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She turned toward him. “I’m not hidden.” She slapped her chest. “Me, Cole. I’m not hidden. You know who I am down to the soles of my feet. You know me. I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“But you blasted me with the tips of your fingers and took out my knee.” He ground his teeth together.
“I’ve told you why and you don’t have to be in pain. I can fix this. I can reverse the spell. But as always, you’re being stubborn.”
He turned on his heel, though slowly. “I’ll be in the living room.”
It took her a minute to calm down as she finished the sandwiches. She worked quickly because they were on a time-table.
Cole was right about one thing. So much was hidden in Elegance. From the time she’d become an alter witch two years ago, she’d learned fast enough to look over her shoulder, then keep looking.
She knew Monique well. She’d been a student of the infamous Veyda who had been known to torture and kill her victims in dark coven ceremonies. Veyda, however, had recently been killed by Maeve and her wolf boyfriend, Officer Braden.
Monique had learned well at Veyda’s knee and had tried to use a spell on Lauren in the early days of her arrival in Elegance. Fortunately, Maeve had been one of Lauren’s mentors and had taught her a few tricks to keep Monique from bothering her.
But the dark witch had tried repeatedly to throw spells at her. Each time, Lauren had been able to counter her attacks which in turn had forced Lauren to work hard at her craft. She’d told all of this to Cole throughout the three months they’d been dating, which she supposed was part of the problem. He knew the harsh truth about Elegance. His rejection of her was also a rejection of the wizardry of her territory.
In that, she couldn’t blame him.
Except for a curt ‘thank you’ from Cole, they ate their sandwiches in silence.
She repressed a sigh.
Afterward, she took him to her spellroom which opened up onto the backyard. By now, he wasn’t even trying to hide his limp. If he wanted to suffer in silence, that was his choice. Right now, she had to teach him how to enter her invisibility shield without adding to his pain.
She had him face her as she explained how her shield worked. “We’re going to displace time by a bare fraction of a second. It’s an amazing spell. Once I learned it, I couldn’t believe how simple it was.”
He frowned slightly. “For you maybe. Most of the witches I know can’t even approach this level of power and ability.”
She didn’t know what to say to that. She never thought of herself as out-of-the-ordinary. But even Maeve had told her she was exceptional, and that Monique had kept after her for that reason. Dark witches craved power more than anything. Monique wanted control of Lauren’s abilities.
“I’ll need to touch you to do this. You okay with that?”
His nostrils flared. “I’ll have to be, won’t I?”
“Dammit, Cole, could you just dial it down a little? I know you’re furious with me. But it won’t help at all if you’re a rigid piece of rage right now. In fact, it will make it worse and this will hurt like nothing you’ve ever known before. Your knee pain will feel like a tickle.”
She watched his lips tighten and his jaw flex a few times. He took a few deep breaths.
“Better. Now, try to relax. The more you can be in a meditative state, the better.”
He held her gaze. “You know that’s the opposite of a wolf’s nature.”
“I know. Just try to breathe with me and force yourself to relax. One in, one out. Slowly.” She exaggerated her breathing.
He followed her lead and after a minute, she could tell he’d left at least a portion of his anger behind. His shoulders had dropped and his lips weren’t pressed together so tightly.
“Okay, you’re doing better. I’m going to pull you in right now. Ready?”
“Yes.”
When she drew him into her shield, he shouted in pain and fell to the floor. He rubbed his knee and rocked.
She dropped down beside him. “This will never work if you’re in pain. We will be invisible, but we can still be heard. Cole, please let me take care of this.”
“Fine,” he spit between gritted teeth.
She gently removed his hands from around his left knee and placed both of hers on the painful joint. She closed her eyes and summoned the spell from within her mental filing system. It worked like a computer pulling up documents from a folder.
