Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

            “Then do it,” I said, and the conversation behind him vanished. “But seeing as you won’t, why don’t you get out of my way? I want David looked at, not admitted to the hospital. Their security isn’t up to this.”

            For one dangerous instant I thought Doyle might try it. Eyebrows high, I stared him down, pulling hard on the nearest ley line until loose strands of my hair began to float.

            Doyle’s bluster snapped off as if on a switch. I would not be intimidated. If he kept trying, it would only make it more obvious to the watching I.S. personnel that I wasn’t scared of him. “You aren’t worth it,” he grumbled. “Tamwood!” he barked. “How many did we get?”

            Ivy glanced up from her conversation with Pike, and Brad slunk into the shadows. “Conscious or total?” she asked casually, and Doyle’s mood became positively jovial.

            “You have to appreciate her attention to the minutiae,” he said, his words so soft that only I could hear, and I wondered if there was a hint of camaraderie in there. At least until he added, “She would have done well in the I.S. You ruined her, too, Morgan.”

            “I beg your pardon?” I said, but he had already walked away. Ivy gave me an amused shrug. No, not ruined. Ivy had found the courage to be who she wanted. That made her perfect.

            “Whatever,” I muttered, then made a quick jog to rejoin David before they reached the stairs. There was no way David was going to end his day at the hospital, and especially not with Cassie thinking I would let slide the shit she had dumped on me and my team.

            “David? David!” I called, and the two men carrying him halted. “Don’t let them check you into the hospital,” I said, ignoring Cassie gripping his hand possessively and glaring at me. “They can patch you up enough in the ambulance to get you to Trent’s estate. He has an entire medical wing going wanting.”

            “Where David receives his medical care isn’t your decision,” Cassie said, and my brow furrowed.

            “No, Rachel is right,” David rasped, clearly in pain despite the amulet. “But I’m not going anywhere until you two hash this out.”

            Cassie’s gray eyes widened in horror, her grip on his hand spasming. “Davie . . .”

            “Fight. Apologize. I don’t care,” he said, and the two men carrying him gave us a look to hurry this up. “But you will settle this. Now. I mean it.”

            He means it, I mocked sourly. But my clenched jaw eased as I glanced at the ring Trent had given me. The pearl was a stunning, glowing white, and I made a fist as the first hint of forgiveness found me. I would have done the same thing if it had been Trent. Worse, probably.

            “I’ll be waiting for you both in the ambulance,” David said as he wedged Cassie’s hand off him. “Officers, can you . . .”

            “Davie . . .” Cassie whispered as the two men hustled him up the stairs. Heartache pinched her brow, but it shifted to anger as she turned to me. “He’s not going to Kalamack’s estate.”

            Yes, he is, I thought as I took a breath to let her have it.

            “We have nothin’ to talk about,” the small woman added bitterly as she walked to the stairs, her back stiff and her shoulders high about her ears. Behind her, Ivy and Pike had Brad against a machine, the bewildered man looking anxious as Ivy soothed and cuddled him.

            “Hey!” I tried to ease the tension in my gut, but I was still angry, and I’d never been good at hiding that. “Cassie, I understand why you did what you did, but if you ever do anything like that again—”

            Cassie jerked to a stop. Motion smooth, she reversed her course, arms swinging. “You don’t own me, Rachel Morgan.”

            Jenks’s wings rasped a warning, and I twitched my fingers to tell him to stay out of it. Ivy’s lilting conversation with Brad had gone silent, and I pulled myself straight as Cassie halted before me, the smaller woman glaring up at me, itching for a fight.

            “And Cassie Castle owes no one anything, right?” I said, pulse fast. “Especially trust. We were working together to recover David, and you lied to me. I told you I wanted the backing of a police force. If you could have gotten the I.S. to help, you should have said something.”

            “Yeah?” Cassie retreated a step, glancing at Doyle organizing a top-to-bottom search. “The only way Doyle would lift a finger was if you weren’t involved. Get it?”