Page 72 of Love Bites Extra Hard

“I didn’t. You thought I was going to abduct you to force you to mate with me. Telling you the truth right off the bat would’ve destroyed my chance from the beginning. After we were solid, I wasn’t sure how to break the news. And I didn’t want to lose what we had.”

“We were solidlycasual. That’s nowhere near the same as being mates.”

“What would a mate bond have really changed? You know I wouldn’t force you to do anything. You wanted to sleep alone, so I let you sleep alone. You wanted it casual, so I kept it casual. You wanted to avoid difficult topics, so I avoided them.”

“Basically, you’ve been doing anything you can to win me over, and disregarding everything you felt and wanted.”

Her voice was calm.

Too calm.

But lying to her obviously wasn’t the way to go.

“Yes,” I said.

“That’s not a relationship, Talon. That’s you doing whatever it takes to convince someone that they belong with you, to the extent of ignoring what feels right to you.”

“Bullshit.”

Her gaze was hard, though.

Unyielding.

She wasn’t interested in discussing it.

I’d just have to figure out a way to prove the truth to her.

“I want to go back to the Manor,” she said.

“I’ll set up a visit.”

She clenched her jaw tighter.

“Stella will want to come,” I added, knowing she would soften with the mention of my sister. They were close. “We agreed that she’s done in the prison.”

Avery’s eyes widened. “What?”

“It’s controlled her life for a decade, and she clearly can’t stay neutral when it comes to Sylvester. She needs time to disconnect from the situation.”

“So you’re kicking her out of the castle?”

“Of course not,” I growled. “I don’t have the power to do that, and even if I did, I would never force her out of her home.”

Avery closed her eyes tightly as I cleaned between her legs carefully. We both knew I wasn’t trying to turn her on. There was just dried blood everywhere.

“I want to see them today,” she said.

“We can go after you’re healed.

“After I’mclean,” she said sharply. “I’ll bundle up so your scales don’t hurt me.”

“They can’t cut you anymore. That’s why they fell. As soon as a dragon meets their fated mate, their scales start to drop. It takes about a month, but they’re all replaced with smoother ones.”

“Of course they are.” Her voice was bitter. “I just didn’t ask enough questions.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“We’re going today.” She ignored my comment.

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