Page 7 of Love Bites Really Hard (Mated to the King #4)

seven

ZORA

Our little sexcapade ended abruptly when Lex showed up with a new door. Bane’s roar had been so furious, I thought the bastard might actually kill his best friend. Lex had yelled an apology and promised to come back in twenty minutes, but Bane had already pulled out of me.

I had to start touching myself to convince my mate to come storming back to me and take over again. He was pissed, and the sex was rougher, but I sure as hell hadn’t complained.

When we finished, he kissed me until I couldn’t breathe, then carried me to the bathroom. My entire body felt like Jello. It was probably a good thing Lex had intervened, because I would’ve had to call it quits soon, and I didn’t want to be the one to give in.

Bane set me down on my feet next to the toilet at my instruction. I tried to shoo him away, but when I took a step, my knees buckled. I had to use a wall to catch myself. He looked legitimately concerned that I might fall over.

“I’m fine,” I insisted. “Take a quick shower. I just want to take a bath when I’m done cleaning up.”

He didn’t budge.

I let go of the wall and lifted my hands, showing him that I could stand on my own.

Mostly.

Bane’s head snapped in the direction of our broken door, and he growled fiercely.

“Lex is coming back?” I asked.

“Yes.” He had to grit the word out.

I stepped up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. It was an awkward hug, but it was still a hug.

After a moment, he wrapped his arms around me too. His face lowered, and when his chin met the top of my head, he inhaled deeply, and his chest rumbled.

It was weird.

Super weird.

Twelve hours earlier, I had been single, for the most part. I could’ve gotten on a plane and ditched Oscar, though it would’ve caused him to eventually lose his mind. Which still might happen.

But twelve hours earlier, I had basically been free.

And now, I wasn’t.

I had a mate, with a sealed, permanent bond.

My scent had the power to calm him down and make him feel better.

He may as well have owned my body, he was so insanely good with it.

Not everything had changed, but most things had. And now, I was hugging a gigantic, gorgeous gargoyle who had called me his queen. And he was inhaling my scent to calm himself down. And our door was broken.

And shit, that was all kind of terrifying. But at the same time, it felt… right.

Lex knocked on the broken door. “Anyone home?”

“I want to kill him,” Bane grumbled, but his voice was closer to the neutrality he always seemed to return to. He wasn’t really angry.

“I need a bath. Go fix the door with him,” I whispered. “Shower first, though.”

“I want your scent on my skin.”

“I can hug you afterward.”

He made a noise of disagreement, but he finally released me. He didn’t get in the shower, though. He just grabbed a pair of sweats from the closet, and padded out to meet Lex. There was no possible way anyone could see into the bathroom from the front door, so I had plenty of privacy.

A few minutes later, I stumbled over to the tub and started the water, plopping down inside while it ran cold.

It was deeper than I expected, and wider too. It stood free, across the gigantic bathroom from the ginormous shower, and was made out of some luxurious black stone that I liked against my skin.

The water was hot and the tub was almost full, when Bane stepped back into the bathroom with an impact driver in his hand.

I wasn’t exhausted enough not to notice how hot he was when he held a tool. Too exhausted to act on it, but noticing didn’t take any effort.

“Can I get you anything, Sweetheart?” His voice was low, his hand sweeping lightly over my frizzy, tangled curls. The poor babies had been through the wringer.

“Umm… my phone?” I mumbled.

“Sure.” He disappeared for a minute, and came back with my phone. “We’ve almost got the door up. Lex had to go grab a few more things.”

“Mmkay.”

He handed me the phone, and played with my hair a little more. Apparently he didn’t want to leave me. I wouldn’t complain, but I did kind of want some time to myself. “Do you still want space to think?”

I nodded.

I still hadn’t had time to wrap my head around everything that had happened, so I needed some time away from him anyway.

And I had to text my sisters. Especially Avery. I hated that I’d left her in Vamp Manor as the single remaining unmated siren.

“Alright. I’ll find us something to eat after we’re done with the door.”

“Thanks.”

He slipped out of the room, and I leaned my head back against the tub, staring up at the ceiling. My phone was in my hand, but I didn’t really want to face my sisters.

I had to, though. Especially Avery.

So, with a long breath out, I finally tapped the screen to turn my phone on. There were texts from all of my sisters, but I opened the message I’d sent myself first, and saved Lex’s information into my contacts. Then, I tapped on the one I needed to read and answer first.

Avery

I heard what happened. I’m here if you need to talk 3

My eyes stung.

I wasn’t even sure why it made me emotional, but it did. There was no pretending otherwise.

I could hear Bane working on the door, so calling Avery wasn’t an option unless I was willing for him to overhear. And I wasn’t.

So I tapped on her message to open our last conversation, and texted her back.

Me

I want to talk, but there’s a gigantic gargoyle with bat ears a room away

She answered immediately.

Avery

Texting works too

How are you doing?

Me

Surviving. Overwhelmed, I guess. We sealed our bond. There wasn’t really any other choice

Avery

Damn

I’m sorry

My eyes stung more, and I swiped at them.

Me

I think he’s a good guy

Hopefully it won’t turn out like my mom’s situation

Avery

You know we’ll kill him before it ever gets that bad

Or we’ll get Hale to do it. Or Porter, or Kai ;)

My lips curved upward, just a little.

Me

It’s nice not being on our own anymore

Sucks not to see each other as much, but the benefits are real

Avery

Agreed

How does your mate mark look?

Me

I haven’t even looked at it tbh

Avery

LOL

Send me a picture

Me

I’m in the tub, so there may be tits involved

Avery

I’m not afraid of nipples

I snapped a quick, completely unflattering picture of my neck and the bottom chunk of my face. Thankfully, no nipples were captured in the photo.

