“It was a disaster.”
She told them everything—theruinous restaurant, the wine that tasted like sorry dirt, and the way she’d said so out loud, and Leo had actually laughed. Startled and full, like he’dforgotten he could. The diner they’d found instead. The parking lot. The things they’d each admitted in the dark that couldn’t be unsaid.
“Oh, honey.” Avine moved to sit beside her, wrapping an arm around Junie’s shoulders. “What did he say?”
“He said he wanted to find out.” Junie’s laugh came out watery. “What he actually wants. He wanted to find out. And then he walked me to my door and he didn’t kiss me and I spent the entire night staring at the ceiling, wondering what the hell is wrong with me that I want him to.”
“Nothing’s wrong with you.” Dahlia’s voice held unexpected steel. “Wanting things isn’t wrong.”
“Isn’t it?” Junie pulled away from Avine’s comfort, standing to pace the length of the room. Glimmer shifted on her wrist, scales flickering with agitation. “I’ve spent my whole life avoiding this. Keeping things light. Making jokes. Not letting anyone close enough to hurt me when they inevitably leave.”
“And?” Cassia prompted.
“And now there’s this lion who sees right through all of it.” Junie stopped at the window, staring out at the darkening sky. “He doesn’t laugh at my jokes to make me feel better. He finds me funny. He doesn’t let me deflect—he waits, with those stupid eyes, until I say what I mean.”
“That sounds terrible.” Cassia’s deadpan was flawless. “How dare he respect you enough to want the real you?”
“You’re not helping.”
“I’m absolutely helping. You’re not ready to hear it yet.”
Junie pressed her forehead against the cool glass of the window. Below, Haven Shores was easing into evening—shops closing, streetlights flickering on, the familiar rhythm of a town she’d lived in her whole life.
A town Leo Castellan would eventually leave.
“He’s going back to San Francisco.” The words came out quietly. “He has an empire there. A pride to lead. A whole life that has nothing to do with Haven Shores or potion shops or chaos witches who can’t even brew a simple sleep aid without it turning prophetic.”
“Has he said that?” Narla’s voice was calm. “That he’s leaving?”
“He hasn’t said he’s staying.”
“Those aren’t the same thing.”
Junie turned from the window. Narla was watching her with that knowing expression—the one that made Junie feel simultaneously seen and exposed.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that people change, Junie. Situations change. What someone plans and what happens—” Narla’s lips curved. “Well. Ask Avine about plans.”
Avine laughed softly. “I planned to spend three months in Haven Shores fixing up an inn and then move on. Very firm about it. Very certain.” Her fingers touched the mating mark at her shoulder, visible above her sweater’s neckline. “And then I met a wolf who had other ideas.”
“That’s different.” Junie’s protest sounded weak even to her own ears. “You and Theo had a mate bond. You had the surge pushing you toward each other.”
“And you think you don’t?”
The question landed with unexpected force. Junie felt ripples spreading through her, disturbing things she’d been trying hard not to examine.
“Leo hasn’t—I mean, he never said—” She trailed off, remembering. The way his attention tracked her across every room. The coffee left outside her door each morning. The way his control cracked when she was close.
“You’re deflecting again.” Cassia’s observation was pointed. “This time with incomplete sentences. Progress.”
“I’m not deflecting, I’m?—”
Dahlia’s smile was sad around the edges. “We all have our armor, Junie. Mine comes with frosting.”
Marzipan meowed in agreement, then yawned and went back to sleep. Junie felt the fight drain out of her, replaced by exhaustion that went to her bones.
“I think I like him.” The admission came out miserable. “Genuinely like him. Not the physical attraction—though that’s there, and it’s inconvenient—but him. The man who organizes his protein bars by nutrition content and doesn’t know how to accept kindness and laughed at my stupid joke about wine like it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard.”
