“You used to get nightmares,” Dee said from the passenger seat. They drove in silence to her house.

  Maddy parked on the street leading to her driveway. His gaze remained straight ahead, watching the window wipers swish back and forth. It was late, but the dawn hadn’t shown its bright face yet.

  “Horrible, awful ones.” She continued, her unflinching gaze matching his. “You’d wake up the whole house screaming at the top of your lungs. I was first to find you, of course, but I could never snap you back to reality. I’d shake and shake you until my ears were ringing and your voice had cracked. Only Daddy could make you stop.”

  The sound of rain and window wipers echoed loudly inside the car. The idea Dr. Tarkirk made him forget because he didn’t want him to have any more nightmares made his insides twist. The man probably didn’t do it out of the kindness of his heart, only to make him stop screaming. Thoughts like this were easier to swallow than acknowledging Dr. Tarkirk doing something out of sympathy for him.

  His hands tightly gripped the steering wheel, “Why did you lie to everyone else at Taiyo’s?”

  He kept his gaze on the road but could see from the corner of his eyes, she turned to face him. “To protect you, of course.”

  He looked over at her. The gold flakes shined brightly against her blue irises. He let out a heavy breath through his nostrils as his brows furrowed.

  “Everything I do is to protect you.” Her voice shook. “They shouldn’t know that about you. They shouldn’t know anything that could hurt you.”

  He turned his head back to the window. This is why he loved her. She would lie till the cows came home if it meant he was okay. “How did you make yourself throw up?”

  She paused, her attention still focused on him. “That wasn’t an act.” She said earnestly. “My parents don’t trust me not to talk about magic and , and not tell you about it. They’re right of course, I would tell you everything.”

  “What do you think they are hiding from us?” It was strange that he could openly discuss Nellz now. As if he’d always been able to, like an old cell phone tucked away in a drawer, not forgotten just unnecessary to think about unless he was feeling nostalgic.

  She pulled her hair back into a bun and tucked a stray strand behind her ear, something she only did when she was concentrating extra hard. “Honestly, it’s got to be something about you. Maybe they didn’t want us talking about because they didn’t want you getting too curious.” She furrowed her brows. “Knowing you, you’d want to know everything about it. You’d want to-“

  “Go there.” He finished her sentence, his expression grave with the heavy thoughts weighing on him.

  She nodded. “Whatever is out there they don’t want you finding it.”

  “Or finding me.” He pressed his lips together and Dee gripped the side of her chair as a car drove past them. She didn’t relax until they were out of sight of the review mirror.

  His eyes were glued to the wipers as they swished back and forth. Finally, he said the silent part they were both thinking out loud. “Dee, tonight someone did find me. They could have killed me, but they were trying to drag me back to Nellz alive. I’m not safe here anymore.”

  “That’s not true!” She raised her voice Daddy’s dealt with others finding out about you before.” She stuck her head out and he could feel her eyes boring into the side of his face. She calmed and strengthened her resolve. “He can do it again.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “This isn’t just another human,” He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, pushing down the memory of his foster father Darren being thrown into a cop car.

  “He knows all the witches on the Willow Creek police force. I’m sure they will find him and deal with them. Until then you just have to lay low. Daddy can put another spell on you and-“

  "I don’t want another damn spell on me!” He hit the steering wheel, making her flinch. He sucked in a breath and let it out opening his eyes slowly. “All that spell has done was make me vulnerable. I’d still be in danger, and in a lot worse position, if I forgot what happened.

  “Then we talk to Daddy.” She sniffed and wiped her face with the heel of her palm. “Find a different spell. One that suppresses your scent, but not your memory.”

  He contemplated for a moment. Did such a spell exist? What was his other option? Run away to Nellz with Greyson and hope the hunter doesn’t find him, or the beast inside him doesn’t break loose and kill the vampire.

  Flashes of his breath, his silver eyes, and his thumb running along his lips popped into his brain. He turned to face her. “Fine.”

  “Good,” She took his hand from the steering wheel and placed it in her own. “I was worried you were going to tell me you were going to go with Greyson.”

  He swallowed, “What can he do for me that you can’t?”

  “Exactly,” She said heaving a sigh.

  Even as he said it he knew the answer, set him free from all the spells suppressing him, maybe help him find his family. Even if they didn’t want him, there was still a part of him that wanted to know them.

  He buried the thought and any hope with it. No. Dee’s love was more than he deserved.

  “Exactly.” He repeated.

  “It sucks that he’s so impossibly gorgeous,” She hummed. “Makes it hard to say no to him.”

  “Yeah,” He said absentmindedly.

  “Yeah?” She searched his gaze. “Don’t tell me you like him? Not after how rude he was tonight.”

  “I don’t-“ He shook his head, but couldn’t help his cheeks from heating. A vision of Greyson’s lips curled into a smile, as if they were housing a secret forced their way into his thoughts and he had to control himself from reaching up and touching his neck. He wasn’t wearing the towel anymore, but Dee hadn’t mentioned the mark and she definitely would have if she’d seen it.

  “Maddy, look at me,” She caught his gaze. “I don’t think we can trust him. Daddy was actually the one who told me to stick close to him.”

  “Is that why you kept ditching me?” He quirked his head.

  She nodded. “At first I was all for it. I mean can you blame me? Those eyes, that face, and those arms. And honestly, I thought he was into it, too. ”

  He rolled his eyes.

  She squeezed his hand, “But after he met you at Douggie’s he kept asking about you. And Daddy told me to keep you two apart, but I was just so excited for you to meet him, that I didn’t really think it would be a problem. But tonight he seemed so eager to whisk you off,” She blew out a raspberry, “Like leaving the would solve all our problems.”

  He didn’t say anything. There was still a hunter out there and if he did leave it would be the best shot at keeping her safe.

  The rain never stopped. At one point they had both fallen asleep in the car. Maddy woke up first and carried Dee to her house through the back door. They figured it would be best to sneak in and deal with her parents in the morning.

  They went up to her room and took turns taking pillows and blankets into the closet to turn it into a makeshift bed while the other one changed into a fresh set of clothes. Finally, Maddy brought out Dee’s laptop and put old cartoons with the volume off before placing it between them. It was something they used to do all the time when they were younger, especially after an extra painful spell was placed on him.

  As Dee fell asleep, she said with droopy eyes, “Thank you for staying with me.”

  He mumbled, just as sleepily, “I’m sorry about your shirt I’ll buy you a new one.”

  “It’s going to be okay,” She whispered back and nuzzled beside him.

  Once again, it was all he needed to hear. He truly believed that those words would stop any hunter, repair any broken spell, and even freeze time itself letting him stay by Dee’s side forever.

  But at precisely, 3:33 am a fire ripped through the house and Maddy’s only wish was that he had said it back to her.