Page 10 of Love Bites

“Why are you so obsessed with this female?” she asked, leaning closer.

I finally lifted my gaze from my computer screen.

The two of us hadn’t had a chance to talk privately since the tournament started, and I’d met Blair a few days after that. Louise had kept everything running for me while I enjoyed the fights.

Or she tried to, at least.

A few of the others I had keeping my wing of the Manor afloat had quit for various reasons during the tournament, which made that an impossible feat.

“Blair is my blood mate. And she’s a siren,” I said bluntly. “The longer she spends away from me, the more likely I lose her to someone else. Those lives are just going to have to stay at risk, because there’s only one I care about right now.” I refocused on my computer screen.

A vampire only had one blood mate. He or she was the single person in the world whose blood could dull the constant lust and hunger that otherwise consumed us. We could function despite our bloodlust, but we would never have peace while it raged.

Lou had found hers, Egan, a century earlier. He had become my best friend and the only other member of my inner circle soon enough.

But he had been working with Lou while I dealt with the tournament, so I hadn’t told him the truth about Blair yet either.

“Holy shit,” Lou said, grabbing her stack of papers again. I expected her to tell me she’d get out of my hair and let me find my female, but the woman didn’t budge.

“I’m going to go start knocking on doors if I can’t find her soon,” I said, glaring at the screen. “She has to besomewhere. I had our tech team create an ongoing visual search, so I should know if she takes a step anywhere with a public camera. It shouldn’t be this hard to find her. I?—”

“Ifound her,” Louise hissed. She pulled a folder out of her stack and shoved it at me. “Look.”

I opened the folder and scanned the list of contacts, finding aBlair Davidsonat the top.

“How do you know she’s a siren? This could be any of the other Blairs we found,” I said. “I?—”

“Read the case, asshole.”

I read it, swore viciously, and stood up. My heart pounded like a drum in my chest and ears.

My mate was seeking refuge.

She was in hiding.

One of her sisters was already living in my wing of the Manor, hiding from some asshole wolf shifter.

She was in danger, and I hadn’t known.

“There’s no address listed here. Where do I find her?”

“Sirens don’t give out their addresses. You need to have reception call her in, apologize for not reading her case sooner, and do everything you can to make it right,” Lou said. “If this woman turns you down, you’re screwed. And not in a fun way, Hale.”

I gritted my teeth. “She could still turn me down. I’ll have to think of a way to ensure she agrees to be mine.”

“Talk to Johnny at reception. He saw more of their dynamics than I did, and has been staying in contact with them.”

My anger flared at the thought of the receptionist communicating regularly withmymate.

I’d get every ounce of information out of him—and then, I’d make Blair mine.

Permanently.

four

BLAIR

I floatedon my back in the water, waiting for my phone to ding with a text from Johnny. It took effort, but I was pointedly ignoring the hunger gnawing in my middle and pounding in my head.

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