Leo reached out, his hand finding hers where it rested on her knee. His fingers were gentle, his grip careful.
“Now I’ve stopped fighting. Not because the beast won. Because I realized I was fighting the wrong battle.” His thumbtraced circles on her palm. “I was so focused on not letting fate decide for me that I almost missed the chance to choose for myself.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t want you because my lion recognized you as a mate.” His gaze held hers, steady and intense. “I want you because you made me laugh at a terrible restaurant. Because you see through every wall I’ve ever built. Because you’re chaos and wit and tenderness, and somewhere in the past few weeks, you’ve become the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about before I sleep.”
Junie’s throat was tight. Her eyes burned.
“So your lion decided,” she managed, “and you disagreed?”
“I’m not complying with fate.” His grip on her hand tightened. “I’m choosing. Deliberately. Consciously. Ichooseyou.”
TWENTY-SIX
JUNIE
Junie pulled her hand away.
Not because she didn’t want his touch—she wanted it desperately, wanted to lean into him and let herself be held and forget about all the complicated feelings churning through her. But she couldn’t think clearly when he was touching her. And she needed to think.
“I don’t know what to say.” The words came out smaller than she’d intended. “I’m not—I don’t have a lion telling me what I’m supposed to feel. I have me, and I’m not exactly reliable when it comes to this.”
Leo waited. Patient. Giving her space to work through it.
“I’ve never done this,” Junie admitted. “The vulnerability thing. The letting someone see me thing.” She stopped, her throat closing around the words. “Because if they can’t see the broken parts, they can’t?—”
“Leave.”
The word landed with the weight of truth. Junie felt tears prick at her eyes and blinked them back furiously.
“People leave.” The words came out small and raw. “I learned it early. I never quite unlearned it.”
“Junie—”
“And now you’re sitting here telling me that your lion recognized me as a mate, and you fought it. For weeks. You looked at me and your first instinct was to run away.” She laughed, the sound broken. “Which is honestly relatable, because that’s my first instinct too. But it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, you know? That you spent weeks trying not to want me.”
Leo’s expression shifted. Pain flickered across his features.
“I wasn’t trying not to want you.” His voice was quiet. “I was trying to convince myself that wanting you was a choice I could refuse. That I could walk away from Haven Shores and go back to my controlled, empty life and never think about a laugh that sounds like—” He stopped. Swallowed. “But I couldn’t. I can’t. Every day I spent trying to fight it, I fell further.”
“And the fighting didn’t feel great from my end either.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” He reached for her hand again, and this time she let him take it. “I was an idiot. I was so afraid of losing control that I almost lost you instead.”
Junie stared at their joined hands. His thumb was still tracing those slow circles on her palm. Soothing. Grounding.
“I’ve never let anyone see the real me.” Her whisper was barely audible. “Not the jokes or the deflection or the chaos witch persona. The scared, broken parts underneath. I’m terrified that if you see them—if you see all of it—you’ll leave. The way everyone else does.”
“Junie.” Leo’s voice was soft. “Look at me.”
She raised her gaze to his.
“I’ve already seen them.” His free hand came up to cup her cheek, thumb brushing away a tear she hadn’t realized had fallen. “The fear and the sadness and the way you hide behind humor when things get too real. I’ve seen all of it. I’m still here.”
“You don’t know?—”
“I know that your magic is unstable and you’re terrified it means you’re broken. I know that your grandmother’s book being stolen feels like losing her all over again. I know that you push people away before they can get close enough to hurt you.” His gaze held hers, steady and certain. “I’ve seen you, Junie. The real you. And I’m not going anywhere.”
