Frozen Desires (Asylums for Magical Threats 2)

Marco waved his hand in front of her face. “Cam? Are you with me?”

Her cheeks flushed, but she did her damnedest to act nonchalant. “Yes, of course I’ll share the contacts with you later.”

He brushed the side of her breast. “Are you sure we can’t spare fifteen minutes? You’re as distracted as I am right now.” He ran a finger over her nipple. “What was on your mind, Camilla, that made you blush?”

Her nipples tightened, betraying her. But she knew if she didn’t set this boundary now—that finishing missions was more important than anything else—she’d be fighting an uphill battle for the rest of their time together.

She batted his hand away. “We can have hot, kinky sex later. Right now, every minute we waste is a minute someone else could discover this Talent we’re hunting. And we can’t allow the pro-AMT side, or even worse, a human, to have a chance of finding the first one.”

Marco’s look sobered. “Haven’t you heard, Camilla? DEFEND already has the first Talent. Your sister Kiarra is the Fire Talent.”

She blinked. “What? Since when?”

“Since a few days ago. Aislinn told me while you were with Ekstrom. I was going to tell you, but it sort of slipped my mind.”

Kiarra was a Talent?

The brief few hours Cam had seen her sister back in the States, Kiarra had barely been able to hold a conversation. Now she was one of the four most powerful Feiru on the planet. “How is she handling it? Is there a protection strategy in place? And who would be in charge of that?”

“Jaxton. He and your sister are a thing now.” Marco smiled. “I pity the person who tries to harm the woman Jax loves.”

She twisted her hair to one side and then tossed it back over her shoulder. She’d noticed how protective Jaxton had been around her sister, but she never thought he’d fall for one of his trainees. “Love? Bossy and straight-talking Jaxton Ward?” Cam blinked again. “Well, shit. He’d better not hurt her, or I’ll have to cut off his balls.”

Marco snorted. “From what I’ve heard, she can take care of herself. But she’s only the first, and you’re right, we need to focus on the others. I’ll call one of my buddies to make travel arrangements.” He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “If you want to take another shower, now is the time to do it. No doubt we’ll have to leave tonight.”

The first chance she had, she would call Kiarra and find out how her sister was doing—no excuses this time.

Cam remembered about her team. “What about Zalika and Jacek? I want them to come with us.”

“I can call them, if you want.”

“Since when do you have their phone numbers?”

He grinned. “I can be quite persuasive.”

She slapped his arm. “I don’t want to know. Make your calls, and if you’re quick enough, maybe you can join me in the shower before we have to meet up with my teammates.” She stood up, and walked across the room. Marco whistled, and she gave him a look before deliberately bending over to pick up the duffel bag.

“Woman, you’re killing me here.”

Cam smiled. “Well then hurry up, and maybe you’ll get lucky in the shower.”

Marco whipped out his phone and started dialing. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

She laughed and made her way to the bathroom. Provided there was a Talent at the end of all this clue chasing, things were looking up for her.

She was a skeptic at heart, but Marco was starting to worm his way inside, making her a little more optimistic. A week ago, being influenced by a man would’ve scared her, but now, she was actually content. Maybe even happy.

Hopefully, her track record of things going to hell whenever she finally felt content with her life was finally broken.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Gio and his guide—a security officer named Xu—approached yet another locked door. They’d been walking for nearly thirty minutes, and he had yet to see much of anything apart from hallway upon hallway of doors with random serial numbers.

The facility must wind through more of the nearby mountains than he’d originally calculated.

He noticed that the sign above the door here had more Chinese characters than any of the others they’d gone through before. Maybe this one would finally lead to the section of the facility he was anxious to see.

Xu slid his keycard through the slot and entered a password. Just like with the other doors, Gio heard a click before it slid open, except this time, instead of another empty hallway, a man and a woman stood in the space in front of them.