Page 37 of Hold my Reins

Rox licked his lip. “Do you want to come out the back?”

He shook his head and sighed. “No, but I need to.”

Rox frowned. “Need to?”

“I want to move on, not literally?—”

“I didn’t mean that I felt stuck with you. I like you.” He wasn’t ready to say it was more, even though his heart was lighter around Lynck. People he loved left…the people who claimed to love him left. Either way, he ended up alone. There was a small fear that Lynck would go back home once free, even though he claimed he didn’t want that. Who wouldn’t want to go home if given the chance? “I want to spend more time with you.”

“So do I, but I want you to see the reality. My life here is limited by what the human laws allow. If you want to take off in your truck and travel, I can’t join you even though I want to.”

“I’m tired of traveling. I took the job because I wanted to stop flitting from town to town. I want to build a life.” He hadn’t realized that’s what he wanted until he had the sand in his shoes, the grease on his clothes, and the kelpie in his bed.

“That is also what I want, and to do that, I need the bridle off. Until then, I belong to someone else.”

Rox opened the door to the workshop. “Come on.”

Lynck walked over, hooves tapping on the linoleum, looking unconvinced. His ears revealed his discomfort, and his tailswished. Rox put a hand on Lynck’s chest. “I want to help you, but you can tell me to stop. And if something bad is happening because of the magic, say something.”

Lynck put his hand over Rox’s, then leaned down to kiss him. “You have a good heart.”

“So do you.” He put his arms around Lynck and rested his head on his shoulder, letting the heat of his body soak into him. If they weren’t at work, he’d be tempted to slide his hand beneath Lynck’s shirt.

Lynck kissed the top of his head. “You might be finished for the day, but I have the closing shift.”

Rox drew back and grinned. “And I need to grab the groceries for dinner. You’re getting Mom’s carbonara.” His voice didn’t catch when he spoke, and he looked forward to cooking it. “You do eat bacon?”

“Yes.”

They stepped out the back, where he’d already set out bolt cutters. It was a small chain. It shouldn’t be that hard to break. And if there was no magic involved, he’d expect the job to be done in thirty seconds.

After his first attempt, it was clear that bolt cutters were next to useless on the chain. “Fuck. Let me try something else.”

Lynck nodded, sitting on the stool like a statue.

Rox grabbed the disk with Bothvar’s mark stamped in the center and tried to cut it off the chain. He was going to pop a blood vessel before the magic broke.

“Huh…” The silver was tougher than it seemed. “Do you know anything about the magic?”

“No.”

“Let’s try the angle grinder. You’ll need to braid your hair out of the way as I don’t want to cut it or you. It’s also going to be super awkward.”

Lynck braided his hair. “I can’t imagine it will be worse than living with the bridle.”

“Probably not.” He handed Lynck a pair of goggles and ear protection.

They both looked at the earmuffs.

Rox frowned. He hadn’t thought that through very well. “Sorry. Maybe some earplugs?”

“They might be better,” Lynck agreed.

He followed Rox’s instructions, and Rox made sure the only thing he was cutting was the chain. “It’s going to be loud. Please don’t flinch.”

“I won’t.”

Neither did the chain. Sparks danced and metal squealed, but the blade didn’t even scratch the chain.

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