Page 43 of Love Bites Hard

I collapsed in the largest desk chair, digging into my food immediately.

“Where’s Porter?” Evan asked.

I let out a frustrated breath. “We got in another fight. I don’t know what to do with him. I don’t want to hurt him any more than he’s already hurting—but I can’t let my mate treat me like shit. I won’t. This whole situation is just a mess. I should’ve known better.”

“What are you fighting about?” Evan asked.

I took a frustrated bite of my food. “He won’t share a bed with me. Or apologize for ditching me after we screwed last night. He thinks he didn’t do anything wrong.”

“What was his reasoning?” Evan checked.

Kim didn’t seem entirely interested in the conversation, so I felt a little bad about dragging her in, but Evan was asking questions.

“He said he needed time to think.” I took another bite, and said with a full mouth, “I’m fucking done. How do I get off this train?”

“You don’t,” Kim said, entirely unempathetic. “You’re the one who decided to board it.”

“That was clearly a mistake.”

“Mistakes have consequences. This one is yours.” Kim leaned back in her seat.

She wasn’t wrong.

“It wasn’t a mistake,” Evan said, frowning at his fiancée. “Coming back from hell takes time, but we’ll get him back. Let me think of another way to make him jealous.”

“No. Not this time. If he wants to be a dick, you have to let him. Making him jealous won’t help. I’m not ready to deal with him like that right now.”

Evan sighed. “Alright, I’ll give it a few days. But if he doesn’t come back, we enact the plan.”

“That’s fine,” I agreed, then leaned toward him. “Has he really ordered his wolves not to let me leave Wolf Manor?”

Evan grimaced.

“Great.” I took another bite.

Evan’s eyes glazed over for a moment before he perked up. “Porter said he just got off the phone with the vampires. A group of them are coming with your sisters in a few days, to purify the lake with you.”

I raised my eyebrows. “He didn’t go back to the forest?”

“Apparently not.” His voice was upbeat.

I didn’t feel quite as cheerful as he seemed, so I just focused on my food. I finished quickly, and stood up. “I think I’m going to call it a night. Thanks for the rescue.”

“Any time,” Evan promised.

Kim murmured her agreement, and I slipped out of the office, padding down the hall.

As soon as I opened the door to my room and took a step inside, I froze.

Porter was sitting on the bed, his back to the pillows and his arms folded. His long, strong legs were sprawled out in front of him, and there was a dark look in his eyes.

They were on mine immediately.

I let out a slow breath, finally stepping inside and closing the door. “I didn’t think I’d see you for a few days.”

“I didn’t either.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

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