Page 7 of Cast in Shadow
“We buried the attack on the coven,” Emerson said coolly.
I blinked in disbelief. “Why?” Then a thought filtered through my mind that left a bad taste in my mouth. “Are you protecting her?”
Did the Brethren want to bring her into the fold like they’d wanted to bring me in all those years ago?
“We did it to keep the peace. If news of an attack like that got out, it would send a wave of panic through the magical community.”
“Then why the hell did you get in my way?” I snapped.
“Because I was protectingyou.”
A bitter laugh slipped through my lips. Did he really expect me to buy that lie? “I’m not the girl you met a few lifetimes ago. I can hunt down one witch.”
His chiseled chin lifted at the challenge in my voice. “One witch who now holds the power of an entire coven.”
That changed the equation, but it still didn’t mean I needed anyone to protect me. I’d spent my time with Emerson learning and growing as a witch in my own right, but I was just a healer back then. I’d become so much more over the last hundred and thirty years.
“What are you even doing out on a mission by yourself?” He eyed me with a hint of suspicion burning in his blue eyes. “If you’re involved with Lexa, shouldn’t you have a team of agents backing you up?”
“I work alone,” I fired back, glancing over my shoulder at the door. It was only partially a lie. With my power, I rarely needed anyone on the ground with me, but I still depended on my team back at headquarters.
He let out a low, condescending chuckle. “Nice try. We’ve done our research on Lexa. Agents never go out in the field alone.”
I arched a brow as though he’d just made my point for me. I wasn’t just an agent. I didn’t just work there. Lexa was mine, built from the ground up with my own blood, sweat, and tears.
Understanding slowly dawned on his face, hardening his features, turning him from the cocky and confident demon I knew all too well into a focused hunter. “The director?”
I didn’t answer. Didn’t move an inch. It was as much of a confirmation as I was going to give him.
“Tell me you’re not, Senna.” He ground his teeth so hard amuscle in his jaw ticked. “The director of Lexa has been on our capture or kill list for years.”
Wait, what?
I knew I’d made a name with my covert organization, taking out the worst of the worst. And yeah, sometimes, there was collateral damage. That was the way it worked when dealing with the demented, power hungry, soulless monsters we faced off against. Sometimes, you just couldn’t get all the civilians out of the way fast enough.
But a kill order from the Brethren? That was next level.
“Why would you have a kill order on the director? Aren’t Lexa and the Brethren on the same side, essentially?”
He released a heavy breath. “You don’t know.”
His broad shoulders rolled back like he was releasing a physical weight, and for a second, I was transfixed by the slide of toned muscles beneath his shirt.
“Which means you can’t be the director,” he added. “That’s something, I guess.”
I gave my idiot head a little shake to break the spell he was unintentionally casting on me. “What don’t I know?”
“That your precious director drove Theloneus back through the veil.”
“What?” Theloneus wasn’t just one of the Brethren. He was one of the most powerful of the bunch, right beside Emerson. I shook my head again. “You’re wrong.”
Emerson leaned back against the counter. “We have it on good authority.”
“Whose?” If someone was spreading lies about me and my organization, I needed to know.
“Phineas. He saw it firsthand, barely got away. He was pretty torn up when we found him. Didn’t even have the strength to transport himself back to the compound.”
I’d met the demon he mentioned a couple of times when Iwas training with Emerson, and even way back then, when I could barely sense another being’s magic, his energy had a slimy feel to it.
