Page 77 of Love Bites Hard

“Will they kill my fish?”I checked.

“Nah. They’ll improve the plants, which will probably make your ecosystem healthier.”

“Good to know.”

“I’m headed your way, so I’ll figure things out and see you soon.”

“Thanks, Porter.”

“You’re welcome, baby.”

I snorted underwater at the nickname, but finally gave up on telling him not to call me that. Protesting only seemed to encourage him anyway.

Swimming back to the water’s surface, I propped my overly-glittery arms on the edge of the pool. “Porter’s going to talk to Hale and Kai. They’ll get everything set up to host the fae on the pack’s land.”

Relief crossed Blair’s face. “Thank you.”

“This is what sisters are for, remember?” I teased.

She smiled. “How’s the water?”

I shimmied my shoulders a bit, so my glitter caught the light. “Sparkly.”

Blair laughed, pulling her t-shirt over her head so all she had on was her swimsuit. “Make room.”

Clementine and I both scooted over, and Blair dove in. A tiny bit of water splashed on Avery’s face, giving her a few glittery speckles, and she smiled.

“Guess I’m joining too.”

Her coverup followed Blair’s, and she followed our golden-haired sister in, leaving Zora as the lone non-glittery siren.

“Come on, the water’s nice,” Clementine sang.

Zora rolled her eyes—but took a few running steps before she did a cannonball in, spraying all of us. She swam toward the bottom of the pool with Blair and Avery.

Clem and I laughed as we wiped more water from our faces. “I’ve never seen this much glitter before,” I said, watching my hand catch the light. “It’s ridiculous.”

“But fun,” Clementine said with a smile.

“I guess.”

“Think your mate will like the glitter?”

“Probably. Our sex war is driving him crazy enough that I think he’ll like it by default.”

Her lips stretched in a smile. “Do you like being mated?”

The question caught me off guard. “I haven’t really thought about it.”

She pulled her long, red hair into a quick bun while I considered it. Clementine had a lot of energy, without a doubt, but she knew when to ease back.

“I’m not sure,” I finally said. “At first, it was miserable. He was avoiding me. That hurt, even if I didn’t really know him. But the last few weeks have been different. Now it feels like… having a partner. I don’t know that I like it, but I don’tdislikeit.”

“Hale has gotten a lot of offers from random magical beings since you left. They list out what they could give a siren mate, and how they could protect her. They’re trying to arrange a mating, like yours and Porter’s,” she explained. “The dragon king has sent a lot of them.”

My eyebrows lifted. “Seriously?”

Clem nodded, her usual cheerfulness fading a little. “Hale emails them to us. I’ve looked through them a bunch of times, and thought about it. The way Hale looks at Blair… I want that, you know?”

---