Frozen Desires (Asylums for Magical Threats 2)

Cam stood on a dock in front of a medium-sized boat and decided that yes, her day could get worse.

Richard pushed her toward the boat. “Get on.”

She crouched down and slowly slid onto the boat. She managed to get herself upright, but then the boat rocked, and it took everything she had not to vomit the contents of her stomach. Hopefully, their stay on the boat would be brief, because without her seasickness bands, she was useless on the water.

No doubt, Richard had remembered that.

He jumped down beside her—which rocked the boat again—and he guided her toward the cabin.

They reached the door and he pushed her into a small, dark room. “I know how much you love the water, so I’ve put a bucket on the floor for you. The window is big enough that you can empty it out when needed, but small enough that you can’t escape. Since I need you alive, I’ll have some bottled water and sports drinks brought down.”

Despite the queasiness in her stomach, Cam could be sarcastic like the best of them. “How nice of you.”

Richard shook his head. “Just don’t die on me, or I might have to hunt down your adopted sister. What was her name again? Adella?”

“You couldn’t get to her if you tried, Richard.”

He shrugged. “Zalika and Jacek, then. I was just trying to spread the pain around a little.”

The boat pitched to one side, and she nearly lost the battle with her stomach. She wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball on the bed and will her stomach into submission, but instead, she forced herself to stand up straight again. “As fun as all this threatening back and forth is, don’t you have other things to do? I know how you like to triple-check everything before making a move, and there’s not much time until morning.”

“You may know a few things about me, Cam, but the same goes for me, but about you. Remember that.” He turned and exited the door. One lock clicked, followed closely by another, and she collapsed onto the bed.

Now alone in the darkness, she took a few deep breaths to calm her stomach and look around the mostly dark room. She tried to make out the vague shapes on the far side of the room, but they remained nothing but shadows. Strange. Thanks to her latent abilities, she could usually see just as well in darkness as in daylight.

Then it hit her—maybe her latent abilities had been affected by whatever Richard had had inside that syringe in his car. She decided to find out.

She tried to extend her claws, but nothing happened. Next, she picked up the blanket at the end of the small bunk she sat on, and tried to rip off a piece, but no matter how hard she tugged, it stayed whole.

Fuck. Her strength, her claws, and her keen vision were gone, no doubt because of whatever Richard had put into that needle back in the car.

Not only was she going to be seasick for who knew how long, but without her super-speed, strength, and reflexes, Cam might be in more trouble than she’d counted on.

She started to wish that she hadn’t poisoned Marco.

She should’ve heeded his warnings about watching out for herself. Yet despite Marco’s lessons to humble her, such as using his powers to restrain her on the jungle floor, she’d never really taken his warning to heart. She was good, but she’d somehow forgotten that she wasn’t invincible.

When it came to operations like the ones she did for DEFEND, she should always have back up, because Cam never knew when she’d end up on a boat, barely able to function. Or, against the odds, someone found a way to suppress her latent abilities.

Working with others didn’t signify weakness, and it’d taken a powerful, yet easygoing young man to finally drill that into her thick skull. If she got out of this alive, she was going to break down and thank him for that. The walls she constructed to keep others from getting close had finally succeeded a little too well, and she was now paying the price.

The boat rocked harder, and she grabbed the bucket. While waiting to see what Richard planned to do with her, she would search her room and see what she could use as a weapon.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Marco looked through the binoculars he’d borrowed from Jorge and scanned the marina, looking for the right boat. “You said it was the tenth one down?”

“Yes. Ekstrom called a mutual acquaintance of ours, and he was very clear about needing a boat.”

“I’m starting to think that you need new friends.” Ma

rco found the tenth boat down, and saw that it was completely dark. Of course, that didn’t mean anything. Ekstrom’s crew probably had orders to keep a low profile.

He lowered the binoculars and unlocked his door. “I’m going to check it out.” But before he could open it, Jorge put a hand on his arm. “Aislinn said she needed until morning to get my sister free, and I won’t let you endanger her life.”

Marco needed to wait until he knew Zalika and Jacek were safe anyway before he could try to outsmart Ekstrom. Not that he trusted Jorge enough to tell him that.

He shook off Jorge’s hand. “I have no plans to endanger your sister. But I need to plant a tracking device.”