Page 116 of Love Bites Extra Hard

There was glitter—so much glitter.

Blair was laughing so hard on the other end of the pool that she was crying.

Bane was eyeing the water with a grimace. “Do you think it’ll come off faster if I shift a lot?” he asked Zora.

“Nope.” She set her plate down on the ground, and when he looked away, shoved him toward the water with a wicked grin.

He barked out a laugh, hooking a leg around her back and dragging her in with him as he went down with a monstrous splash.

Talon lifted his arm to check out the thick coat of glitter. “This is ridiculous.”

“Welcome to being a siren,” Clementine said with a grin. “Glitter, sex, and peppermint are the name of the game.”

“The glitter really isn’t necessary, though,” Izzy pointed out, sitting on the ledge of the pool while Porter took a dive. Her magic followed him, spreading out from her toes.

“Of course it is. It’s part of our culture.” Clementine plopped down next to her and draped an arm over her shoulder. “You really shouldn’t bring up the Zora situation if you’re not ready to be hit with a roll of tape, you know.”

“Or something worse!” Zora yelled.

“You’re lucky she wasn’t holding a weapon,” Bane agreed.

“No kidding,” Porter flashed Izzy a grin as he swam over, sparkling just as much as the rest of us. He was obviously teasing her.

She couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of him.

“Now that we all look sufficiently like sirens, can we eat, Five?” Kai checked, lifting himself out of the water to sit next to his mate.

She leaned against him. “I guess.”

We all headed for the food, and the jokes and laughter continued. Considering all the glitter, I didn’t think they’d stop anytime soon.

And honestly, I loved it.

That was what family was supposed to be like—and I counted myself lucky to have it.

twenty

TALON

After dinner,we all sat around eating ice cream and talking. Clementine and Zora kept the conversation going the most, and it was honestly a good time.

It reminded me a little of my friend group, before Sylvester went and fucked everything up. But the sirens’ pod was more stable than my group had ever been.

They were family. All the shit they’d survived together had made them loyal, even when personalities clashed or bad decisions were made.

And honestly, I felt lucky to be a part of it.

I’d eventually try to get Stella and Evan adopted in, but I knew it could take some time. From what I’d heard, they were having enough fun together that she wouldn’t mind missing out.

It was the middle of the night when we finally got around to cleaning up and taking the ice cream machine back down. We’d had enough conversation about our differentkingdomsnot to even need a meeting in the near future, which was nice.

It would be really nice if we could do away with them altogether, which seemed pretty much guaranteed.

We were all sirens now, according to Clementine, so why not handle all the political shit casually?

When everyone went their separate ways, we walked back to Fae Manor with Kai and Clem. It was in the same direction as Dragon Manor, so no one questioned us.

We stopped just inside the doors, and met Clementine’s bright smile. “We’re in for the seduction plan, but we want to make a vacation out of it.”

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