Page 67 of Love Bites

Something told me that wasn’t the last we’d hear about his request toborrowa siren, and nerves had my stomach tensing. I’d need to warn my sisters to be more careful… but then again, they were already insanely cautious. I wasn’t sure we couldgetany more careful.

“Well, that’s a little terrifying,” Kai remarked. “Glad I’m not the bastard trying to protect four unmated sirens.”

“No kidding,” Bane rumbled. “I have a hard enough time protecting my females.”

Female monsters were rare, so as far as I knew, all of them were housed in his wing of the Manor. He wasn’t known for being a nice guy, but monsters did protect their women viciously.

Then again, compared to the humans, we wereallmonsters.

“If I was protecting them, I think I’d just build a really great pool to seduce them into staying safe to make things easy for myself,” Damian remarked.

I smacked him on the chest with the back of my hand, and he grinned.

“How’s life without bloodlust?” Kai asked.

“Really fucking peaceful, minus the wolves.”

“Let us know if you need backup with that. You know we’ll intervene if we have to, even before war’s officially declared.”

“I’ll keep it in mind, but I’ve got something up my sleeve. How’s the fae realm?”

Kai grimaced. “Not great. We’re going through another eclipse. I can’t figure out what’s triggering it.”

I frowned, not sure what that meant.

Damian squeezed my hip lightly, and I realized his arm was around my waist. “When the fae realm is eclipsed, they’re reduced to their most animalistic states. There’s a lot of destruction. Death, too.”

“Even the earthside fae can feel a weaker version of the effects,” Kai added, and I appreciated that they were explaining it to me. “Uncontrollable lust and violence are the most common symptoms in this realm.”

“And you think something causes it?”

“Theoretically. It never used to happen this often.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s a shitshow, but we’ll pull through,” Kai said. “How are the monsters?”

“Solid.” Bane nodded. “We’re in a better place than we’ve been in a long time, but that doesn’t mean one errant demon can’t screw it up at any moment.”

The nature of monsters was just plain messy.

They were wildcards, and I was really glad I didn’t have to deal with that.

The men continued chatting. Though they mostly talked about their people, they occasionally asked me questions about how I’d grown up. I answered them without bringing my sisters into it, and could see the approval in all of their eyes.

Especially Damian’s.

By the time we left, I was thoroughly exhausted… and ready to go home.

Which, strangely enough, had become the room I shared with the vampire king.

fifteen

BLAIR

On the way home,Damian proposed getting rid of the pillow between us in our bed, but I shot that down. He didn’t seem surprised by my refusal.

The next day was Wednesday, so he was supposed to feed on me again, but I didn’t think he’d go through with it. Considering he’d fed the night before, I figured he deserved a free pass for that one.

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