Page 12 of Love Bites Extra Hard

“Does he know we’re out here?” I asked, taking the seat.

“No. My magic has his cell silenced and blacked out. He thinks he’s alone,” Stella said.

“What kind of magic is that?”

“Dragon magic. We can all do parlor tricks, but some of us can do a lot more. Forcefields. Influencing weather. Telekinesis. Stuff like that. Our family is the strongest by a long way, hence Talon’s role as our representative. No one really knows what powers it or why it exists, but everyone’s magic seems to have a limit.”

She called himrepresentative. Not king.

I filed that information away for later, in case it ever became useful.

“Stella’s magic is stronger than mine, she just likes to pretend otherwise,” Talon grumbled.

I looked at her.

She scowled. “I don’t want to be the one Mistwood’s paparazzi are always talking about.”

It was a fair point. My sisters were in the newspapers as much as their kings were, and it did seem like it could become overwhelming sometimes.

“And the other kings are a piece of work. I’ve met a few of them, and I’ve never been interested in dealing with their bullshit on a frequent basis,” she added.

Theywerepieces of work, but my sisters had tamed them a little. Then again, maybe our family were the only ones who saw them that way. To everyone else, they were still just as big and bad.

“Does Sylvester have a mate?” I asked them. “Mated people aren’t affected by siren magic. They can feel it, but it doesn’t actually work on them.”

“No mate bond,” Stella said, shaking her head.

“Has he met his fated mate? I don’t know for sure if that would affect it, but it seems important.”

“Nope.”

“Still, I’d better make sure my magic can actually affect him before we bother trying to come up with a plan.” I stood. “It’ll work best if I’m in there with him.”

“No.” Talon’s voice was hard. He was still standing at the door, his fists on the bars and his gaze on the caged monster.

I looked at Stella for help. Her expression was hesitant, like she couldn’t decide which of us to back up.

Finally, she shook her head. “It’s too much of a risk. You’ll have to do it from out here.”

There wasn’t a chance in hell that I’d be able to charm the scales off a serial killer with a door between us. Not even a small chance.

But I supposed I could hit him with enough magic to find out if he was affected at all, even with the door closed.

“Alright. You’re both going to want to walk to the back of the hall,” I said, slipping in front of Talon. There wasn’t much space between him and the door, so I had to squeeze in. I wrapped my hands around the bars in the cell’s window. I needed to see Sylvester, to know if my magic was affecting him at all.

I assumed the sudden pressure of my ass against Talon’s half-mast cock would make him step back to give me space. Instead, his hands caught my waist, and gripped tightly. “You don’t go anywhere near that bastard without me,Ave.”

He shortened my name like I’d shortened his. That meant he’d realized what I was doing, when I was trying to piss him off.

Maybe he was even more dangerous than the men I’d been with in the past. A male who could put off his anger and tap into it again later was more deadly than one who reacted blindly. Wasn’t he?

I needed to be careful with him. Even if every part of my body was warming with him pressed up against me like he was, his cock hardening quickly against my ass.

“You’re going to get a show if you stay where you are, Stella,” I warned. “Your brother isn’t going to be strong enough to fight my magic.”

“I’m plenty strong enough to handle you,” Talon rumbled.

I smiled, but there was no humor behind it. “Sure you are.”

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