Page 11 of Love Bites Hard

Then again, a werewolf had just bitten me too. Publicly. And it hurt a hell of a lot more than a vampire’s bite.

My shoulder still ached a bit, actually. It just didn’t seem important given everything else I was dealing with.

The noise of the pack connection grew louder as I soaked.

Another group of wolves was prepping food for the pack. Burgers and fries. They were excited about Porter getting rid of Curtis.

A different group was carrying armloads of Curt’s stuff out to a massive fire pit that looked like it had been dug there a longtime ago. Rocks circled it, and it looked well-used. It was full of Curt’s things, and there was another pile of them off to the side.

Someone was watching Porter growl at someone else, though they couldn’t hear the conversation.

My mind brushed another wolf’s, and I felt them realize I was there. They hit me with the full-force of their anger, shoving me out of their head.

I cried out in pain, reaching for the new throbbing in my temple.

The amount of effort it took was insane. I was even weaker than I realized.

A pair of hands grabbed my shoulders and lifted me out of the water. My eyes met a pair of concerned, dark orbs. Their owner was tall and built strong, her pale face framed by a sleek, dark blonde bob cut to her chin. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” I tried to push her hands away so I could sink back into the tub, but she refused to let go.

“You need to eat something to regain your strength for tonight.”

“What’s tonight?”

Her forehead creased. “Did Porter tell youanything?”

Other than that he didn’t plan on having sex with me?

“No.”

She sighed. “Eat something, and I’ll tell you.”

I reluctantly sat up. My entire body shook with the effort, and I was forced to admit to myself that she was right.

Iwastoo weak at the moment.

“How do you know Porter?” I should’ve been able to ignore their relationship, but I couldn’t.

“We were close friends before… well, you know.”

Before his family had been killed while he was away helping another pack, and he left the pack he was supposed to run.

“Sex close?” I was going to getmyselfkilled, and I didn’t even have the heart to care.

Her eyes widened. “No. Definitely not. It was three of us who were close. Me, Porter, and Evan. I’m engaged to Evan. He wears my mark around his neck. Wolves are big on public claiming, and we don’t share.

So shewasn’tscrewing my mate.

That made me like her a lot more.

She set a plastic sleeve of crackers and a big bottle of Powerade on the edge of the tub. “I’m Kim. There’s history between my family and Porter’s. My brother was engaged to one of his sisters before everything happened. We’re basically family too, now.”

She waited for me to introduce myself, but I knew she’d tell Porter my name if I did.

So, I just grabbed the bottle of Powerade and forced myself to drink from it. With my nausea entirely gone, I wasn’t worried about making myself sick. The illness had come with the mental connection, and I didn’t think it was coming back.

Picking up on my lack of an answer, she changed gears. “What do you know about wolf shifters?”

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