Page 23 of Love Bites Hard (Mated to the King #2)

twenty-three

IZZY

When I eventually woke up and tried to climb out of bed the next morning, Porter dragged me back in and kissed me.

Hard.

His mouth still tasted like my pleasure, which turned me on all over again.

I’d gone to sleep thinking I’d never be horny again, but that had clearly been wrong.

An hour later, we finally made it out of bed and to the shower. I thought about fishing my phone out of my pants—I was pretty sure it was still in the pocket—but Porter scooped me up off my feet before I could.

I laughed, meeting his heart-stopping grin with my own smile as he carried me back to the tub.

Maybe I’d started a new obsession for him.

“I ordered you more bath bombs yesterday,” he said, kissing the claim mark on my shoulder as he started the water.

“You ordered you more bath bombs?” I teased.

“I ordered us more bath bombs.”

I snorted, and he chuckled, kissing my shoulder again. “What do you want to do today? The pack will be lazing around, so we’re free. We have the pack’s Thanksgiving celebration tomorrow, because we always do it a day early. The day after that, we celebrate with your sisters and Hale in Vamp Manor.”

“So we need to have our fun today, because we’ll be busy the rest of the week?” I asked.

“Right.” He kissed me on the lips, distracting me for a long moment.

“Maybe we should?—”

Someone knocked loudly on our door.

I frowned at Porter.

His forehead creased.

I knew he’d be quickly checking the pack, to see if something had gone wrong.

“Everything’s fine with the wolves,” he said, reaching for a towel.

“You are not answering our door in a towel.” I strode toward the door with him hot on my heels, grabbing his shirt off the floor.

“If I’m not answering in a towel, you’re not answering in my shirt.” He reached for my waist to stop me, but the person at the door knocked louder.

“Izzy!” A feminine voice yelled from the other side of the door.

It was so muffled, I couldn’t tell which one of my sisters it was, but I knew in my gut that it was one of them.

Porter didn’t try to stop me as I rushed to the door, yanking it open. Zora was on the doorstep, her expression panicked.

“What happened?” I demanded.

She surged into the room, shoving a hand through her wild curls. “Clem snuck out of Vamp Manor last night. She left a note in her room. I tried to call you when I found it a few hours ago, but you didn’t answer. She said she was coming here, to hang out with the pack during the full moon. Did you see her? I know she wanted to hook up with a werewolf, but?—”

“Fuck. I invited her. I forgot I invited her.” I lifted a hand to my forehead. “She could be in bed with a wolf right now.

“Maybe, but she’s not answering her phone.”

“I wasn’t answering my phone.”

“You’re mated,” she pointed out. “And you knew no one would be looking for you.”

“The fae were here,” Porter said in a low voice. “We didn’t tell her.”

“We didn’t know when we invited her.”

“What do you mean, the fae were here?” Zora demanded. “She said it was safe, because the wolves would be controlled by the moon.”

“It would’ve been. If she didn’t find the fae. Fuck,” I shoved a hand over my hair. “This is my fault.”

Porter found his jeans on the floor, and pulled his phone out.

“She should’ve told someone she was leaving,” Zora said, her panic rising. “What if one of the fae took her to their realm to force her to mate with them?”

“Hey, Kai,” Porter growled into the phone, then paused. “Where is he?”

Zora and I both hurried toward him.

He pulled the phone away from his ear and put it on speaker. “Say that again.”

“While Kai was trying to end the eclipse last night, a group of fae found an unmated siren swimming with them. Kai recognized her as one of the vampire queen’s sisters just as one of the fae took her into our realm. He disappeared after her.”

“Can he bring her back?” Zora demanded.

The guy paused, probably surprised to realize someone else was listening to his call.

“Not until she’s mated,” the man admitted. “But he’s trying to find her a mate so he can bring her back. He doesn’t want war.”

Panic flooded Zora’s face as she gripped her hair again, not caring even a little about the tangled wreck that her curls had become.

“Shit,” Porter said, closing his eyes.

“Yeah, we’re pretty fucked on this side of things too. The eclipse still hasn’t ended.” Someone yelled something on his side of the call, and the guy groaned. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call you back when I hear from Kai. It shouldn’t take long for him to find your mate’s sister someone to bond with. Hopefully, they’ll be back today.”

With that, he hung up the phone.

“Holy hell,” I murmured, my hand still on my forehead.

“What the fuck was she thinking?” Zora demanded, then pinned her glare on me. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

“I never heard back from her, okay? I would’ve felt my phone vibrate if she texted me before we got back for the full moon. Obviously, I was a little preoccupied with my mate and the magic of everything.” I grabbed my pants off the floor and pulled out my phone, turning the screen on.

I’d missed a dozen calls from Zora, a few from Avery, and one from Blair, but there was just a single text from Clementine. She hadn’t messaged me back until nearly 1 AM, hours after the full moon’s effects had kicked in.

I handed it to Zora, and she read the messages.

