Page 51 of Mane Squeeze
She looked up. He had changed into a clean shirt, one of Rowan’s probably, and his hair was still damp from the quick rinse in the basin. He looked tired. Handsome. Worn around the edges in a way that made her chest ache.
“Not really,” she admitted.
He crossed the room in two long strides and sat beside her. The mattress dipped beneath his weight, and their knees brushed.
“It wasn’t just the magic,” she said. “It was...us.That’s why it worked.”
“I know.”
Dominic leaned back on his hands, staring up at the ceiling like it held all the answers. “The other night,” he continued,voice tighter now, “outside the tavern... I wasn’t just kissing you, Lil. I waschoosingyou.”
Her heart pounded so loud she was sure he could hear it.
“I know I’m not perfect,” he said. “I’ve been angry. Rough around the edges. Hell, I’ve probably made this harder than it needed to be. But I’ve never lied to you. Not once. And I meant it when I said I wasn’t afraid of this anymore.”
She turned toward him. Their eyes met.
“I love you,” Dominic said. Quietly. Firmly. Like it was fact.
She inhaled sharply. And couldn’t say it back. Not because she didn’t want to. Because she didn’tknow how.
“I…” Her throat closed. “Dominic, I?—”
“It’s okay,” he said, a little too quickly.
“No, it’s not.”
“It is.” He stood suddenly, crossing the room with his arms folded tight over his chest. “You don’t have to say it. I just needed you toknow.”
She stared at his back, the rigid line of his shoulders. “It’s not that I don’t?—”
He turned, eyes blazing. “Then what is it, Lillith? You scared it’s not real? Scared of the bond?”
“Yes!” she burst out. “I am scared! Because what if it’s all just magic playing tricks on us? What if none of it’s real and I lose myself again like I did in the courts?”
“I’ve spent my whole life guarding my heart,” she whispered. “I’m not sure how to just hand it over.”
Dominic looked at her for a long, aching moment.
“Then maybe I need to stop trying to convince you I’m not a mistake,” he said, voice low and rough. “Because if you can’t even consider that this could be real... then what’s the point?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. Just walked to the door, paused, and said without turning, “I’m going to check on the kid.” Then he was gone.
She sat alone in the quiet, every word echoing in her chest like a curse of her own making.
He loved her. And she loved him back but was too cowardly to say it. And now, she’d let that be the thing that hurt them both.
23
DOMINIC
The moment the kid was safely in the care of Markus and Rowan, Dominic needed air.
Not the “step-outside-for-a-smoke” kind. Not the “check-the-perimeter” kind either. He needed the kind of air that wrapped cold around your ribs and reminded you that you were still alive. That you still had something to lose.
So he slipped out the back of Pines and Needles, letting the creaky screen door snap shut behind him, and took the path behind the herb garden that led toward the tree line. The evening had shifted to night. The stars were out. The moon was high and fat and watching.
He leaned a shoulder against a pine, folding his arms and staring off into the dark. Magic still buzzed along his skin—residue from the spellwork they’d done on the boy. Or maybe it was just the echo ofher—Lillith, her hands pressed to his, her magic singing in tune with his like they were born to work that way.
