Frozen Desires (Asylums for Magical Threats)
Read Frozen Desires (Asylums for Magical Threats) Online
Authors: Jessie Donovan
Tags: #Camilla Melini is a high-ranking soldier with an organization fighting to free elemental magic users. Her latest assignment is to find one of the legendary elemental Four Talents, #and she’s determined to get in and out of Mexico as quickly as possible to avoid running into the man who nearly destroyed her life. But when the dangerous man from her past finds her, #Cam must work with Marco Alvarez, #a man she’d dismissed as a playboy, #to prevent the the powerful magic of the Talents from falling into the wrong hands. She never expected the charming playboy to be a cunning warrior worthy of her heart..., #Fiction / Romance / Paranormal
Contents
Author's Note and Acknowledgments
Frozen Desires
Jessie Donovan
To Grandma Betty
Your love and influence will remain with me always.
Chapter One
“In 1953, the first-born children of Feiru (FEY-roo) mothers were deemed dangerous by the Feiru
High Council. Because these first-born children have the ability to control fire, earth, water, or wind, the
council passed a law requiring them to be imprisoned at the age of magical maturity. The council’s aim
was to keep the Feiru secret of elemental magic from humans…One of DEFEND’s primary goals is to
dismantle the Asylums for Magical Threats’ prison system and to integrate elemental magic users back
into our society.”
—
Excerpt from
DEFEND Rules and Regulations
After what had happened four years ago, Camilla Melini had never expected to be back in Merida,
Mexico.
But DEFEND had sent her here to find one of the Four Talents—legendary elemental magic users who
could both heal and destroy—and she wasn’t about to let memories of that day from four years ago ruin her
chances of success. As long as she kept her eyes open, and was careful, she should be able to get in and out of Merida before anyone from her old life could find her.
And if they did, well, she had a few extra tricks up her sleeves these days that she could use to try to
defeat them.
Cam looked over at Zalika, one of two people that made up her team, and asked, “Are we finally on the
right street?”
Zalika offered Cam the map in her hands. “You try reading a map in Spanish and see how far you get.”
“All I care about is reaching our contact’s shop. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can take off this
stupid straw thing on my head.”
Zalika smiled. “But since the real Cam would never be caught dead in that hat, it’s a good disguise.”
“I’d rather take my chances if it means I can see properly.”
Zalika laughed as they turned the corner. “Jacek is watching our backs, and he’ll let us know if he sees
anything suspicious.”
Jacek was the other half of Cam’s team. “He’s a good enough lookout, but that’s not what I’m worried
about.”
“You haven’t seen your asshole ex or any of the other psychos from your past, have you?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean they’re not here.”
Zalika nodded to the right. “Well, there’s the stall. If everything goes to plan, then we should be out of Merida by this evening, and you’ll have one less thing to worry about.”
She only hoped it would be that easy. “Let’s try to be out of here by this afternoon.”
Doing the best she could with the brim of her hat hanging partially in front of her face, Cam did a
sweep of the area. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary—just street vendors selling food, salespeople
trying to entice tourists into their shops, and friends chatting on the street.
Confident that no one was following them, she nodded the all clear to Zalika, and they approached the
vendor stall filled with Mexican handicrafts.
Cam glanced over the brightly colored tablecloths, place mats, and purses until she found the section of
hand-painted ceramics. Most of the cups and plates featured some kind of flower, but she kept looking until she found a plate with DEFEND’s secret symbol subtly worked into the design.
The middle-aged man running the stall matched the picture she’d been given in her assignment file, but
to keep up appearances, she asked, “Do you speak English?”
The man smiled. “Yes. Is there something I can help you with?”
Time to use the secret pass-phrase. Cam held up the plate with DEFEND’s symbol on it. “My aunt has one just like this in her house, and since she loves it, I’d like to add another one to her collection. Do you have any plates with the same design, but painted in different colors?”
The man replied, “Yes, but my wife tries to hide them away in the back of the store, hoping that I’ll
forget about them so she can keep them. But if you have time, I can take you to the inside portion of my
shop and find the others for you.”
The man had used the correct response to the pass-phrase. But in the interest of looking authentic, she
looked over to Zalika and said, “What do you think? Can we take a few minutes to look at the other
designs?”
Zalika shrugged. “Sure, you’ve waited for me enough times. Let’s check out the other plates.”
The man put up a hand. “Give me a second.” He disappeared into the door behind him and soon
reappeared with a teenage boy that Cam assumed was his son. The man said something in Spanish to the
boy and then waved for them to follow him. “Come inside.”
