Rebecca Zanetti: Shadowed

A harsh crease drew Jase’s brows together. “How do you know me?”

She shrugged. “Your picture was plastered all over the immortal world when you were taken by demons. Everyone recognizes you by sight.”

“I’m a damn milk-carton face,” he muttered. “Brenna? What the hell is going on?”

The protesters shook their signs and surrounded the SUV. Henry and his buddies huddled close to their van. Embarrassment heated Brenna’s cheeks. “I’ll explain on the way home. Let’s go.”

A male protester jumped forward and shook his sign in Brenna’s eyes. “Resign now, before the solstice, or you won’t live to see the darkest day of the year.”

Jase grabbed the protester under the chin and slammed him to the icy ground. His head impacted with the sound of a melon splitting. Dropping to one knee, his hand choking the male witch, Jase let his fangs drop low and sharp. “If any of you even thinks of threatening Brenna again, I promise you’ll beg for a quick death when I’m finished discussing the matter with you.”

The witch’s eyes closed in unconsciousness.

Adrenaline ripped through Brenna’s veins. If Jase tightened his hold, he’d decapitate the witch. She shuffled toward him and slid her hand over his shoulder. “Jase? Let’s not kill the moron. This time.”

He nodded, released the witch, and stood. Tension vibrated around the vampire in a more dangerous display than the swirling storm. His eyes morphed to a sizzling vampiric green as he flashed his fangs at the protesters. “I could kill you all before you thought to defend yourselves.”

Absolute truth echoed in the soldier’s tone. Brenna swallowed. She’d forgotten how dangerous he’d been even before being taken by demons. Now, she eyed him with a new awareness. The moments of his life had converged into making Jase one of the most deadly predators in existence . . . maybe the most deadly. He stood, his gaze steady, his biceps undulating with the threat of movement. “Leave now.”

People scattered like cockroaches.

He turned toward Brenna. “Get in the car.”

She swallowed and yanked open the door to climb inside.

Without looking at anybody, Jase stalked around and slid into the passenger side. “Drive.”

Heated air blew out of Brenna’s chest. She started the ignition and drove carefully over icy roads toward Nine headquarters.

Silence filled the car with a heaviness that made breathing difficult.

Finally, Jase stretched his legs out. “Why are you getting marriage proposals and death threats regarding the winter solstice?”

Nothing much got past the vampires. Brenna flipped on the windshield wipers. “You’re aware half the world thinks I’m a freak, right?” She kept her tone even, as if the truth didn’t still hurt just a little.

“You’re not a freak.”

“That’s not what I asked you.” She’d been coddled and protected by her family since birth and didn’t need any more. “You know.”

“Yes.” He settled his bulk into the seat. “For your ridiculously superstitious people, a seventh sister of a seventh sister is always a powerful witch. Whenever in history there has been one born, that daughter is the last child born in the family.”

“Exactly.” Brenna took a deep breath. “Moira is the seventh, and man, is she powerful. I’m the eighth sister of a seventh sister. An unheard-of anomaly.”

Jase shook his head. “That’s all just so damn stupid.”

“Maybe.” Hell yes, it was stupid. Except, well, odd things had happened since her birth, including economic decline, new cults, and more powerful atomic reactions. Physics itself had changed with her birth. “My seven older sisters all have red hair and green eyes. I have plain brown hair and weird gray eyes.” She shrugged. “It seems odd, even genetically.”

“Genetics are genetics, and you know it. Do the protesters want you off the Council of the Coven Nine because you were appointed by Moira?”

“No.” Brenna sighed. When Moira had beaten another witch for a council seat, she’d elected for Brenna to fill her spot so she could continue being a soldier. “There’s a book about prophecies, one that doesn’t exist as far as you know, that predicted my birth.”

Jase glanced at her, eyebrows up. “Really?”

“Yes, and it predicted the convergence of my birth, a comet, and the solstice. The day I was born, on a winter solstice, the Pagurus Comet came too close to the earth and messed with our atmosphere and tides on a molecular level. Witches were all sorts of screwed up for a couple of months. My people were helpless.”

Jase leaned forward. “This is news.”

She shrugged. “Yeah. The comet wasn’t close enough for anybody to spot, yet close enough to mess with us.”

“So?”

“The comet is coming back the night of the winter solstice, and supposedly will somehow affect me, infusing me with some sort of power from the universe. In four days.” She sighed. “I have a group that thinks I’m charmed and destined to be their queen of weirdoes. The other group wants me off the Nine and hopefully out of Ireland.”

“So is it the comet or is it the winter solstice that’s supposed to affect you?”

“It’s the conjunction of the two.” Brenna swept hair away from her face. “The winter solstice is always a time we gain power, but all witches gain it, and it’s just a temporary enhancement. The comet messes with everyone’s skills, and supposedly, I gain power somehow because I’m the only eighth sister born of a seventh witch sister ever, much less last time the comet was here. I’m such a wacko.”

Jase snorted. “You’re not a wacko. Do you know anything more than the comet will somehow give you power?”

“Nope. The legend is rather vague and unsettling.”

“Okay. For now, maybe we should set the two groups up to duke it out,” Jase said.

“The CRAP group will kill the Warriors.” She bit her lip as she pulled into the parking lot outside the Nine’s aboveground headquarters. “Though it would be funny.”

Jase uncoiled from the vehicle and reached her door before she could open it. Helping her out, he tucked her hand at his arm. “How dangerous are these goofballs?”

A silly flutter spread through her abdomen from his touch. “I don’t really know.”

As they reached the wide glass doors, they opened, and Deb rushed out. She gasped for air. “Just had to warn you.”

Jase frowned. “About what?”

Deb held up a hand as she regained her breath. “Everyone is waiting in the large conference room.”

“Why?” Tingles of dread spread down Brenna’s spine.

“To negotiate the terms.” Deb tightened her coat and sidled toward her vehicle.

“What terms?” Brenna asked as Jase grabbed the door before it could close.

Deb gave a sympathetic grimace over her shoulder. “Your mating, of course.”

Brenna shook off the feeling of walking into a principal’s office. Her aunt Viv, her sister Moira, and two witch lawyers sat on one side of a long conference table. Kane Kayrs and Conn Kayrs sat on the other side. Opposite ends of the table held empty chairs. Viv motioned Brenna toward one.

“No.” Jase took her hand in his warm one, grabbed an extra chair lined by the door, and dragged it over to where he was apparently supposed to sit. “We sit together.”

His palm warmed hers right along with her heart.

She sat, her gaze on her sister. “Moira? When did you get home?”

Moira’s green eyes flashed. Her rioting red hair curled around her shoulders. “We jumped on a plane the second we heard about this crazy scheme. You are not mating for business reasons.”