Page 30 of Love Bites (Timber Creek #2)

CHAPTER 30

MAX

“Next time, we’ll have you out to join us!” Lance Morgaine, a witch and Heath’s closest friend, said, thumping me on the back. “Nothing like the mating calls of the wild American Bison.”

I hid a grimace, fully intending on making myself scarce long before that outing. “Great.”

“Oh!” Heath snapped his fingers. “Lance, I forgot to show you my loom! Got here last night.”

Lance chuckled. “Can’t believe you pulled the trigger. Let’s see this thing.”

The two of them headed off, and I sighed in relief, finally getting a reprieve from socializing for the first time all night. As I scanned the room, I quickly found Summer, my focus magnetized to her lately.

She sat off to the side with Indi, the two smiling and whispering, but something didn’t feel right. She looked happy, but my gut instinct pulled me across the floor to her, stopping only once I had a hand around her hip, and my mouth at her ear.

“Dance with your husband.”

She looked up, surprise written in those hazel eyes. Whatever unease I thought I’d seen across the room disappeared as she put her palm in mine and followed me into the middle of the dance floor.

My hand drifted to her waist, tugging her up against my chest as we swayed to the beat. Taking our cue, the band switched to Can’t Help Falling in Love.

I glanced over my shoulder at the crooning voice, trying to place where I knew the dark, curly-haired man who stood at the microphone.

“He’s good, isn’t he?” Summer said, her chin tipped up to look at me. “I can’t believe they flickered Lysander Theroux in for this.”

“He’s from Deadlights Cove, right?” I slid my hand across her low back, pulling her in closer.

She sucked in a breath, then nodded as she turned her head, breaking the eye contact. “He’s also Lance’s son. It’s complicated.”

I squeezed her fingers, leaning forward to rest my chin against her head. She followed suit, her head landing softly on my chest as I led her in small circles across the dance floor.

“Are you happy with the way this turned out?” I asked, suddenly terrified of the answer. I wanted her to be happy, wanted her to enjoy all of this, wanted her to have this many people pour love on her every day. She deserved it more than anyone I’d ever met.

A contented sigh left her, then a soft sniff, but she didn’t look up at me again. “It’s perfect. Exactly how I would have wanted it.”

I kissed the top of her head, holding her tight as images of my own life, my own future, flitted through my mind. It was cold and lonely, just like all my years before now.

Dozens of people stood in a semi-circle watching us dance, adoration on their faces as they smiled at Summer, wanting her to be happy. Those same stares hardened when they looked at me, seeing me as unworthy of her.

And fuck, I knew it.

She was endlessly kind, tenacious, funny, and so full of life, I’d never live up to her. Never deserve her.

My fingers tightened on her, not willing to let go even if everyone here wanted me to. Deep down, I was selfish. She’d given herself to me for three months, and I wasn’t done with her yet. I couldn’t let go. Not yet.

A glass clinked, then others followed until Summer’s steps halted. “Kiss her!” someone yelled.

“You don’t have to,” Summer whispered, the words only for me. “It’s okay.”

Dropping her hand, I pressed a finger under her chin, locking onto her hazel eyes, rimmed with unshed tears.

“What if I want to?”

She sucked in a breath, her eyes darting around my face before settling on my lips. “I want that, too.”

My fingers slid around the back of her neck, cradling her as I leaned down, my lips touching hers.

What should have been a chaste touch hit me like an electric current, bringing me back to life. This wasn’t a kiss with a purpose. Wasn’t to seal a bargain between us. Wasn’t to pass blood to her discreetly. Wasn’t for anyone but us, no matter the clinking glasses that urged us on.

This was for me. Because I couldn’t help myself. Because I never wanted to stop.

I licked across her lips to the hoots and hollers of everyone here, not caring that they watched me metaphorically crumble to my knees at the taste of my wife.

My wife.

My wife.

My wife.

The words echoed in my head, a pounding rhythm I was helpless to deny. The rest of the room faded from existence, leaving only the two of us here in the middle of the dance floor. She let out the softest whimper, and my blood heated, need coursing through me like I’d never felt before.

But it wasn’t just for her body.

I wanted Summer.

I wanted this to be real.

I wanted to have her back, and know she had mine, every day for the rest of my life.

“All right, we get it!” someone in the crowd yelled good-naturedly, and it brought me back to the present.

Summer pulled back from the kiss, eyes ablaze. A slight blush crept across her face as she looked to her left, noticing the crowd still around us. It took everything in me not to dive in for more, but I skimmed a thumb across that sweet blush and held her to my chest, not ready to let go.

My pocket vibrated and Summer glanced towards it. “Not yet, right? It’s too soon for Rhain to have an update?”

I kissed her forehead again, unable to help myself as I took her hand and led her off the dance floor. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I glanced down at the screen.

Rhain Allaway

The meeting was moved. Tomorrow. Location to be determined, stay tuned.

Like a needle to a balloon, this bubble of happiness popped, and my world crashed back down around me.

Reading the text over my shoulder, Summer nodded. “When do we leave?”

My head jerked up. “Summer, no. I’m not bringing you this time. All the most dangerous vampires in the world will be there. My focus will be entirely on locating and extricating Malachi. I won’t be able to look out for you.”

Summer’s eyes flashed with the gold of her wolf, and she cast a quick look around the barn, aware of how much focus we drew even off to the side like this. Grabbing my hand, she pulled me outside, into the dark against the side of the barn, and squared her shoulders to me.

“I don’t know how many times I have to say this, but we’re in this together, Max. I’m going, with or without your blessing. If I need Indi to flicker me there on my own and scent them myself, I will. You don’t have to look out for me. I am perfectly capable of watching my own back. In fact, I’ll be there to watch yours. Now, and this is the last time I’m going to ask you this, when do we leave?”

Cloaked in shadow and limned in moonlight, my wife’s inherent fire lit her up from within, her eyes luminous with her wolf. Damn if my pants didn’t get tight at the sight of her. Pride swelled in my chest at her fierce determination. How could I say no to her?

“Tomorrow.”

She blinked, like she was a little stunned I’d agreed, then nodded.

“They won’t meet before dark, so if we leave midday, we should have plenty of time to find them. Assuming we get a location in time.” I paused, not wanting to upset her again but needing her to understand the severity of the situation. “Will you tell someone we’re going? Terran, or Indi, at least?”

Summer met my eye and held it, comprehension settling in.

Tell someone, so they know where you are.

Tell someone, in case we don’t come back.

Finally, she nodded.