Camryn pats him, too. “Look after Mom, okay?”
Bruno barks, wagging his tail.
My head is heavy. I think I pass out for a moment. “Camryn? Are you still with me?”
“Hmm?” Her voice is quiet.
“The sun is rising.”
She peers over at the windows. The sky is lightening, and it won’t be long before streaks of sunshine crawl across the floorboards to where we sit in a pool of blood and salt.
I’m leaning back against the counter, drifting in and out of consciousness, when a bird caw in the distance brings me back from the dark. I lift my heavy head, jostling Camryn. “Baby…”
“Hmm?”
“Help is on its way soon… They’ll come for us, baby.” I press my lips to her clammy forehead. “They’ll come. Hold on just a little bit longer.”
EPILOGUE
Camryn
Strong arms encircleme from behind, and Dominic buries his nose in my neck. I smile softly while rearranging a vase of flowers on the kitchen island. He picks me fresh ones every day because he knows it makes me smile. That’s what I love the most about him—he will burn down the world to keep me safe and happy.
I turn in his arms and interlace my fingers behind his neck, breathing in the earthy scent clinging to his clothes. “You smell of the forest.”
He brushes a strand of hair behind my ear. “Have I ever told you how lucky I am to get to call you mine?”
“Once or twice.”
His chuckle drifts across my face. “I tell you every day.” He kisses me. “Multiple times a day.” Another soft kiss. “Every chance I get.”
“Time is a concept,” I reply, tipping my chin to give him access when his lips travel down the curve of my chin. “I’m so lucky you’re stuck with me.”
“Stuck with you?” His mouth returns to mine, hungry and impatient. He smiles into the kiss and hoists me up on the island, hands on my hips. “There’s no place I’d rather be than here, with you. Forever.”
Claws patter on the floor, and Bruno enters the kitchen, wagging his tail. Dominic bends to ruffle his fur, and I let my eyes drift past him to the windows. Outside, the tall oak tree sways in the evening breeze. The sun is setting, casting hues of orange.
“Good boy,” Dominic says to Bruno before he straightens, obscuring the whispering forest. I drink him in, feeling lucky to call him mine, as I reach out to trail my fingers through his stubbled beard. It doesn’t matter how many years pass; Dominic will never cease to steal my breath. “You’re my home,” I whisper, meaning it. I was lost before he made me fall madly and helplessly in love. “As long as I’m with you, I don’t care about anything else.”
His eyes soften, his Adam’s apple rolling with his next swallow. He picks a flower from the vase and slides it behind my ear. Darkness falls on the kitchen as the late evening sun dips behind the horizon
Dominic reaches for the hem of my shirt, grazing my humming skin with his fingers. I lift my arms and let him undress me. “Promise me we will always be together. No matter what, and no matter where.”
He cups my face with his big hands and presses his forehead against mine. “I promise. Nothing will ever come between us.” Our mouths collide in a hungry, frenzied kiss on the island in the same room where we were introduced to our forever.
Dominic saved me that day. Not only from the demon but also from my own shadows. Love conquers evil. I finally believe it. Even if happy endings sometimes look a little different.
I’m shoving his shirt off his shoulder, desperate to trace every ridged muscle on his sculpted chest, when headlights appear in the window. We pause, staring at each other, mouths connected.When was the last time we had visitors?Dominic curses under his breath.
In unison, we scramble to the window, almost tripping over Bruno. Dominic retrieves my clothes, and I clutch the items to my chest to hide my modesty. We stare out at the car, but it’s too dark now to make it out. Dominic slides his fingers through mine and brings my knuckles to his lips, his soft kiss making me shiver. “Can you see who it is?”
Grace
“I don’t know about this,” I say, fidgeting in the backseat when James cuts the engine. The house looms up ahead like a monstrous beast stretching tall into the dark night sky, mist clinging to the dewy, overgrown grass.
“Are you scared?” he taunts, eyeing me in the rearview mirror with his condescending signature smirk that makes me want to put on a brave face. To rise to the challenge. I look past him to the derelict house, my throat bobbing on a swallow. Rumors are just rumors, right? Nothing more.
“How is the house still standing? Look at the sagging roof,” Brielle, my best friend, says beside me. Timothy hands her a beer and then offers me one, but I shake my head.
