Durance by Lyn Gala Page 0,27

all of them happy.”

Kavon grimaced as he considered the magic users he had met over his life. Most were good people, but access to power at this level would bring out magic users like Luschese—manipulative assholes who saw their Talent as permission to break the law. Of course Luschese was gone now and the remains of his criminal organization lacked the Talent to care about magic, but someone would move into the vacuum.

Other law breakers were like Angel—not inherently evil, but still possessed of a certain moral flexibility that made Kavon distrust them with power.

“Yeah, I know exactly what you're thinking,” Coretta said, “and one of us had better figure this out because White is going to be asking questions. This is like leaving C4 sitting in the middle of the road and hoping nobody sticks a detonator in it.” She frowned. “No, it's worse. In the case of C4, there are not many detonators or people who know how to correctly set them wandering around the country. There are literally thousands of magic users. And then there's the issue of who owns it.”

Kavon hadn’t even considered that mess. “Legal is going to give birth to kittens.”

Coretta gave an inelegant snort. “Legal is going to kill you and leave your body out as a warning for future team leads.”

“If that's the case, you get to handle the follow-up,” Kavon said.

“Oh no, you're not getting out of it that easy. We need a solution. What do we tell White about how to secure this scene? Back at Arlington, the spells Darren and O’Brien threw around used most of the power their guides spilled. The scene back there... I can’t even describe how much power is all there for the taking.”

“I hate to point this out,” Kavon started to say.

“Don't you dare say you're on vacation because we both know that's not true.” Coretta poked a finger in his direction to punctuate her words.

“I was going to point out that I can't even see the magic. I can't clean up what I'm incapable of perceiving.”

Coretta frowned. “Well, shit. That means this really is my mess. I hate you.”

He wouldn’t lie; he was grateful someone else was responsible for this problem. “Feel free to drag Rima and Milton into cleaning up.” That was the best he could do.

She pulled into the emergency drive of the Djedi Center. “I’ve got it. Go. Make sure Darren is okay,” Coretta said.

Kavon was already heading for the doors. Common sense told him that he’d feel it if Darren died. They had taken vows that tied their life forces together and joined them with their guides. Their fates were too entangled for one of them to die without the others knowing about it. Most likely, the rest of them would have died with Darren if he passed on to the spirit plane.

Kavon often pretended that he didn’t care what other people thought—he even lied to himself most of the time. But for the first time in his life, he genuinely didn’t give a flying fuck about the rest of the universe. He wanted to hold his lover’s hand and see those beautiful eyes open.

Chapter Ten

Kavon sat at Darren’s bedside and answered texts from dozens of people, all of whom seem to have had the same concerns about securing the scene and finding a way to explain the damage. One reporter had even gotten his text number and every five minutes, she sent another text asking him to comment on events. And with every passing minute, Kavon hated the world more.

Bennu hovered near the corner in his ancient form, standing so his head brushed the ceiling.

Anita came in with a medical chart and Kavon shot to his feet. Before he could ask anything, Anita said, “He’ll recover fine. He simply got the magic stuffing knocked out of him.” Kavon didn’t want words; he wanted Darren to wake up. And if that wasn’t going to happen, he wanted to tear the world to shreds. Bennu gave a warbling cry, and then Kavon’s bull was there, his emotions slow and heavy and dangerous all at once. Dave had always warned Kavon about the danger of letting his spirit animal influence his emotions, but right now the bull was a cooling balm in the middle of fiery anger. He held onto that strength.

Bennu shrunk down into the form of a cattle bird and flew up onto the bull’s back to watch the world.

Anita gave Kavon a sympathetic smile that made him feel