Page 3 of Mane Squeeze
“Like what? Glowing hair? Random bursts of poetry?”
She stepped close, too close, and raised her hand to his chest—hovering inches from where the spell had struck. Her eyes were serious now, storm-dark and searching.
“I don’t know yet,” she admitted. “The runes weren’t meant to activate like that. Not without a proper anchor.”
Dominic’s smile faded.
“And you didn’t have one?”
“Iwasthe anchor,” she said quietly.
The air between them went still, like the room was holding its breath. The hairs on the back of his neck lifted.
She didn’t touch him. But her hand stayed there, palm hovering over the faint pulse still vibrating in his chest.
Then, with a sharp breath, she pulled away.
“Come on,” she said, already walking to the door. “We’ve got about ten minutes before Hazel shows up and starts quoting moon riddles about destiny.”
Dominic stood slowly, still watching her. “You sure you didn’t summon me on purpose?”
She gave him a glare over her shoulder. “Don’t flatter yourself, Kane. If I was summoning anyone, it would’ve been a demon with better manners.”
He smirked, trailing her out of the room. “So... your type.”
“Go to hell.”
“Already there,” he muttered, rubbing his chest. “And apparently, it’s full of hot, angry fae women.”
He stood, brushing off his jeans and glancing at the now-silent ritual circle. “What were you summoning?”
“No one,” she said too quickly.
Dominic gave her a slow look. “Lillith.”
“I said—” And then the temperature dropped.
Far away, in the woods, something howled.
Dominic’s lion pressed hard against his skin, snarling.
“Whatever you were tryin’ to call?” he said, voice low. “It heard you.”
She swallowed. “Let’s go.”
Before he could follow her our of the coffee shop, wind kicked up from the inside of the room, the door blew shit, sealing them off from the cafe and the candles went out.
2
LILLITH
Lillith Verdan had one rule when it came to magic: never rush the ritual.
Tonight, she'd broken it.
The chalk was still damp in places. She’d drawn the elder fae sigils too fast, hands trembling just slightly from too many nights without sleep. And she hadn’t had time to balance the grounding crystal, not properly. It lay off-center at the southern point of the circle—a fraction of an inch, but it might as well have been a mile in spellwork this precise.
She’d told herself it would be fine. Told herself she could control it. That the summoning wouldn’t spiral.
