Page 50 of A Bond with the Dark

My chest tightens and hot tears keep stumbling down my face.

He’s pulling me to lay in the crook of his arm, where I clutch the certificate and sob quietly. It’s not like me to cry in front of people, especially in front of a man I’ve just begun dating, but this is something else entirely.

It’s so fitting to me that Mama has a star and this man, who barely knows me, did something so incredibly sweet and charming that truly touches the depths of my soul.

In this moment, he becomes something more to me and whatever hesitation I’d been having, melts away with the tears flowing down my cheek onto his shirt and into the ground.

“Thank you, Dominic. This is amazing.” I sniffle. “Sorry about your shirt.”

There are little tear stains on the front and going down the side. “Hey. It’s okay. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“It’s just so sweet.”

He wipes more of my tears. “I just had a feeling that this would be the perfect thing to get your mom. I didn’t know her, obviously, but I can feel from you how special she was. And, witches like nature,” he chuckles softly, and it’s an easy laugh. I like the way it sounds—it’s soothing and comforts me deep within my bones.

I bend my head upward to look at him and he strokes the side of my face gently, his hands soft and strong at the same time.

He pulls my chin toward him.

There’s nothing rushed or erratic about this kiss. It’s genuine, loving, and romantic.

The butterflies erupt from my stomach and flutter to the tips of my toes.

He changed the game.

“There’s more,” he whispers, once he lets my lips go.

“More?” I wonder, letting him sit us up.

“Yeah, something small. I found this—” he digs out one more thing from the basket.

It’s a small box, one that jewelry would come in, and my mind begins to wander.

He passes me the gold box, and I eye him questioningly.

“Don’t worry, it’s not a ring.” He smirks.

Something in me relaxes a bit. Although I knew that it couldn’t possibly be an engagement ring, as we’d only been on two dates, there’s something in his eyes that tells me it’s still something very special.

“Remember when I told you that my sister is a witch?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“This was hers. She has been practicing a long time and this is thought to be enchanted. I thought it would help you with your own magick.”

I open it, revealing a bracelet.

The gold bracelet, though shimmering, still looks very old with darker age spots. There are intricate designs in the metal and the stone that’s at the front is a gorgeous moonstone. It’s iridescent and pearly, taking up the whole front of the bracelet and looks like there’s another galaxy within it.

“Oh, Dominic, it’s gorgeous.”

He takes the bracelet out of the box and puts it on my wrist, making sure the clasp is secured.

“The bracelet is very old. I have no idea where Scarlet got it from. But she put her own special magick in it as well, and then gave it to me for protection when I moved out here.”

“I can’t accept this, Dominic. It’s a gift from your sister, to protect you.”

“I have other things she gave me,” he says with a smile. “I think that this will help you with your own magick.”

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