Page 19 of Mane Squeeze
“You’ve been here… what, five years?”
“Six,” he corrected, stepping around a root. “Moved after the mess with the Appalachian Pride. Needed out. Hazel offered sanctuary. The rest is cozy paranormal history.”
She hummed. “We’ve never really talked.”
“No,” he agreed. “We’ve circled. Thrown shade. I think you threatened to hex my car once.”
“You parked in front of the Moon Market during the blood moon,” she said flatly. “You could’ve disrupted every ward in a two-mile radius.”
He chuckled. “See, that’s the kind of thing normal people don’t say.”
“I’m not normal people.”
“Clearly.”
She smirked despite herself.
But it was strange, wasn’t it? Knowing someone so well from a distance. Knowing their voice in a crowd, the way they held a drink, the tilt of their smirk—without ever sharing a real conversation. That was small-town life. You knewofpeople. But notwiththem.
And Dominic Kane, he’d always been one of those “of” people. Loud. Golden. That lion swagger and easy charm that made the café witches sigh and the shifter council groan. She hadn’t thought much of him. Until now.
Until the woods started speaking.
A chill gust curled between them. Not cold, exactly, but heavy. Like something watching.
Lillith stopped beside an old pine. Its bark was scarred with sigils—old ones. Moon-born. She pressed a hand to the trunk. Magic pulsed beneath her palm like a slow heartbeat.
The whispers changed.
Fate. Bond. Mate. Curse.
She flinched and snatched her hand back.
Dominic was already moving toward her. “What is it?”
“They’re talking.”
“The trees?”
“The spirits.” Her voice was thin. “They know.”
He didn’t touch her. But his presence got closer, steadying. “Know what?”
“That we’re…” She couldn’t say the word.Linked.Bound. Cursed with some version of fated connection neither of them wanted to unpack too deeply.
He looked at the tree, then her. “Did they say how to break it?”
She shook her head. “Just... whispered. About love. And choice. And losing.”
A beat passed.
“I don’t like that last one,” he said quietly.
She didn’t either. Not one bit.
They walked again, slower this time. The path led them to a clearing where foxfire glowed beneath the roots, illuminating patches of ground with pale blue light. Lillith stepped onto a stone at the center and knelt, tracing her fingers over a crescent-shaped carving.
Dominic stood behind her. “This spot mean something?”
