Page 103 of Enchant the Dawn

“Why?” Maddy stared at her in disbelief. “Why? He almost killed me.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Well, it’s true!” Maddy retorted. “He told me so himself. Not only that, but he made me a . . . I don’t know what.”

“So, you no longer care for him? Just like that?”

To avoid answering, Maddy sipped her tea. How did she feel about Dominic? For weeks, she’d told herself she didn’t care anymore. But if that was true, why had her heart skipped a beat at the first sound of his voice in her mind?

“You were going to be married,” Ava said over the rim of her teacup. “You must have loved him.”

“I thought I did.”

“He gave you a rare gift,” Lily said quietly. “There are many people who would love to have what you now have, to know they’ll live a long, healthy life, that they’ll never be sick and that they might live for hundreds of years with a man who loves them. It wasn’t just his blood that Dominic gave you, but the blood of generations of our people. Not to mention Ava’s and my mother’s.”

“I never thought of that.” Ava frowned thoughtfully, and then a slow smile spread across her face. “No wonder you suddenly had magic. You tasted Dominic’s blood several times, didn’t you? Long before he bit you this last time.”

Maddy arched her brow in disbelief. “Are you saying that because I tasted his blood, I have some of his mother’s magic?”

“Callie is a very powerful witch. I should know. She gets it from me. And you, too, have my blood in your veins through Dominic.”

Maddy looked from Ava to Lily and back again. Was it possible? Feeling a sudden need to be alone with her thoughts, she rose abruptly. “It was nice to meet you, Lily. Ava, thank you for the tea.”

Before either of them could respond, she fled the house.

* * *

At home, she paced the floor. Deny it though she might, she was afraid Lily was right. In drinking Dominic’s blood, she had consumed the blood of centuries of Hungarian vampires, as well as the blood of several powerful witches.

She sank down in a chair. Almost without conscious thought, a cup of hot chocolate and a blueberry muffin appeared on the table beside her. Feeling suddenly daring, she focused on the hearth and twitched her nose. And a fire crackled to life.

“Who’s a witch? I’m a witch,” she murmured, and swallowed a burst of hysterical laughter, afraid if she gave into it, she would dissolve into tears. Not only was she a bona fide witch, but, thanks to the dark mist that had hovered over her during Ava’s spell, she could feel dark magic inside her, something she found as intriguing as it was terrifying. She had never discussed it with Dominic, but she knew he was aware of it, as was Ava.

* * *

Standing in the shadows outside Maddy’s house, Dominic breathed in her scent, though he refused to admit that he had missed it—and her—more than he had thought possible. He missed her smile, her laughter, the taste of her kisses, the feel of her body pressed intimately to his, her sweet spirit and caring heart. He had tried to stay away from her, but to no avail. Night after night, he found himself lingering on the front porch hoping to catch a glimpse of her, inhale her warm, sweet scent as he remembered how right it had felt to hold her in his arms.

He wondered if he went down on his knees and begged, whether she would forgive him for what he’d done. Take pity on him and let him call her once in a while just to hear the sound of her voice.

Lost in memories of Maddy, he didn’t realize she had stepped out onto the porch until he heard her gasp of surprise.

“Dominic!”

His gaze moved over her. She was as lovely as he remembered, although her eyes were tinged with sadness, and she seemed thinner. Dared he hope she’d been missing him half as much as he missed her?

“What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

“I’ve been coming here every night since you got home,” he confessed.

Waiting for an explanation, she searched his gaze.

“I miss you,” he said simply. “I know you’ll never forgive me for what I did. I have no excuse.”

“I may have overreacted a little,” she murmured. “But I’d never seen you quite like that, so . . . so out of control. I’ve never been so scared in my whole life.”

“Yeah, well, it scared the hell out of me, too. I’ve never experienced blood hunger like that before. Or since.” He shrugged. “I just didn’t know how to handle it.”

“I’m sorry, Dominic.”

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