Frozen Necessity (6 page)

The door to Angelica’s room opened with a soft creak. Colt looked up and over his shoulder to see her standing there, dressed in her robes again. He needed to get her more clothes. She couldn’t live in the same tatty robes.

He took one look at her and knew.

Oh, gods, she saw.

Colt saw her hands, white-knuckled fists at her side. He let his eyes find her face to see how angry she was. She looked calm, serene even. If he hadn’t seen her clenched fists, he wouldn’t have thought she was mad at all.

“You have a rune on your wrist—does it read Angelica of the Phoenix or Kate of the what-ever?” Her voice was calm, but Colt had started learning her moods, and the calm was deceptive.

Brazen it out.

“You know what it reads, Geli. You were there when we were branded with the runes, so quit the passive aggressive, okay?”

He swore he could hear her teeth grinding. He stood up and turned to face her. He did not want to be sitting down if she decided to go balls to the wall and attack.

“I saw you kiss her.” 

He was tempted to point out that Kate was the one doing the kissing, but decided that arguing semantics with Geli right now was pointless.

Brazen it out, Colt.

“So.” He shrugged, as if it was no big deal.

Her eyes glowed with anger, and he knew he’d chosen the wrong way to do it.

“Geli, she kissed me.” He tried to fix his mistake, but it looked like it was too late.

“I didn’t see you objecting and pushing her away. Noooo, your reaction was to shove your tongue down her throat.”

“I did
push
her away.”

Angelica’s eyes widened and she took a step toward him.

Her anger seemed to be more intense than it should be. Especially if she was only pissed about his betrayal to the mate pact they’d made.

Colt gaped at her for a moment. “Angelica, you are jealous.”

He watched her stop and her whole body tense at his words.

“I am
not
jealous, you bastard.”

He didn’t know how to process the thought. Part of him was…happy at the idea of her being jealous, another part of him detested it. Mate or not, what she had done to him denied her the right to be jealous.

“I will kiss whoever I want, whenever I want. Got it?” he stated in a dark voice. The confusing feelings had left him reeling, so his reaction was more of a knee jerk than thought out.

Geli didn’t give him chance to take it back or fix his latest fuck up. She turned and went back into her room, slamming the door.

Why do women always slam the damn door?

* * * *

Angelica knelt by the fire. Anger sang in her veins, and she had very little control over herself at that moment.

She’d gone out there to see what Colt would say, if he would defend himself, or apologize for what he had done. Instead, he’d boasted about it.

He did say he pushed her away.

Angelica snorted. She hadn’t seen that, and she didn’t believe it either.

Then why did Kate leave?

“I don’t care why she left.” Angelica said aloud, then tossed another log in the fire.

She used her hand to stoke the fire, pulling back the sleeve of her robes so they wouldn’t catch flame. Then she sat back and started to put a picture of Ath together in her mind.

There was enough fury in her blood for her to attempt to contact Ath. She only had to hope that Athera was near a fire.

Michael’s whisper came near her ear. “Ma’am.”

“Not now,” she said, her brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to summon an image of Ath that would be strong enough to work through the flames.

“Let us leave. We can go back to Radcliff,” Michael persisted, breaking Angelica’s attention again.

She gritted her teeth and spun. “I said, not now.”

What was with these men and their demands for attention, their high handedness, and their ability to do a Tango on her last nerve?

“He is unworthy of you, Angelica.”

The whisper floated near her ear and she wished for a moment that she could make him physical so she could backhand the ghost.

“Michael, I’m asking you nicely to shut up. I need to have all my attention focused, and if you keep talking to me, I can’t do that.”

Silence answered her plea, so she turned towards the fire and collected her mental images of Ath.

“Let’s hope this works.”

Drawing in a deep breath, Angelica leaned all the way forward, putting her face right up to the flames, but not in them. The heat was delicious to her. It felt safe and comfortable.

She took a moment to wallow in the warmth, like a lizard baking in the sun, letting it fill her energy reserves.

