Page 41 of Growl Me, Maybe

“You shouldn’t have come this far alone.”

“I wasn’t alone,” she muttered. “I had Milo.”

Milo huffed. “For the record,Ivoted for turning back.”

Jace crouched beside her, cupping her face gently. His thumb brushed her cheekbone, eyes dark and unreadable.

“You scared the hell out of me,” he said softly.

Lyra blinked. “You… youfoundme.”

“I felt it. The moment the wards buckled. I knew it was you.”

Their eyes met.

And something shifted.

Something soft. Something real.

“You always show up,” she said.

He pulled back slightly, the heat of his body still wrapped around her like armor. His voice, when he spoke, was clipped. Guarded.

“You shouldn’t be out here,” he said, avoiding her eyes. “Not this close to the woods. Not right now.”

Lyra blinked, her pulse still roaring in her ears. “That’s it?”

He stood, brushing dirt from his palms, gaze fixed somewhere over her shoulder. “We need to get back. I don’t like what’s prowling out here.”

She rose slowly, fury beginning to thaw the fear in her chest. “You just saved me—again—and now you’re back to grunting out orders like none of it meant anything?”

His jaw tightened, but he said nothing.

She stepped into his space, heart pounding. “You can’t keep doing this. Showing up like some dark knight, before retreating behind your walls.”

“I’m doing my job.”

“No,” she snapped. “You’re hiding. And I amdoneletting you push me away like I’m the problem.”

His eyes flicked to hers—brief, sharp—but the emotion behind them was caged tight.

She exhaled, chest rising and falling. “Something’s happening here, Jace. Between us. You feel it. Iknowyou do.”

He didn’t answer.

“Then why won’t you just say it?” she asked, voice breaking.

He looked away.

And that silence felt like the cruelest kind of answer.

Lyra swallowed hard, her throat thick.

She stepped back, fists clenched. “Fine. Don’t say it. But don’t expect me to pretend I didn’t notice.”

Then she turned and started down the path without waiting for him.

But Jace didn’t let her out of his sight.

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