Cam took the lead, but right before she reached the door, her instinct told her that she was being
watched. She glanced over her shoulder and listened intently with her supersensitive hearing—one of the
many bonuses that came with her latent abilities—but came up with nothing. As much as she wanted to find
the source of her unease, she and Zalika should be safe enough inside the shop. If someone tried to barge
their way in, she had a gun and a knife strapped to her leg under her flowing skirt.
She needed the information this man could provide to get the hell out of Merida and complete her
assignment. If she left now, she’d have to linger in Merida long enough to arrange another meeting.
She decided that the possible threat wasn’t grave enough to abort her mission. She ducked inside the
door, and Zalika followed.
Marco Alvarez watched Cam enter the shop and breathed a sigh of relief. When she’d turned around,
he’d barely had time to hide in the crowd inside the eatery, the one he was using to stake out the vendor
stall across the street.
His orders were clear—he was to watch over Camilla Melini and make sure her mission succeeded. The
longer he could do it from the shadows, the less of a chance someone would connect them, giving him the
advantage of surprise if things turned sour.
Since he’d seen her knock out a shadow-shifter back in the States, he knew firsthand that Cam could
take care of herself. But Jaxton Ward—a high-ranking member of DEFEND and his old boss—was either
being cautious or knew something that he didn’t. Cam was here to explore some Mayan ruins and hopefully
find a clue left by a Talent, but he had a feeling that something else was going on. Maybe another group was also searching for the Four Talents.
Whatever it was, watching over Cam and protecting her team was only half of the reason he was back
in Mexico. He was also here to hunt down an anti-AMT fringe group that was targeting innocent
Feiru—
and killing them
.
He was still in the process of collecting evidence, but all Marco knew for certain was that this group had a reach far beyond Mexico.
While waiting for Cam to arrive in Merida, he’d received news that had made his second assignment
personal—the same fringe group he was here to investigate had killed one of his cousins down in
Colombia.
He clenched his hands inside the pockets of his jeans and tried not to think about how his fourteen-
year-old cousin would never grow into the woman she was meant to be. He was determined to prevent
other children from dying through no fault of their own. More than enough children already suffered inside the Asylum for Magical Threats compounds simply because they were the eldest child.
He’d started interviewing witnesses last night after the shops had closed, and would interview a few
others later. During the day, however, he needed to focus on protecting Cam and Zalika. The owner of the handicraft stall was one of DEFEND’s local contacts, and while they didn’t think their contact’s identity had been compromised, it was always a possibility, especially with the constantly shifting landscape of
Feiru
politics.
He finished the soda in his hand and moved toward the door of the open-air eatery. He needed to find a
better place to stake out the stall, one with easier access in case a threat appeared while Cam was inside. But halfway to the exit, a man walked by and knocked him hard on the shoulder. Marco cursed, but the man
paid no attention and simply kept on walking.
Marco frowned. It seemed that Mexico, like every other country in the world, had its fair share of rude
assholes.
He moved down the street, keeping one eye out for Jacek and the other on the vendor stall. He was just
about to browse one of the stalls on his side of the street to keep up appearances when he noticed the rude asshole stop at the same stall where Cam had been minutes earlier. He was about to dismiss it as a
coincidence when the teenage boy in charge of the stall started gesticulating wildly.
When the asshole pulled out a gun, Marco cursed, and started picking his way toward the stall as calmly
yet efficiently as he could. If he drew too much attention, then the man would probably bolt. He didn’t want to chase an unknown enemy through the crowded mid-morning streets of Merida and blow his cover.
But when the asshole started motioning more fervently with his gun, Marco began pushing people out
of the way. Despite his apologies, one of the American tourists started yelling at him. The man with the gun noticed, and fled down the street.
Fucking fantastic.
Marco ran after him.
They were heading toward the Plaza Grande, the main town square. Once the man reached the square,
Marco wouldn’t be able to take down the man and question him. There were too many human witnesses,
and a fight could attract the
Feiru
authorities.
He wanted to use his elemental water magic to stop the bastard, but Marco wasn’t an idiot. The last thing
he needed was to be tossed inside an AMT compound where they would drug him out of his mind, and do
who knows what to him. He’d never be able to help Cam or his family then.
The tourist crowds started to thin out, and with another turn, the streets were empty. The tops of the
buildings surrounding the main plaza were closer, and he decided it was now or never. He lunged for the
man.
He managed to grab the man’s legs, and they tumbled to the ground. But the man rolled out of his reach,
and Marco used his arms to lift his upper body and jump into a crouch.
He now stood between the man and the plaza. There was no way he was letting the bastard through, and