Page 10 of Total Eclipse of the Moon
Shane snort-laughed but hid it by grabbing his water bottle off the table for a drink."You're impatience to see Madeline is interesting."
Shane smoothed his voice to use voice coercion. "Go away. Forget me. Find someone else to have fun with on vacation."
She rose and left.
"I can find the witch if you give me a smidge of control. I can sense her powers," the demon offered.
"She'll find us."
In his distraction of speaking with Baku, he missed another woman taking the seat across from him. He almost snarled, "go away," but caught himself.
This one wore a big hat and sunglasses. She'd smeared white sunscreen across her nose. Her body was covered up with an oversized, unflattering beige cotton dress."Told you she'd find us."
"Nice disguise." His high level of relief that she showed up surprised him.
"It's her,"Baku said with a dreaminess that made Shane want to roll his eyes.
"I'm blending in, unlike you. You could at least try with a hat or sunglasses." Madeline put a hand on her hat when the wind kicked up. Once she had control of it, she removed her sunglasses.
"It wouldn't matter if I wore a bag smothered in pig urine. Humans would still notice me. You cuffed me to the bloody bed and left." His heart rate ticked up with excitement.
She blinked at him in silence. This woman had such a strange and sad aura.
"Did you put a desire curse on me?" He wondered if this is what was making Baku so weird about her and made Shane itchy to touch her. All he had to do was reach out and take her hand. How he wanted skin to skin contact.
"No." A smile tipped her lips. "You like me? Or is the almost full moon getting to you?"
Maybe the moonwasthe problem. "Are we going somewhere for you to help me with my problem?"
"I can only give you a few minutes. MI6 upped their game and will find me soon. Damned satellites and cameras everywhere make hiding harder." She moved to the chair directly next to him.
"I can get rid of whoever's chasing you. Then, we'll have more time."
"I hate repeating myself." Her eyes rolled heavenward. "You need the advantage of them thinking you're dead to avoid being forced back into whatever the Crown makes you do."
"Why would you care? You cursed us into it."
"I only have a few minutes for you. You want to waste our time with this?"
"How do I get rid of the demon?"
She compressed her lips and tilted her head as if choosing her words carefully. "How do you stay sane with it in there? You seem yourself. I've seen a person or two who were possessed. They weren't right."
"I don't know. He and I speak. We fight. It wants control, but I won't let it. It's a never-ending cycle."
"Amazing." She peered deep in his eyes as if trying to catch a glimpse of the demon. "It chose the wrong lycan to possess. Maybe because you're not human it can't take over entirely?"
"What kind of magic can you do to get rid of it?"
She held her hand palm upward toward him. "Give me your hand. Let me see if I can get a feel for what it is."
In silence she squeezed his hand with one of hers. Her opposite hand gripped the crystal on a chain around her neck.
"She is the healer. She's amazing,"Baku said. "She makes me feel…like the old me. I used to meet the healer once a year but that was centuries ago. He'd cleanse my spirit. Then he abandoned me, and I became this."
"I don't understand what that means."
No reply from Baku.
