Page 3 of The Love Bitten Series: Vol 2

“Are you looking forward to tonight?”

I pulled my gaze away from the mirror to turn and look at my sister, who was standing in the doorway of my huge walk-in closet. Forcing a smile on my face, I answered, “Yup, the Bancrofts throw one heck of a party. Especially during the holidays.”

Everleigh rubbed her hands together. “And who knows, maybe you’ll get the best Christmas present ever, and one of the unattached daywalkers Stephan and Bronwyn invited will turn out to be the man fated to be yours.”

“That would be amazing.” When I’d been saved by Kieran, Athan, and Stephan three years ago, I had adjusted to my new reality fairly well. I hadn’t freaked out upon learning that vampires were real and an evil nightwalker had tried to kill me. After they’d defeated the vampire, who had burst into flames before turning into ash, and Stephan asked if he could transport me to the council, I didn’t think twice about getting into the car with him. And when he’d told me about daywalkers and destined consorts, I was in awe of the idea of there being a man out there who had spent all of his days hoping to find me. Someone who would only ever want me. Who would never desire anyone else. Never love another woman.

My sister and I had been shuttled back and forth between houses after my parents got divorced when we were little. My mom had been bitter about the end of her marriage and hadn’t hesitated to tell Everleigh and me about everything my dad had done wrong, including cheating on her. He denied the accusation, but the way he went through women after they broke up always made me wonder if my mom was right. He had a revolving door at his house, introducing Everleigh and me to a new girlfriend just about every month. When I was ten, he married his second wife, who he divorced two years later. The third only lasted a year. The fourth barely six months. The last I heard, he was planning wedding number five with a woman who was twenty-four, only three years older than me.

My mom went through plenty of relationships of her own, but she never married again. The men she picked always ended up cheating on her before she could get to the altar—or at least that was what she accused them of doing. Most of the guys seemed nice enough to me, but I couldn’t blame them for not wanting to stick around. Not when my mom tossed accusations any time they went out without her. No man wanted to spend the rest of their days with a woman who tracked how they spent every minute of their time away from her.

My parents had taught me that love was fickle. That marriages weren’t meant to last. But becoming a consort was forever, and I longed for that commitment. Only, none of the daywalkers I had met over the past three years was the man fate had paired me with.

My sister was luckier than me. Two years ago, shortly after she turned eighteen, she met Marshall. I was incredibly happy for Everleigh but also envious of the happiness she had found with him. Living in their home and seeing their love grow stronger each and every day made me pine for the man who would look at me the way Marshall did my sister.

Turning back toward the mirror, I started to second-guess the dress I’d chosen to wear tonight. Holiday parties hosted by the Bancrofts tended to be formal affairs, so I probably should have picked something fancier. “Do you think I should change?”

Everleigh moved closer, her gaze scanning down the length of my body in the reflection of the mirror. When she lifted her head again, she beamed a smile at me and shook her head. “Absolutely not. It’s very you. Besides, that dress does amazing things for your boobs.”

I rolled my eyes and heaved a deep sigh. “I don’t know why I even bothered asking. You’re ridiculous.”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” she complained, setting her hands on her hips. “How am I being ridiculous when all I did was compliment you?”

I waved my hand toward my chest. “Unattached daywalkers aren’t going to care about my boobs. They don’t feel desire for anyone except their destined consort.”

“Um, you’re the one who’s worried about what they’re wearing, not me,” she pointed out as she shrugged her shoulders.

“True,” I conceded with a jerk of my chin toward her floor-length black gown. “But I wasn’t really nervous about how I looked, per se. My concern was more about being underdressed compared to everyone else. I don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Don’t be silly. You could go to the party in a potato sack, and you’d still look gorgeous.” Everleigh tugged on my hand to lead me out of my closet, across my room, and into the hallway. Then she called, “Marshall, where are you?”

“Please tell my sister that she’s worrying for nothing.” Everleigh cast an imploring look at her husband. “She’s thinking about changing dresses because this one isn’t fancy enough.”

Marshall took in the white peasant bodice and full taffeta skirt of my dress. “I don’t see any reason for you to change. Your outfit has a Renaissance flair to it, which daywalkers will appreciate since many of us were alive during the sixteenth century.”

I glanced down at my dress, looking at it in a different light since my brother-in-law made an excellent point that I hadn’t considered. “Do you really think so?”

“Definitely.” Everleigh moved to his side, and he flung his arm around her shoulders. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” I beamed a smile at him before my gaze darted toward the window at the end of the hallway. There wasn’t any snow on the ground yet, but the forecast earlier today had called for some, and the night looked crisp in the moonlight. “I think I’ll dress my outfit up a little more by using one of my more formal wraps since it looks cold out there.”

“Great idea,” Everleigh agreed with a nod.

Marshall brushed a kiss against her temple before suggesting, “You should bring a wrap, too. I don’t want you to get chilled.”

My sister shivered, but it had nothing to do with being cold. Her eyes darkened to a deep purple as she looked up at her husband and murmured, “I’m sure you can come up with some creative and satisfying ways to keep me warm.”

“Mmm, you know damn well I will.” He lowered his head to capture her lips in a deep kiss.

Taking that as my cue to make myself scarce before they were lost to their passion and forgot I was in the hallway with them—something that had happened more times than I wanted to count over the past two years—I twirled around and headed back to my room to grab a wrap. When I made it to my doorway, my sister whispered, “Oops,” before calling out, “Sorry.”

“No worries,” I reassured her as I flashed her a smile over my shoulder. “But if you two are going to disappear into your bedroom, you better be quick, or else we’re going to be late for the party. I don’t want to miss the spread they put out, and they’re serving dinner at five.”

Marshall pulled a timepiece out of his pocket and glanced down at it. “Sadly, your sister is right. We don’t have much time before the party begins.”

“Fine, I guess I’ll take a rain check for later,” Everleigh huffed as she stepped out of his embrace. “I’ll go grab a wrap, and then we can head over there. Do you want to drive or teleport?”

This was another big change in my life since I’d found out about vampires. Although Marshall owned a fleet of cars and a private jet, he usually traveled using teleportation. I preferred to drive since teleporting left me feeling dizzy, but my sister assured me that would change after I was claimed and made the change into a daywalker myself.

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