Page 33 of Love Bites

“I’ll brave the glitter with you,” Clementine said cheerfully. “Glitter’s going to become all the rage in the Manor for the next few weeks.”

She held her phone out to Zora, whose eyebrows lifted when she saw the picture of me that Damian had sent.

I sighed.

She handed it over to Avery, who bit back a smile.

“So, Hale,” Zora said, studying the guy with new eyes. She’d undoubtedly seen his message underneath the picture. “Are we going to bring up the matching mate marks? Because that seems like something worth bringing up, don’t you think?”

“Run,” Avery murmured to him, and Damian snorted.

“I think they’re enough of a statement on their own, don’t you?” he asked.

“Sure, if the statement you want to make is,I forced a siren to mate with me.”

Avery put her face in her hands.

Clementine sighed.

“Thatiswhat happened, isn’t it?” Zora prodded.

Damian’s nostrils flared, but he looked at me.

He wanted my permission before going toe-to-toe with my sister. And I would give it to him… but the dining room had quieted around us.

People were watching.

This conversation was important. Not for my sisters, or for me, but for the stability of the Manor. Considering how many vampires it housed, and the fact that it was protecting us too, that stability was important.

“We had fun. Look at the glitter in his hair. It’s even in the scruff on his face,” I pointed out, reaching up to ruffle his hair just so she could see more of it. “He actually told me not to seal the bond until I was ready, but I wanted to be able to drink his emotions without kissing him. So, I sealed it. Feel free to question him, but don’t go accusing him of hurting me or taking my freedom. If that happened, I’d kill him myself.”

Normal discussion slowly resumed around the room, and I hoped I’d avoided any sort of negative outcome with my answer.

He squeezed my thigh lightly, but released it when our plates arrived.

“How big is the pool, exactly?” Avery asked.

“Huge,” Clementine said, her eyes bright. “But Hale hasn’t let anyone swim in it until today, so I’ve only looked at it. They built that thing insanely fast.”

I frowned.

The rest of my sisters shot him inquisitive looks.

“I built the pool for Blair. I wasn’t going to open it until she got here,” he said simply. “And the crew only finished it a few days ago, so it wasn’t a big deal to make everyone swim in the other pool.”

I whipped my head around to face him. “There’sanotherpool?”

“Yes.”

I looked at Clementine.

“It’s beautiful,” she assured me. “Gorgeous blue tile. Massive dive tank. Great lap area.” She made an okay sign with her fingers and kissed it, making Zora snort.

“You’re ridiculous,” Zora said, though the words were playful.

“I know.” Clem leaned her head against Zora’s shoulder.

“Now I feel like I’m missing out,” Avery teased me.

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