Page 8 of Solar Shadows

“That sunlight,” she answered, the others sitting up with her. “I’ve never felt anything like it.”

Shit. I’d possibly poked the bear of suspicion. The cloaking potion should’ve confused things, made them think a spell knocked them off their feet. Clearly, me and my little brother were rapidly evolving beyond the potion’s effects.

I folded my arms tightly across my chest, cocking an eyebrow. “Don’t try changing the subject. Start talking or you all start hurting.”

The woman dipped her head, the man beside her taking over speaking duties.

“We’re trying something new,” he said, wipingbeads of moisture from his bald head. “But that’s all you get to know,agent.”

Ah, good. At least they still saw me as an Agent of the High Coven.

I rolled my eyes, tapping my right foot. “We’re really playing this game, are we?”

He scoffed, saying nothing else.

Ollie and Jake appeared, flanking me.

A different man spoke, holding his long damp hair away from the back of his neck.

“Give it up,” he said. “We’re not talking. Not even to the High Inquisitor.”

Ha! I wished them good luck in dealing withhim. Stefan Rushden had gone from working with us to trying to broker a deal with the Kingwoods for the ‘greater good.’ Once that fell through, he’d cut all communication with us and hidden behind his reticent secretary. Even Ollie and Jake were left out in the cold.

Prick. I hoped he’d fallen from grace, rotting in a cell somewhere dark. But I knew that wouldn’t be the case. Guys like him didn’t lose their powerful positions easily. He was cooking something. I could feel it in my bones.

“We’ll tell him the same,” another guy threw in.

Yes, because it would be all sunshine and rainbows telling Stefan to go fuck himself in no uncertain terms. Once Ollie and Jake brought these witches in for further questioning at the High Coven HQ, the gloves would be off. They wouldn’t get to set thenarrative, only be forced into a brutal one where they’d be screaming and begging for mercy. Especially for breaking a Hecate Crystal.

The guy holding his hair away from his neck spoke again. “We aren’t supposed to break crystals.” He scowled at the woman who broke it.

She snarled at him. “Why are you talking?” She called on a bangle spell, blue magic dancing around his hands.

Ollie used the Taser spell on her. She collapsed, twitching across the ground.

Rather than behave, the others summoned magic to their hands.

I snapped, not thinking, and unleashed my sunshine, delighting in their wails.

“Just had to play the fuckhead cards, didn’t you?” I bellowed.

“We’ve got this,” I heard Ollie rasp.

“What?” I questioned, my lips drawn back in a snarl.

“Let us do our job,” he breathed.

Oh. Yes. His job. And using my sunlight wasn’t a good idea right now.

I switched off my power before offering my hand to Ollie, who was seated on the floor beside me, leaning back on his hands.

He refused it, getting himself to his feet. He grunted, wiping his forehead with the sleeve of his witchcop jacket.

“Sorry,” I said meekly.

He didn’t answer, making a quick call on his cell phone instead, summoning the Brambles and the back up witchcops.

Okay. Whatever. No need to look at me like I’d just hit him in the face with a cream pie.