Page 59 of The Love Bitten Series: Vol 2

“Yup.” Maxine grinned up at her uncle while several nearby parents glared at him for the bad language. “Marshall’s a vampire, too.”

Ren shook his head. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“I’m being i-iro—” Maxine heaved a sigh of frustration and asked, “What was it again, Mommy?”

“Ironic, sweetie.”

She nodded as she tugged on Ren’s wrist to lead him up to the house she’d been afraid to stop at only minutes earlier. But with her brother almost to the door, now she was in a rush to get up there too. “Uh-huh. That.”

“You do realize you’re going to have your hands full when she’s a teenager, right?” Ren murmured as we flanked my daughter and hurried up the sidewalk.

“Absolutely.” I beamed a smile his way and used telepathy to add,but at least we won’t have to deal with the boy-crazy stage human parents go through.

Ren’s laughter hung in the air when we reached the steps to the house. It wasn’t difficult to guess how the rumor had started since the owner had done a great job decorating for Halloween. The ceiling over the covered porch was swathed with cobwebs, and a very convincing-looking witch’s broom sat in the corner. A black cat peered out the first-floor window, and candles flickered upstairs. The woman who opened the door was dressed in a gorgeous, hooded cape, and there was a smoking cauldron on a table to her left.

“Twick or tweat,” Marshall cried, smiling up at her as he held out his bag.

I held back as Ren brought Maxine next to her brother so she could get her share of the loot, too. When she echoed the saying, the witch held a bowl of candy out to them. “The two of you are such convincing vampires, I think you should get extra treats. Go ahead and pick out a few.”

“Yay!” Maxine did a little excited dance while she waited for her brother to grab his candy. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” When she pulled the bowl close to her body again, a few pieces fell out. “Oops, sorry. I’m not usually quite so clumsy.”

“No worries.” Ren bent low to retrieve the candy she’d dropped. Instead of dropping them back into the bowl, he handed them directly to her, letting out a surprised hiss when their fingers brushed. The faint smell of brimstone filled the air, and power swirled around Ren and the woman—or more accurately, witch, since that was what his destined consort appeared to be.

EXTRA EPILOGUE

CALLIDORA

Over the past two decades, Braeden and I had gone together on hundreds of visits to the nearest council headquarters to meet with humans who had recently discovered the paranormal world existed and they were destined to the consort of a daywalker. Smiling up at him after we teleported outside of the building a few minutes before our meeting, I murmured, “It doesn’t matter how often we do this, I always look forward to that moment when we connect with a new consort and see the acceptance in their eyes when they realize they can be as happy as we are together.”

“It’s pretty damn amazing, baby.” He brushed a kiss against my lips. “But I have to disagree with you on one small detail.”

My brows drew together. “What’s that?”

“Nobody will ever be as happy as we are together because fate gave me the most perfect consort in the entire fucking world.”

“Every daywalker feels that way about their match.” Butterflies swirled in my belly as I twined my arms around his neck. “But I love that all these years together hasn’t dimmed your love for me.”

“Not even a tiny bit,” he growled, capturing my mouth in a deep kiss that left me breathless.

“Let’s keep it rated PG,” Mira drawled from the doorway. “We wouldn’t want to give the human consorts the wrong idea about what kind of demonstration we’re putting on here today.”

Braeden stepped away from me with a sigh. “As if I’d ever let anyone see my beautiful mate in the midst of le petite mort.”

“True,” Mira conceded with a grin as she waved us inside. “You do have a reputation for being terribly possessive of our dear Callidora.”

“MyCallidora,” Braeden corrected, wrapping his arm around my shoulders to pull me against his side.

Mira laughed. “Thank you for proving my point.”

“Quit pushing his buttons,” I grumbled.

“But it’s so much fun,” Mira complained.

I shook my head. “For you maybe.”

Braeden lowered his head to whisper, “And you too…later.”

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