Then she forced herself to focus once more, and closed her eyes.

Ath…

The image she drew in her mind of Athera was one where the other phoenix was laughing, her doe eyes crinkled at the corners with mirth after some prank she’d played on Kel. Angelica could almost hear the musical tinkle of Ath’s laughter.

“Athera, hear me now.” Angelica’s eyes snapped open and looked deep into the flame, past the yellows and oranges, past the heat and the incandescent light.

Nothing happened.

Angelica sat back and let out a round of foul curses, then blushed because she never spoke like that and she was sure Michael had overheard her.

Angelica leaned in again. She wasn’t going to give up after one failed attempt.

She drew the image in her mind, her focus total, so much so that the rest of the room disappeared to her until all she saw was Ath’s laughing face.

Angelica’s eyes snapped open and the flames became a mirrored surface. “Athera, answer me damn it!”

Chapter Six

“We're lost.” Ath glared at Laz as if he were to blame.

“We are
not
lost, we just don’t know where we are right now.” He said the same thing he’d been saying for the past half hour while they argued.

Ath looked around them and huddled closer to the fire. It was her fault. She’d been so determined to go find Angelica that she’d led them right into the gaping maw of a blizzard.

Lost and not knowing what to do, Ath had said a thank you to any deity listening when they found an abandoned cabin. It was falling down, but the partial roof gave them some cover from the howling wind and driving snow.

Archer had built a fire and now the four of them huddled around it trying to stay as warm as possible.

The wind shrieked through the broken building, and Athera glowered in Laz’s direction.

“Put more wood on the fire. I’m freezing,” Scarlet said through chattering teeth.

Archer reached over and picked up one of the few pieces of firewood they had left and threw it into the flames.

The flames shot up a foot, and the four of them fell back in shock.

Laz frowned at the flames.  “Was it a piece of wood or gas you threw on there?”

They were still burning about a foot higher than they had been burning. He sat forward dusting snow off his hands as he glared at the flames.

A voice seemed to shout of the flames making them all jump. “Athera…”

Ath felt her eyes widen as the realization that she knew that voice struck her. It was Angelica’s voice. Was her fellow phoenix trying to communicate through the fire? It would be a good natural medium for them, though Ath had never heard of anyone doing it that way. They usually used mirrors.

Ath leaned closer to the flames.

“Angelica?”

Nothing.

She leaned even closer, stopping to snap her head in Laz’s direction and glare when he put out a restraining hand. “The fire won’t burn me.”

He let go of her arm and shrugged. “Okay.”

Turning her face back to the flames, Athera leaned right in and put her face in the flames. It was so warm and comforting. She opened her eyes and was shocked to see Angelica’s face floating in the flames right in front of her.

“Where are you?” Ath asked.

“I’m in a small village in Alaska. He’s keeping me prisoner.” Angelica spoke fast as if she was worried that she would get caught. “Where are you—you have to come get me out of here.”

“Um…Little problem there,” Ath said. “The good news is, we are in Alaska, and we are looking for you.”

“What’s the bad news?” Angelica’s expression was resigned as if she had an idea what was coming next.

“We are lost.” Ath sighed.

“Great!” Angelica hissed. “I need to get out of here now, Athera.”

“Is he hurting you?”

“Well…” Angelica paused. “No, he hasn’t hurt me.”

Ath frowned. “Doesn’t he give you food, or has he denied you warmth?”

“I’ve gotten food, and I’m talking to you via fire so…Duh.”

Ath felt laughter bubble up her throat. It was good to see some of Angelica’s former energy and cheek coming back. She’d been so miserable for the last while, Ath thought they had lost their friend forever.

“Is he hideous and ugly?” Athera was teasing, but when she saw the blush creep over Angelica’s cheeks, she realized the other phoenix was attracted to her captor. “What’s the frigging rush then?”

Another face appeared in the flame as Scarlet joined the conversation.

