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Logan remembered that day so clearly. Remembered how choked up he’d gotten, and how happy he’d been for his buddy.
Eyes stinging, he flicked off the holovid. “When we were kids,” he said, hoping Eva hadn’t caught the hitch in his voice, “we swore we’d never get married. We were going to be lifelong bachelors and spend our days fighting bad guys and doing dangerous shit like jumping out of airplanes and climbing glaciers. But then he found Shanea, and I swear, the day he met her was the day he knew she was The One.” He looked over at her. “His life is ruined, Eva. He’s dying inside. I would be too. So would you. Help me find him.”
For a moment, she looked like she might cave. She glanced down at the desk, her shoulders hunched, her hands clasped so tightly her knuckles turned white. “I’m so sorry, Logan. Maybe I can—”
The door crashed inward, and Kynan burst into the room. Logan’s breath seized at the sight of his boss, his expression grim and haggard, his eyes bloodshot.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Kynan’s shredded voice hung in the air, drenching the atmosphere in foreboding. “We don’t need to find the Guardians.”
Eva shot to her feet, propelled by fear for her friends. “Why not?”
“Because,” Kynan rasped, “Draven found them first.”
Chapter Seventeen
Eva couldn’t breathe. Could barely think. If Draven had located her colleagues…oh, God.
“What did he do? Where is he?” The hope and fear woven through Logan’s voice hit her hard, especially after seeing that holovid. Logan loved his friend, and his friend was hurting.
She shouldn’t care. Draven was a hellspawn. An especially horrible hellspawn. But his deep affection for Shanea and Logan had been obvious, and Eva felt sorry for a demon for the first time in her life.
But she also feared for her friends, and she had a feeling there wouldn’t be any winners even if they caught Draven.
“We don’t know where Draven is.” Kynan reached up and scrubbed his hand over his face before turning to Eva. “I’m sorry, Eva. He killed two of the Aegi. We don’t know who they are yet. There wasn’t enough left to identify them.”
Her stomach, which had already been roiling, let loose. Scrambling, she heaved into the little metal garbage can next to the desk.
That’s why Rade put it there.
Logan appeared at her side, pulling her hair back and pressing a tissue into her hand. Through the retching and gasps for air, it struck her as an oddly kind gesture from someone who clearly despised her. Or, at least, despised her employer.
“I’m sorry,” she croaked as she wiped her mouth. “I don’t usually…” She retched again. The embarrassment, on top of the horror, anger, and adrenaline, left her shaking and on the verge of a meltdown.
As if losing her breakfast in front of Logan and Kynan wasn’t bad enough.
How had this gone downhill so fast?
She’d been sent on this mission to prevent an international incident. Now, four people were dead, more were missing, and she was part of the worst kind of international incident.
“Do you know where the others are?” Logan asked Kynan as she tried to clean herself up. But there was no way to dab away the stench of humiliation.
“No,” Kynan said. “But I spoke with an Elder who says they’re on their way to a safe location.”
“There is no safe location if Draven is after them.” Logan let go of her hair, his touch gentle as he arranged it over her shoulders. Again, with the surprises. “And he would have gotten the Guardians he killed to talk. He probably knows where all The Aegis’s secret locations are.”
“I doubt it,” she offered, her voice sounding like it had been sandpapered. “Most of the super-confidential knowledge is held by the Elders alone. I doubt anyone on my team knows about the most highly guarded locations. Me included. They learned their lesson after—” She bit her lip to keep from saying, “They learned their lesson after Kynan betrayed them.”
The Director’s glare said he knew exactly what she’d almost said. “Draven might not know top-secret shit, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t get information that could put him on the trail of the Guardians who got away.”
This just kept getting worse and worse. And who knew what info Rade had lifted out ofherhead?
“What happens next?” she asked. “Do I get to go home?”
Kynan shot her an are-you-kidding-me glance. “Not until The Aegis releases our people.”
“The Aegis is holding them?” Logan raised his voice enough to echo through the room. “As prisoners? Fuck them. They can’t do that.”
She tapped on the braces mounted on the desk meant to hold restraints. “You’re holding me prisoner.”
