Page 62 of Love Bites Hard

“MY room, you mean? You’ve never slept there. And good luck.”

He wasn’t going to get into Vamp Manor while he was raging, even if he lost control of himself enough to try. Which I didn’t really think would happen.

I was close enough to his mind to hear a hesitant female consciousness brush against Porter’s mind, distracting him from his fury.“Alpha? This probably isn’t the best time to tell you, but you said you wanted to be alerted…”

“What?”he asked sharply.

“Much of the pack is feeling your mate’s magic luring us toward the lake.”

He roared so loudly, it rang through the pack’s link.

I grinned widely.

This war was mine.

“Thanks for letting me know,”he forced out.

“Yeah.”

Their connection ended, and I pulled back. Porter followed me to my mind immediately.“What the fuck are you doing, Isabella?”

“You declared a sex war. It’s not my fault if you regret the outcome,”I drawled.

“I sure as hell didn’t declare a sex war. What does that even mean?”

“You threatened me not to get myself off after taking me to the edge, then walked away. What did you think it was going to accomplish? Pissing me off? I’m not the kind of woman you can walk all over, asshole. I’ve been nice because of the hell you’vebeen through, but I’m done. You started the war—I just made it official.”

“End it,”he demanded.

I laughed humorlessly.“I’m having way too much fun for that, alpha.”

He snarled into my mind again, and I knew he was coming for me.“I’ll end it for you.”

Good fucking luck.

I made my way to the deepest part of the lake. In general, magical beings could hold their breath longer than humans, which meant there was a good chance he could reach me, even down there. It wasn’t any deeper than the pool in Vamp Manor, and I knew the vampires could swim to the bottom of that. Which meant Porter could probably reach me.

But the lake was a lot wider than the pool.

And though the water was clear, there were no lights to help him see to the bottom, which meant I’d be hidden.

Our mate bonddidmean he could somehow feel my location at all times, but I wasn’t sure whether that would help him or not. Only time would tell. I’d never tapped into that particular part of our bond’s magic myself, so I didn’t know how it worked.

I heard Porter’s command ring through the pack’s link as I settled against the bottom of the lake. His magic had never felt so strong before. It cut through the half-assed hold of my magic’s lure like butter.

“Everyone will get away from and stay away from the lake until tonight,”he commanded, his voice ringing with authority.“If you feel my mate’s magic, shift and run into the forest until you’re free of it.”

I felt the pack’s agreement. Even those who didn’t like him much or wanted me dead respected his power, and fell into line.

Just in case he could locate me, I swam around slowly. I wasn’t giving him control over me while I was in the lake. Not even a little.

When I knew the people around me had been given enough time to get away, I strengthened the pull of my magic. Porter growled into my mind in response, and I smiled.

I paid close attention to the surface of the water above me, waiting for the inevitable feeling of the alpha diving in.

Sure enough, his smooth entry into the water caught my attention a few minutes later.

I waited until he had nearly reached me before shooting away in the opposite direction. The rapid motion would trigger his instinct to chase me, but considering our bond and the pull of my magic, that didn’t really matter.

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