can help.”

She blinked. “What?”

“Nice to see how you really think of me, but I’m not a cold-hearted bastard. Just a determined one.”

He took a step out of the room and she said, “Wait, you aren’t seriously going to leave me tied up here, are you?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Why not? But don’t get too comfy. We’ll be moving locations in a few hours.”

With that, he left her.

Jorge went into the bathroom and shut the door to get some privacy. Sure, he needed to make some calls and check on Sabrina’s friend, but he also needed to work on killing his erection.

He’d never really thought about tying a woman to a bed before, but the image of Sabrina tied up and vulnerable had sent blood rushing to his cock. That woman had gotten one thing right—he was different from the man she’d known before.

Hell, before his time with the Collector, he’d barely had enough nerve to try to kiss Sabrina. Now he imagined taking her tied up on the bed.

Think of something else.
If he’d had any chance at all with Sabrina, it was gone now. Especially as he was going to have to treat her more as a prisoner until either she worked with him willingly or they succeeded in capturing Watkins.

That thought kicked his head back into the game. He took out the brand new burner phone he’d brought with him and punched in his DEFEND contact’s number. The phone rang once before a woman answered, “Yes?”

“Santos, I need you to check a few things out for me.”

“Have you gotten anywhere with your assignment?”

“Nearly. I’ve tapped a few people I used to know, but one person has gone missing. I need you to check on a waitress named Yolanda from Cafe Maya. She’s disappeared, and I think it might be because of me.”

“You don’t even have a last name or address for me? I have other things to do, Salazar. Unless you can give me a concrete reason why you need to find this woman, I’m going to pass.”

Jorge clenched the phone. DEFEND had assigned Isabel Santos as his contact here in Merida, but the woman never made things easy. “I’ve got the Collector’s people to deal with, on top of being a wanted ex-Fed League member, and don’t have time for your complaints. If you have any issues, take it up with your leaders. Aislinn is the one who ordered you to help me in any way that you can.”

Aislinn was one of the co-leaders of DEFEND. Jorge might have only had a few phone conversations with the woman, but even he knew you did what she ordered, no questions asked. Santos, who’d worked for DEFEND for years, knew that even better than he did.

The line went silent for a few seconds. When Santos finally replied, her tone was unnaturally even. “Fine. Let’s say I find out information on this waitress. How can I contact you?”

“I have another cell phone I haven’t used and keep for emergencies. Here’s the number.” He gave it and then said, “One last thing. I need a safe house to use.”

“Demanding one, aren’t you?”

“Cut the shit. Just give me an address and tell me where to find the key.”

“Fine, dickwad. You ready?”

“Yes, sunshine, get on with it.”

He jotted down the information and hung up the phone before taking out the battery and tossing it on the ground. After smashing the phone with his boot, he ran his fingers through his hair and decided what to do next. Normally, he’d knock someone unconscious or use his shadow-shifting skills to transport a captive to a new location. Right now, however, he couldn’t do the latter because his powers hadn’t recharged yet, and Jorge had no wish to die trying to use them again before the twenty-four hour mark.

The former he didn’t want to do because of his fucking conscience. How that bastard had survived, Jorge didn’t know, but he’d already tied Sabrina up. He didn’t want to see how much more uncooperative she’d become if he knocked her out.

But why should he care? Getting her to hate him more would make it easier to force her away once this was over. As long as her friend was possibly missing and those schoolchildren were still in danger, she’d do whatever it took to make both situations right—even if it meant working with him.

Jorge reached into one of the pockets of his BDU pants and took out the little assassin-slash-spy kit he always carried. He flipped it open, grabbed the small needle and bottle of drugs, and laid the case aside. As he filled the syringe with the clear liquid, he had a split-second flash of regret, but then he pushed that motherfucker aside and headed for the room holding Sabrina.

Chapter Six

Sabrina slowly opened her eyes, but the brightness made it feel like a thousand tiny needles were poking her eyeballs, so she promptly shut them again. What the hell? What would cause the light to hurt like that?

After about a minute, she tried to open her eyes again. This time she kept them open long enough to notice the pale blue color of the walls. This wasn’t her apartment, which meant Jorge must’ve moved them.

She closed her eyes again and tried to remember the last thing that had happened to her. Then it hit her—she remembered Jorge-the-asshole pricking her with a needle, and then nothing. Now forcing her eyes to remain open long enough to look around, she could see she was in a small bedroom with faded pictures on the walls and a small en suite bathroom off to the side. Her best guess was that this was a cheap hotel or a low-budget hostel room.

Her training prevented her from freaking out at waking up in a strange place. She’d been fortunate in the past and hadn’t yet experienced being drugged outside of her training days with the
Feiru
Liaison office down in Brazil. The feeling was unpleasant, like someone was banging a drum inside her head, but she’d live.

She was more concerned about the meeting with her boss from the Mexico City
Feiru
Liaison office. She had no way of knowing if Yolanda had succeeded in passing on the message before she went missing.

Yolanda.
She didn’t know a whole lot about the woman’s private life, but she’d been putting herself in danger to help Sabrina for nearly a year. If something happened to her, it would be Sabrina’s fault.

