Page 2 of Total Eclipse of the Moon
Shane surged to his feet, intent on leaving before he lost control. He might’ve come here with the goal of confronting the witchy bartender, but this wasn’t the right night for him to face her. Dizziness forced him to grip the counter for balance to avoid a faceplant onto the floor. He wiped his nose, shocked to see blood on his finger.
The bartender shoved a paper bag in his face. He pushed it out of the way and frowned. "I’m not going to puke."
"Could’ve fooled me. You turned green." She frowned. "Oh…your nose." She handed him a wad of paper napkins.
"I'll take that whiskey." He resumed his seat on the barstool with the napkins pressed against his nose. A few eyeblinks didn’t clear the blur from his vision.
"I’m in charge,"Shane thought to the demon.
"Your scruples make you weak."
"You sure you can handle a drink?" She held the whiskey in her hand.
He nodded.
She slid it his way before tucking the crystal back beneath her shirt.
He reached for his own neck talismans, coming up empty handed. He’d left them on the bathroom counter when he’d bathed. Son of a sugar tit. He never took them off. But an hour ago the pain of anything touching his skin had been too much.
Without them as a safeguard against her magic he needed to leave. Since his nose had stopped bleeding, he stuffed the napkins into his pocket. No way he would leave something with his blood near her.
A tall, blonde woman slid onto the barstool next to him. In an American accent she said, "Hey there. Heard you speaking English. It was all sexy Britishy English, but still my language. I'm here on vacay from New Jersey." Her gaze slid down his body. She leaned in close. "I've never met anyone who looks as amazing as you."
Ugh.
His brothers loved to rib him over his effect on women. Often, his siblings would use Shane's ability to attract humans for their advantage to get what they needed when on a mission.
"It's because I'm a lycan," he replied.
"A what?" Her face scrunched up. "Like a mushroom?"
Technically, a lichen wasn't a mushroom, but algae and fungi living together. Many didn't understand the science. Not that it had anything to do with what he was.
"No. A lycanthrope. A werewolf." Internally, he eye-rolled. He despised the label, werewolf, which implied turning into an animal. It also implied biting would turn her. Despite fake legends, a human couldn’t become a lycan or vampire or witch. You were either born into it or you weren’t.
"Cool. Do you turn into a dog when it's a full moon?" She didn't believe his explanation but grinned to play along as if this was part of a foreplay game.
"I can turn anytime I want, but not into a dog." Lycans didn't turn into a wolf as dictated by pop culture legend. They were biologically immortal, and they did morph into a wolf-like creature with elongated snouts, claws, and more hair.Underworldgot it close. He'd always been suspicious they had an inside source as a consultant. It wasn't a particularly attractive transitional creature, but it was a powerful and deadly form.
The blonde leaned toward him. "Do you howl at the full moon and lose your mind to become a homicidal maniac?"
"No." The full moon did make his drive to mate go through the roof if he missed his suppression serum dose, which he had to take every two months. A brilliant scientist came up with the concoction to dull the sex cravings long ago.
Shane smoothed out his voice to use coercion on the woman. He liked to think of the power as a Jedi mind trick. "Forget everything about me. I am not the one you want."
He bit back a smile when she mimed back to him. "You're not the one I want."
"Go," Shane whispered. "Enjoy your vacation."
The bartender doubled over, laughing. She wiped tears from her eyes. "Like a mushroom.That was priceless." She sobered. "You're supposed to bedead. What are you doing here, Shane?"
"Looking for you, Madeline." He'd come to Puerto Rico to find her. "It’s time you stop running and fix your mistake."
"Who says I made a mistake?" She washed glass tumblers, outwardly unhurried and composed. But he detected the fast rhythm of her heart with his kicked-up hearing.
Decades ago, Madeline cast an ancient Sumerian blood curse on Shane and his three brothers:By this blood you are bound to the monarch of England to support and defend the nation and its people against preternatural enemies, to protect the innocent, and to serve for all the days you live.
When they were accidentally captured a half century ago, the queen used her witchy niece, Madeline, to force them to serve the monarchy exclusively and forever. Bound into eternal service as the Crown’s personal assassin squad they hunted paranormal terrorists. Sounded like a righteous, respectable purpose that needed doing.
