Page 68 of Legacy of Temptation

Join The Aegis with me. Repent and reject your demon family or I walk. Take it or leave it.

Those had been her last words to him. The last thing she’d said before she revealed his presence to the group that thought they could capture him.

Fuck you.

He wanted to say that to her again, just like he’d said it after she gave him the ultimatum.

But her current request wasn’t unreasonable. It might even show Eva that DART was willing to work with her and The Aegis to save lives.

“You get five minutes.”

She made him wait a heartbeat before saying, “Fine. Nice seeing you again, Logan. I expect to hear that Draven is neutralized, and Eva is on her way home shortly. Bye.”

Maja winked out of the room.

He cursed to himself, but it felt hollow. He’d gotten DART more time…but he’d also gotten himself a babysitting job.

And there wasn’t a curse word strong enough for that.

Chapter Eighteen

So, it turned out that Kynan Morgan, ex-soldier, former Aegis member, and current Director of DART, wasn’t a psychotic megalomaniac.

Eva supposed he could be hiding his inner scumbag, but from everything she’d seen, he was nothing like the stories she’d heard from colleagues and learned from Aegis records.

He had, in fact, ordered her a sandwich and coffee from the cafeteria and sent someone to a nearby store for toothpaste and a toothbrush. He’d escorted her to the bathroom so she could brush her teeth and clean up, and now he was sitting across from her in the interrogation room as she picked at her ham and cheese baguette.

“You’re not what I expected,” she told him, and he snorted bitterly.

“I’ll bet. My divorce from The Aegis was messy, and you’ve probably only gotten my ex’s side of the story.”

“Which ex?”

One black eyebrow climbed up. “You did your homework.”

“Everyone knows the story of how you and your wife ran a cell of Guardians until she cheated on you,” she said bluntly. Kynan struck her as someone who appreciated straight talk, and she was too tired for tact. “Then you hooked up with a demon, got some demon friends, and betrayed The Aegis to the Four Horsemen.”

“The Aegis betrayedme,” he said. “And they betrayed the Horsemen.”

“So, you take no responsibility for any of it?”

Kynan gazed at the weird symbol on the wall for a minute as if gathering his thoughts. “I was a toe-the-line Guardian.” He absently ran his fingers over the scars on his throat. “I hated demons, and I bought into The Aegis ideology. And I made a lot of questionable decisions because winning a war means doing distasteful shit. Sometimes, the collateral damage is…too much.”

“So, you’re sorry you left?” She forced herself to take a bite of the sandwich, even though she wasn’t hungry. Her head was pounding from Rade’s mind scramble, and her stomach still roiled, but she hoped getting something in it would settle it down.

“I’m sorry I didn’t do it sooner.” He sat back in his chair and watched her chew her food. “You aren’t like the rest of them. Don’t let yourself get caught in the quicksand, or you’ll find yourself doing things that will go against your moral fabric.”

Her journalist’s brain sensed a huge story there. But before she could attempt to pry, the door swept open, and Logan popped his head inside.

“Boss? Can I see you for a second?”

For some reason, the sadness in Kynan’s expression deepened when he looked at Logan. It only lasted a second, and then he was up and heading toward the door.

“Be right back,” he said to Eva.

They were only gone for a couple of minutes, during which time she finished her sandwich and the coffee. As she was wiping her mouth, Logan came inside with a portable comms unit.

He placed the flat, coaster-sized device on the table.

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