Page 49 of Love Bites Hard

Hale chuckled. “Fair point.”

“How long did it take you?”

“To win her over? Longer than I would’ve liked. She only hated me for a few weeks, but from there, it was a while before she was willing to even consider having feelings for me. When they were young teenagers, Blair’s father killed all of their mothers out of some deluded idea of love. They joke about taking mates sometimes, but I don’t think any of them have ever had a reason to reallybelievein mate bonds.”

“Even your mate?”

His smile widened. “Well, she does now.”

Fuck, the thought made my chest ache.

Knowing that my mate didn’t have that, and it was my fault, fucking hurt. I needed to do better.

Two of the women’s heads popped up in the middle of the lake. I recognized my mate immediately, noticing that her light hair was braided back the same way it had been the day Arthur touched her. One of her sisters must’ve done it under the water.

The one with her had curly hair. I was pretty sure it was Zora, but none of them had bothered introducing themselves to me.

Straining my ears, I tried to hear the conversation but only caught a few words.

Weak.

Hungry.

One of them clearly needed to feed.

The way they both looked at me told me which of them it was.

Isabella shook her head and disappeared back beneath the water.

I let out a harsh breath, unable to stop myself from reaching my mind out to hers.

“If you’re feeling weak, come up here and let me feed you.”The words came out sharper than I intended.

“I’m fine.”

I could feel that she was lying.

Force didn’t achieve anything with her, so I didn’t bother going that route. Instead, I asked,

“Won’t the lake be purified much faster if you have more power to use on it?”

She huffed.“You’re trying to goad me into feeding on you, and it’s not going to work.”

“Alright.”

I withdrew, though I was fairly confident I’d just won the battle.

Shereallywanted the lake purified.

Ten hellish minutes later,her head finally broke the surface of the water right by us.

The intensity of her magic had me closing my eyes and breathing through the fierce need that pounded through me. My cock fucking hurt. My balls, too.

“What’s wrong with him?” she asked Hale.

“He’s horny.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

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