Page 15 of Mane Squeeze
Not a normal knock.A specific knock.The kind that came in sets of three, followed by a pause, then two more for flair.
“Oh no,” she muttered.
Dominic was shirtless and barefoot, sipping something out of a mug labeled “Emotionally Hexed But Hot About It” as he leaned in the doorway. “You gonna get that?”
“No,” she said flatly.
He grinned and opened the door for her anyway.
A blast of honeyed warmth hit her in the face.
“Goodmorning,lovebirds,” chirped Matilda Pinewick, the town’s most notoriously nosy baker and self-proclaimed Blessings Warden of Celestial Pines. She stood on the doorstep in a cloak embroidered with sugar runes, holding a basket that literally glowed.
“I brought you amating muffin,” she declared, thrusting the basket into Lillith’s arms.
“I’m not mated,” Lillith said through gritted teeth.
“Course not. Yet.” Matilda winked, eyes twinkling. “But everyone knows the cottage sealed and you two can’t leave at the moment. That’s a sign. My great-uncle’s barn did the same thing when he fell for a banshee.”
Dominic took a bite of his toast and didn’t even try to look innocent.
Lillith wanted to hex her own front yard.
Matilda’s eyes danced between them. “So... what’s next? Wedding? Naming ceremony? Or just the old-fashioned forest bonding under a full moon?”
Lillith made a noise that might’ve been a scream or a spell and slammed the door shut.
Behind her, Dominic chuckled. “So... muffins?”
She turned and hurled the glowing basket at his head.
By noon, three more people had dropped off variations of “blessing treats”—including a bundt cake that sang when you sliced it—and Lillith was ready to bury herself in her herb garden for the next decade.
She retreated to her apothecary corner, muttering to herself as she alphabetized the nerve-soothing blends.
Dominic had the audacity to follow, leaning in the doorway with that casual swagger shehatednoticing.
“You okay?” he asked.
“No,” she muttered, not turning around. “I’m cursed. And now I have a song cake. This is my nightmare.”
He scratched his bicep, voice surprisingly quiet. “It’s not that bad.”
“You snore like a thunder god,” she said without thinking. “And you used my ceremonial towel to dry your hair.”
“It was fluffy.”
She spun, ready to unleash something scathing, but his expression stopped her.
He wasn’t grinning this time. He was watching her. Really watching her. Like she was a puzzle he wanted to solve, not a problem he wanted to avoid.
It unnerved her more than the curse.
“What?” she said, voice sharp.
He shook his head, smiling faintly. “Nothing. Just... you look different when you’re mad. Kind of like you’re about to summon a second moon.”
She blinked. “That’s not a compliment.”
