Page 17 of Cast in Shadow (Drenched in Darkness #1)

17

An army of agents filled his living room, all dressed in black fatigues, bulletproof vests, and tactical helmets with tinted lenses that obscured their faces, but I knew right away they all worked for me.

“Easy,” I thought, projecting the words toward Emerson, testing out our mental link. “Those are my people.”

He growled something beneath this breath, but when I put a hand on the center of his back and stepped around him out into the living room, he didn’t try to stop me. He stayed close though, following right on my heels like a hulking bodyguard.

“Stand down,” I said to the agents. At my command, most of them obeyed, but apparently not everyone was in the mood to follow orders.

The biggest agent of the bunch was standing front and center with a short-barreled rifle in his hands. When Emerson moved to stand beside me, he leveled his weapon at his chest.

“I’m fine, Nguyen. As you can clearly see,” I said, holding my arms out.

His face was hidden behind the dark tint of his helmet, but I didn’t need to see his features to know it was him. His energy was unmistakable. What I didn’t know was why he wasn’t listening.

“Agent DeBruin, I said stand down .” I threw as much authority and command into my voice as I could without tapping into my magic.

Emerson eyed my second-in-command. “You do know that thing won’t kill me, right?” he asked, tipping his head toward the gun in Nguyen’s hands.

“Maybe not, but this one is guaranteed to knock you down and leave you with a bitch of a headache,” Nguyen fired back.

Emerson shot me a look. “You enchanted their weapons?” I couldn’t tell from his tone whether he was offended or impressed.

I let out a heavy sigh. “We do what we have to do to get the job done.”

He eased away from me a step, and my traitorous body ached to follow. “That doesn’t sound like the Senna I knew.”

“Maybe you didn’t know me as well as you thought you did.” How could he? I didn’t even know myself back then.

His jaw worked, but instead of speaking he just stared down at me.

“Move away from her.” The challenge in Nguyen’s voice crackled through the air. Any shifter within earshot would have felt it.

Emerson, to his credit, didn’t even blink. “What would possess you to create an enchantment that could subdue a primordial, even temporarily?” His eyes were still on me, as if no one else existed outside of the space between us.

“Protection, obviously,” I said.

He searched my face, biting the inside of his lip before giving me a little nod. “From me.”

It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t bother responding .

“This is your last warning, demon,” Nguyen growled. “Move away.”

With a slow blink, he finally turned to face the other man, openly taking his measure. “Or what?”

The shuffle of feet and my racing heart were all I heard over the tense silence that followed.

This could not be happening. There was not a pissing match going on between the man I fell in love with a lifetime ago and the guy who’d been pining over me for the better part of a decade.

“Nguyen, put your gun down. That’s an order. And you,” I glared at Emerson, “Do not provoke him.”

He arched one strong brow. “Does your big beary boyfriend always need your protection?”

Before I could snap back, Nguyen dropped his gun and launched across the room, shifting mid-run in an eruption of animalistic fury and tattered clothing. In his grizzly form, he stood nearly eight feet tall and weighed in at close to eight hundred pounds. Every ounce of that slammed into Emerson mercilessly.

If he’d been human, the impact alone could have killed him.

They smashed through the wall into the bedroom, snarling and growling like the wild animals they were.

The rest of the team closed in around me, following protocol that demanded they protect the director at all costs, but I brought them to a halt by raising my fist in the air. “Everybody out!” When they hesitated, I pointed toward what was left of the door hanging crooked on a single hinge. “Now!”

That was all it took to get them moving, thankfully. Before they were all out, I wheeled back around. Emerson’s eyes glowed crimson as he caught Nguyen’s bear form by the belly and chest, and hurled him to the ground. Nguyen was back on his feet in a matter of seconds, and when Emerson put himself between me and my second-in-command, Nguyen let out a roar that shook the walls.