She clenched her fists and decided she was done lying around. She needed answers, but in order to do that, she needed to get free. It was time to find out if she was alone or not. She yelled, “Jorge Salazar, I’m awake, so get your ass in here.”

She waited one second, then another. Finally, the doorknob to her room turned and Jorge appeared in the doorway. “So, you’re awake.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Yes, I’m awake, asshole. And you’d better hope it’s only the next morning, or I will find a way to hurt you later.”

He merely raised an eyebrow. “Such big words from a lady currently tied to a bed. Have you ever considered being nice to me? That might work better at getting me on your side.”

“Says the man who drugged me.” She tugged on the restraints around her wrists. “Just answer me this: Is it only the next morning? And if so, what time is it?”

He gave a one-shoulder shrug. “It is. Why does the time matter?”

Okay, her headache was getting worse. “You know how I told you that I’ve been trying to bring the Fed League down since day one? Well, I have a contact that’s been helping me and I need to meet him.”

He moved toward her bed. “More secrets, Sabrina? What’s his name? And how can this man help you? Answer those questions, and I’ll consider letting you go so you can meet with him.”

“Just like that?” She gave him a skeptical look. “That’s way too easy. Now you’re the one who is hiding something.”

“I have a few other conditions, but just know that I have information on your waitress friend. That should encourage you to start talking.”

“Okay, fine.”
Think, Sabrina, think.
She’d have to tread carefully here. “His name is Juan Marquez. He has human friends with government connections. Watkins isn’t only on your shit-list—he’s wanted by the Mexican government.”

“And how do you fit into all of this?”

“Well, I know Juan through Yolanda.”

“The waitress? I watched you back in the restaurant before I approached you and you didn’t seem like you were all that buddy-buddy.”

“If there were even the slightest chance someone was watching you from the Fed League, would you want to act all buddy-buddy?”

“Good point.” He took out a small pocketknife from one of the pockets of his pants and opened it. “So, let’s say all of this is true. What are you supposed to meet and discuss with this Juan guy?”

She eyed the knife. She just needed to give him a little more information, and she might get free. “I’m close to getting Watkins, but I can’t do it alone. I need backup, and that’s where Juan comes in.”

“Do you trust him?”

“With my life.”

She swore she saw his jaw clench a second, but before she could blink, his face was relaxed again. He raised his knife and tapped the cloth restraints holding her arms with his blade as he said, “I can use all of the help I can get to capture Watkins, so I’ll let you meet with this Juan guy, provided you agree to my conditions.”

Great. Just what she needed. “They’d better not require me to be naked or for me to turn into your slave, because I can tell you right now that I’ll refuse.”

The corner of his lips twitched. “As much as I’d like you to be my naked sex slave, I was thinking more along the lines of you allowing me to shadow you to your meeting place to confirm your story. If it pans out, then your friend can help speed up our take-down of Watkins.”

She knew she should stay focused, but she couldn’t let Jorge’s lip twitching pass. Before she could stop herself, Sabrina asked, “Wait a second—were you about to smile?”

Jorge had, indeed, nearly cracked a smile at Sabrina’s flippant remark. Truth be told, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt the urge.

But it was best to ignore her comment since he couldn’t allow her to start liking him again. “Did you hear what I said? If you want free then you’re going to have to let me follow you to the market. Afterward, once we regroup, you tell me what Juan says and I’ll give you information on Yolanda.”

Her teasing tone was gone. “Just tell me—is Yolanda in any immediate trouble?”

He suddenly felt guilty that he didn’t have that much information to share with her. “If there were a way to save her right now, I swear to you that I would try to save her. But the information I have isn’t enough for us to go looking for her. At least, not yet.”

She looked at him for a few seconds and then sighed. “I’m probably an idiot for agreeing to this, but okay. Cut me free, and as long as you keep up your end of the bargain, I’ll keep my promises.”

He was probably no less an idiot, but the longer they kept butting heads and being stubborn, the greater the chance he would fail this mission. They needed to start working as a team, and this was as good a first step as any. “Fine,” he said and then he took her wrist in his hand.

Her skin was much softer than his, and he couldn’t help but brush his thumb against the warm underside of her wrist. Part of him wanted to keep her tied up so he could continue to look at her toned thighs, small but firm breasts, and the curve of her neck where it met her shoulder. He’d always been attracted to her, and it seemed that despite what needed to be done, and the fact she probably hated him more than ever before, he still was.

He gently slid his finger under the restraint and cut her free. Rather than give up her wrist, he massaged it with his fingers. He heard Sabrina’s breath catch before she yanked her hand away. “We don’t have time for you to play nice and care about my well-being. Just cut me free, let me use the restroom, and we can be on our way.”

Her words snapped him back to reality. It was time to face facts—Sabrina would never want him, and fantasizing about her would only distract him from his mission.

Careful to touch her skin as little as possible this time, he cut her other wrist free and went down to her feet, making sure to face the bed and Sabrina. Good thing, too, since she sat up and started rotating her shoulders. With both of her legs free, he moved back and put away his knife. He motioned to the small en suite bathroom. “I’ll give you ten minutes to clean up.”

Since they both knew that there was no escaping through the tiny, barred window in the room, Sabrina nodded and he left to go check his phone one last time before they went to the market.