Descended From Shadows by Alessandra Thomas & D. G. Swank

Author:Alessandra Thomas & D. G. Swank [Thomas, Alessandra & Swank, D. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781939996756
Google: TjPiwAEACAAJ
Goodreads: 46035100
Publisher: Denise Grover Swank
Published: 2019-04-15T16:55:37+00:00

Chapter Twelve

We were silent until Brandon pulled onto the highway, heading west. I couldn’t be sure if he was heading back to Columbus or going straight to Kansas City, but if I’d learned only one thing throughout the day, it was that I wasn’t as much of a weak-willed rule-follower as I’d thought. If he tried to dump me off somewhere, I’d go to Kansas City on my own.

“What did you do to that mage?” I asked, partially to fill the silence and partially out of curiosity.

“I can sense auras to help me track spells, but I can also control them to make people feel like they’re in danger. Basically, I gave him an intense panic attack.” He shrugged. “Pretty useless, on the surface, but when it feels like you can’t breathe, it’s more effective than most methods of torture the nonmagicals have been able to dream up.”

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t imagine that feeling. Couldn’t bear the thought of someone dreaming up ways to torture my sister. But I was also trying to figure out how to counteract his magic if he ever decided to try it on me. Probably ram something really hard into him. (Thank you, Grandma Corlew.)

“Then, of course,” he continued, oblivious that I was preplanning a possible attack on him, “I pulled a simple stunning spell on everyone else in there so we could get out. Never been in a room that full of witches and mages wanting to pummel me.” His eyes flicked my way, then back to the road, as though trying to read my silence. “I’m not proud of it. I try not to use that panic-attack technique, trust me. It’s no excuse, but I wasn’t myself in there. I just…couldn’t let him get away with saying shit like that.”

His grip tightened on the steering wheel.

“Like what?” I asked as gently as possible.

“Either someone on the Council isn’t adhering to the magical secrecy clause, or whoever took the book is out there bragging. Those assholes in the bar were going on about a power shift in the magical world. They’re practically fucking drooling for it.”

“I still don’t understand why you punched him.”

“Because he called you a stupid, meddling cunt, okay?” His face was red, his eyes apologetic when they looked into mine, like he was pissed off he’d had to repeat the words and ashamed they’d come out of his mouth, all at once. “Sorry.”

Anger and embarrassment heated my cheeks, but I forced my breathing to stay even. “Can’t you get reprimanded for that?”

He scowled. “Probably. A lot of people hate the Protective Force, so we prefer to save the violence for more important things.”

“So then why’d you do it?”

He shot me a dark look. “I really wish I knew.” But the protective look in his eyes said he knew exactly why.

Was this another trick to get me to trust him? Would he really risk his reputation and his career like that?

He swallowed, then said in a grudging tone, “I know

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