Page 79 of Love Bites

Everyone had started calling me that. It was annoying, in an endearing way. At least they’d dropped theBigpart. That bit never felt like a compliment.

“Hi, Colby. I remember asking you to call me Blair.”

He set his arms on the table, leaning closer to me. He seemed to have learned his lesson about putting an arm over my shoulders when we were in the pool, and hadn’t violated my personal space since then. “You haven’t replied to my proposition.”

My forehead creased.

“I don’t think you want that line getting back to her mate,” Izzy drawled from the seat beside mine. She didn’t seem any morecomfortable with the vampires than she’d been a month earlier, even though the rest of my sisters had all made friends and settled in.

“Hale knows I’m not after his woman. He’s the one who sent me to talk to her,” Colby clarified. “It’s apoolproposition.”

I raised my eyebrows.

That was the first time Damian had sent someone to me. Especially someone male. Usually, if an important conversation needed to be had, he was the one who would talk to me.

“I sent you a request about using the pool to build some bridges between us and some of the other factions. I’m good friends with a bunch of fae who are suffering through the effects of the eclipse on their land, and water helps them. Because of your magic, and your pool, we’ve got the best water in the city.”

Oh.

Wow.

“I never got a request,” I said.

“Hale’s office said to submit it to your manor number.”

“Manor number?”

“They said they assigned you one.”

I bit my lip. “Even if they did, shouldn’t that be Hale’s decision? Letting fae in seems like something he should decide.”

“They would be vetted for connections with the wolves before our security team would let them through, but it’s never been a problem in the past,” Colby said.

“I’ll figure out what’s going on with the manor number and talk to Hale. Give me a few hours.”

“I’ll check in again tomorrow.”

Something told me he wasn’t going to let it go until I gave him a solid decision. And while I was used to taking a reluctant leadership position where my sisters were concerned, I was absolutely not prepared for it as it applied to Vamp Manor.

He plucked a strawberry off my plate and strode away, saying over his shoulder, “Thanks, Mama B.”

“Don’t call me that,” I called out behind him.

“Your magic’s radiating again. Snack on Hale while you’re up there,” he hollered, loud enough that the entire dining room had to have heard.

One of my sisters snorted, and I ran a hand over the top of my hair, sending a quick text to Damian.

Me

Do I have a manor phone number?

“He’s not letting you starve again, is he?” Avery asked me, slightly concerned.

“No, but we still have that agreement. I’m only drinking from him once a week, and the blood booster injections seem to have made me permanently hungrier.”

“It makes sense that you’d need more food with your magic working overtime to make more blood,” Zora remarked.

“I guess. But I’m reluctant to start a conversation about feeding more when we’ve managed so long without any real fights,” I admitted.

---