“Enough!” I yelled, the booming command rolling out of me like thunder. “I am done with today.” I stared hard between the two of them. “Nguyen, get your ass over here, shift back, and tell me why you just smashed your way through that door with a full tactical team in tow.”

Then I turned to Emerson. “And you, stay right where you are.” When he rolled his bottom lip between his teeth like he was planning to say something, I held up a hand. “Don’t.”

Nguyen stalked over on all fours, his multi-hued brown fur swishing as he moved. Even in bear form I could tell he was only slightly cowed by my irritation.

I wished I knew what the hell was going on with him lately. Did he have a death wish? Did he have any idea how easy Emerson went on him in that scuffle?

If he’d pulled that stunt on any of the other Brethren, with or without me there, he’d be bleeding out all over the gorgeous, rustic wood floor.

Nguyen shifted when he was about five feet away, angling himself between me and Emerson. Since he’d shifted on the fly and fully clothed, that also meant he had nothing to change into, so he was standing there as naked as a newborn.

“Explain,” I said, grinding out the order through a jaw clenched so tight I had no doubt I would feel it the next day.

“Dennis tracked your phone,” Nguyen said flatly.

I opened my mouth to respond, then snapped it shut. There was really no reason for me to be upset about him coming to my rescue. It was protocol. If any other member of the team had traded their life for mine, I would have been the one leading the charge to get them back.

Licking my lips, I offered him a curt nod. “I appreciate your concern, but as you can see, I’m fine. ”

His nostrils flared, and his eyes took on an eerie golden glow like he was on the edge of shifting back. “Are you? Really?”

“You should leave,” Emerson said gruffly.

I shot him a look, a little shocked to realize he was talking to me. Why did that sting? “Yeah, that’s the plan.”

He sucked air through his teeth. “Not because I want you to. It’s so your agent, who clearly has feelings for you, doesn’t have to try to have a civil discussion about keeping you safe surrounded by...” He waved his hand in a small circle, encompassing the demolished space.

It took me a second to catch his meaning.

For fuck’s sake.

Nguyen’s senses were heightened thanks to his shifter blood, even when he was in human form. It usually came in handy, but right now, it meant he was surrounded by the mingled scents of my little “reunion” with Emerson.

“I’m leaving. Nguyen, you’re with me. We’ll finish this conversation at headquarters. And you…” I pointed at Emerson but hesitated to voice an actual threat. “Stay the hell away from my people,” I finished.

“Senna.” Emerson said my name low and soft, like a plea to stay.

Why did hearing him say my name like that make me feel like a monster?

Casting a sideways glance at Nguyen and seeing the hatred seething in his gaze as he glared at Emerson, I remembered why I was in that little cottage in the first place. It might not have been him who’d kidnapped Shay and Nguyen and tortured them, but it was one of his Brethren.

I latched on to the anger rising in my blood. “I mean it, Emerson. If you or your people have a problem with Lexa, bring it to me directly, without interfering with our missions. And when you do figure out who sent Theloneus through the veil— my money is on Phineas, by the way—I hope you choke on your apology.”

His expression was unreadable, but his eyes had faded back to that intoxicating blue. “How will I find you to raise my concerns?”

Was it an honest question or a taunt? I couldn’t tell, and at that point, I didn’t care.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” With that, I turned on my heel. I hadn’t made it two steps when I felt a gentle nudge at my mental barrier. I eased it down the tiniest bit.

“Knock, knock.” Emerson’s voice coiled through my mind.

I rolled my eyes and ignored his little test. When my team was on the road, with Nguyen riding in the tactical van and me riding in the SUV, I felt that press again.

“I can’t do this with you,” I sent through the connection.

We would never be what we were again, even if I wanted that. Which I didn’t. Too much time had passed. Too many secrets lived between us.

I felt his sigh as if he were sitting right beside me. “You’re mine, Sai. And you always will be.”

Possessive bastard.

Letting my head fall back against the seat, I shut my eyes and eased the connection closed. I was running on emotional fumes and desperately needed to be alone in my own head for a while.