Page 13 of All My Hexes (Pine Gulch Ever After)

Shadow

“You’ve got my number, address, everything.” Dain gestures toward the sheet of paper he just stuck in my purse. Around us the portal station is busy. I would have thought most of the Fall Ball tourists left on Sunday like my girlfriends, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

And now it’s my turn to leave. I should be tired and ready to go home, but instead all I can do is stare at the big gargoyle and try, desperately, to think of reasons not to go.

“I don’t want to leave,” I whisper. “This weekend with you was magical.”

He shuffles his wings at his back, tucking them up tight as he steps close and wraps his tail around my waist. Bringing one hand up, he twists my bangs around one finger, eyeing the dark strands with a sigh. After a long, quiet moment, he brings those shocking purple eyes to mine.

“I don’t want you to go.” He says it so simply. “But I can be with you in a few hours tops, any time you need me. We’ll figure this out together.”

“I know that’s true,” I say, my voice trailing off when I struggle to find the words to explain how I can feel so deeply about someone I’ve known for such a short time.

“When’s your first free weekend?” He continues stroking my hair, moving his other hand up my shirt and between my shoulderblades. “I’ll come to you and you can show me the city. That’ll be fun.”

I frown. My next few weekends have been booked for months now. Life in the city is a constant rush of social events starting, well, starting tomorrow, actually. He seems to read that in my expression.

“I can come to you any time, Shadow.” His voice is comforting, soft but commanding, and it reassures me despite the fact that I don’t know how we can make this work. I want to try, though.

I’m human—I don’t experience that same knowing about someone that monsters do with their fancy bonds and “wow you made my heart beat!” vibe.

But I know that Dain feels like he’s mine, and I want to chase that feeling to find out what it means.

The thought of returning home and leaving him here is nearly catastrophic.

“Go on,” he says quietly. “When you get home, look at your calendar. It doesn’t have to be a weekend. I can even come for a night. We’ll make time to figure out where this goes. I promise.”

That finally pulls half a smile to my face. I believe him when he says we’ll figure it out. I just don’t want to go days without seeing him. It’s hard to imagine anything cheering me up. Somehow, after a blissful weekend, I’m down bad for this male.

I lift my hand to cover his, nuzzling into his slightly cool palm. He curls his fingers around my ear and strokes it, then drags his digits down the side of my neck. Bending low, he brings his mouth to my ear.

“If you keep standing here I’m going to toss you over my shoulder, take you home, and refuse to let you go for a week. I need more, Shadow, and I’m half a second away from simply taking what I want. I’m a simple male, sweetheart.”

I can’t help the soft moan that leaves me at his words. It’s almost a mewl. I’m about to start begging. But I’ve got to get it together. It’ll be fine. It’s all going to be fine. I channel Lemon and smile brightly.

“Can’t have you making a scene.” I wink as I haul my bag higher over my shoulder.

His lopsided smile sends heat swirling through me as I consider the mental image of him taking off into the sky with me in his arms.

Again.

“Bye, little witch.”

Those words shred my heart, but I turn away anyhow. I keep my composure until I step into the portal, and then I let the tears come.

And boy, come they fucking do.

“You sobbed all the way home?!” Lemon’s aghast, pretty pink lips dropped into an ‘o’ as she scans my face. “Bestie, why didn’t you call me?! I’d have come over with your favorite Chinese food.”

I sip at my martini as I consider how much to share. In the end, I know I can’t keep anything from these girls. Naima drains her mead glass as Kingston and Amadala stare at me.

“We had a really intense connection.”

“I’ll say,” Kingston offers with a wink.

When I shoot her a look, she waggles both brows at me. “Hey, your chemistry was off the charts at the coffee shop and I saw the way he was looking at you. Shit, he asked you to stay a day later just to take you on a date. It’s cool. He seemed really lovely.”

“He is,” I say with a sigh, thinking about how absolutely nothing has worked out on our joint calendars for the last week and half. We haven’t had a single day where we could see each other.

And it is. Killing. Me.

I let out a morose sigh as I reach for my martini glass again.

Lemon shrugs, her smile as bright as ever.

She’s bubbly to the max. “I say you go back to Pine Gulch and show up on his doorstep wearing nothing but a coat and sexy lingerie underneath it. If your connection was as great as you say, that could be fun.” She looks around at the other three girls.

“Right, ladies? She just needs to take the gargoyle by the horns, so to speak.”

“Or the tail,” Kingston says, waggling her brows. “Or the?—”

“That’s enough, Kingston,” Lemon says, playfully slapping Kingston’s shoulder. “We get it.”

Kingston gnashes her teeth at our happy go lucky friend, but Lemon just blows her an air kiss and beams at me.

“You’ve got this girlfriend. Why don’t we go lingerie shopping to find you something awesome, and then you can go knock the socks off your man.”

That cheers me up a little bit. I could even take a day off of work. It’s not like they don’t owe me. I’ve been working overtime since I got back from PG….

Lemon’s smile grows a little softer. “What does it feel like, Shadow, being in love?”

Warmth fills me as I think about how to describe it. Eventually, I shake my head as I try to put what I feel for Dain into words that can even encompass him.

“It’s a sense of belonging,” I finally say. “Like you just know that person is in your corner. And when anything happens in your life, that person is who you want to call first.”

Lemon sips her bloodtini and sighs. “Gods that sounds so fantastic, although I’d probably complain about my father and Hunter all day long and my person would get sick of me.”

“Not a chance in hell a male could get sick of you,” I say with a little laugh. “You brighten everything, Lemon, and one day someone is gonna be lucky as hells to lock you down.”

I clink my glass to hers. If I know Lemon, one day, it’ll take a truly exceptional person to keep up with her exuberance. I can’t wait to watch it happen for her.