I studied the mark after I sent it. Just like the one I’d given Bane, it was simple, looking like a thin band with thorns on it.

Honestly, I liked it.

Maybe I even loved it.

Avery

It suits you

How are things with him? Hot? Awkward? Annoying?

Me

All of the above?

He keeps challenging me, and doesn’t back down when I challenge him, which is annoying. The attraction between us is intense. The sex was awesome. I guess it wasn’t really awkward

Avery

The sex?

You moved quickly

Especially for someone who doesn’t really like sex

Me

Apparently, I like sex with him

Avery

Aww

*fanning my face*

Me

*eye rolling emoji*

It’s not that big of a deal

Avery

You’ve never liked having sex before

Don’t lie to yourself, Zora

Me

Fine

Maybe it’s a big deal

I’m trying not to overthink it. Things are crazy

I explained the situation with Oscar, how Bane had to pretend not to want me, and how his mom wanted him to pop out little gargoyles.

Avery

Wow

You weren’t kidding about there being a lot going on

Me

I know

I shouldn’t be making big decisions when I’m overwhelmed, but there doesn’t seem to be a way around it

Avery

You’re doing well, though

As good as you can given the situation.

Me

I don’t know

Avery

Does he want kids soon, or is that just his mom?

Me

I don’t know about that either. We didn’t talk about it

I still have my implant, so we should be fine on that front at least

But never approach an unmated monster, Avery

NEVER

Avery

I have learned my lesson through you

Thank you for your sacrifice

Me

You’re not welcome

Are you going to start looking for a mate now?

Avery

No

I don’t mind being alone. I’ll just visit the rest of you when I get bored. Maybe I’ll adopt a cat or something

Me

Porter would probably eat it in his wolf form

Avery

Izzy wouldn’t let him

But if I get a cat, Clementine will definitely get one too, and I don’t think I want Kai to hate me. He doesn’t seem like an animal person

Me

Definitely not

Everything in the fae realm would probably try to eat it, too

Avery

Ohhh yeah

Poor cat

Me

I’m going to text everyone else now

Sigh

Avery

You’ve got this

I pulled up the group chat. Everyone else had texted me separately to let me know they would help if I needed them to, and that they’d use their mates’ power to do it, but I obviously wasn’t going to take them up on it. I wasn’t the nice one among my sisters, but I still didn’t want to be the reason anyone died.

I sent them a quick message telling them that Bane and I had sealed our bond, and explaining the situation. We made a plan to meet up for swimming inside Vamp Manor the next week, to give me and Bane time to figure our shit out, and that was that.

They all offered to help kill Bane if I needed them to, but I turned them down, obviously.

With the last conversation over, I finally dropped my phone over the ledge of the tub. I’d put one of those military-grade cases on it, so I didn’t need to be careful with it. I heard it clunk down on the tile just before I slid underwater.

I could always think better when surrounded by water. It was part of being a siren, I guess. The peaceful silence let me finally relax, for the first time all day. Hell, for the first time in the weeks since I met Oscar.

Nothing had been figured out entirely, but we were finally making progress.

I wasn’t going to have to spend my life with the obsessive demon anymore.

The threat of him breaking into my room and forcing me to be with him was nonexistent, now. Even if he tried, he would never get through Bane.

Things with the gargoyle were a whole different challenge, but at least we were mostly past the Oscar stuff. All I had to do now was pretend to be a wicked little seductress, which was fine.

Eventually, he’d see me and Bane together enough to break the imprint.

Hopefully.

I didn’t want Bane to have to kill him. I’d feel like shit if that happened. Maybe worse than shit.

Oscar was a nice guy. Not in the situation with me, but I was smart enough to understand that imprinting was mostly out of the male monsters’ control. He hadn’t forced me into the situation on purpose.

Probably.

So, I needed to sell myself as a terrible person, really, really well. I could deal with all of Monster Manor hating me, if I didn’t cost Oscar his life.

Letting out a long breath, I closed my eyes and focused on my new problem.

Bane.

I’d say he was the bane of my existence, but I didn’t believe it enough to pull off the joke.

He wasn’t the bane of my existence.

He was the reason I didn’t have to mate with Oscar.

And yeah, he’d really created a mess when he imprinted on me, but he was a decent guy. Decent enough that I couldn’t convince myself I hated him anymore, even though I wanted to.

It would be so much easier if we were enemies. I could hate him in private, and pretend to be obsessed with him in public. It would be simple to lean into that. To keep things from escalating between us.

Because I definitely couldn’t let myself fall in love with him. Some of my sisters were happy and in love, but that life wasn’t for me. Accepting a love connection the way they had would require opening myself up to the risk of becoming like my mother, and I could never allow that to happen.

Even if I loved kids, and wanted a big family at some point.

Even if some part of me ached for the kind of bond my sisters had with their mates.

Even if I wanted to let him make me fall for him.

I couldn’t do that. Not to myself, and not to any children I might potentially have. Love couldn’t happen. I couldn’t let it.

But how was I going to prevent it?

We weren’t going to stop having sex. The idea of that was almost amusing. I was mated to a gargoyle who had never been with anyone before me. The man was insatiable in bed. And he was going to be feeling my magic constantly, as we tried to convince people to buy our story enough to break Oscar’s bond and prevent civil war.

Sex was going to happen, period.

So… I needed to figure out a way to compartmentalize it. Sex was just sex. It couldn’t mean anything to me. We would just be using each other for pleasure.

When Bane did something nice, or thoughtful, I’d just have to pin it on the imprint. It wasn’t him—it was the magic.

I nodded to myself, watching the water.

I could keep my feelings neutral by channeling my inner Bane

Sure.

I was great at neutral.

Not.

But considering what was on the line, I was going to have to figure it out.