top scores at Quantico. Anne was an experienced field agent and Milton... well if anyone tried using him as a spy, they were idiots. Everything he thought came out his mouth. All of the new people on Coretta’s team and theirs were ambitious agents seeking a fast track to promotion, and nothing in their behavior was objectively suspicious.
“Not only are the number of Talent crimes increasing, but we have additional scrutiny on us as well.” Kavon’s bull showed up, a chunk of grass hanging from one side of his mouth as he searched for a threat. Darren braced himself for more of Kavon at his cantankerous best, but after a minute, Kavon sagged against the kitchen island.
“We’re not leaving town,” Kavon said in a stubborn voice that someone else might have assumed meant he was digging in on his position, but Darren recognized a retreat when he saw it.
“Pick a resort.”
“My magical shields are strongest here.” Kavon crossed his arms over his chest, a touch of that stubbornness returning to his expression.
Darren sighed. Sometimes compromising with Kavon felt like putting his shoulder up to a Cape buffalo bull and pushing hard. But he’d take what he could get because Kavon needed the time off as badly as he did. “We turn all phones off, don’t check email and veg out on a week of bad movies.” Darren laid out his terms.
After a second, Kavon gave one jerky nod. “Deal. I’ll fill out the forms. But if the office blows up and Kaslov shoots Coretta in the back, I’m going to remind you of this.” Kavon abandoned his beer and headed for the spiral staircase that led up to the small office where he liked to meditate.
Darren sighed. Apparently Kavon had demoted Joe to surname-references only. Baby steps. Darren glared at Kavon’s bull. “This is your fault. Your protective instincts are all turned on high and it’s sending him into overdrive.”
As usual, the guide ignored the complaint and kept chewing his imaginary grass. Guides. Darren frowned. When Kavon’s bull was around, Bennu rode along. Not now. He shook his head. Kavon’s paranoia was contagious.
Chapter Two
Darren woke with power flowing through the bond he shared with Kavon. In a blink, Darren fell though that conduit and lost himself inside Kavon’s dream, filled with caricatures of their work friends. Darren mentally clawed his way back to himself and clutched the blanket.
In his sleep, Kavon stretched and reached blindly for Darren. The second Kavon rested his hand on Darren’s chest, affection and soft forms of longing filled the bond.
Darren ran his hands over Kavon’s side and trailed his fingers over Kavon’s hip where the adept colors stained his dark skin. Subtle reds and beiges swirled together into a handprint design. Darren’s handprint. Threads of color escaped the pattern and danced out into the surrounding skin. Darren traced the lines that led toward Kavon’s stomach, and he felt the echoing touch through his own bond mark.
Kavon opened his eyes slowly. Darren expected his sense of their bond to fade as Kavon reasserted his privacy. Instead, Kavon held out his hand, and Darren threaded his own fingers with Kavon’s.
“Good morning.” Kavon offered an easy smile. Contentment and desire flowed through the bond.
“We have nothing to do and nowhere to go.” Darren pressed his lips against Kavon’s in a chaste kiss, and he wanted more. He yearned for Kavon to pin him down and fuck him hard. Maybe Kavon felt that hunger because he squeezed Darren’s ass. Then his kiss became hungry and demanding as animalistic lust tangled with their underlying love.
Darren’s cock hardened, but Kavon chose to break the kiss. “You seem to need something.” Kavon pressed against Darren’s cock and the pressure almost made Darren’s eyes roll back in his head.
Darren gave Kavon his best come-hither look. “Whatever will we do with the morning?”
Kavon frowned, and for a second, Darren was insulted. He was offering morning sex, yet the bond echoed with confusion and a faint sense of alarm. Then Darren felt it. A tugging. A sense of the world slithering out of phase. A wrongness.
“What the—” The spirit plane swirled around them, creating a tornado of color and power. It settled into the familiar African plain with the vein-like network of tiny tributaries and rivers. The brightly painted Egyptian monuments stood in the distance. But one side of the landscape was dominated by a wall of brilliant blue ice. An enormous waterfall slipped over the ice cliffs, vanishing when it reached the base where