Page 86 of Love Bites Extra Hard

His attention snapped toward me. “What happened?”

“It’s her story to tell.”

“Whatever it is, she’s better off without me.” He refocused on the lake.

“It doesn’t matter. You’re fated. There’s no one else for her now.”

He didn’t say anything else.

I sat with him for a minute before standing. “When you want her number, ask Porter to text Talon. She’ll be losing a lot of scalesover the next few weeks, and they’re yours whether you want them or not.”

He gripped the ones I’d given him to his chest.

He did want them.

I slipped away, and found Talon waiting close by. Listening to our conversation, clearly.

I called out another goodbye to my sisters, and they echoed it as I set my hand on the dragon king’s shoulder. He shifted forms and took off quickly, and my lips stretched in a smile as the wind blew against my face.

I might not be sold on the mate thing, but man, I loved flying.

We landedon the balcony that led into Talon’s room. When I told him I was going to unpack my things and headed for his closet, he stared after me. I heard the door shut a few minutes later, when he left me.

I didn’t know where he was going.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, either.

I unpacked my things in the empty half of his closet. He’d obviously cleared it out for me. Just like he’d obviously installed a canopy for me, knowing I would eventually be sleeping in his room.

There was no way around it. Not for him.

Maybe not for me, either.

When I was done unpacking, I changed into a pair of the new clothes my sisters had bought, and sighed.

It felt good to wear things that were mine. That fit me, but were still warm enough that I wouldn’t freeze. The thick, black sweater I had on was officially my new favorite. It was soft, but crazy warm, and the thick leggings I’d paired with it looked as good as they felt.

I slipped into the kitchen and checked the cabinets and fridge, looking to see what food Talon had. Everything was basically empty. There were only a few staples, and there wasn’t a lot of anything.

Since he hadn’t been sleeping, he hadn’t been cooking for himself either. I wondered if cooking was something he did often, but wasn’t sure.

He hadn’t really told me anything about his hobbies.

Almost everything had been about me.

And that was his fault… but maybe it was a little bit mine, too.

I didn’t like the idea, but that didn’t make it any less true.

Talon stepped back into the apartment with all of my other clothes packed into the first suitcase I’d brought. Over his shoulder, there was a large black garbage bag.

I followed him into the bathroom, watching as he carefully dumped an assload of blood-coated scales into our bathtub.

My stomach clenched.

I’d lost so much blood.

He started the tub, and left again.

---