Borrowed Souls (Soul Charmer #1)(92)

Saying please had almost killed her. It was far worse than the goose egg forming behind her ear.

He sighed like he was indulging her, and she bit the inside of her cheek so hard she tasted blood. Now was not a good time to piss the Soul Charmer off. “I still need you.”

“For what?”

“Tess is contained, but she—”

Ungrateful asshole. “You already have her. Remember, Derek was bleeding all over the place as a result of our capturing her? Remember that I … ”

It’s like the bastard had baited her. “That you what, Calliope?”

Callie caught Derek’s gaze and let him see the hurt and shame and guilt roiling inside her. She couldn’t voice her regrets here. Her secrets were to be laid bare. The Charmer cleared his throat. He wasn’t going to be denied her humiliation.

“I already got the answers you wanted from Tess for you,” Callie said, keeping the patronization level at one hundred percent. “We know she was recruited to take souls from you. Just not by who. We know she’s batshit and thinks what she’s doing is going to make Gem City a better place. We know she’s a big believer in group think. What more do you want?”

He cocked his head to the right, like a hawk eyeing its prey. “You forget your role.”

“My role?” she gasped. She’d already collected souls for him, and then captured his enemy and burned answers out of her. What else did he expect to squeeze from her?

The Charmer ignored her, his beady eyes locking on Derek instead. “My business is threatened. That means your life is, too,” he told him.

He had to mean livelihood, not life, right?

“You said Tess was the threat.” Derek’s measured tone kicked Callie’s heartbeat to a hummingbird pace. Why was he acting like he knew what the Charmer was talking about?

“She isn’t the true threat.” Bottles clattered and toppled as the Charmer slammed an open hand against his desk.

“She was taking souls, boss,” Derek cut in.

Callie resisted adding a very unhelpful, “Yeah!” She needed Derek to see she was on his side.

“She was, but she was not, as you say, in charge. She refused to reveal who recruited her, someone else who is now targeting us.” The Charmer’s vitriol slid, unseen, down Callie’s legs like broken egg yolks against a house on Halloween. Was she being battered for another magical invasion? She wasn’t soul French toast.

“Then is it really an immediate problem?” Derek pushed boundaries, but at least it felt like she and he were on the same side. And it wasn’t the Soul Charmer’s side.

The man who could steal their souls took two, fast, tiny steps toward them. “What’s mine is being taken, destroyed. That will not stand.” He swiveled his head, again, more birdlike than usual, to glare at Derek. “How would you feel if you were robbed of that which you loved?”

Derek had never suggested the Charmer had anything on him. He’d never spelled out the reason to Callie why he was so loyal to his reptilian boss. It was a mutual relationship, he’d said, but as the threat clogged the air, one thing was clear: their dynamic had changed. Was this on Callie? Or was this part of why her idiot move with the pills made sense to him?

“I can investigate,” Derek said, his voice quivering at the end.

“You’ll do it together.” Final words from the Soul Charmer, the man with all the power.

Callie fought the urge to curl in on herself. Skipping breakfast was the right call. “I already did my part. Why does this involve me?”

His eyes widened. Had she gone too far? “We need to find the person who wants to steal my power. They’re stealing all my souls and ruining their value.”

Whatever the fuck that meant.

Callie licked her lips. He was already screwing up her life, so there was no reason not to push harder. “Again, why does that involve me?”

“What needs to be done isn’t possible without you. You, my dear, are the only one capable of sensing this person. I can’t very well lose such an asset right now.” Three feet separated them, but his words wrapped around her throat like a cold, scaly hand.

Her jaw dropped. What. The. Fuck.

“Now, child, it won’t be forever. The sooner you complete the task, the sooner I’ll unburden you.”

“No,” she muttered.

He ignored her. “Tess did mention your mother was a client of hers. Frequent client. You failed to share that tidbit. Seems the taste for the dark side runs in the family?” He grinned, aware Callie was too angry to speak.

Real nice, Zara. If one family member wasn’t in debt to the mafia, it was another who was dabbling with soul magic. Callie needed to get out of the Charmer’s store. Like now. The sooner she resolved this, the better. “We find out where this other soul magic person is, and then you and I are done?”

“I am not in the mood for negotiation.”

“It isn’t a negotiation. I want answers,” she bit out.

“Yes, when you’ve helped quell this coup, you can ask me again to take the magic.” His even tone wasn’t what threw her, and it wasn’t his magic floating beneath her skin either. Callie put it together: he didn’t think she’d want to lose the bothersome gift he’d so graciously endowed to her. Ego the size of Texas on this one.