Me

Hey! It should be safe for you to join the pack during one of our full moons if you ever want to get out of Vamp Manor and have some fun with a wolf. Just let me know if you’re ever interested, and I’ll do what I can to make it happen

Love you!

Clem

I’m lonely, think I’m going to head over there tonight! Don’t worry about making it happen, I’ll figure it out ;) Love you too!

Zora groaned. “What is wrong with her?”

“She wants a mate.”

“Well, now she’s getting one. I sincerely hope Kai can find her someone who will treat her right, or we’re going to have to kill her actual mate this time.”

“Kai’s a decent guy, and he knows his people can’t afford a war right now. He’ll make sure she’s with someone who can protect her,” Porter said.

“Let’s cross our fingers,” Zora said, hitting the button on her phone to call Avery.

She updated her—and all three of us ended up heading over to Vamp Manor, to figure out if there was anything else we could do for her.

After spending the better part of the day pacing and arguing, we all finally admitted to ourselves that there was nothing we could do for Clementine except wait.

Zora was sincerely thinking about mating with a fae herself just so she could find and protect Clem, but thankfully, we talked her out of it.

Eventually, Porter and I made it back to our room.

“I’m sorry,” he said, frustration in his voice as we got back in bed together. “I should’ve remembered that we invited her.”

“It’s not our fault. Clem was lonely. She had been thinking about taking a mate anyway. At least this way, we know Kai will mate her with someone who can keep her safe. He won’t want to piss us off,” I said, though worry for her had my stomach clenching too.

“And at least she didn’t offer herself up to Talon,” Porter said.

A sharp laugh escaped me. “No kidding.”

He stroked my arm lightly, and I leaned against him, resting my eyes. “I hope she has an adventure. She could have the time of her life over there, with the right person.”

“I hope so too,” Porter admitted, still tracing lines on my arms.

I tried to doze off, but couldn’t get my mind off of Clementine.

“Need a distraction?” he asked me.

“Yes, but I’m not horny.”

“Neither am I.” He hesitated a moment before asking, “Have you ever thought about kids? Having kids? With me?” The way he tripped over the words made my lips curve upward.

“Maybe. Have you?”

“Yes. I don’t think I’m ready yet, but I’d like to have a handful of them. I want to build a family. I don’t know if I’d be a good dad, but?—”

“You’d be an amazing dad,” I said quietly.

“Thank you.” He continued tracing on my arm. “All the kids here love you. Watching you play with them always makes me itch to knock you up.”

I laughed. “I didn’t know that was an itch.”

“For a guy? Oh, yeah. I already have big dreams about fucking you while you’re pregnant.”

A snort escaped me. “That does not sound sexy.”

“The sexy part is that you’ll be round with our daughter, baby.”

“Or our son.”

“Mmhm.” He let out a long breath. “Sounds too good to be true. I haven’t let myself think about having kids in a long, long time.”

“You wanted them before the attack?”

“Yeah. I was looking for a mate, but it was difficult.”

“Because of your dad’s rule about business and pleasure?”

He chuckled. “Partially. And I just didn’t find the right woman.”

“Well, I hope I’m the right one, because there’s no going back now.”

“You’re perfect, Izzy.” He leaned over and kissed my nose. “Isabella.”

“Do you want me to punch you?”

He grinned.

“You never told me if we’re business or pleasure,” I remarked.

“We’re both. I always knew I’d screw that rule when I found the right person.”

“Literally,” I drawled, earning a chuckle.

“Over and over again.” He slid his finger between my breasts and toward my core before trailing it back up and to my arm.

“I’d like to have a big family, some day,” I admitted quietly. “I love my sisters. If we have kids, I want them to have as many siblings as I do. Or more. Even though that idea is terrifying when it comes to the part where I have to grow the babies.”

“I’ll feed you chocolate until they pop out. You won’t even notice how much it sucks.”

I smiled. “Is that a yes to a big family?”

“Of course it is. You know family is everything to me. And now, you’re that.” He kissed my nose again, and I pulled his lips down to mine, kissing him lightly.

“My sisters have to be your family too.”

“Of course. I’m going to give the bastards who mate with them an obligatory punch to the face. Hale will help”

“That sounds like a good way to scare them off.”

“It’s what brothers are for.”

“Knowing Clem, she’ll be determined to make it work, even if we can all tell it’s a toxic shitshow.”

“Have a little faith, baby.”

“I do. I just don’t want to get my hopes up for her, and feel guilty all over again.”

“A mate bond is whatever you make it. We proved that, didn’t we?”

“I guess we did.” I slipped my fingers into his hair, and he closed his eyes as I played with the strands lightly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Let’s practice making a baby tomorrow, okay?”

He grinned. “And every day after.”

“Deal.”

Porter leaned over to kiss me, and I didn’t hesitate to kiss him back.

I’d helped him free himself from the darkness—and I would never let him go back.

Hell, I would never let him go at all.

I loved him, and the life we’d started to make together, too fucking much to ever consider that. Life would never be easy… but we didn’t need easy.

We had each other.

And that was all that really mattered.