Durance by Lyn Gala Page 0,57

and McLean and have them tell White that I’ll work this case for the center. They don’t have the investigators to handle this.” He turned toward the SUV, but Darren stepped into his path and rested a hand on Kavon’s chest. He was so angry that he wasn’t thinking straight. Darren admired Kavon’s ability to plow through stupid people, but this was Coretta.

“As legal would point out,” Coretta said in a low, angry voice, “even if you’re not acting at the direction or for the benefit of the FBI, you are still an FBI agent. You are bound to the rules of probable cause; the Djedi center is not. That's why there is a firewall between our investigators and theirs, and you're on this side of the firewall.”

If anything, Kavon’s anger grew greater. The bond trembled with it as he turned back around. “We can't sit here and do nothing as we wait for that durance to attack again. Darren nearly died last time.”

“Do you think I don't know that? This—” Coretta’s voice had been rising, but now she stopped and took a deep breath. She continued in a far calmer whisper. “This is not what I signed up for. I wanted to help my community, not stand at ground zero of a guide war. Part of me wishes I didn’t know that we are facing the very real possibility that my people would die. That my son would die.” Her voice broke. Coretta was the definition of inflappable, but her expression twisted with emotion.

“Hey, we stopped O'Brien,” Darren said. He didn’t have as much power as a typical shaman without Bennu around, but he threw out a net of reassurance. “We’ve gotten through shit almost this bad.” Even as he said it, Darren realized he didn’t believe it. O’Brien had tried to set himself up as a god, but he didn’t have the raw power inside himself. He’d tried to steal it from others, but the ifrit....

Coretta gave him a dirty look.

Holding his hands up in surrender, Darren leaned against the SUV. Kavon needed to fight this battle, and hopefully he would lose. Coretta was one hundred percent in the right, but Kavon’s back was up and he radiated anger.

Kavon kept his voice low, but there was an undercurrent of fury. “We are not going to dangle Darren like bait for this guide to target him.”

“Then go talk to Salma. Get Angel and his Native shamans onboard. Do something to actually pull your people together,” Coretta said.

If she had tried to get Kavon angrier, those were the words that would have done it. Hell, mentioning Angel was generally enough to get Kavon’s back up, so putting that together with an implication that Kavon couldn’t handle the fight on his own... yeah, that was not going to go over well. For long seconds, Kavon and Coretta stared at each other, and then Kavon turned his back and headed to the SUV.

Darren ran to the passenger side before Kavon could pull away without him, but he half expected Kavon to hit the door locks. Instead Kavon clenched the wheel and stared straight ahead while Darren put on his seat belt. Only then did he accelerate away. “I’ll just text Les and Ahtisham to let them know Coretta will give them a ride back to the agency,” Darren said.

Kavon clenched his teeth. Darren thought about what Dave had said—that Kavon wanted to circle the herd and protect all of them. Quite often Kavon did take lead, using his shamanic Talent as a shield or a battering ram while the magic users used the cover to craft more targeted spells. But this time, Kavon couldn’t shelter them.

“Are you okay?” Darren asked, even though he knew the answer.

“I can drop you off at home.”

“Oh, no,” Darren said firmly. “You are not running off without me.”

Kavon clenched the wheel so hard that islands of white appeared around his knuckles.

“We’re in this together. I don’t think we should split up.”

Kavon ignored him.

With a sigh, Darren considered his options. He could ignore Kavon’s bad mood, but that didn’t feel productive, especially not when they both needed to have their head in the game. “I know you’re feeling protective. It’s sort of your thing, which is hot. I am in favor of overprotective hot men.”

A frown flickered over Kavon’s face. “We’re agents. We both want to protect the country and innocent civilians.”

“That’s why you joined the FBI. I was looking for a career where I could make a