Page 20 of Love Bites Really Hard (Mated to the King #4)

twenty

ZORA

The next morning, Blair called me in a panic.

Avery was gone.

She’d left a note, so we all met up in her room—which was packed up, and half-empty—to read it together.

With all four of us and our mates in the small space, it felt very tight and very tense, but no one mentioned that.

Ladies,

I love you all, and I’m so glad that you’ve found happiness with your mates. I won’t risk Talon coming in and destroying that. Whatever he wants me for, I’ll figure it out, and I’ll come home. Don’t worry about me, and don’t stop living your lives. Go on your vacations, and enjoy yourselves. He will never control me. I’ll reach out as soon as I can.

Avery 3

“She drew that heart for me.” Blair’s voice cracked as she wiped her watering eyes. “She didn’t have to do this.”

“He was going to find her eventually,” I said. “She wanted it to be on her terms. And her phone’s not here, so she has it with her. If she needs to talk to us, she can.”

All of them spun to face me, their expressions accusatory.

Bane growled at them, and their mates gently pulled them back, trying to ease the tension.

“You knew?” Izzy demanded.

“It was what any of us would do. Blair mated with Hale to protect us from Curtis, remember?” I gestured toward her. She wiped her eyes again, and he squeezed her hip lightly. “You mated with Porter to get out of Vamp Manor, Iz, but can you honestly say you would’ve done it if the threat of that bastard wasn’t hanging over our heads?”

Izzy’s jaw clenched, but I saw the emotion in her eyes.

We all knew the truth.

“Clem and I took mates to save our own asses, but if either of us had been the last woman standing, we would’ve taken that bullet too. It was her decision to make, and Talon’s not Curtis. He’s an asshole, but he’s not cruel. She’ll figure out what he needs her for, and she’ll do her best to come out on top. If she doesn’t, we’ll get her back.”

“You still should’ve told us,” Clem said, wiping her watery eyes. “We could’ve done it with her.”

“Some things have to be done alone.”

“I need some time.” She slipped out of Avery’s room, pulling Kai with her.

Blair shook her head, her throat clearly thick with emotion as she and Hale left too.

“How bad was the bastard she dated?” Izzy asked me, her voice unsteady.

“She never told me. We didn’t talk about that shit,” I admitted.

“He was a wolf.” Izzy dashed away a tear with the base of her palm. “She let it slip a few months ago.”

“Did she give you a name?” Porter asked.

“No. She never told anyone who he was. We don’t even know what happened to him,” I said.

Izzy nodded. “She’s going to be okay, right?”

“He won’t hurt her,” Bane said.

“He has a sister,” I added. “He’s close with her. Bane’s seen them together. Maybe she can help protect Avery.”

“We can only hope.” Izzy wiped away another tear. “We’ve got to get back to the pack, but I’ll talk to Blair and Clem. They’ll come around.”

I nodded, my chest squeezing.

I hoped so.

Bane and I decided to postpone our vacation a little longer. He taught me how he kept the Manor running, clearly seeing that I needed a distraction.

My period started a few days later, and I threw myself into researching about fertility. There wasn’t much to read about magical beings, but we basically functioned the same as humans, so I focused on that.

It turned out that we had been too late in my cycle to get pregnant when Bane and I hooked up the first time, so I’d gotten all stressed and excited about nothing. Whoops.

But when my period ended, we sat down and made a plan for what life would look like if I did actually get pregnant.

It was a beautiful plan.

The best I’d ever seen.

My sisters forgave me over the next few days, though things were still raw. Avery was still missing. We met up to swim once about two weeks after she left, but it was… different.

We missed her.

A few days after that, my phone buzzed while I was walking through the unmated females’ portion of the Manor with an inspector. He was mated, but he was being weird. Not creepy, weird, but I was worried it might take a turn in that direction. He was asking too many questions about sirens.

I had already texted Bane to ask him to come join me. He would be there within the next few minutes, and the weirdness would definitely end. No one pulled that stuff when my mate was there.

I glanced down at the screen, assuming it was Bane letting me know he was getting closer, but did a double-take when I saw the name.

The message was from Avery, to our family group chat that included our sisters and all of our mates.

There was a picture of her in the sky, with a genuine smile on her face, and there was a strip of dragon scales next to her. She had to be on the back of the dragon.

Avery

Stop worrying about me and get on with your lives. Talon’s not forcing me to mate with him, he really does just need a siren’s help with something. There’s no phone service where I am, but I’ll come back in a few months. Love you all! Enjoy yourselves, I definitely am!

I stared down at the screen, reading the message, and then reading it again. And again. And again.

My phone rang. A group call, with my sisters.

I answered immediately, even though the inspector was staring at me.

“Did you see?” Clementine demanded.

“Of course I saw. She’s fine.” Tears stung my eyes as relief I hadn’t realized I was waiting for finally set in.

“There’s a bite mark on her neck.” Blair’s voice was sharp. Worried.

“She looks happy to me,” Izzy countered.

“Maybe she wanted to be bitten,” Clem suggested. “Maybe she found someone to feed her while she’s there, and likes him.”

“Someone possessive,” Blair pointed out. “Biting means something.”

“Let’s not pretend that possessiveness isn’t one of the sexiest qualities in the world,” Clem teased. “What matters is that she’s fine. Avery couldn’t fake that smile if she tried.”

“I guess,” Blair admitted. “She must be okay.”

“Happy,” Izzy corrected. “She must be happy.”

“Then I guess we just have to figure out how to live our lives without her for a while,” I said.

“It’s not as bad as you think. When we go to the fae realm, I miss you guys, but I have a blast, too. We all need to enjoy ourselves. Avery is.”

“I’m not putting my vacation off any longer,” Blair decided. “I still have to get Damian in that wetsuit. There’s a gorgeous beach house calling my name.”

“I’m going to that cabin. I’m supposed to be getting to know my mate right now. In every way,” I said, as Bane walked into the room with two cups of coffee in his hands. My lips curved when the inspector made a face at the smell of them, and I accepted my cup.

My man loved coffee.

Bane put a hand on my lower back, and calmly told the inspector that he’d need to come back another day.

Clem laughed. “You don’t need a cabin to do that.”

“No, but there’ll be less distractions there,” I said, meeting Bane’s gaze.

“She’s okay?” he murmured.

I nodded, and his lips curved upward.

He relaxed slightly, too.

We hadn’t known each other long, but it was long enough for him to care. And that meant something to me. Maybe it meant a lot to me.

“I’m being summoned by some assholes in the pack,” Izzy said. “I have to go, but I love you guys, okay? Let’s meet up for a swim when you’re back from your trips.”

We all voiced our agreement, and ended the call. I lowered my phone, my heart sort of swelling.

Things had changed between us. They’d changed a lot. But we were still us, and we were still sisters. The dynamics were different, but we would figure it out.

We were all okay, and that was what mattered.

“So we’re finally going on vacation, Sweetheart?” Bane asked, capturing my waist in his hands.

“It looks like we are.”

He kissed me, pulling away before it could turn into anything hotter. When he tugged me down the hallway, my lips stretched in a smile.

I couldn’t even imagine everything working out when I stepped into that room to have one last conversation with Oscar—but it did.

It worked out.

And it ended up so damn much better than I had ever dared dream.