Page 87 of Love Bites Extra Hard

I followed him that time, helping him pack another load of bloody scales.

We filled two and a half more garbage bags before we were done, then finally made it back to the apartment for good. The two full bags were waiting in the bathroom for their turn to soak, when I collapsed on Talon’s bed.

Exhaustion had finally set in.

I didn’t think it was late enough to say that it was night time, but I didn’t really care. After all the healing, I was exhausted.

We had shit to talk about… but it could wait until the morning. When our minds were clearer, and I could decide what I was really going to do about the mate situation.

“Can we just pretend nothing is fucked up between us for tonight?” Talon asked, his voice low. He hadn’t dropped into bed with me. I was pretty sure he was trying to be respectful by giving me space.

“Please,” I agreed.

He made a sound of relief, and sprawled out on the bed next to me. When he pulled me to his chest, my eyes stung a little.

It felt so good.

Hefelt so good.

Fate must’ve been the reason for it, but that didn’t make the feeling any less real.

I pulled away long enough to strip out of my new sweater, bra, and leggings, leaving my panties on as I slipped beneath the blankets again.

Sleeping in clothes would’ve been better, but I was selfish. I wanted his body against mine.

Talon was still naked after shifting, but neither of us mentioned that. It wasn’t like the nudity was new for us.

He held me securely against his chest, and I fell asleep almost instantly.

When I woke up,there was a big, hot palm moving over my bare back.

I managed to stifle my moan, but not silence it.

“That feel good?” Talon murmured.

My sound of agreement was basically another moan.

I stayed where I was as he continued rubbing my back. It wasn’t sexual, or even that intimate. It just felt nice.

Eventually, I forced myself to get off of him. Though I still felt a little sluggish, my pain was gone.

“Have you talked to Stella?” I asked, slipping out from beneath the sheets and grabbing yesterday’s clothes off the floor.

“A little. Porter texted me to get her number for Evan last night. I didn’t want to give it to him, but when I asked her, she said yes. She didn’t want to talk to him, but couldn’t exactly ignore him.”

I stepped into the bathroom, used the facilities, and got dressed again in the clothes from the night before. They were comfortable, and there was no point in washing them after only wearing them for a few minutes.

“Evan went through a lot this last year,” I said, when I stepped out of the bathroom. I found Talon buttoning a pair of jeans. My eyes slid over his abdomen slowly.

Hot damn.

“You know more about him than you should.” Talon’s voice wasn’t threatening, but it wasn’t happy.

“The woman he was engaged to poisoned Izzy in an attempt to help Evan become Alpha, which he didn’t want. Porter killed her for it.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. Apparently they’d been having issues for a long time, but it hit hard anyway. They’d been together on and off, for ages.”

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