Page 27 of Love Bites Hard

“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll wait for him to get angry enough to carry me back himself.”

“Of course.”There was something in her tone that I didn’t understand. Disappointment, or annoyance? Maybe she was just worried Porter would be angry with her.

She took off into the trees, and I scanned the dark forest around us, looking for Porter’s dark eyes. There were at least a dozen wolves around, but I couldn’t tell which was my mate.

I reached for Porter through the pack’s link.“I’m not letting anyone else carry me back. You have five minutes to take me yourself, or I’ll walk back alone. My feet will end up bloody and I’ll probably get myself lost if I try, but I’m proud enough to do it anyway.”

He growled into my mind, but a moment later, he was storming up to the steps. He looked even bigger after I’d seen how small Kim was.

When he lowered himself to the ground, I slid onto his back again.

We were both quiet as he slipped through the trees, headed back to the Manor. It wasn’t until he ditched me in his room that I finally spoke into his mind again.

“If you ever screw anyone but me, I’ll kill you.”

He snapped invisible teeth at me.“If another man ever touches you, I’ll dismember him and lock you in my room.”

“Glad that’s settled.”

He tried to shut me out of his mind. Though the bond didn’t allow that, I withdrew anyway. The bastard could have his privacy.

six

IZZY

I tooka long bath before curling up in bed. I’d locked the door, but assumed that Porter had a key and could get in easily enough.

My sisters had texted me again, but I didn’t answer them.

There wasn’t much to say.

I’d screwed my mate, and it was amazing, but he was still an angry bastard who I genuinely didn’t want to share my life with. Period.

So, I just closed my eyes and let myself drift off. Like all parasitic magical beings, I couldn’t sleep well without a coffin of sorts to make me feel safe. We called them canopy beds, with a lid of sorts that could raise and lower to let us in and out.

But, I would try to sleep anyway.

After tossingand turning all night, I finally gave up on sleep around 5 AM. The sun wasn’t up yet, and wouldn’t be for a while.

And my mate?

He hadn’t come to bed.

I had no idea where he’d been, who he’d been with, or what he’d been doing. All night.

Which was justfantastic.

Our traded threats the night before were far from a guarantee that he wasn’t actually going to cheat on me, so that didn’t feel great.

I ran a hand over my face and grabbed my phone off the side table. The battery was lingering at a solid 17%, so it still had a little juice left.

There were a bunch more texts from my sisters, and a few missed calls.

Though Avery was the one I usually turned to when I needed to talk, I hit the button to call Blair back. She was the only one with a mate, which made her much easier to talk to about this shit.

She answered immediately. “Hey, Iz. Are you okay?”

“I think so.” I sat up, making myself comfortable with a few pillows behind my back, and tugged my fingers through my hair. When they caught on the knots, I winced.

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