“There isn’t enough room here for both of us, Scar.” Ath grumbled.

“Stuff it. The guys are getting antsy and they want to know what the hell is going on.” Scarlet nodded at the other phoenix. “Hey, Angelica.”

“Hi, Scarlet.” Angelica smiled, but it seemed forced. “Please come get me.”

“Didn’t you hear me say we are lost?” Ath rolled her eyes. “We need some rescuing.”

Scarlet nodded. “Before we freeze.”

“You
are supposed to be rescuing
me
,” Angelica said, and Ath heard the indignation heavy in her tone.

“We failed.” Scarlet sighed, without out any trace of guilt.

Angelica sighed with obvious frustration. “Describe where you are.”

Angelica peeked out of her
cell
door, looking around the cabin for Colt. He was sitting on the couch staring at the fire. He seemed to be deep in thought.

“Colt.” She spoke his name in a low voice, half hoping he wouldn’t hear her, or would choose to ignore her. The last thing she wanted to do was ask him for help. She had no choice. Her friends needed her help.

He kept his eyes on the fire as he spoke. “What is it, Geli? Did you come out to screech at me some more?”

“I do
not
screech.” She felt her temper start to quicken, so she took a deep breath and told herself to calm down. Yelling at the stubborn male was not going to get her the help her friends needed.

“I need your help.”

She must have surprised him, because he turned on the couch, and pinned her with a stare. “What?”

She swallowed audibly and spoke a little louder. “My friends are lost in the blizzard, two of them are phoenix, and they are going to die if we don’t go find them.”

He stared at her saying nothing, and his silence made Angelica fidget with nerves.

“How do you know this?” His glare was scary. Angelica stepped back, and then realized what she’d done. She lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. “I contacted them. Please help me find them.”

“You
what?”
He rose in a swift motion and walked around the couch to tower over her.

“I’m not saying it again. There is nothing wrong with your hearing.”

“How did you contact them?” he demanded.

“It doesn’t matter, Colt. They need help.”

“And I’m not helping you until you answer my questions,” he answered in a low growl.

Angelica gritted her teeth against arguing more. “I used the fire. I can talk to another phoenix as long as they are near an open flame.”

He nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“Please help them, Colt, I think they are close.”

“What makes you think that?”

She took in a deep breath. It was difficult for her to tell him everything. She felt like she was giving the little bit of power she had away. “I don’t think they would have come through so clearly if they had been far away.”

“You don’t think?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t even sure I could use the fire to communicate with them until I tried it and it worked.”

“You were trying to get them to come rescue you.” It wasn’t s question.

Angelica kept quiet.

“Geli.” His voice held a note of warning.

“Yes, damn it, okay, yes. I wanted them to come fetch me.”

He stepped closer, forcing her to tilt her head back so she could keep eye contact. “You will
not
be leaving me, Angelica.”

“You can’t make me stay.” She had to argue with him. Her hands went to her hips as if they had a will of their own, and she glared at him.

He surprised her when he started laughing. “So strong, but not strong enough, Gelibean—you bear my rune. You are mine, and I won’t ever give up something that belongs to me.”

“I…” Angelica started to argue with him, but changed her mind. There was no point. She would prove him wrong with her actions.

“They need your help. Please, Colt, I can’t do this on my own.”

She wondered if it was her
please
that moved him because he stepped back.

“How many are there and did they tell you where they are?”

“There are four of them, and no, but they described the surrounding area. They don’t know where they are.”

“Tell me.”

Angelica described the fallen down cabin and a few of the surrounding landmarks.

Colt kept quiet as she spoke.

“Do you have any clue where that is?” she asked him as she finished speaking.

He ignored her and walked towards the door.

“Colt!”

He turned and looked back at her, his dark curls falling to cover one eye. “I’ll get them out the blizzard, Geli, but you won’t be seeing them again.”

He yanked the door open and strode out, pulling it closed behind him as Angelica stood there unable to think of anything to say.