Page 133 of Magic of the Damned

“Dragar was once a snake.”

“And she made him into the thing that likes to greet people by attacking them?”

“Just me. He was playing with me. Others aren’t treated as kindly.”

“You want your mother to play Doctor Moreau with me?”

He shook his head. “What he is was my mother’s choice. They all are. She will make you Luna—Luna with magic.”

Catching the morose hitch in his last words, I studied him.

“You don’t want this, do you?”

He sighed. Placing the drink on the table next to the sofa, he sat down, pulling me to him and positioning me until I straddled him. I’d become so comfortable being around blood that I barely noticed the stains on his shirt from his sister’s assault. My fingers languidly traced the contours of his jaw. Closing his eyes, he moved into my touch. He took my hand in his and kissed it.

“I don’t like making decisions out of a desperate circumstance. The way things are, you will die at someone’s hands, either by Peter when he takes away all your magic, or someone else will kill you because you’ve been linked too many times to the misfortunes that have occurred. I’d do everything in my power to stop it. I don’t have my father and sister at my side. They’re killing those I could turn to as allies. All they know is that Peter wants you. His persistence in going after you will not go unnoticed. If your recreation is the success I think it will be, you wouldn’t be a source of magic for the Dark Caster. You’ll have your own magic and be a force in your own right. That, I look forward to seeing.”

Pulling my hands from his, my fingers ran over his face, rubbing out the furrow in his brow. “Tell your face that,” I teased. “But?” The unresolved question hung in the air. A burden too difficult for him to bear.

“I’ve grown to find comfort in you. You’re very human.” I could tell that in the past such distinction didn’t hold the same value. “As much as a recreation is needed to keep you safe, I fear that you won’t be Luna, my Luna, when it’s done,” he admitted.

A slight flush moved over the pronounced lines of his cheeks. Gently, I ran my fingers over them, the heat of his body warming my fingers.

“I find more than just comfort in you. I’ll take a world I don’t understand, because you’re in it,” I admitted.

He kissed me deeply, his tongue exploring my mouth, hands roving over me before caressing me to his body. “Good. I’m finding it very difficult imagining my life without you. There’s a wholeness when you are around. And you have this surreal way of making me feel grounded. I don’t want to lose that. I can’t lose that. Or you.”

“I’ll always be your Luna.”

They were supposed to be words of comfort and assurance. But they felt like an oath and acceptance of me being his and he being mine. Despite hating the world he lived in, I wanted Dominic. Every intention I had to stay away from him and this world seemed to fall away. This world was the baggage he came with.

I stayed, pressed against him. Despite the warm security of his arms around me, I couldn’t dismiss what I’d discovered about my sitter, Gloria. So, I relayed everything that occurred during dinner with my family, including the werewolf that was trending along with people discovering magic. I wasn’t the least surprised that Dominic knew about it and took part in it being handled.

“Could Gloria have been a Dark Caster? Don’t you find it peculiar that she just conveniently disappeared from our lives?”

“What did she look like?” he asked.

I described her and he seemed to be trying to remember if he’d encountered her.

“She was probably an emissary or follower. Despite supernaturals in your world living in the shadows, it is impossible to be completely unnoticed in any world. There’s always a group of people who know of their existence, are followers or acolytes.” He gave me a tight smile. “And that is another issue humans will have to deal with if there is ever a reckoning between humans and the supernatural world. Humans will have defectors.” It was a reminder how important it was to maintain the system we had. It just needed to be enforced better, with protections extended to humans. “I’m not sure if she was a Dark Caster or someone who worked for one, but how does this information change anything, Luna?”

“If we find her, maybe she could reverse what was done to me,” I suggested. “Recreation seems like such an extreme option,” I added when he seemed unmoved by my proposal.

“The most extreme is your death. And that’s what they want, Luna. You dead.”

Knowing this fate was disheartening. Whether or not I’d performed the spell that released the prisoners from the Perils, I would have been swept into this world because of what I am.

Dominic cradled my face. “You’re a tool for Peter and you’re at his whim. You know how I feel about this situation. I wish there was an alternative, but there isn’t. Understand, this is the best way to save your life. Will you do it?”

I nodded. He sighed, pulling me closer to him.

“Now we must hope my mother agrees.”

“What? You think she wouldn’t?” I pulled from his hold to look at him.

“My mother is very protective and ungenerous with her magic,” he said.

“Not even at your request.”

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